Unconnected in Seward AK

Hello All,

Started building the place in 2010, more or less on my own, it's off grid other than 1 phone line that I don't use anymore. The system has been through a few changes over the years. Started with the 2 Outback VFX3648's and 1350Ah of Rolls FLA's, those things owned me I'm pretty sure. Then went to 16 Aquion stacks and now I'm looking at lithium. There is just over 5000w of solar in 2 arrays and 1K of wind from a Kestrel. There are a bunch of pictures on Zillow and a drone video on YouTube type in 10850 Little bear lane, Seward AK or go to our web site alaskawaterfrontlandcom. I've cleaned up the rats nest below the inverter's. The panels in the garden were supposed to be temporary but we all know how that goes.

Nice setup and nice view!

gnubie said:

Nice setup and nice view!

Click to expand...

I wonder what it looks like right now!

@toothy - do you get any solar power in the winter?
What is your Mount Marathon 5k time?
- we saw it a few years ago. 2 airlifted out. 1 person never found... still?

And please post pics and info about your "1K of wind from a Kestrel".

Gorgeous homestead! You bring back great memories...

I spent three summers, '90-'92 chartering 6-pac fishing between Seward and Valdez. I'd still be there, but my conscience got to me. The family was having to suffer through nine months of winter, so that I could enjoy the three months of summer!

Funny you should ask what it looks like today, I just took 2 pics for the guys on the DR650 motorcycle board. Solar in the winter, maybe but this fall has been horrible. Usually when it gets colder it may get a bit sunnier, we’ve had like 4 days of sun in the last few months. The chickweed and grass are still pretty happy. The generator is well excercised this year, we usually burn under 75 gallons of diesel per year, this year could be double that.

The missing guy from the Mt Marathon race is still missing, on the beach somewhere probably. My theory is no bears and no birds = no body. I’ve only been to town once on the 4th and don’t need to go again, we watch the race with the scope on the porch.

Mt Marathon time, 16 years and counting been most of the way but ran out of light. I have done plenty of other hills in the area looking for game and entertaining guests.

You're replacing Aquion batteries?! Werent those things supposed to last for 20 years or more?? I eyeballed them back when I put together my house bank but I just couldnt swing the expense of buying them so I went AGM and are replacing them 6 years later.

yes lets hear about the Aquion's, the only bad thing I heard about them is each stack in 48v was only good for like 25amps so you needed a butt load of them for any peak loads. Going to guess P6160008.JPG is the Aquions and not the solar bus?

20 years.... Who knows. The first set was replaced under warranty at the 1 yr mark because of a mfg defect. When they started going bad they fell off a cliff performance wise. That was 2015 and 2016. This fall as the days got shorter and the weather way worse I got worried about their performance and did some testing not thorough just rudimentary. They seem pretty good but living up here I didn’t want to take chances so now I have the lithium on hand ready to go in. I do like the lithium footprint. I like the Aquions for the total lack of care and babysitting. I do have one bad stack that I’ve been swapping individual modules into from a stack damaged in shipping.

I remember max charge and load is like 15amps per stack. Yes that pic is the home brew Aquion disconnect fuses/combiner. I wish I knew if anybody else was having any problems with them, I do a search once in a while but get no hits. I keep them in an insulated box around 55 deg in the winter.

My two favorite place to visit/fish is Yakutat and Seward... The views are spectacular in both places.