How We Will Harvest the Sun | The Perfect Spot for Our Solar Panels

[Music] thank you [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] thank you [Applause] well we took down a live one we're cutting down trees today and we're going to be putting our Conex kind of tucked in this little Forest over here we've used the Drone to kind of try to find a good spot we've just walked around and it's been about a week we've gone back and forth between a couple spots but this is it this is where the Conex and the solar panels are gonna go last week we got a lot of work done on the Conex so we emptied it out or Ariel did we moved it over to the front of our yard we built like a whole rack system out of steel where our solar panels are going to mount and then we just got done painting it yesterday and it's nice and hot out so it's nice and dry the plan is to get these trees cleared down in this area and also we're going to be bringing out the tractor and we're gonna be doing some dirt work because we have like a thin layer of moss or dirt above the gravel on the ground here we've got one down already a pretty good sized tree we're gonna get it cut into two sections I believe Dave and we're going to grab the tractor we're going to start putting them aside we've got quite a few trees to take down today mmm [Music] [Music] I saw this it had that it's like like it broke and it regrew it's really weird look there's like actual like new trees like 10 of them growing straight up out of this tree [Applause] [Music] [Music] exact Direction where I was standing but instead he chose our big friend the wind took it it's windy yeah they don't always go as planned but Erica does a really good job so I think he's going to get the tractor out and pull that one out well that tree was supposed to go forward where we've been laying them all but Augusta wind came by and it went backwards on me so tongue up in that tree and that's a tree that we're gonna keep they want to tongue up in so we're gonna do is hook a strap to the bottom of it and see if we can just pull it out here into the open with the tractor [Applause] foreign [Music] [Applause] so this is the area we're thinking or we're pursuing shall I say we're gonna have like a little driveway branch off of our main driveway where our Shop's gonna go and you can see there really wasn't that many trees here just like a clump and then a bunch of little trees so Eric's gonna finish taking those down and then we're probably gonna have to clear some of these because that is West and we don't want that many trees blocking the the solar panels but it looks really good next we got to take down we know we got to take down that one big one right there sadly I'm pretty sure we're gonna have to take on both those quakings and that beautiful and then eventually we might have to take down those ones so we'll leave them for now [Music] [Applause] [Music] nice [Applause] [Music] [Applause] this tree has character look at his curves oh was he dying on the inside look at that it's probably gonna be easier if we just clean up all this brush take all these small trees and throw them in there first or we could even throw them bring the tractor and throw them on the forks let's do that are you excited to put the comments over here I don't know about you oh there's two they're coming right over us well we're getting ready to switch over to our bucket for a little while we're gonna do some dirt work over there I just want to show you something pretty cool with this tractor it has like a quick change system for your front attachments and it's super easy to change from the forks to the bucket you got two handles you pull up like that and then we're just gonna drive off of these and we'll hook up to the bucket pop that one down all right just like that we're hooked up to the bucket and we've only used this bucket once I was just doing some practicing over there it is a nice heavy bucket this is the 72 inch wide one so it's nice and wide we also have an extra Cutting Edge on here which is like a huge thick piece of plate steel down here and that's going to extend the life of our bucket next up we're gonna go over and we're gonna get the backhoe to work and we're gonna see if we can rip up some of those stumps thank you [Music] thank you [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] [Applause] foreign [Music] got this nice pile of trees and stumps behind me Eric's working on leveling off the area where the Conex is going we're trying to figure out if we're just gonna leave it that way like the way the forest ground is he's just kind of filling back in the little bit of the hole from the stumps I think that's what we're gonna do there is gravel a few inches down so that's pretty sweet we have that option but then it would be kind of there would be like a little divot in there so I think we're going to stay away from that and I'm pretty sure we're going to be moving to conics but we'll wait till he's finished and check in with him and see what he thinks well we got it done the Branson backhoe is pretty awesome I think a good operator though makes it even better and I'm not a good operator yet but I'm getting there so we got those four stumps ripped up and we've kind of leveled this area off it's a little bit uh it's not like hard packed gravel but it's kind of like dirt that'll be perfect to just put the Conex on top of there one thing we want to do and make sure we get this exactly correct is the orientation to the sun of the solar panels so what we're going to do is we're going to take a compass and we're going to put two stakes that run exactly east to west that way when we put our Conex in there the solar panels will be facing south so let's get our compass and let's mark it out we were saying that South which way if like a dead you want a dead answer yes from where we're standing right now yeah let me look real quick what do you think South is there right where we're standing right there you set Spruce Street that quick and ask them right in front of it that is south yeah that is a little different than I thought yeah well we got it marked out here and I think we're gonna go just a hair towards the morning sun so we'll get a little more Morning Sun and I think that's gonna be good because to the left where the morning sun comes up we have like no trees it's completely cleared and to the West there's a little more trees we're probably gonna end up taking some more of those ones down but I think that's gonna work out really well for us and the next project is to move the Conex and hopefully it's not too hard this time it's about half the distance we moved it uh last week so let's see if we can do it I think I'm gonna shove it through like an angle [Music] foreign a little bit of damage what happened here was we pulled it off that front log and we forgot that the doors were wide open so the doors slammed down on the log we'll have to touch that up with some paint but Arrow got it I mean pretty close to where it needs to be and she pulled as far as she could pull because the tractor couldn't go any further because of the trees so now what I think we're gonna do is hook up a snatch block to that tree and then run it this way and then kind of Pull It in a little bit more with the tractor I think we only need to go in about 10 more feet and then we'll have to push that corner over a little bit you want to use the quicking or you want to use that big Spruce over there I think that's too far of an angle to pull I think we need to pull it right towards this tree okay hopefully she then so be it no I'm sure she will but that other one kind of snapped when we push it over so okay we only need to move about 10 feet so I think this should be more than enough Eric I thought it was actually going to hit the conics is what I was trying to tell you to stop well that didn't work I I kind of said I didn't think it was going to I don't know if that tree's strong enough because their roots are so dang shallow here well then maybe we should uh do we have a backup plan the backup plan would just be push it with the tractor from the front [Music] she's a much stronger tree yeah [Music] all right we got her done the Quaking Aspen don't win chaconics with the Quaking Aspen it almost fell down like immediately and landed right on the Conex luckily Ariel stopped me in time that big Spruce that's a big one we got here that one held up no problem but we got her winched back I think as far as we want to put her back all we have to do now is unhook all this and we're gonna have to hook the forks up to the Tractor and hopefully push the front end of the tractor because we're at this angle and we need to be like this [Music] thanks keep going okay hold on should be east to west you mean this ankle yeah see so I think this is its final resting point we are slightly Askew a little more to the east uh so we can take advantage of that clearing over there and it looks good it looks good so I think we're gonna get some uh pressure treated lumber that we have railroad ties underneath it to level it off [Music] all right could you look at the clouds yeah that's what I said we'll put this one down first we'll put one of those on trim it is flat dang that looks good it does do you want me to kick my two by e [Music] [Music] a little more cleanup before the end of the night and then we're calling it quits this is the Quaking Aspen one of them the air cut down and it just leafed out and it's got these really beautiful leaves that are vibrant we've only got two trees here really we've got quick Aspen and white spruce foreign from here and we're going to put a mark exactly where this point is going to hit that Bottom bar that way we know on every single one yeah we'll do that there let me grab one thing I gotta grab a clamp forward I just started running this one goes this [Music] we've got a beautiful day out here and this is an exciting day in the solar panel project that is because we're putting the solar panels up we've got the Iron Ridge I guess these are called panel mounts they're aluminum we've got them kind of mocked up where we want them and we're gonna have to drill holes in our little metal tabs that we welded on there we're just getting everything lined up by the looks of things this thing is going to be absolutely awesome it's gonna be super high up in the air this one's got to come down right to there it's crazy these uh the solar panel Mount seems so high when it was by itself back over by the house but once it's over here next to the trees it kind of looks tiny for some reason is that right yeah [Music] hold me so maybe you're the brand okay what we can do is put all the bottoms on okay all the bombs will be mounted you want to do all these and then I can go up top and do them sure thing let me get let me hop down you like me now I'm coming right there let's go on the other side of that [Music] Chihuahua [Applause] well this solar Mount system this Iron Ridge came with these really cool bolts so they got like this little uh almost like a diamond in there and this fits in anywhere you don't have to slide it in from the edge and then when you put it through and you put your nut on you twist it to the right to tighten it it locks that in and tightens it up so you stick it in the hole put your nut on there we go so I'm gonna put this one more on down here and then we're gonna go up top and we're going to use the ladder and we're basically going to do the same thing we did down here just up top and these will be securely mounted foreign we are starting on the bottom we'll go four on the bottom or three on the bottom and we'll do three in the middle I think I just want to get all the ones on the bottom and it's secured and then we can go from there well there they are so we've got 12 panels we're putting up these are Canadian made solar panels they're 310 watts each they're roughly 39 inches by 64 inches I believe and it's been awesome with this whole solar system we've been working with a local Alaskan company called long spring solar and Jason's the guy who runs it and he pretty much designed this whole Iron Ridge system for us with all the mounting hardware the brackets things like that and he also helped us design our whole entire system he's been really helpful for us and he's still been really helpful because solar is quite confusing if you've never really done it before we've only done it once but this is like a huge upgraded system for us so I've got a lot of questions he's got a lot of answers for me and the plan is to start on the bottom so we're going to do three panels wide kind of sitting on end and then I think we're just going to start stacking them up from there let's get up there and see how this goes foreign [Music] well I think maybe the hardest part is over but I'm not sure those ones up top are looking like they're going to be pretty high up there so on the bottom of these solar panels you use a specific bolt to hold them in it's got like this half rounded bracket here and this kind of sits right there right there and uh holds the panels from falling off this rack and then between the panels we're gonna use a different bolt just doesn't have that uh half circle piece on there so what this one is going to do is it's going to go in the Iron Ridge like this I'm gonna set it down and then we're going to let that other panel sit right on top of this one in between the panels This Way there's no Gap at all so these sit flush together but when you stack them on top of each other you have the gap of this little uh spacer right here so I think that's like a quarter inch now we have to figure out how to get our solar panels up there so here we go isn't a good cleaning huh that could be your duty you got it wait are you okay I think we can reach this one yep right going oh good job good job hun [Laughter] [Music] I got a frog I did it [Music] you got it yep sure really I wasn't it wasn't in the channel oh you like that wind I'm gonna eat a cutie here to take the edge off a little scary stuff we have two more rows to do I think we have a good plan we're both gonna get up on top of the conics and then kind of shimmy them over didn't quite think this one out it's a really tall and a little bit tricky to get all the way up there yeah it is it's scary it's scary oh I'm pretty impressed with that actually I didn't know what that high I think it's because you went first way and I swear you're at like a 45 degree angle and then you just like popped it up right there have you ever heard of the words Eric I quit you quit then you're a quitter [Music] your front board come on really it's quicker [Music] slide an end I can scare this bolt I can secure those [Music] oh you my friend I'm good we're good we're good we're good record high wins today right on yes in your face all right you want to get the little poppers you need to pop those things in do you want me to build a little bracket to suck that in real quick or no sure I like your lingo foreign well that was intense and that was amazing this is like one of the craziest things we've ever done so we're up on top of this tall Conex and then we're like maxing out on the top of our ladders with these solar panels and if you've never handled solar panels before they're not only like big and awkward and expensive you don't want to drop them they're pretty heavy so we got them all up there's a couple bolts on the front that we couldn't get to from where we were I'm sure there was a better way to put these up I think you should have done like one row of four high and then kept moving down it'd been easier to get to the bolts so we're gonna have to try to divide something with the tractor with arrow Lifting me up to try to get to those front ones but this is awesome I'm gonna go up and I'm gonna put these little caps on these aluminum rails we got caps to the top and the bottom all in all this thing is it's just awesome I love it okay watch out well the mosquitoes are out and we have completed our job we actually just unloaded a whole bunch of that stuff back into the conics that we had to take it all out for so it's it's uh filled up again and it's looking spiffy with the solar panels it is and the work never ends around here I felt like it never ended at our old place and this place is even bigger and there's even more opportunity so there's even more work but we're not afraid to get our hands dirty so the solar panel project turned out absolutely amazing I mean every a lot of people have solar panels and they probably love their arrays but for me this one all the hard work that went into it just the way it looks tucked into the woods here it is my favorite looking solar panel array yeah this is a great location a little bit somewhere a little bit sunnier and we tucked it kind of into these trees and that really is comes down to the proximity that we need it to our shop so this is going to be a couple hundred feet from where the rest of the solar system is going and none of that is even getting hooked up right now we're not hooking that up for a little while down the road yeah the solar panels they're just sitting there like that they're not going to get wired in like Ariel said the shop so the Quonset hut Shops going over there and that needs to be completed before we can put our batteries in there and hook up our inverter and run wire to our solar panels and that is a big goal for us it's a goal this summer to get that shop in we may end up just taking down a few more trees in the future we're probably going to expand this area a little bit and that'll help these panels get a little more sun Eric got up there with a measuring tool and it was 68 degrees that our panels sit at so we opted for something a little steeper more to harvest more sun in the spring and the fall and winter months so we don't have to worry about summer too much yeah we've got all kinds of light in the summer and towards the end of the project things got a little sketchy up there so we had two bolts that were kind of in the center that I don't know if we just put them up in the wrong order or whatever we just couldn't get to them from the top the bottom or the side so we devised a little dangerous a little Contraption on the tractor which the tractor has just been amazing to have it's been such a huge help I don't know how we would have done a lot of this stuff without it but we used one of our totes I got up there Arrow lifted me up we got every single bolt tightened this thing is ready to go yeah the whole project uh getting everything over here went easier than I anticipated prepping the conics but this part was a little thrilling shall I say and I think we're both happy to have it done we're super excited that we got to work with someone local for the solar system and the solar panels and all this this whole rack system right that you built and we're now free to move on to other projects right we are and we have a lot in store this summer I'm getting eaten yeah we're finding out that the mosquitoes are pretty bad at this new place they like the forest okay until next time we'll see you guys then cheers good job everybody there you go let's admire our work I think I might do the same thing on that one that one's like it looks quarter inch off but if I did that one do you know what I like the hand prints the smudgy handprints yeah we need to clean those things huh if you look at it they almost mess with your eyes it's interesting hon it's really good looking it's just you know what it is you know what that is right there that's a movie screen on that foreign

Channel: Simple Living Alaska

Views: 213,968

Keywords: living in alaska, homestead alaska, off grid cabin, off grid in alaska, homestead off grid, off the grid alaska, off grid cabin alaska, alaskan cabin, alaskan homestead, living off grid, homesteading alaska, building in alaska, solar panel mount, shipping container, solar in alaska, solark, homegrid, solar panels diy, solar panel array, solar panel mount diy, solar panel mounting, shipping container solar panels, shipping container solar panel mount, shipping container solar

Id: ZLLOx-xQZ2c

Length: 34min 21sec (2061 seconds)

Published: Tue Jun 06 2023