Home work, Part 2.

Having shown the toilet who's boss, I looked around for new worlds to conquer. And there it was:

We had a garage build a few years ago to house our truck and our boat. It's a nice garage, but there was a problem - no electricity. As anyone with a garage, a boat, a truck, and a Y chromosome knows, power tools, shop vacs, battery chargers, and air pumps will be needed. For years I ran an extension cord out there when any work had to be done, but it was an inelegant (and sometimes illegal) solution. So a few weeks ago I thought, "How expensive could it be to run power out there?"

I had an electrical contractor come out and he estimated $850 - after I had someone dig a trench across the driveway to run the wires. That would probably be another $850, so I gazed lovingly at my extension cord. Then I had a thought - solar! I filled out a form on the web that guaranteed that solar panel installers would soon be knocking at the door and salivating all over themselves in hopes of getting the job. However, no-one responded.

GRRRRR!

I took things into my own hands. I bought a set of solar panels on Amazon for $271, then added an upgraded power inverter and cables for $120. The solar panels were intended to be mounted in a frame that stands on the ground, but I wanted them on the roof of the garage. I had to make some modifications. The panels were heavy, so I decided to take them up to the roof one at a time and do the assembly up there. That was during a week when the temperatures kept going above 100 degrees, so I soon gained added appreciation for the cat, even though our roof was hot steel, not tin. I assembled, clamped, drilled holes, ran wires, built shelves, and finally, voila!

I still have to shorten the wires from the battery to the power inverter and tidy up a little, but it works. I used it for power to vacuum the garage.

Next - a garage door opener.