Solar Rack Rebuild

I noticed last summer that the wooden rack to hold the solar panels was falling apart. The heavy snow in the winter was too much and the rack did not look like it would survive another winter. I needed to replace the rack supporting the solar panels or risk losing the entire rack with solar panels. This was not a project I had on my list, but one that had to be done before winter.  The pedestal and solar panel rack had performed very well over the last several years. Initially, I only had it set to an inclination of about 30° which was too low. At that angle, the snow accumulation was too much to keep clear in the winter. I raised the angle to about 40° the following year which did much better at shedding the snow.

Since I had to dismantle the solar rack and all the solar panels, I thought is would be good to spend some time considering the new design and support rack.  First, I decided a wood rack was just not going to hold up to the severe winters, so it had to be a metal rack, preferably aluminum to minimize the weight. Secondly, the angle had to be increased to 45° to provide better shedding of the snow. Additionally, 45° was a better average fixed angle for my latitude (48°N). Lastly, I needed to increase the base height of the rack, as I didn't account for the accumulation of the shed snow. Even though the pedestal was about 4' high, the accumulated shed snow would fill up to the bottom half of the solar panels. I decided to add another 1-1/2 feet of height to the base, which would give me about 5-6 feet on the shed side.

I started in about July in dismantling the old rack, I had to first uninstall all of the solar panels and wiring, then cut down the previous wood frame, all the way down to the rood of the pedestal.  I then put down a shingle roof on the pedestal and build a wooden frame to place on the new aluminum supports.  The supports were made at 45° angle with a support bar in the middle. I used 2"x3.5" rectangular tubing in which my son welded up for me.  I placed four (4) of these main supports to the existing 4x4 supports for the pedestal. I then used aluminum crossbars bolted together to add strength and mounting surface for the solar panels.

Once I had the new base and support rack in place, I reinstalled the solar panels in four (4) banks of three (3) panels each, to match the previous installation.  I got all of the panels installed except for the last 2, before winter set in. I mounted the 2 remaining panels vertically on the front of the pedestal, just to complete the electrical circuits. I plan on completing the installation in the spring once the snow melts.

The new solar rack did exceptionally well this winter. It shed the snow very well, and even when there was a lot of snow, it would shed very quickly when the sun came out. This winter was a very snowy year, we probably had between 60"-80" of snow.

I am very pleased with the new solar rack and am confident that it will hold up to the brutal winters and last us for many years.

Winter Wins Again!

 Winter access to our off-grid property has always been a major issue and concern. In the 13 years we have owned this property we have always struggled with having year-round access. Since we do not (yet) live full time on the property it is especially hard in the winter.  The goal has always been to have full access to the cabin, where I can drive in and out, regardless of season.  The first few years I made trip up to the cabin every time it snowed and managed to keep the road open for access. Once we started building the cabin and had a second access road, it was impossible to keep the road open once it snowed and iced over.  Over the years, I have tried many different things to either keep the road open or allow us to access the cabin. From a snowplow on my truck, to a large snow blower, a tractor with a bucket and blade, to a Polaris side-by-side UTV equipped with snow tracks and a V-Plow, each of these only provided limited success and winter access. The plow on the truck only worked if I was able to plow immediately after it snowed, which wasn't always possible, even the largest walk-behind snow blower, could keep up with the 3'-4' feet of snow that would accumulate. The tractor with the bucket wasn't very effective on long stretches of driveway and was difficult to pile the snow.  The V-plow on the polaris was only good for a few feet of snow, once the snow got too deep, it couldn't push the snow over the berm.

                                                Tractor with new 52" Snowblower attachment

This year, I went one step further and purchased a snowblower attachment for the tractor. The plan was to park the truck about 1/2 mile down on the forest service road from the cabin, snowshoe into the cabin, use the tractor with snow blower attachment to clear the driveway and road down to the USFS road where I parked and drive the truck into the cabin. I was confident this would be the year we would solve our winter access problem to the cabin.  But as they say, "so much for best laid plans".    This year we received about 3-1/2' of early snow in December.  I was eager to try out the new snow blower and clear the road so I could drive into the cabin.  When finally got to the cabin, cleared the snow off the tractor and started it up, I heard a loud "pop' when I engaged the snowblower PTO.  The chain driving the snowblower popped a link and fell off.  Snowblower was inoperable and I couldn't move the tractor.  Additionally, I didn't have chains on the tractor (I either misplaced them or someone stole them) so even after a couple hours of digging, I couldn't move the tractor.  

                                                Tractor with snowblower attachment stuck

I decided to use my trusted Polaris with snow tracks and V-Plow to try to clear the road, but the snow was so deep, I could only clear a couple feet of snow.  Trying to dig deeper into the snow, the V-Plow couldn't push the snow up over the berm.  I cleared the road enough to walk on, but not enough to drive on. To add to the problem, after plowing with the Polaris for a couple of hours, one of the front snow tracks fell off.  I didn't have any replacement nuts at the cabin, so I had to leave it where it broke down.  So now I had no way to clear the driveway or road, no Polaris and no tractor or snow blower.

                                                Polaris UTV minus one snow track

Over the next few weeks, I purchased some replacement links for the chain, some tread rolls to try to get the tractor unstuck. I got the chain fixed, but the tractor wasn't going anywhere without chains.

So I guess this isn't going to be the year that I solve the winter access to the cabin. I will find or replace the chains for the tractor and try again next year. I will get the track back on the Polaris and have it ready for backup for next year.   I will have to now wait for the snow to melt to be able to get both the tractor and Polaris out and fixed.   My wife Shelly says that maybe we should just make the cabin a summer cabin, which might be our next move if I can't solve this winter access problem.  As much as it frustrates me to be beaten every year by winter, I truly love being up at the cabin in the winter. There is something almost surreal being up there in complete wilderness in the middle of winter knowing there is no one around and seeing the snow all around. It's great to be sitting in a nice warm cabin with a fire burning looking out at the snow-covered mountains and trees, seeing the occasional, deer, elk, moose or other wildlife come by the cabin and think I am exactly where I should be.

Maybe next year will be our year, but as for 2022, I would say winter wins again....