This Monday morning was Take-Flirt-to-the-Groomer day. And at about 7:30 am we did. Our dog groomer lives up Highway 49 about 8 miles from us in Bootjack.
As of about 10 PM PT this evening, Mariposa has received over 4″ of rain today . . . over 10″ this week . . . 18″ this month . . . with a grand total of almost 28″ of rain this year.
December has been wet. Very wet.
Mariposa averages 32″ of rainfall a year, but during the drought (since we’ve been here), rain has been scarce. So these December rains have been a godsend.
Happy New Year!
Christmas and New Year’s Eve Rain Effects on Mariposa Creek
In the video below . . .
Seconds 0 through 27 – Christmas Day
Seconds 28 to the end – New Year’s Eve
It rained so much on New Year’s Eve, that I had to videotape from the road. The water was moving too fast to get closer.
It’s taken almost a year to finish, but today we added the final touches to our RV rooftop 1095W solar system.
System Design Schematic
There have been many interactions of this design.
System Remote Control
Control and monitoring our Victron-based system is worth highlighting. For example, we can use the Victron Touch 50 Monitor which is mounted inside our RV or our iPhones or iPads to check on our RV array and to make changes, such as turning our inverter on or off.
Victron Touch 50 Display in our RV (love the animation)
iPhone Remote Monitoring
iPhone Remote Control
NOTE: Remote monitoring only works if our Victron Touch 50 Display is connected to a WiFi network. However, the Touch 50 display can also be accessed via BlueTooth for short-range communication.
Final System Installation
This part of the process involved mounting and connecting our three REC 365W solar panels.
Solar Panel Specs
These panels were huge – 41 x 69 inches! However, all things considered, they were fairly light at 44 pounds each.
Solar Panels had to shipped via freight – the scariest part of this project
Solar Panel Install
Eight Z-brackets were used per panel (and plenty of Dicor later)
The single solar panel that was installed across the RV’s roof presented an unexpected issue . . .
Since our RV’s roof is crowned (higher in the middle, lower on each side), the brackets on the panel’s short sides could not be directly attached to the roof. Doing so would have caused the solar panel to bend in the middle and probably would have broken the glass. Bad mojo. So shims had to be used under some of the mounting brackets to level the panel.
Plastic Shims used
Solar Panel Wiring
Room for one more panel
The solar panels were installed using series wiring. For the most part, we were able to route the wiring under the panels. After drilling a hole in the RV roof, the positive and negative wires entered the RV via a closet.
Roof mount purchased from Current Connected
Wires from roof into closet ceiling . . .
. . . and through closet floor
The solar panel wires went under our fridge, on the back of our entry steps, and into our electronics bay . . .
Very crowded in here – will have to add a cooling fan
We purchased the optional display for our SmartSolar Charge Controller so we could see at a glance how the solar system was working (or not).
Victron SmartSolar Charge Controller with optional display
We had some ideas back in July of how to proceed, but fixing the ladder was the first step. So here’s what we did . . .
Remove the Ladder from Our RV
The Patient on the Table
Remove the Damaged Steps
Four Steps Removed
This was the most difficult step. Each step was held in place by two pins that defied removal.
We had to resort to cutting out each pin which also damaged the ladder itself.
After removing a step, sometimes the holding pins (circled) had to be cut out. Ugly.
Strengthening the Ladder with Pipes
A 4′ aluminum pipe was used inside each ladder rail (arrows = breaks in the ladder rail)
The ladder was compressed to hold it together
Adding the New Steps
The new steps were a different (and much better) design than the old steps. The new steps used side screws, not pins, to fasten them to the ladder rails.