Power to the people - well electric power

WARNING! The following contains techtalk.  Techtalk has been known to cause yawning and a glazing of the eyes. Proceed at your own risk!

So far my writings have been about a view of the island as seen by the typical visitor. Discussions of property in general. I also want this blog to give you a tour of the inner workings of the island. For example, I have wanted to show you my house but it is never neat enough to be photo worthy.  I don't want you to know just what a slob I really am. With that in mind, I will start elsewhere. And since my day was spent doing things related to the power generation system, that is going to be the first inner workings post.

As I have told you before, the island is not connected to the electric grid. But to be a viable field station, electricity is required. The option used here is solar power backed up by a diesel generator.

 The storage for the electricity is in the form of very large 12v batteries. These guys would really turn that stubborn car engine over for you. These are assembled in two banks of series connected batteries. On the wall you can see various chargers, controllers and inverters.

The primary user interface is a small panel that monitors and manages all the various systems in the room. The power input is either the solar panels or the generator. Electricity is stored in the batteries. Electricity used on the island is taken from the 12 volt batteries and run through the inverter to produce 240 volts of A/C. That is the normal house power and therefore allows normal appliances to be used throughout the property. The system is configured to provide power to the batteries during the day. A sunny day will take the batteries to full capacity. If there is little going on around the island at night (meaning no visitors, no freezers running, etc.) the power stored in the batteries is enough to get through the night. But on a  cloudy day or if there are guests on the island causing increased power consumption there will be a drain the batteries and require additional help.  When the batteries are drawn below 65% capacity, the system will automatically turn the generator on. The generator will then run until the batteries are topped off or the solar panels start to generate power in the daylight again.

Please note the mowing job. That was today's weedwacking effort. You can get an idea how much was taken down by looking at the edge growth. That was clear across and climbing up the panel posts. In several instances morning glories were blooming on top of the panels. That was a lot of work.

It is a good system and seems reliable.  With the cost of diesel fuel, though, there is great incentive to watch the  power consumption. I can not tell the guests enough to turn things off when not in use.




Sorry for all the technical stuff. But that is what it is all about.

cz, 2030 10/5/2014