Fixing PROBLEMS With Our Off-Grid Solar
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- Опубликовано: 5 ноя 2022
- It's time to stop ignoring this issue with our off-grid solar system // EcoFlow Amazon: amzn.to/3gjCQFN
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We're a husband and wife team who bought 20 acres of bare off-grid land in Northern Idaho. Follow along as we turn a pole barn into our dream shop with an upstairs apartment!
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Riley Casey
105 Vermeer Dr
STE 2 PMB 141
Ponderay, ID 83852
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Use code 8LFCAHK8 for your 8% off on River 2 unit now! amzn.to/3gjCQFN
that thing is amazing and now I know what to buy husband for Christmas! Thanks for that!!!
Weat pinny
Thanks I'm going to get one soon
Wheat penny, sorry Courtney.
Wheat pinny
I enjoy your videos. Might I suggest investing in a used heavy duty woodchipper. If you run all your forest wood and branches through it and spread the chips around your land you will add the nutrients back to the soil that the trees took out of the soil while they were growing. It's better than burning them up and losing all those nutrients into the atmosphere. After a few years the chips will compost back into the soil. It's good conservation practice. I'd suggest you add the chips back to the area you harvested the trees from. Good luck!
I believe the burning will do a better and faster job of returning nutrients to the soil. It's what mother nature does in the forest and farmers have been doing it for years.
@@srsykes Plus Courtney gets to burn!
@@srsykes Burning is faster, but it does not return any nutrients back to the soil at all. Mother nature returns the nutrients to the soil through rot and decay, microbes and fungi. Not through fire.
I am quite sure nutrient do not just go up into the air as there is a huge renewal of plant and tree life after forest fires that are started by lightning
Mulch holds water, on a mountain side that means soft soils that can slide. Rot is the best way to add nutrients back from all the bugs and critters doing their jobs but small burns like this also put back carbon without too much worry about NATURAL organic compounds into the air. The fuel exhaust from a chipper is not better than natural wood smoke.
Hi guy’s. Just an idea. You might want to place rock on the hill beside the solar panels to reduce erosion. The roots of trees help hold the soil in place. Mud slide!
I was thinking that too
Place rip rap beneath the solar array
I was thinking some good old grass seed would make it look nice.
Concur! Definitely need erosion control or your whole system could end up at the bottom of the hill.😳
another idea would be to build a retaining wall with a concrete slab between the wall and the container so that thre is a flat stable path behind the panels. it would also allow you to build a small road below the retaining wall for use outside of winter so you would be able to move the excavator around the property easier
Hey guys, just a safety thought. When relieving the pressure on a tracked machine, be sure to take the pressure off the tread first. You did that with the track knocked off. Removing the grease nipple or the plug that holds the grease tensioner, it can come out like a bullet if the tensioner is loaded. Stand to one side when taking it out just in case. Great videos.
I just love your videos, and look forward to them.
I also like that this video was almost a half hour long❤️
It has been 28 years since I lived off grid..... We learned to recover firewood from every project.
I had a one man Alaskan mill for my chainsaw, and turned any usable wood into 2" slabs. They are so useful for other projects. We made decks around the property for friends to set up on during 3 day parties. Even a stage and dance floor, but we were hippies and students, so we had plenty of friends and volunteers.
The rest of the unused wood was cut into firewood and stacked to dry.
I'm 70 now and living vicariously through your videos 😎.
Thanks so much for making these videos. I love how you blend the sponsor's products into the videos. Very slick.
Sending good vibes your way✌️
Don't forget to ground the generator, while at 9th Engineer Support Battalion I ran those a lot all over Asia for several humanitarian missions and that was one of the things most often forgotten.
Came to say that. Should be an open lug on the frame for grounding. Very important for safety.
if whole electric system is bond it to ground and main shop have a ground rod a second one by ground rod is bad idle
I forget if they installed a ground rod?
@@CubbyTech back to first concrete pour set all pipes and conduit and one ground rod
Edward Uechi. I was with 9th Engineers back in the early 80s, BulkFuel Co.. Happy Birthday and Semper Fi.... and you're right on grounding the equipment
Put a reinforced plastic tarp in front of the panels staked to the ground on the slope and the snow will slide down the hill as it melts off the panels. Remove the tarp in spring. It completely eliminates the wet snow from building up in front of the panels.
I would be concerned about the possibility of water induced corrosion on the bottom panels if the cannot dry out. I worry that at bottom, there will be an ice dam forming make it very difficult to address. since they are touching the ground. I think it would bet better to use an angle so the panels are at least 2 feet off the ground.
A white tarp could help improve production with scattered sunlight reflection. It will also help minimize erosion of the bare excavated earth where the snow would run off otherwise... Next summer stuff can grow there but this winter there could be a problem there.
Wheat Penny! I think when something doesn't match surrounding colors exactly, it's best to go with something with higher contrast.
Where I live - firewood has more than doubled in price in past year. I have been cutting up old scrap wood. I would have kept everything thicker than 1". Having said that. If I had farmstead, I would have kept all, built gasifier with old petrol engine generator and turn those branches into electracy and heat over the winter. And there you see! Like I said - with the dozer, you should have taken the track of the idler, put it on the sprocket and then back on the idler wheel. Much much easier. And when you have excavator arm around - use it, don't try Hoe Nr.1 and crowbar. Well done by the way! You both will be great after couple of years more! :)
You guys might want to check the coolant in the bulldozer before you get hard freezes.
I look forward to what they do e up with for a heavy equipment garage! 👽👽
That old army Geny is sweet,I would give it some extra TLC before winter sets in . Drain the diesel,burn it up in the excavator,put some nice fresh into the tank ,change the filter .Add a small cheap electric heater from solar output into the frame of the generator keep it nice and warm on a thermostat ready to kick in on those cold nights when the power banks are getting depleted.I don't know how cold it gets in the winter but it would be nice to know that the gen gonna fire up without any hassle keeps the condense out of the old skool analoge gauges too , sorry and wrap it in a tarp ,I know i'm weird like that 😂 nice to see real time your boost by altering angle .
Very impressive. NOTHING, stops you two. NOTHING. I'd love to meet you guys. Keep on keeping on.
Be careful with the dirt removal so that you don't start erosion around the panels
Adding some stone or rip rap is probably in their plans, maybe some terrace levels as well
I was thinking the same thing. Would be easy enough to put in a retaining wall before the freeze.
You should pour a slab under the generator. Otherwise two things will happen. first the built in skid will rust away and second, while running the vibrations will cause the generator to sink into the ground. Which will allow the moist soil to start rusting the bottom panel of the enclosure out.
Perhaps put some wood cribing or concrete blocks for the winter, and then pour a bad next season. Better with be some sort of roof (open enclosure) to keep the rain and snow away, big enough so you can refuel, change oil with dealing with snow.
Or weld up a skid frame for it ! Lol genius I know.
@@dneuman7455 Just like the existing skids, your metal "skid frame" would eventually rust away from contact with the constantly moist soil at their location.
there a lot rock under generator and is rock base under solar container Hill side drain pipe too
@@akdisney I hadn't noticed the rock until a later video. It will provide drainage but there still should be some kind of roof over the generator as someone else mentioned.. Also the rock can shift under the vibration when gen is in use, so something a bit more solid would still be good.
Glad to see you back on the homestead.
I would choose red for the door. Feng shui. I like contrasting colors. 😎🎈
Suggestion: get sheets of metal roofing and put them at a slope below the solar panels so that the snow will slide off of the metal panels but light will also reflect off of the metal roofing onto the solar panels.
Nice work on that track!, I recommend keeping the fuel tank full on that generator, the biggest hassle with the diesel generators was fuel problems, mostly caused by water in the fuel, which is often formed from condensation. Full tanks don't allow a lot of air to weep moisture into your tank, when the temperatures fluctuate. I enjoy seeing what you guys are building, keep the videos coming!
You should think about building a log home on the top of the mountain. You have the bulldozer to build the road and building site. The mountain has plenty of logs to build a beautiful log home. Just an idea.
I’m a divorced single dad watching you videos for ideas and motivation. Your way of life is a very clever way to navigate tax savings , building and utility costs - I’m inspired. Thank you 😊
Thanks for watching!
Reckless Riley at his best. I kept waiting for the Generator to roll down your mountain, than I was expecting the excavator to do the same. One of your best updates, thanks
So awesome you are becoming quite the skilled loggers ,now I’ll suggest again,get a portable saw mill the lumber could provide you with inexpensive building materials that could be bartered or utilized! Great to see you guys back safe, blessings to you,I smile every time I get to watch your videos!
"Skilled Loggers" okay.....
I would suggest y'all stabilize the slope you dug off in front of the solar array. It wouldn't be good if the ground got saturated and decided to slide taking the solar array down the hill with it. 5 or so dump truck loads of large rocks from around your property would work. 8 inches to 20 inches or so in size. Small enough to handle by hand but large enough to hold the slope. Several layers thick not just a single layer would be best. That should be a priority before the wet winter season and thaw in the spring is gonna be harsh on the slope being a bigger chance to fail at that time. Something that would also help which I'd do before the rocks is to use the excavator and track the hill in to pack the dirt good. This is very important to get both of these things done soon as y'all can. Good video. Stay well. -Wil 👍
Removing those trees was truly a bright ideal. 😎As a grandpa I get a pass on the really bad puns. 😉 Love the channel. You guys know that a lot of us are living the dreams that we were to chicken to try ourselves thru you. Keep up the good work!
The level of trust you share is amazing! I'm not sure there has ever been anyone in my life that I would trust to run the track in that situation.
Really enjoyed the video and I can relate to being a pyro. There is nothing better than starting a big ol’fire. It’s good to see you guys getting re-energized and thinking about new projects. Looking forward to winter with y’all.
Love to watch you guys! Never a dull moment with you! ❤️
Reckless Riley says "This thing is crazy" as HE drives it off camber up a steep hill ;) Yepp its definately NOT the operator thats crazy ;)
😉
Since you got the excavator back down off the side of the hill I'd recommend checking the track tension on both tracks. After you put them back on and drive a little ways everything settles back into position and it can be loose again, and since that one was loose enough to come off in the first place, the other one may be getting loose as well.
I love your channel, and I wish I could be doing all that stuff too.
I must say my heart sits in my mouth sometimes with you guys and your antics! I really worry that things will go wrong!
I would say to seed the area before the solar panels with native grasses and wildflowers to stabilize the area.
When going up steep hillsides use the arm to help pull yourself up.
A bit hard if you're using it to lift something!
Tracks are all about that tension. First thing to do before any kind of track maintenance is release the track tension. Doesn't matter if you're replacing thrown track, repairing the track or replacing the track. The tension keeps it where it it, so any changes to that requires taking out the tension.
That rubber one piece track on your excavator is very end user friendly.
Glad you got it sorted and that solar input from the clearance and angle adjustment is super impressive.
Great job cutting the trees down Riley
I love how you are using the container as your full utility space. Last we saw you only had the single IVC container installed, but were going to string several together for a full winters worth of water. I love how creative and well though out your solutions are - the finished quality of your end product is truly a bonus. Love watching you guys!
Winter coming fast! Make sure your diesel transfer tank is full, and has good antigel additives! All your diesel equipment needs antigel, just in case you need it!
You need to cut wider notches and leave a hinge to control the fall and avoid kickback
Just trying to be helpful, but there is a whole "geometry understanding" to being good at "falling" (in the parlance of most tree people) trees. And there would be "backcut first" technique, "shark jaw" technique. "barber chair prevention" by little cuts in from the side, etc. etc. A guy who was in my graduating class an an "elite university" dropped a tree on himself, died. Just sayin'. Wider notches, thinking about where holding wood is on hinges, knowing how and when to plunge, then cut release...
At my forestry college we were taught the Swedish technique for felling. It's easier to show than explain. Gives you a lot of control but any tree can surprise you by doing the unexpected and those times can kill or maim you
second cut high up
Hi guy's glad you back that fire is huge all you need a chair hot dog and something to drank GOD bless.
Love the fact that Riley is smiling and keeping it light after losing the track. His calmness and clarity in figuring out a solution are impressive! I'd be apoplectic and very verbal (not in a good way).
Love what you're doing to set up your house and business! And I love all your work and maintaining Video with explanations in the Video Keep up the good work and looking forward to upcoming projects! Also comments about getting a wood chipper to thin out the forest and create mulch! Rather than burning even though Courtney loves burning!
Most importantly cleaning up the forest floor is really important these days.
Another Item to think about!
Would not hurt to look above your hillside to find an area above House to put in a lake for water storage!
Get the Big Cat DOZER up the hill as it would take very little time to collect water into a little lake!
Too run sprinklers over and around the house in case of a forest fire!
I think you have water collection off roof? But not enough for a forest fire, as this seems to be our future these days
retired firefighter
I was always wondering how much shading those trees would cause, guess this answers it.
I was lucky with my digger I was able to drive forward and my track popped back on 😊
Yea !!! Love a good brush fire !! I do it frequently at my off grid property!! Hundreds of dead and dying Ash trees here in the southern tier of NY .
Great videos guys , stay safe and stay healthy!!
Hi Courtney & Riley! Glad Courtney is feeling better! Happy you were away visiting family and friends! 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻Blessings
Pottery Urn for sure.
Portable battery is really cool. Not sure I need it for UK village living though ;)
Good afternoon & thank you for sharing youe journey with us
Good job! Easy Peasy. Just yesterday had the same thing happen on a steeper hill. Tracks are easy to put back on on minis. (Probably wont get it on my channel for another month or so tho). You did the right thing. Keep your head, be calm, think it through, and of course consult RUclips. Do that and you can do anything and get through anything.
It seemed y'all were having too much fun, good job as always!
It took forever to get the best excavator driver back in the drivers seat, way to go Courtney!
I don't know, but it seems to me that Riley has always been a "let's see what happens" kinda guy. Please, correct me if I'm wrong. I simply admire what you guys have accomplished: The building, the solar array, the road, concrete, and now a generator; just amazing!
As you guys go along you will be adjusting and tweaking the whole electrical setup, it's just part of going off grid. In time you will have it pretty well sorted out just the way you want it! Glad to see all the progress on the place, keep up the excellent work!!
You get to learn all sorts of lessons. Have you considered a band saw mill?
Over 400 of us watching and only a few likes 👍 come on folks hit the like button ☺️ morning to all 👋
Welcome back home and to winter. Deb and I were just commenting this morning about what we would have accomplished in life if we had met when we were your ages. We met when we were 58 and are now 60 but still have so much we want to accomplish in our lives. Infact I had decided instead of going to 61 next born day I'm celebrating 59 again. We absolutely love your channel and believe it or not you inspire many others to be all they can be! Sounds like the slogan for the army. I also use RUclips University to figure out how to fix things. Sounds like both Deb and Courtney turn blue holding their breath watching us do precarious stuff. We had our first snow the other day! It seems like mother nature wants to skip over fall and go straight to winter, I'm hoping she changes her mind and gives us a few more weeks. Many blessings to you guys.
On the Excavator, when parking it Outside, move all the Cylinders chrome shafts back into the cylinder barrels where the oil is. If you expose the chrome shafts to the weather it could cause rust to eat into the shafts then the cylinders will start leaking and then you will have some very expensive repair bills.
i worked in hydraulics for 40 years and I seen this happen very often
Do I recall correctly you installed three inverters that could give you 120/208 3-Phase if you needed it? If so, moving the side taps back to 120/208 would be advised on the generator. The MEP is far more power efficient on fuel when running in 3-Phase power. It would also allow the passthrough power on your inverters.
I vote for Wheat Penny. It's like it blends better with the building and the soil. Great videos.
I absolutely, positively just paid 7 bucks and downloaded that app. Nicely done!! Thank you!!
We can't believe something like that exists!
I downloaded and RAN outside. We have a lot of tree problems with out little solar array (3.7kw). Lol. Keep up the great work guys, enjoy every minute of it.
2:00 Chains are heavy and difficult to carry. As you did, I found over-the-shoulder to be the best method.
Maybe a retaining wall just below th solar array, to control erosion?
Hello from South Africa. I love your videos. Cannot get enough
Breaks the equipment and fixes it with a SMILE.............. Priceless!! Love you guys
Ya'll have motivated me and my wife and we can't stop watching. I feel like some of ur ideas will be used on our future homestead ie that power bank!
Hi, good morning from Aruba. Glad to have a new episode
Thanks for watching!
Wheat Penny Thanks for the video, great way to start a project Saturday here in Florida
Another vote for Wheat Penny!
Great job guy's on getting the trees down and the generator up the hill behind the solar panels. lv the views.
I'm coining a new label. Mr. and Mrs. MacGyver !! Nothing stops you guys!!! Hercules! Hercules!
I luv your experiences with life, the land, the building, the dogs, keep having fun and you guys make me laugh with all your escapades and your home is so cozy and welcoming because of all the TLC you put into it. I'm so happy for your family.✌️❤️
Cannot tell which color would be best due to camera color tones. Best thing to do is look at it in multiple lights, including almost too dark to see, bright light, and cloudy.
To me both colors look off, but from the bad color tone angle, choosing based on that, Pottern Urn is the only one that might look ok!
I don't like either color, and yeah the tone is so far off due to camera fluctuations. I choose colors by how they are going to look dirty, but since this is a door, it can be repainted more easily than other things so two tone it and make it fancy!
I know it’s not on your priority list but I think you still should have a second exit out of the apartment because of fire
Maybe you should have a video on maintenance of all your equipment winter is coming and it’s time to put stuff to sleep for winter love watching your videos keep it up
Good idea. Do they have a fire ladder at least?
They could build a slide from the livingroom / kitchen window.
Egress is by law Mandatory in any sleeping area. More so, over a garage with flammable materials. Make this number one project. Or don't sleep there.
One of the many lessons you will learn if you operate an excavator in rough terrain: You never swing the lower drivetrain while partly submerged in soil, or the track may jump off and you'll get stuck. Luckily the rubber belts are very forgiving and can be handled alone if you are strong, careful and know what you are doing. After putting the track back on two times in an hour, I got kinda good at it. A shovel, grease gun, a solid pry bar, toolkit and a piece of chain to help pull the belt with the bucket, all can be good to have when you get stranded with a track loose.
Another lovely video. Such a great team and you let the doggos in on this one.
Have yourselves a lovely week and enjoy the snow...if it arrives.
Just a suggestion, but when you store your orbital sander you should leave a sanding disk on it to keep from damaging it by flattening out the hook and loop pad
That’s a great tip!
Another great episode guys 👍 R u planning on putting a shelter over the generator to protect it from heavy snow or can it withstand direct weather?
That was great loved it trees generator putting tract on was great never miss a video thank you for sharing and your time was really great.
The skills you possess are impressive. Seems as if you did most of your homework in college. I went military and chased bad guys in the Coast Guard. I’m almost caught up to current videos. I’ve greatly enjoyed the ride.
Pottery Urn gets my vote!
Tuned in ❤ 😊
Thanks for be together making videos, l’m sure Cournie is going to paint the generator, l’m sure she want to keep pretty outside of your shop.
Love what you are doing and now looking at solar, thanks to you and the EcoFlo as it is available in the UK. I can't really go full off the grid as my house orientation is not ideal But I have been slowly converting to 12 volt lighting and LED's. By running 12 volt lighting, I think I can run all those on solar and just add my fridge in the event of total power cut. Thanks guys, keep up the entertaining adventures. Bob
when i first saw the generator i knew it was definitely military grade stuff
FIRST: Skidding down a steep slope with all wheels (or treads) locked is among my most scary moments, ever! I saw you had a few this episode.
SECOND: door color: 50 years ago I married a very creative, very color-aware and very intuitive Angel. If my beloved really wants chartreuse - lime green with pokadots she gets it. Or, we consider mixing 50/50 of our individual choices and see how that looks. Fifty years from now, long after the door is faded and gone, may your love for each other be stronger than ever. Blessings.
Don D (La Mesa)
"Pink with purple stripes and yellow polka-dots." was my father's reply whenever he was asked what color he was going to paint something.
What ever project you're working on you make it fun and interesting, as well as knowledgeable. Enjoy your vedios and "thanks" for sharing with all of us. Until next time take care and be safe.
The lighter of the two colors fits best with the siding you have... 😉
Would be neat to write a program to auto adjust your solar array to capture the max wattage. Something to move it and read the wattage and stop at an optimal angle.
Tons of systems out there have computer controls like that, but it is a point of failure. I like their manual system with their application that tells them how it is working. Off the grid, they aren't running a utility company that looks for absolute peak efficiency in order to maximize profitability and they aren't using huge quantities of power to manufacture goods so a static array is easier to use and maintain for their needs and location 👽
You can actually pre-calculate a table with the optimal inclination of the pannels, depending on your coordinates. Manually adjust your pannels once a month or every 2 weeks. For example at my latitude it is 16 degrees vertical for December. An automated system is called a sun tracker but they are prone to mechanical failure and maintenance...
Yep your correct Cortney is a pyro. Love watching you 2.
Happy to have you 2 back in front the camera. God bless
I love this Idea. I am looking at your array as a model for what we will be building for our new home in the mountains of New Hampshire.
Thank you you guys have been answering some of the questions that people like me sit here and ask if it's possible to do and thank you and yes you've been doing a good job do appreciate it keep up the good work guys the generator with the solar panels and what it takes to live totally off grid with that way thank you keep it up
I like the top color. I guess the deck will be in the spring next year. Can't wait to see what is in store for winter.
I'm running a River Pro w/Extra Battery to run my Iceco fridge , rv roof vent fan and a few lights....I love it!!
Love this guy...always smiling... and the way he looks at his wife, and smiles...
U guys r just plain awesome 🌟.. I love to see young couples making a homestead. I'm 65 years old, and that is what my parents did.
Operating the dozer and excavator on steep inclines scares the hell out of me. But, y'all did another amazing job. You never cease to amaze me. You guys rock!
Great and fun video! I echo the others who are concerned about the erosion under the solar panels. You have enough rocks and equipment to put together a decent rock wall at the base of the panels, to stop the hillside from sliding. It doesn't have to be pretty to start with, that can be done later. I would estimate you could put something together in 2-3 days that would work for a few years. Thanks for your humor and your dedication to your efforts. Stay well, stay safe!
It’s my belief that there is such a thing as “too many trees!” What I mean by that is that you can have trees side by side that they actually stunt the growth of some trees and this is where land management is key! Cutting selective trees can make for a healthier eco system in the long run. My own opinion!
I recommend putting the hook on the linkage right above the bucket. It will allow you to lift heavier things. I mounted them on a few different excavators. Some do not have the clearance though. Very useful. Love how your property is coming along.
LOL so fun to watch you two, especially since my Wife and I started our similar Dream living 23 years ago, but the solar options were not like today back then. Luckily like you were on solar for the last two years, modern Inverters, PV and batteries are awesome. love your vids, keep em coming.
Andrew Camarata is my 'go to' for what to do if all else fails and I'm impatient....:) When it comes to heavy equipment 'fixes' he's in an expert (and entertaining) league all his own. GL:).
I am so impressed with you two! I have experienced many of these situations and am on the edge of my seat watching your videos... I love the way you work together... Courtney's gentle touch on the track throttle was the highlight for me! I am concerned about erosion... do you have time to put down some seed like winter rye?
Said it before and I'll say it again and again..... Best lookin' excavator operator EVER! I don't mean you Riley. LOL 😁
I’m not sure if it has been mentioned but try making a larger wedge cut and even considering a hinge cut rather than a pointed wedge. Then with your back cut it will want to fall much easier and not snap potentially causing a kick.
Had to laugh when the track got thrown. That happens to me at least 3 times a year! Usually in mud. Nice you had your beautiful assistant to help. Doing it alone can be a bear!