Looks like all this will be fully coming online not a moment too soon.

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Hoping to get these up on Thursday, but not optimistic.

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As interesting as this looks, not a lot of meat on the bone. Might be able to get a better price as a lot buy but for some reason I'm doubtful and rather busy at the moment. My wife likes Bad Cats a lot, the other pins though are hard sells aside from maybe Black Knight.

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Speaking of busy, Thursday is looking better by the minute. Need to make up 6 additional brackets and mark out the locations on the roof and it's go time.

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Pretty little support bracket, I love having a welder.

Panels are done, brother in law coming over after work tomorrow to help get them on the roof.

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End of electrical labors finally in sight.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Second set of panels are online!

1) Pull cable(s) to workshop. DONE
2) Breaker panel for 220V, outlets DONE
3) Third solar control & wiring, split off panels for workshop DONE
4) 12 panels, main roof (need to weld up framework, run PV wiring) DONE
5) 4 panels secondary roof, (need to weld up framework, run PV wiring) DONE

Been crazy the last 3 weeks! All this got done along with truck servicing, pallet racking for storage and Thanksgiving! The solar is done aside from some minor detail work (reseal one bracket, level one panel, change out one connector, shift 2 batteries from garage to house for more capacity) so maybe 2-3 hours here.

6) House control panel for inverter power control and status, emergency 12v lighting.

Already cut out spot in wall for panel as roof solar wiring passes through. Some challenges here due to old house construction. Also have to add in relays to swap well pump and furnace to solar in event of power outage.

7) Install emergency 12v lighting.

This will actually be the easiest part.

Have a great Friday everyone! Working today.

Gary

Third month bill is in, should go down more as I shift more over.

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Controller on left is for the 12 panels on house, afternoon sun. Controller on right, 16 panels, morning sun.

The morning sun panels will get upwards of 30 amps at peak, so far the 12 panel afternoon array peaks out around 20 amps. You can see at 230 in the afternoon the morning panels are slacking off while the PM set are just hitting their stride.

In the warmer months will generate even more amps due to axial tilt improving the sun/panel relationship. The 4 extra morning panels will be shunted to the garage system controller though it seems to be trucking right along on just 4 panels at the moment.

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Not going to bore you guys with daily updates, still plugging along till this is done. Wall ripped out, interior lined with sheetrock for fire safety, conduit holes in place attic & floor. Tonight hope to have the conduit installed and start pulling wire to it's final destination before wiring the panel itself.

Storming out and the transformer down the street just let go with a loud bang!

Wish I had the emergency lights wired but that is still at least a week out.

Currently the cold storage is running off the primary system bank and my computer and room lighting running off the garage bank

Good Morning!

The garage ad hoc 12V battery bank was down to 60% from 90% at start this morning, most impressive. It had no problem powering the refrigerator all night and I'd say based on consumption the garage array & bank could power it indefinitely.

The main 24V bank was down to 42% from 66%, acceptable considering the main bank was already starting off from a deficient position due to rain and overcast all day.

Not really a factor in my thinking, though after the fact I calculated 3 to 4 years. With rates going up 50%, maybe less than that.

The primary goal of the system is to keep the basics running when the power goes out without firing up the generator. I had some extra money that would be best invested in something rather than sit in a safe and the off grid solar was it.

Any savings from reduction of load off the Eversource main grid is a bonus.

Last night was confirmation of my choices and I slept soundly and in silence not listening to a generator knowing everything was humming along.

BOM of system- Note this does not cover "convenience items" like emergency lighting, garage wiring, remote switching and it is actually TWO stand alone systems (Garage and House) and my labor of course. Could have easily reduced the system cost over $1200 if the garage didn't have it's own system. The garage system however is where I came up with the rough blueprint for the main system.

$650 4 panel starter set with 40 amp controller and brackets
$300 two 40 amp solar controllers
$2790 28 100 watt panels
$732 24v power inverters, pure sine wave, 3x
$233 12V power inverter, pure sine wave
$120 10 gauge wire 100 foot
$10 copper wire lugs
$26 circuit breaker 3 pack 30 amp
$27 battery box pair (basement)
$40 Y branch connectors
$98 branch connectors, fuses, breakers
$51 Renogy cable set
$46 resetable breaker set
$56 zinc battery cable ends
$40 more zinc battery cable ends
$14 Solar PV cable terminal kit
$40 panel hardware (washers, bolts, etc)
$440 Steel for panel frames (home depot)

$5713 USD more or less for 2 systems.

One system has 1 40 amp controller, 1 12V inverter and 8 panels.
One system has 2 40 amp controllers, 3 24V inverters and 24 panels.

Optional hardware or related to project in some way but not required. There was A LOT going on with the solar being weaved into garage and house wiring changes.

$30 voltmeter 4 pack for batteries in various locations
$18 volt/amp remote display panel
$12 toggle switches, water control
$10 110v indicator lamps
$22 plug in volt display 110v
$17 hot water timer
$13 gang switch, emergency lights
$32 emergency lights (6)
$7 outlet plate quad
$10 circuit breakers auto reset, remote 12v batteries
$93 10/3 romex, garage wiring
$16 stainless wire clamps. garage wiring
$18 25 amp 2 pole circuit breaker, 220v garage wiring
$60 3 pole switching relays, main/solar control for refridge/well/sump pump
$10 wire 18 gauge, emergency lighting

$368 additional.

Note this does not cover the batteries which were purchased cash (half off) heavy gauge battery cable (already had on hand) and various other bits and pieces picked up over the years. Batteries in the garage are actually from various vehicles collected over the last year or two, 2 of the main bank batteries were massive FREE generator units from work (mandatory replacement after 4 years) Some of the panel framework is actually garage door reinforcement that was in my steel rack.

Note there is much there is much mention of fuses and circuit breakers, EVERY voltage line off the panel arrays has a manual on/off breaker AND a fuse. Always have your circuit protection set to protect the wiring at all times. 10 gauge PV panel wiring is good for 30 amps, since the individual arrays will never see that fuse values are set at 20 amps, well inside the safe limit of the wiring. Battery wiring is protected 100 amps which leaves a 30 amp cushion, also breaker and fuse protected. The inverters have their own built in current protection on the output side as well.

Cheap insurance that can keep your house from burning.

System is actually seperate & isolated from house wiring not to mention main grid. I did consult and have a qualified electrician who is a friend of mine eyeball everything for safety. Any chance of back feeding into grid is a no no.

Interesting question on the insurance, I'd say no and not overly concerned as they are next to useless. Utterly.

Insurance is problematic in this area for a number of reasons, no good options.

Give you an example of insurance stupidity- Researched getting flood insurance for the house after some biblical storms several years back. The agent listened politely and told me that it was available but the insurance would not pay out unless you had three adjoining properties that were also damaged AND filed claims.

Since there is only ONE property bordering mine even if we were both destroyed by a tidal wave, insurance would not pay out a dime.

I keep the insurance pretty much if only something catastrophic happens like a hurricane or tornado. The company has made it clear that any "minor claims" will cause next years policy to triple or just get dropped altogether.

At least the local agent was honest about it.

I'm not concerned as the work is not only to spec for a home, in some cases better as healthcare facilities are held to higher standard.

And I tend to go an extra step or two for safety. My garage is made of steel for a reason, I dont like fire a bit. There is commercial grade fire suppression about as well.

I'll give an idea how serious I take fire safety, take for example where the control panel is going to be located between two wall studs.

1) Building code for wiring is normally 14/2 Romex for a 15 amp, 120 volt circuit.

Instead of 14/2, I'm using 12/2 with the same 15 amp breaker. Remember the breaker always protects the wiring! Using a heavier gauge wiring is not necessary and adds cost but does provide an extra margin of protection.

2) Conduit is not required for this but the wiring is run in conduit regardless. Again, cheap insurance.

3) The area in the wall has been completely lined with sheetrock so there is no exposed wood. Again, overkill and not required.

4) The finishing touch in overkill? The sheetrock is coated with state Fire Marshal approved fire barrier paint.

I chuckled when you mention the wiring and insurance. The house is 130+ years old and still has armored cable wiring that has cloth wrapped conductors! As we renovate room to room the wiring is replaced with much safer alternatives. When I first got the house it had a 30 amp fuse panel with 60 amp worth of glass fuses in it

It's much safer now than when I started.

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Working as fast as employment, health and weather will allow. The end is in sight but I'm getting tired running flat out the last few months.

Grateful I can do it again, but still tiring. After this little project is put to bed, I just have a tree or two to drop and then I can retire to the workshop for the winter.

woot!

Just a quick update; the newest solar controller is defective and shutting down as soon as it hits 94V, contacted Amazon for a return and exchange. Was trying to figure out why the batteries were not charging proper but every day I checked it was raining or overcast. Yesterday was bright and sunny so the problem was quickly spotted.

Still chugging along, lots of stuff to fix around house unfortunately this week so slow going.

Defender cabinet sold yesterday.

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Sorry things are going slow guys, work and other stuff making this a slog.

Also a lot of thought and engineering are going on to make sure I don't burn my house down

Kings of Steel has been sold.

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Merry Christmas my friends!

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Nothing much going on right now friends, the wife and I both are down with symptomatic covid.

Lots of sleeping, fluids and movies the last few days.

Good morning!

Wife and I are fully recovered and back up to speed, nothing really exciting this week going on yet. Heading outside to split a bunch of wood today.

Toying with the idea of a hi-def screen in the backglass location for changing "games" and having the score displays in a fixed location, would certainly speed up game swaps.

It would its true though honestly not a huge factor in the decision process. I'm more annoyed some people producing backglasses are producing garbage, the time to shuffle displays around and storage requirements.

Since three pins left the workshop this weekend I was able to do some cleaning and shuffling around of pins.

The last lot buy pin was setup, Black Hole. It's a very nice example with a good repaint. Odds are I'll keep this sweet example and sell the one with more wear.

My second Data East pin Secret Service was dug out of long storage and fired up with a minimum of fuss.

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Actually doing pin stuff!

Black Hole chaser lamps had a few segments out, narrowed it down to 2 blown U45's on the chaser board caused by one of the LED's installed by the former owner that had a solder bridge on the base of the bulb. Clearly he moved it from it's initial location to another spot and it blew that driver out as well. Found the offending bulb, replaced the board drivers and serviced the lamp assembly while I was at it (staples holding the bulbs was loose) and set it aside for now.

Removed the frame, sanded and repainted as it had several scuffs which looked poorly compared to the newly painted cabinet.

Only thing left is to adjust a flipper and find out why the voice is inop. I'll test the SC-01 chip in my other black hole to see if it's functional or not before proceeding with further troubleshooting.

Nice, very nice. This one is going to stay and the one currently in the "game room" will be for sale. This one has had a full paint job, new legs and the playfield is in excellent shape plus a lot of new boards. MPU, main power and sound board are Swemmer units and it plays very fast. I'm going to either stick the original board in my "stuff to do pile" as it does actually work or sell as is.

Fixed the chaser lamps (shorted LED and 2 bad drivers) changed a bunch of leds, de-greased a sticking flipper and replaced coil sleeve, pulled the lower playfield to fix up kicker tube which kept moving around and blocking switch or jamming up ball, repaired one display (bad cap) fixed a connector on another display, repainted the backbox door frame, neatened up some wiring there. I think I'm going to replace the LED's in the chaser circuit, it just does not look right to me without incandescent bulbs.

Started some work on Sorcerer, when I got it the playfield was stripped and all I did was assemble so I could evaluate. Tossed out all the incandescent bulbs, now has full Comets, rebuilt a flipper that was pretty funky, fixed a broken wire for the drop targets. I like the game, it might have legs and perhaps I'll tuneup and clear the playfield in the future if it hangs around several months.

Need to wrap up Flash Gordon so I can sell the restored unit so it will be next.

Also still enjoying Secret Service. I was considering selling but the numbers don't work out and I can't strip a perfectly good pinball machine. When there is spare time I'll strip it down, repaint the cabinet after fixing various bruises and re-decal. If it gets setup every 2 years for a few weeks of play I'm good with that as I have the storage space. Super Spinner!

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LW3, Checkpoint, Supersonic, High Speed, Time Zone, Knockout, one Black Hole, my job, my FWD racecar and my wife of 16 years out...

And Galaxy in.

Sorry guys my life the last 4 or 5 months has been a storm of poo.

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The pins I don't mind, it was time for them to move on and I used the money fixing up stuff around the house.. My old race car is finally getting worked on so that is ok too, it was going to be another 5 years at best before I could get to it. My wife though is a hard, hard blow and there is no clear cut explanation either. I wish her the best and may the Lord heal her and may she walk with him. Hopefully things will be finalized in the next 3 or 4 weeks and I can go on with life.

As for work.. it was time to move on. Nothing on the horizon at the moment and frankly not even looking yet. Finish some work around the house and garage projects before I pickup anything else. Need to wrap up Flash Gordon playfield and I have a Fathom I'm collecting parts for. Once I have the FG put together I can finally sell off the restored one.

So about Galaxy.. I was looking for a playfield to try out in the Bally/Stern cabinet and my buddy Colsond3 picked up one on the cheap and we did some horse trading. It was dead as a door nail aside from GI lighting with the MPU not booting up. I was able to get the machine to boot by changing out the proms for eproms but that only lasted for a half hour before a new problem reared it's ugly head.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/strange-mpu-200-problem-

Something strange going on with the SDB was causing the MPU-200 to hang on boot and swapping it out got me up and running. Had to swap out two displays, change a flipper coil, the rectifier board and tinker with a few switches and it is basically up and running. It CLEARLY has been run for a long time with little maintenance. Cabinet is nice, backglass and playfield fair. Will make a good player to see how I like it, so far initial impression is good. Need to change out a pop spoon and a few other odds and ends along with a through cleaning.

Thank you, it's a rough go as I really trusted and loved my wife. Have support of some great friends and family and been working out regularly.

I'm still thumping on this Galaxy, no shortage of hacking! One of the drop targets was a modified Bally which got swapped, one of the pops was dragging and I had to clean grease off it and the flippers are so wobbly instead of changing out the bushings someone slapped a piece of mylar on the playfield to fix the tips dragging.

lol.

It is a fun game, now that I'm tweaking it's rather lively.

Changed out ANOTHER display and fixed a lot of other mischief today. Did some minor touch up's and waxed it and it plays very fast. I think there is a gremlin hiding in the electronics somewhere, every once in awhile it will lock up when the credit or start button is pressed and I have not been able to isolate it yet. Just random enough I can't pin it down, I'm thinking it is one of the diodes in the switch line is tripping the slam tilt.

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Almost done banging around the house.. hoping to get started again on that Flash Gordon playfield next month.

Anyone have some inline drop target assemblies for sale?

I might be firing only on a cylinder or two these days but still keeping an eye out for parts time to time.

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