Solar update at the Hemlocks

       This post just focuses on lessons learned, i.e. no politics.

            Bottom line, my present setup works, kinda.

            First the situation here. Two days ago was very cloudy and rainy, and the solar power production was close to zero then. My battery bank had been drawn down prior to then. I am at 36 degrees north latitude in east Tennessee, not an ideal place to use solar, even as a backup to a backup like I use it for.

            But I am using it today (the weather is just partly cloudy with no rain) to keep my freezer with all my storage seeds and food going OK. The intent is just to extend the shelf life of the stuff in the 7.2 cu.ft. freezer I use for such a purpose. Now my experience after two months is that this electrical demand will eventually draw down my high tech and big battery bank. Now this battery bank is independent of my water turbine battery bank, too. The basic idea is that the solar charger has to fill its battery bank. And today is around freezing, so the chemical activity in the batteries (still outside in this experiment) is probably down. And I am just trying to prove to myself I can live off the grid on my own. And again my main source of off grid electricity is water turbine powered, which I can do here locally. And my main source of public electricity is TVA, which is pretty good around here these days.

            So my solar update today is that it is touch and go if I have to depend on it.

            Thank goodness I have plastic containers to keep the mice out, if I have to go that route as another weather dependent fall back.