#22 Installing solar panels on a 20ft shipping container. OFF GRID

Hey, welcome to a new Project Camp update. So we bought this big piece of land and are prototyping a more sustainable way of living. Not sure how it's going to go, but let's see. And in the previous video, you could see that we hooked up all our electronics for our solar system. And making sure all the wires are there. But we don't have any solar yet, because we first need to install the panels. And we're going to do that in this video. Which means we're going to make a frame, put it on top of the container. It's going to be adjustable for the angle of the sun. And then, at the end of the video, we connect everything and we should have electricity. So first we have to get some metal. And I actually found a super cool metal shop quite close by. Where they sell tubes, profiles. And you can cut them as well, so you don't need to buy full length. So yeah, time to get some metal. We have a lot of metal. Also a lot of little scrap parts. Of sheets. Some big machinery to cut it all. We have a lot of tubes. This is my shopping list. Super cool that he wrote down all the things. We have some great safety goggles. Very crispy. And bright. So the tubes are now on the roof. Sticking out on the back and the front. Not sure how legal it is. However, that's not my worry. The worry would be more that we go to a bumpy downhill road. So it could easily shake off. Fall in my front window. It's a short ride, but bumpy. How's it going? They seem quite stable. So there the dirt road starts. Bumpy. Here comes the scary part. The most steep downhill. How's it going? Still there. Made it. Easy. Alright, so we have our material. Now it's time to build. First we need to chop it into the right dimension. Before we weld it. And we can do that. We have a metal chop saw in the workspace. However, before we can do it, we need to do two things. One is... The chop saw is in there, but I never used it. Because we didn't have electricity before. And in the last video we got a generator. Which runs on three phase. We never tested it. We only used a single phase. So I'm not sure how that's going to go. Second thing, these beams are long. 6 meters. Same length as the container. So they don't fit in. Before we leave, we wanted to make a hole on the side of the container. So we could slide them in and chop them. But we never did. Because we thought it might leak and transport. And things like that. So we also need to add that hole. So we can actually chop these. So we need to make a hole. In that bowl. On that height. To make sure... They can go outside if they are very long. So now we have a little hole. To cut big beams. Also a great place for a break. Because it's a perfect cup holder. Now it's time to chop some metal. So we cut all the metal to make the frame. We also cut some additional items. Like this. Which we are going to use to clamp the frame on the container. Using those standardised holes. That are always in there. But first we are going to drill some holes. To mount the panels on. So all the holes are now drilled. Next up we are going to do welding. But unfortunately our own welder machine. Doesn't work on the generator. Because the amperage is too high. But luckily the neighbour borrowed his stick welder. So we could still weld it. I'm not super experienced with it. But I think it should be ok. I'm more worried about not having any flat surface. It's just all wobbly grass. So yeah. I hope the frame is going to be straight. All right. So all the components are now ready. We have here a big frame. These are the holders. It's going to be on the floor. Some mounting brackets. To put underneath the holders. To attach it to the container. The tubes that are going to open and extend. To make sure we can adjust the angle of the panel. And a few other mounting brackets. Now originally I wanted to put it all together here. So we can just put it on top of the container. Or disassemble it and put it back together there. But I realized it's very hard to do here. With a non-flat floor. I have to really see everything is aligned. So I think I'm going to do the final assembly. On the container itself. And I probably have to take it back apart again. To paint it. Which is kind of annoying. But at least then I know it's going to fit. So time to go on the container. So we are making an adjustable frame. Which means we can change the angle of the frame. According to the angle of the sun. Because the angle of the sun changes throughout the year. So for instance in the summer. The sun is much more straight up. And in the winter the sun is much lower. And having your panel. At the exact same angle as the sun. Is more efficient. And to find the right angle. You first need to know the latitude of where you are in the world. So in our case we are at 40 degrees. And then the right angle for your summer sun. Is you deduct 15 degrees. So at 25 degrees. Would be the right angle for us in summer. To get the sun from straight up. And 55 degrees would be the angle. In winter. Because we are at 15 degrees. And overall this gives like a 3 to 4 percent efficiency. Increase. Not that much. But it's also not that much extra work. To make your panel adjustable. And you don't need to change this every day. It's just twice a year that you do this. So it's not that much work. So it seems like an easy score. For some efficiency gain. Alright so everything fits. Everything is aligned. And the hinges work. Which is good. I was a bit worried about that. It was also quite hot up there in the sun. But now it cooled down. So we are going to take it off the container. Give it a final paint job. And then we are going to assemble it back on. With all the panels and stuff. And then we can hook it up. And we should have electricity. Final assembly. Here we have our frame. All our screws and nuts. And all the parts. Now putting it together. So here you have a corner of the container. Which is super solid. Then this plate is going on top. With the hole in the middle. And on the bottom we have this bracket. It's going to come in the middle. With the back bolt and nut. To tighten it together. And then it's a very strong way. To clamp the frame to the container. Okay, moment of truth. Everything is wired up. Solar panel is coming in here. The only thing breaking the circuit. Is the fuse box. So if we put this one on. Everything should work. So let's see. That seems to work. No fire, no explosions. Should be good. And the upside of electricity. Is that we have a working fridge. So when it gets hot we can cool down. And just sit inside. Although probably it's more useful. For vegetables and fruits. To keep them longer. But having a fridge is a big plus. Another big upgrade is that. All our kitchen appliances work. And the other upside is. We can now finally charge all our electronics. We could already charge some in our van. And the solar panels. But now we can really properly charge. All our batteries. For the chainsaw and the brush cutter. So we can do way more of that work. Which is really needed. So that's cool. But one thing I actually want to show you on the computer. Is the software behind this solar setup. Because it's really nice. To keep track of your habits. So this is basically our system. In the previous video. You can see the actual electrical components. And how we wired them up. But this is just the schematics of it. And it's updated real time. So at the moment as we speak. We're generating 490 watts. Of electricity with our solar panels. And the little blue dots. You can see it moving. And some of it moves to our battery. To charge it. Which is actually already 100%. And some goes to the inverter. Which converts the 48 volts. Into 230 volts. Which means we can use it. With our normal appliances. So currently we use 370 watts. Which is probably the fridge. And some of these things charging. So this is real time. What's going on. And the current temperature. Is 28 degrees. Which is important for us to keep track of. For when it's getting too hot. To make sure it doesn't overheat. And then here you can see. The solar history. So you can sort of really keep track. Of your solar habits. One is the consumption. It's kind of interesting. We used 14 kilowatts so far. And the production is 20 kilowatts. So we're good there. Battery is always at full capacity. You have way more statistics behind it. In the end. I think this would really be more valuable. If you use it for a long time. To really track your habits. There's also way more options underneath everything. I don't really know this yet. But I'll continue to explore. Alright so this is our final solar setup. Mounted on the container. With adjustable angle for winter and summer. Winter, summer. I'll share the 3D model and schematics. Of the entire setup later. In the Project Camp Academy. So you can replicate it. But I still need to clean up the files. So go actually to Discord if you want to help out with that. And this was quite an important update for us. To set up Basecamp having electricity. Now we can properly use our tools. And the next big milestone. Is going to be running water. Alright so that was this update. A bit lengthy. But it was also quite some work. I hope you like it. It's very funny. If you like what we do. Make sure to visit support.projectcamp.com And yeah. I think we're going to get some sleep now. See you in the next video. Or you want to use some electricity. Just because we can. We can sleep with the lights on. We will sleep with the lights on. Why not.