Grid-tie me up, grid-tie me down...

 After adding the extra 4 panels to my Grid system I did some casual monitoring to get an idea for how much of a difference it was making. It's difficult to judge at the best of times, and harder still when you have no software that will read the history off your bargain-basement inverter (I should have sprung for one of the BT or Wifi units, but I didn't figure on needing it too badly and it was a lot more expensive back then). Still, comparing to my memory of last year, and the week or two before I flicked the switch, I was generating an extra ~15-20% which was honestly more than I had expected. This caused a rethink of my general strategy, followed by some shuffling around to swap panels with the ones I had reserved for Project Harry Hart.

Long-story-short, the extra 4 panels have now got 2 extra friends, bringing that string up to 1.5kW. There are now no longer any panels cluttering up my car port as every panel I own is now on the roof, one way or the other. This has left the area far less shaded than it was a week ago, so I've done some junkyard recycling to fix some shade mesh to provide some shade. It's not pretty, but it was done using entirely salvaged parts which is very much listed in the Mission Statement.

Getting these big, fuck-off panels on the roof has been a massive pain in the arse. The extra 6 panels are 1610mm x 1030mm, and weigh >20kg. Lifting them up onto my 42degree pitch roof has been nasty. Today's effort was assisted with another tool I built out of scrap: my handy backup latter/A frame. This was made out of parts of an old loft-bed frame - the ladder (insert comment here about not reinventing the wheel), side rails, a couple of slats, and a shelf out of a fridge. All of the parts were salvaged from the last couple of verge collections because "they looked useful", even the screws and fittings were re-used, or left-over from other projects, so once again it's all eco/sustainable/scroungy.

It's silly, but I'm proud of these sorts of things. It's a great way to get my brain working on fun, but practical, problems as part of my post-burnout therapy; gently reintroducing movement and exercise to a muscle I previously pushed to breaking point. 


This used to be the ladder and one set of side rails from a kid's bunk bed, and a couple of the slats. Now it's a ladder, albeit not a very stable one. Some day I'll convert it into a tiered plant pot stand, but for now it's handy to have a spare. 





One of the shelves from an old fridge. The best thing about building things out things you find in the kerbside-collection is how much it opens you up to ingenuity, and trial-and-error. If you break it or it doesn't work then "rubbish to rubbish, junk to junk". With such low investment or risk why not give it a go? 



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