There is a easy trick to prevent solar panels from falling down before the are scrwed in place. The frame got holes on the backside, just stick a bolt from the inisde out and put a nut on it. Now you can easily place them on the roof with the nut resting against the rail. This prevents the panel from sliding down plus all panels are nicely aligned as well.
I was about to say the same thing after watching that panel fall. It isn't the racking system its the one man operation. You have to put a lot of thought into getting it done by yourself. My first thought would have been how to make the panel stay without me holding it. But thumbs up. I do a lots of stuff by myself too. And stuff like this is what teaches you the ropes
I have a nerdgasm each time I see that power control room. And major props for showing the panel accident. These are the types of real things that happen.
1. Glad that falling panel wasn't damaged. 2. Glad Sarah wasn't up at the cabin with you (or was she?) She would have a fit if she saw you up there on that roof. 3. You need to be able to harness yourself off. 4. Good seeing you at the cabin again Mike!
My heart jumped when I saw that panel fall. Good thing it didn’t crack. Also I know your pain about the bigger panels. I put 4 on my two story house. It wasn’t fun carrying up the ladder and mounting them all by myself.
Mike, the reason the wife and I love watching you is that we all go through the same sh*t that you do, and say the same things. We couldn't post most of our videos because it would end up being one long bleep. NOTHING with an off-grid home is easy, small or light. We're grappling with putting up a large solar panel system using telephone poles, 16' timbers and unistrut. Even the solar panels are heavy as lead (bifacial). We just don't get enough sunlight up here in northern NY or enough days with sun (4 out of 5 days seem to be rain, snow, clouds or the sun just forgets to get up. ) So we've got to put up like 2796 solar panels to support our small home now it seems. We've got the battery capacity, the generation capacity, we just need the PV input capacity to run everything AND keep the batteries fully charged. Not happening yet, but if we survive this winter, we'll be upgrading next year.
Hey thanks Alan, I 100% agree, and I sure don't want to make things look easier than they really are. Your project is really cool I hope your solar can eventually get caught up to your needs. Good luck this winter.
Wow, some serious ball-breaking adventures you had up that roof, in more than one way. I quite felt it in my stomach when that panel fell. Amazing it only got that one dent…!
@@50Acres what completely amazes me, aside from the fact the panel still works, is that I did not hear a single bleepable word come out of your mouth. Congratulations!
@@renaebettenhausen3611 I've been working on that myself. There are days when it takes real effort to not turn the air blue with words that would turn some people's hair white and their teeth curly.
@@damogranheart5521 I've been working on that for 25 years. It does get easier as I stop hanging around other people cuss up a blue steak, and make an effort to be in the company of people who find such language offensive. I chose to stop watching television more than 5 years ago, made a choice to
Oh my. The gasp I made when that panel fell off the roof had Jordan disengage from work and give me "the eye" of "what terror is this you gasp of?!" We felt your pain, Mike. Golly! And seeing how precarious it is up there on the ridge... just glad it wasn't you. We've learned the hard way too, that the muscle fatigue is a real risk when doing work like this, and can definitely be an unexpected variable. I can't do roofs unless they're like... 3/12 pitch. I tried to get up on the coop, which is a 5.5/12 and being top-heavy, I couldn't move without the risk of a total-body flinging with tumble. Jordan helped me get down and I burst-out into tears from being up there unable to move for about half an hour. I just can't do roofs anymore. It's funny though... your wooden roof ladder... I made one exactly like that last year when we were working on our enclosure roof. Okay, talking too much. Good work, Mike, and thanks for having family there when doing this kind of work! (and the microfractures are called snail trails when the vinyl is intact, or cracked vinyl when the vinyl backing is actually cracked.)
Oh no sorry to disturb Jordan's train of thought! Heights are tough Im scared every time I go up a ladder, really dislike doing it even after all these years. I think I may finally be done with it. If I do a guest cabin it's having a shallow pitch roof for sure.
A common thread among users of solar energy seems to be it always needs to be upgraded. I know that solar may be the only choice in a location like yours. Happy you didn't fall.
I was thinking the same thing, he could have given you a couple hours of his time to help regardless if you asked or not, that's the least he could do for using ur cabin as a hunting base each year. I swore at my phone.. wifey asked whats wrong.. lol
Nice panels! Our off grid is a houseboat we use for 8 months of the year. We made our own racking system out of aluminum square stock and cut L brackets out of that to hold two panels all along with a single one at each end. It’s worked fine with all the wind, storms and fat sack boats, what a game changer for us, plenty of power in complete silence! Damn, that spray foam under the cabin sounds like a real ball buster job, OMG!!! Absolutely loved the music at the end, awesome!!!!
Thanks Mike for letting us come along. Good yo see you adding to your solar input. You can never have enough powet. Thanks for the install tips. Have a great weekend. Peace!
When the panel fell my heart took a leap. Glad it's ok and still working. But in future please get someone to help you just in case, roof work can be dangerous as you could have fallen instead of the panel. Greetings from sunny Jamaica.
Glad you managed the upgrade, but more importantly - the panel did not injure you. Videos and the like are awesome, but a hurt you is not. That being said, might be a bit selfish, but keep the vids coming, I will surely enjoy them! And don't call me Shirley :) Take care and see you in the next one!
Its looking awesome and always excited when I see a video by you. Also huge props for supporting Goodr, as a runner they are by far the best glasses ive worn.
Those micro cracks are called snail trails and they impact performance if the series voltage and amps get higher. They occur only if panels are not AAA or A grade quality. Also, you get max 70% of power from solar panels not a 100 percent. You do get a bump in power generation on a clear (after a rainy) day till the panel's warm up again.
Those small cracks are called snail trails and MAY eventually cause moisture to infiltrate and cause a hotspot (failure or fire potential). I have seen the same issue on Renogy 100watt panels are about 4 years here in Michigan. On the shading, IF you open the junction box you will hopefully find three blocking diodes that in effect bypass the shaded portion to maintain some output. In the old days, without a bypass diode, the entire string would NOT produce voltage. Also, IF you ever see a panel showing a very LOW output in FULL sun, then one or more of the diodes failed or the solder joint failed. I just had this issue again on a Renogy panel and it was a five minute fix. However, all panels can suffer the same failures. Since the OLD panels have snail trails, for safety then should be used only on a ground mount system......thanks for the content.
Oh my gosh when I saw the panel fall I was oh man it can all shatter. We had a small gate fall on one of our cause of wind and ruins a whole solar panel. Nice recovery
Nice upgrade. Looks like a 12 12 pitch like mine. Uff Da. I have the same. Glad you did not get hurt and I know the video made it look much easier than it was. Take care.
Looking good. I have 1200 watts of panels (same as your old panels) with around 7.5kw of battery. I'll see how this fall/winter goes. I may add some more panels for the really cloudy days. A minisplit is also on my list next summer.
Against all objections, my dad reshingled his own roof last year. He's 80. It all went fine. So, you're never too old to get on a roof. It might be time for a harness, though.
When you were being so careful carrying the panel out of the house I thought how much abuse could that panel could take without breaking? Now we know! (of course it also depended on how it fell)
We closed our eyes when the panel fell lol glad it didn’t shatter. We opted to build a ground mount system for easy access and install. Your right most people are very dangerous with solar installs when they are trying to save a buck or two. Good job 👏 hard work paid off
Couldn't believe it didn't break, I do wish I had done a ground mount, originally I was worried about theft, but that turned out not really to be an issue.
@@50Acres we are out in the country as well we thought about that but ending up concreting it and using some locking bolts so far 2 years all seasons with high winds and it's still standing lol
While I agree that SnapNRack is much easier to work with, you need to start from one side and work your way over. That way the end clamps will hold the first panel on while you place the second and tighten it. Nice job though!
You could get single panels clamps for Iron Ridge. You should not be on the sloped roof installing panels by yourself. Lucky it was the panel that fell and not you. By the way, love my Iron Ridge mounting system.
Wow cant beleave that ur that lucky & yep all ways some one with there arms around the other or there hands in there pockets to say geee you need any help? Wow you did better then I could have & why not put them all up???? god bless man & good luck
haha everyone is commenting how the felt sickened, shocked and even gasped for you when that panel started to slide off. I am glad you didn't edit that out. We are all glad you are safe. I'm glad you didn't dive for it like some others might have tried. Staying safe is the main goal, things can be replaced. Look how the year has flown by already. Forty three days left until Christmas. Figure out what Sara wants and get it before the true busy season starts. Shipping takes a lot longer than websites are predicting and stuff is going out of stock. They are predicting a terrible shopping season this year based on last year. People are holding onto their money and not spending what they used to spend.. (I admit, I was nervous as hell watching you up there!) Nice video.
Nah I wouldn't edit something like that out, swallow a bit of pride and maybe someone watching will be more careful than I was. The year has indeed gone fast! Thank you.
The solar panels are very impressive. Well done. Hope the insulation goes ok. Nice to hear the bagpipes at the end too. (And on the culinary front, your dinner chat promoted me to remind my wife we need to have some Hungarian goulash again some time).
Nicely done working on the roof yourself. A steep steel roof sucks when you're installing solar! I would be careful in cold weather with your string open circuit voltage - you may exceed the 150Volt limit on the Victron and do physical damage to the controller.
Thanks! Yea I actually had to take one panel out of the string until I can get a higher voltage controller, I was so excited when I found these panels locally that I hadn't paid much attention to the VoC. It sucks because the next highest voltage controller is another $300.
The shading problem where a shaded panel would draw current from a sunny panel wired in series is a thing of the past because most all, if not all, new solar panels have two or three diodes that prevent the current from flowing backwards.
Not everyone knows that size solar panel has some real weight. You are 100% correct on solar being addicting. So, what are the plans for those you removed? Personally, I'd ground mount them and send the power to whatever charge controller they went to before the upgrade, if possible.
Very cool upgrade. One of these days I'll start playing around with solar stuff, I'll make sure to contact you about it LOL! Would you be able to get Starlink out there? That would be a pretty neat internet setup! I'm for sure coming to see you in 2023 my friend!
@@50Acres Yeah, I think like $500 or $600 for the gear and then $110 a month for the access, I guess if you were on-site all the time it would be worth it. Wonder how well it works for people moving around a lot, like with a camper or something....
Hey thanks man I appreciate that. When I look at the quality of my videos compared to other channels that are bigger than me, I think the same thing, but what can you do? I must be doing something wrong that people don't sub.
Lucky that panel didn't break. I'm not a big fan of mounting them on the roofs .pain to access to clean it service. U got the property should have made a yard setup
I agree, I was worried about theft when I first did it, but really nobody is going around stealing panels, at least near me. Nice ground mount if I ever have to do it again.
OMG MIKE YOU HAD ME HOLEING ON TO MY RECLINER I THOUGHT YOU WERE GOING TO GET HURT I AM SO GLAD THAT PANL DIDN'T GET BROKEN PLEASE BE CAREFUL ON TOP OF YOUR HOUSE I AM SURE YOUR LOVELY WIFE DON'T WANT ANYTHING TO HAPPEN TO YOU AND MIKE YOU ARE NOT OLD YOU LOOK LIKE 43 NOW IF YOU WERE 65 LIKE ME THAN YOU ARE OLD HAHAHA ROSA AWESOME VIDEO
I think you're four old panels would fit on the side of the roof close to the bedroom right beside the big array to run that air conditioner in the summer
Good morning everyone! I think I might be missing something here but why can’t you just use four bolts per panel. It would also make your life easier if you had the panels on the ground near the pond? Nice cabin and you do nice wood working and tile work! The workshop bathroom came out very nice. Thanks for sharing and have a good week. From Northwestern Vermont
You might be able to get away with that, but the dispersed clamping area when you have two panels side by side does make for a stronger assembly once everything is up and together.
Its amazing the price and amount of wattage that has now become so much more affordable since the original install. You definitely got some great panels on the primary sun spot on the cabin. I'm leaving my comment as the solar panel slid off the rough. Needless to say sitting here with my jaw dropped. Can the panels survive that kind of drop/shock? Hopefully that will be the final panel swap for the roof.
The prices really have been coming down, its incredible what you can accomplish now with a more modest budget. The panel did survive, mostly due to luck etc the way it fell and landed.
Shaded cells\panels act like resistors to current flow. If the last cell\panel in the series is shaded, it wiil block flow from the unshaded cells\panels. But if the last panel is unshaded, as with yours, it will not be blocked and produce current.
Oh that's interesting so basically there will always be a last panel in series since shading happens in the morning (for me) or the evening for others.
I was making 600 watts the other day off two of the new panels which seemed pretty good. I took one out of the series because I was worried about the voltage.
You are too old to be on a roof? I am sheathing my roof now and I am 60 hahhaahahahahha, I was too old 35 years ago 😉 man, swinging 5/8 osb will kill a guy at any age! I cringed when that panel slid off. Great video Mike.....hopefully this winter I can catch up!
12:22 99% of other people out there being rookies and homeowners or professionals? 15:42 the person who said micro cracking doesn't affect performance was hopefully speaking very generally. It does impact performance, just not a ton, especially in this application.
I don't understand that fastening. I would just use 4 for each panel, and not use one for two panels... Why wouldn't you buy a larger controller from the beginning?
You could do that but the fasteners really require two panels to even out the strain on the hardware and spread the load. It also results in a stronger overall assembly once completed.
How is your system grounded? I see you have the various components wired for ground but where do these wires end up? Do you have a ground rod outside? What about your main panel?
Hello, yes I have the rack grounded, and the roof itself, there is a grounding rod on the East facing side, I think we did it in a video called "hiking the ravine..."
There is a easy trick to prevent solar panels from falling down before the are scrwed in place.
The frame got holes on the backside, just stick a bolt from the inisde out and put a nut on it. Now you can easily place them on the roof with the nut resting against the rail. This prevents the panel from sliding down plus all panels are nicely aligned as well.
That is an awesome tip!
I was about to say the same thing after watching that panel fall. It isn't the racking system its the one man operation. You have to put a lot of thought into getting it done by yourself. My first thought would have been how to make the panel stay without me holding it. But thumbs up. I do a lots of stuff by myself too. And stuff like this is what teaches you the ropes
I have a nerdgasm each time I see that power control room. And major props for showing the panel accident. These are the types of real things that happen.
Haha nice!
1. Glad that falling panel wasn't damaged.
2. Glad Sarah wasn't up at the cabin with you (or was she?) She would have a fit if she saw you up there on that roof.
3. You need to be able to harness yourself off.
4. Good seeing you at the cabin again Mike!
Me too! Sarah was at work, she would have been nervous the whole time I was up there.
My heart jumped when I saw that panel fall. Good thing it didn’t crack. Also I know your pain about the bigger panels. I put 4 on my two story house. It wasn’t fun carrying up the ladder and mounting them all by myself.
Yea those ones were a good deal more difficult to handle than the 160 watt panels.
Mike, the reason the wife and I love watching you is that we all go through the same sh*t that you do, and say the same things. We couldn't post most of our videos because it would end up being one long bleep. NOTHING with an off-grid home is easy, small or light. We're grappling with putting up a large solar panel system using telephone poles, 16' timbers and unistrut. Even the solar panels are heavy as lead (bifacial). We just don't get enough sunlight up here in northern NY or enough days with sun (4 out of 5 days seem to be rain, snow, clouds or the sun just forgets to get up. ) So we've got to put up like 2796 solar panels to support our small home now it seems. We've got the battery capacity, the generation capacity, we just need the PV input capacity to run everything AND keep the batteries fully charged. Not happening yet, but if we survive this winter, we'll be upgrading next year.
Hey thanks Alan, I 100% agree, and I sure don't want to make things look easier than they really are. Your project is really cool I hope your solar can eventually get caught up to your needs. Good luck this winter.
Wow, some serious ball-breaking adventures you had up that roof, in more than one way. I quite felt it in my stomach when that panel fell. Amazing it only got that one dent…!
Seriously, you would not believe how sore I am, this same trip I was also army crawling under the cabin to spray foam it, I have bruises all over.
@@50Acres what completely amazes me, aside from the fact the panel still works, is that I did not hear a single bleepable word come out of your mouth. Congratulations!
@@renaebettenhausen3611 I've been working on that myself. There are days when it takes real effort to not turn the air blue with words that would turn some people's hair white and their teeth curly.
@@damogranheart5521 I've been working on that for 25 years. It does get easier as I stop hanging around other people cuss up a blue steak, and make an effort to be in the company of people who find such language offensive. I chose to stop watching television more than 5 years ago, made a choice to
Oh my. The gasp I made when that panel fell off the roof had Jordan disengage from work and give me "the eye" of "what terror is this you gasp of?!" We felt your pain, Mike. Golly! And seeing how precarious it is up there on the ridge... just glad it wasn't you. We've learned the hard way too, that the muscle fatigue is a real risk when doing work like this, and can definitely be an unexpected variable. I can't do roofs unless they're like... 3/12 pitch. I tried to get up on the coop, which is a 5.5/12 and being top-heavy, I couldn't move without the risk of a total-body flinging with tumble. Jordan helped me get down and I burst-out into tears from being up there unable to move for about half an hour. I just can't do roofs anymore. It's funny though... your wooden roof ladder... I made one exactly like that last year when we were working on our enclosure roof. Okay, talking too much. Good work, Mike, and thanks for having family there when doing this kind of work! (and the microfractures are called snail trails when the vinyl is intact, or cracked vinyl when the vinyl backing is actually cracked.)
Oh no sorry to disturb Jordan's train of thought! Heights are tough Im scared every time I go up a ladder, really dislike doing it even after all these years. I think I may finally be done with it. If I do a guest cabin it's having a shallow pitch roof for sure.
I hate doing things on the roof but I always surprise myself when I actually just do it anyway. Great job Mike.
Same here, not my favorite! Thank you!
A common thread among users of solar energy seems to be it always needs to be upgraded. I know that solar may be the only choice in a location like yours. Happy you didn't fall.
Its like a hobby you get used to concientiously using the limited power you have and its fun to upgrade.
Wow you’re brother in law is a wonderful helper your so lucky to have him assist you 😅
lol he got yelled at by Sarah (jokingly)
I was thinking the same thing, he could have given you a couple hours of his time to help regardless if you asked or not, that's the least he could do for using ur cabin as a hunting base each year. I swore at my phone.. wifey asked whats wrong.. lol
@@50Acres sorry but i would have given him an earful glad it all turned out okay
Great job; I cringed when the panel started to slide..can't wait to see that spray foam. 👍👍💚
Same here!
Amen to many of the comments. Thanks for sharing. GREAT VIDEO
Thanks Earl, have a fantastic weekend!
Nice panels! Our off grid is a houseboat we use for 8 months of the year. We made our own racking system out of aluminum square stock and cut L brackets out of that to hold two panels all along with a single one at each end. It’s worked fine with all the wind, storms and fat sack boats, what a game changer for us, plenty of power in complete silence! Damn, that spray foam under the cabin sounds like a real ball buster job, OMG!!! Absolutely loved the music at the end, awesome!!!!
That sounds super cool. Glad you liked it.
HEY! Good morning and thumbs UP!
Good morning!
Thanks Mike for letting us come along. Good yo see you adding to your solar input. You can never have enough powet. Thanks for the install tips. Have a great weekend. Peace!
Power....need to learn to spell..
Thank you Peter!
When the panel fell my heart took a leap. Glad it's ok and still working. But in future please get someone to help you just in case, roof work can be dangerous as you could have fallen instead of the panel. Greetings from sunny Jamaica.
Glad you managed the upgrade, but more importantly - the panel did not injure you. Videos and the like are awesome, but a hurt you is not. That being said, might be a bit selfish, but keep the vids coming, I will surely enjoy them! And don't call me Shirley :) Take care and see you in the next one!
Thanks 👍 will do, glad you are enjoying them, and im done with roofs.!
That cabin just keeps getting nicer, keep up the good work.
Thanks 👍
Great video, and I love the pipes on the closing scene! I let out a big F bomb when you dropped the panel. Can't believe it wasn't damaged!
I was amazed it still worked!
Its looking awesome and always excited when I see a video by you. Also huge props for supporting Goodr, as a runner they are by far the best glasses ive worn.
Glad you like them! We have many pairs of Goodrs !
Those micro cracks are called snail trails and they impact performance if the series voltage and amps get higher. They occur only if panels are not AAA or A grade quality. Also, you get max 70% of power from solar panels not a 100 percent. You do get a bump in power generation on a clear (after a rainy) day till the panel's warm up again.
Okay that was starling but looks like you worked it out thanks for sharing
My pleasure
Love the bagpipe outro
Those small cracks are called snail trails and MAY eventually cause moisture to infiltrate and cause a hotspot (failure or fire potential). I have seen the same issue on Renogy 100watt panels are about 4 years here in Michigan. On the shading, IF you open the junction box you will hopefully find three blocking diodes that in effect bypass the shaded portion to maintain some output. In the old days, without a bypass diode, the entire string would NOT produce voltage. Also, IF you ever see a panel showing a very LOW output in FULL sun, then one or more of the diodes failed or the solder joint failed. I just had this issue again on a Renogy panel and it was a five minute fix. However, all panels can suffer the same failures. Since the OLD panels have snail trails, for safety then should be used only on a ground mount system......thanks for the content.
Hey Gary thanks for that info, very interesting.
LOOKIN' GOOD, NICE JOB, KEEP SAFE...
Thanks, will do!
When that panel slid off the roof I was like "Nooooooooooo!!!! ". Glad it didn't smash.
me too!
Oh my gosh when I saw the panel fall I was oh man it can all shatter. We had a small gate fall on one of our cause of wind and ruins a whole solar panel. Nice recovery
I couldn't believe it survived!
Nice upgrade. Looks like a 12 12 pitch like mine. Uff Da. I have the same. Glad you did not get hurt and I know the video made it look much easier than it was. Take care.
Yea it is a 12/12 thanks, definitely don't like crawling around on roofs.
Looking good. I have 1200 watts of panels (same as your old panels) with around 7.5kw of battery. I'll see how this fall/winter goes. I may add some more panels for the really cloudy days. A minisplit is also on my list next summer.
Hope it makes lots of power for you, Im sure it will actually!
Great panels most hitting on the corner like that probably would have shattered, love what you are doing
Thank you, I couldn't believe it didn't break.
Against all objections, my dad reshingled his own roof last year. He's 80. It all went fine. So, you're never too old to get on a roof. It might be time for a harness, though.
Wow! Thats amazing. Consider me impressed.
Great video Mike, beautiful time of year.
Thanks Doug, It was 80 degrees on Wednesday, and now it's snowing!
@@50Acres our first snow ❄️ tomorrow in Ontario. But what a beautiful run of warm weather.
Let me help you with the word you were thinking when that panel fell, FiretrUCK. LOL. Glad you didn't get hurt, same for the panel.
lol, yep that's the one
When you were being so careful carrying the panel out of the house I thought how much abuse could that panel could take without breaking? Now we know! (of course it also depended on how it fell)
Ha, I think I was very lucky!
To add context, panels are all beat to hell at UL Labs with golf balls, hail, high wind, 2x4’s… and they have to pass
We closed our eyes when the panel fell lol glad it didn’t shatter. We opted to build a ground mount system for easy access and install.
Your right most people are very dangerous with solar installs when they are trying to save a buck or two.
Good job 👏 hard work paid off
Couldn't believe it didn't break, I do wish I had done a ground mount, originally I was worried about theft, but that turned out not really to be an issue.
@@50Acres we are out in the country as well we thought about that but ending up concreting it and using some locking bolts so far 2 years all seasons with high winds and it's still standing lol
While I agree that SnapNRack is much easier to work with, you need to start from one side and work your way over. That way the end clamps will hold the first panel on while you place the second and tighten it. Nice job though!
Very true, that was a lesson learned and then forgotten 4 years ago, and then learned again!
Great job. Lucky about the panel, I was so shocked it missed the truck!!!
Thanks me too!
Like it did not break. I felt the fall as I was watching .
Me too!
Great job!
Thanks!
Absolute banger on the outro
Thanks!
You could get single panels clamps for Iron Ridge. You should not be on the sloped roof installing panels by yourself. Lucky it was the panel that fell and not you. By the way, love my Iron Ridge mounting system.
Really? I wish I had got those, I just took what the distributor sold me.
Thank you for sharing your expertise
My pleasure!
I almost fell out of my chair trying to catch that panel for ya Mike.
Ha thanks for the effort!!
👍 Stressful Good job
Thanks Todd
cheers solar is grate i keep adding more panels to get away form lp gs it grate for cooing
I agree!
Oh geeze, that thumbnail.... *winces in pain for you.*
ha, I know right
You have plenty of length on the rails ... dril additional holes and add additional bolt assemblies.
Good idea.
Thanks!
Hey thank you Curtis!!
I have the same multimeter ......it´s awesome for being cheap.
It really is!
Wow cant beleave that ur that lucky & yep all ways some one with there arms around the other or there hands in there pockets to say geee you need any help? Wow you did better then I could have & why not put them all up???? god bless man & good luck
Ha ha I gave him a bit of grief afterwards, but in his defense he was working remotely and I never asked for help either.
So scary watching you on the roof. Nice update to the solar. The bagpipes at the end were a nice touch. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you Cynthia
I can hardly wait for you and your wife to have a nice leisurely stay at the cabin ... no projects ... just relax and enjoy your handiwork.
You and me both!
Che meraviglia la tua casa 🥰🥰🥰👍💪
Grazie!
haha everyone is commenting how the felt sickened, shocked and even gasped for you when that panel started to slide off. I am glad you didn't edit that out. We are all glad you are safe. I'm glad you didn't dive for it like some others might have tried. Staying safe is the main goal, things can be replaced.
Look how the year has flown by already. Forty three days left until Christmas. Figure out what Sara wants and get it before the true busy season starts. Shipping takes a lot longer than websites are predicting and stuff is going out of stock. They are predicting a terrible shopping season this year based on last year. People are holding onto their money and not spending what they used to spend.. (I admit, I was nervous as hell watching you up there!) Nice video.
Nah I wouldn't edit something like that out, swallow a bit of pride and maybe someone watching will be more careful than I was. The year has indeed gone fast! Thank you.
@@50Acres You should have turned around and in your best pee wee herman voice said " I meant to do that"
The solar panels are very impressive. Well done. Hope the insulation goes ok. Nice to hear the bagpipes at the end too. (And on the culinary front, your dinner chat promoted me to remind my wife we need to have some Hungarian goulash again some time).
Hi Bill, thank you, the insulation went ok, it had some interesting moments for sure. That soup was delicious, my brother in law is a great cook.
Two person job, there is a tomorrow.
But here we are surviving the damage one again.
A decent video. I actually cringed when your panel fell from the roof!
wow thanks
@@50Acres when you relax and be yourself, you have way better videos! Like your studio videos, I actually liked this one! Good job 👏 👍
Oh yes I gasped out loud
So happy to see a cabin video!
Thanks Mike, I hope to have many more to come.
I reckon if the solar panel can survive falling of the roof, you could survive too!
I hope that is true!
Nicely done working on the roof yourself. A steep steel roof sucks when you're installing solar! I would be careful in cold weather with your string open circuit voltage - you may exceed the 150Volt limit on the Victron and do physical damage to the controller.
Thanks! Yea I actually had to take one panel out of the string until I can get a higher voltage controller, I was so excited when I found these panels locally that I hadn't paid much attention to the VoC. It sucks because the next highest voltage controller is another $300.
I see my daughter has snow up there so you must have snow in Dayton❄️
It's snowing right now!
I saw the panel fall and dropped an f bomb in my office 😮 a customer looked right at me lol
haha oops!
Hi bud you still young im 82 years young and still go on top of my roof I've only fell twice ha ha but I'm still up there
Hey William I love to hear that, be careful!
Долгожданное кино, сейчас поглядим🙂
я надеюсь, вам понравится это
@@50Acres конечно понравилось.
Great improvement! Congrats!
Thanks!
Are the boys comin' up to hunt this rifle season?
Glad your getting work done b4 the snow!
Yes they are coming up, possibly twice this year.
another great video
Glad you enjoyed it
The shading problem where a shaded panel would draw current from a sunny panel wired in series is a thing of the past because most all, if not all, new solar panels have two or three diodes that prevent the current from flowing backwards.
Yea, I've been hearing about diodes!
Not everyone knows that size solar panel has some real weight. You are 100% correct on solar being addicting. So, what are the plans for those you removed? Personally, I'd ground mount them and send the power to whatever charge controller they went to before the upgrade, if possible.
Yea they sure do, and awkwardly large to boot. I am planning to ground mount them either for the pond pumps or for a guest cabin some day.
Very cool upgrade. One of these days I'll start playing around with solar stuff, I'll make sure to contact you about it LOL!
Would you be able to get Starlink out there? That would be a pretty neat internet setup! I'm for sure coming to see you in 2023 my friend!
Thanks man, I dunno, probably but its crazy expensive isn't it?
@@50Acres Yeah, I think like $500 or $600 for the gear and then $110 a month for the access, I guess if you were on-site all the time it would be worth it. Wonder how well it works for people moving around a lot, like with a camper or something....
I’ve been watching awhile and I’m very surprised your not over 100 subs you put out good content keep up the good work
Hey thanks man I appreciate that. When I look at the quality of my videos compared to other channels that are bigger than me, I think the same thing, but what can you do? I must be doing something wrong that people don't sub.
¡Qué estupendo! Me encantan todos los videos de la cabina de Miguel y Sarah.
Gracias senior Chris. Su español esta mejorando?
@@50Acres un poco, muchas personas hablan ingles aquí
Working words and bag pipes what more do you need in your day lol
Thank you Simon.
Lucky that panel didn't break. I'm not a big fan of mounting them on the roofs .pain to access to clean it service. U got the property should have made a yard setup
I agree, I was worried about theft when I first did it, but really nobody is going around stealing panels, at least near me. Nice ground mount if I ever have to do it again.
Ouch!
OMG MIKE YOU HAD ME HOLEING ON TO MY RECLINER I THOUGHT YOU WERE GOING TO GET HURT I AM SO GLAD THAT PANL DIDN'T GET BROKEN PLEASE BE CAREFUL ON TOP OF YOUR HOUSE I AM SURE YOUR LOVELY WIFE DON'T WANT ANYTHING TO HAPPEN TO YOU AND MIKE YOU ARE NOT OLD YOU LOOK LIKE 43 NOW IF YOU WERE 65 LIKE ME THAN YOU ARE OLD HAHAHA ROSA AWESOME VIDEO
Hi Rosa, sorry about that! Thanks for watching and I hope you are feeling well!
I think you're four old panels would fit on the side of the roof close to the bedroom right beside the big array to run that air conditioner in the summer
I'm thinking I may do a ground mount for the pond or for a guest cabin with them.
@@50Acres building a little guest sleeping bunk would be a pretty interesting series
Good morning everyone! I think I might be missing something here but why can’t you just use four bolts per panel. It would also make your life easier if you had the panels on the ground near the pond? Nice cabin and you do nice wood working and tile work! The workshop bathroom came out very nice. Thanks for sharing and have a good week. From Northwestern Vermont
You might be able to get away with that, but the dispersed clamping area when you have two panels side by side does make for a stronger assembly once everything is up and together.
Oh I didn’t realize that, you’re lucky that panel didn’t break! When I saw it falling off I said oh SHIT! Nice wood shop by the way, have a good day!
Roof jacks
I've never seen them for a non standing seam metal roof.
Its a good thing that falling panel missed your truck
I know right!
Its amazing the price and amount of wattage that has now become so much more affordable since the original install. You definitely got some great panels on the primary sun spot on the cabin.
I'm leaving my comment as the solar panel slid off the rough. Needless to say sitting here with my jaw dropped. Can the panels survive that kind of drop/shock?
Hopefully that will be the final panel swap for the roof.
The prices really have been coming down, its incredible what you can accomplish now with a more modest budget. The panel did survive, mostly due to luck etc the way it fell and landed.
More bat box in shaded areas
That'd be cool
Shaded cells\panels act like resistors to current flow. If the last cell\panel in the series is shaded, it wiil block flow from the unshaded cells\panels. But if the last panel is unshaded, as with yours, it will not be blocked and produce current.
Oh that's interesting so basically there will always be a last panel in series since shading happens in the morning (for me) or the evening for others.
@@50Acres Right. So, always run your series so that the end of the series gets the best sun: in your case, the one that gets full sun first
To be clear, by "last", I mean the one closest to the charge controller, etc.
Better to have more solar than you need rather than wanting more. Old panels to the pond pumps?
Agreed, yes, old panels eventually to the pond, or possibly a guest cabin one day.
Venison for Thanksgiving
oh yea, he'll get a deer, just a question of when!
The older I get .. the more fear/respect I have for ladders and roofs 😂
Yea same here, looking forward to being done with that stuff forever.
"crotch shot" 🤣🤣 I had to rewind to make sure I heard what I was thinking. Lol.
haha when I go off script!
👍 Thanks :-) ☀⚡🔋💡
No problem 👍
I half expected you to say it was good your brother-in-law was there in case you fell off the roof, so he could bury your body. 😀
That could be an added benefit as well!
How’s it working? You’re right at the cusp of your max volts.. on a cold day panel volts rise
I was making 600 watts the other day off two of the new panels which seemed pretty good. I took one out of the series because I was worried about the voltage.
‘Need a hand?’
yes!
Do you think the mini split will keep the cabin warm enough for the batteries this winter? L think you need above freezing for the ones you have...
I will need to warm the place up with propane or wood stove in certain situations if the cabin is too cold when I arrive.
You are too old to be on a roof? I am sheathing my roof now and I am 60 hahhaahahahahha, I was too old 35 years ago 😉 man, swinging 5/8 osb will kill a guy at any age! I cringed when that panel slid off. Great video Mike.....hopefully this winter I can catch up!
Hey Sean you're never not too old to be on a roof in my opinion!!!
@@50Acres it just takes longer to recover when your done hahhah
12:22 99% of other people out there being rookies and homeowners or professionals?
15:42 the person who said micro cracking doesn't affect performance was hopefully speaking very generally. It does impact performance, just not a ton, especially in this application.
Just reporting on what I read from many sources.
I don't understand that fastening. I would just use 4 for each panel, and not use one for two panels... Why wouldn't you buy a larger controller from the beginning?
You could do that but the fasteners really require two panels to even out the strain on the hardware and spread the load. It also results in a stronger overall assembly once completed.
How is your system grounded? I see you have the various components wired for ground but where do these wires end up? Do you have a ground rod outside? What about your main panel?
Hello, yes I have the rack grounded, and the roof itself, there is a grounding rod on the East facing side, I think we did it in a video called "hiking the ravine..."
He upgrade this solar power system so he can hang Christmas lights! Obviously.....
haha yes!
I see you have problems with flys too? I can’t understand how they are getting in our cabin but it’s so annoying. Just a couple counties east of you.
Yea, we have a lot of bugs! My theory is they got in during construction and just keep procreating inside. Cheers neighbor.
Nice upgrade. What was the bagpipe song at the closing credits?
It was a song I got off epidemic sound called sounds of patriots by Brabant 33