Bergey 1-kW Wind Turbine: Off-the-Grid in Garrett County, MD

LED Lighting Retrofit with D&E College GreenWorks!

I was asked to help the GreenWorks! club at D&E College replace a metal halide lamp at the entrance to the Eshleman Science Center.  GreenWorks! wanted to use an LED fixture that would consume less energy and they also wanted to add a light under the causeway to make it easier for pedestrians to see the stairs that wrap down and around the corner of the building.

Members from D&E's GreenWorks! club are shown here installing the two new LED fixtures and the conduit that connects them.  The club members installed a photo sensor on the light above the door to control the operation of both lights.

Here is the final product.  The replacement LED fixture is low-profile and blends in with the exterior of the building.  The club members did a really nice job of running conduit along the exterior to the second  light under the causeway.

Rob Orr, who is a club member, took these photos at night to illustrate the quantity and quality of the light produced by the new LED fixtures.  This light color is more white than the original metal halide fixture.  The metal halide fixture only illuminated the area in front of the entrance doors.  It was rated as a 130-watt bulb.  The LED that took its place consumes 10 watts and the new LED fixture under the causeway uses 30 watts.

Pretty cool!  Something else that is cool is that the Eshleman Science Center has grade-level entrances for each of its four floors.  That's impressive!!

Vacation Off-the-grid in Pendleton Co., West Virginia

Cowger Guest House 

& Rustic Camping Area

The Cowger Guesthouse (near Ft. Seybert, WV) is a beautiful log cabin dating from the early 1800's.  It sits amongst 1,000 acres of woods and is just a stones throw from the South Fork of the South Branch of the Potomac.  For whitewater enthusiasts, this is the last dwelling before you enter the Milam gorge (see whitewater boating pics here).

The owners, Larry and Sandra, remodeled the cabin in 2007.  It is comfortable and remote - almost a mile from a paved road with no cell phone reception or internet.  Electricity is supplied by a solar PV system installed by PIMBY.  The solar powers lights, the refrigerator, well pump, and other small appliances.  You can read more about the cabin and its rental terms at VacationHomeRentals.com or by clicking the link here.

Welcoming Spring with a Bergey XL.1 Install in Highland County, VA

Really this project should have wrapped up in late October of 2013, but delays on the part of the tower manufacturer had us wearing neoprene boots and brrrrr suits as we finished the install just in time for the 2014 Highland Maple Festival. 

This Bergey wind turbine replaces an ARE110 that was damaged several summers ago in the Derecho wind and rain events that moved through the mountains of Virginia and West Virginia.  Keith (who took this photo) and his wife Polly live off the grid in Highland County, VA.  The Bergey XL.1 is smaller than the ARE110, but it seems to be doing a good job of maintaining battery voltage through the night time when the solar sleeps and the radiant heat runs.

"Water is life. Keep it clean."

You can get a bumper sticker like the above from the West Virginia Sierra Club.

2014: Resolving to Be Better to My Batteries

With the advent of the new year it's a good time to give your flooded lead acid batteries a little love; maybe not the kind of love one seeks beneath the mistletoe, but something akin to opening the battery box and casting a glance down each cell.

 

I started the new year by topping off all of the cells in our battery bank.  I couldn't remember when I last checked them but it must have been a while because they were certainly thirsty.  Some of my customers with off-grid or battery backup systems have inspired me to do better in 2014.  Many keep a notepad or tablet by their battery box for the sake of recording each watering and equalize session.

Batteries are a little like plants on your windowsill.  They will treat you well if you give them a little care from time to time.  We have some beautiful orchids that my wife waters and feeds.  She takes good care of them and they keep returning blooms (even now in the dead of winter!).  Determining the condition of batteries in a box isn't as simple as a glance at the windowsill, but a diary of care that's easy to pickup and look through can be a good start toward that regular maintenance.

Ron is one of the people who I always think of when my mind wanders to examples of battery care excellence.  He lives way off the grid in West Virginia.

Preston, Co West Virginia's Newest Power Plant

This old farmstead never had utility power extended out to it.  It's still off-grid, but now it has power thanks to a Bergey wind turbine and solar PV modules mounted on a beautiful custom stainless steel tower that the homeowner built themselves.  The batteries and electronics are in the workshop to the right of the photo and they feed power down to the home (out of view).