The first system (late 2001) consisted of:

16 Trojan T 105 6 Volt Golf Cart Batteries 6 BP/Solarex 120 watt Solar Modules 1 Southwest Windpower Air 403 400 watt 24 Volt Wind Turbine 1 Trace/Xantrex C-40 Charge Controller 1 Trace/Xantrex U2624 2600 Watt Modified Sine Wave Inverter 1 DC250 Disconnect with various fuses and breakers

 The first thing someone might think is how are you going to operate a whole house on only 720 watts of solar. The correct answer is...you cannot!!!

The second major problem with this system was the modified sine wave inverter. Although the above inverter was quite powerful for it's time, and it had a decent battery charger, it could and did destroy some electronics.

The most distressing of all was the brand new Sears/Frigidaire refrigerator it damaged. In the summer of 2002 we finally had enough money to purchase a new fridge from Sears. The day it was delivered I plugged it in only to watch it jump across the floor for about 15 seconds and then quit. Assuming it was a "dud" fridge I called Sears and asked for a new unit to replace this "faulty" unit. About a week later I plugged in the new fridge to see it begin the dance of death. This time I unplugged it quickly as I knew Sears was good to deal with but not that good. A few hours later I plugged the new refrigerator into our 120 volt AC generator and it worked great. Now we either had to buy a sine wave inverter or continue using the tiny RV fridge we had been using for about a year.

We decided to go with the Xantrex SW4024 4000 watt sine wave inverter. It was listed on a US website for $2200 USD. By the time it arrived at our home in NB the total cost was $4797. ($2200 x 1.58=$3476 plus $400 for shipping; $120 for brokerage; $521 for tax and $280 for duty). At the time that was a lot more than we could afford but it was also the best decision we could have made. The new inverter changed everything. It could be set to sleep when there was very little load, had an awesome battery charger and could power just about anything. The CFL bulbs stopped humming and we could run our ceiling fan without the super loud hum it used to make. WOW! Of course the new fridge ran flawlessly with the SW4024.

 Now our system (late 2002) was like this:

16 Trojan T 105 6 Volt Golf Cart Batteries 6 BP/Solarex 120 watt Solar Modules 1 Southwest Windpower Air 403 400 watt 24 Volt Wind Turbine 1 Xantrex C40 Charge Controller 1 Trace/Xantrex SW4024 4000 Watt Sine Wave Inverter 1 DC250 Disconnect with various fuses and breakers

I was very shocked that my $2200 inverter turned into a $4800 inverter. Now (October 2010) one can buy a Magnum Energy 4400 watt sine wave inverter that is better quality and a better working inverter for about $2200 Canadian dollars. Prices have dropped a lot.

The new inverter really did make a difference however we were always low on power. I doubt the batteries were ever fully charged. We had to run our gas generator every few days and could not leave anything plugged in like cordless phones etc...

During this time we had many folks drop in or call with questions about solar energy. Most people, like me in the beginning, did not know anything about solar energy and had many questions like...

How much does it cost?

How many solar modules do I need?

What will a solar module operate?

It was then I decided to start a solar energy business to help educate and supply renewable energy equipment to folks in Canada. At the time we built our first system there was no where to buy solar modules in Canada for a fair price. We bought our BP/Solarex 120 watt modules for $1000 USD each. The same module was advertised in Canada for about $2200. All of the Canadian suppliers wanted a lot more for their products than suppliers in the US. I did not think this was fair. So we started looking for manufacturers who would sell direct to us in Canada. In the beginning there were very few. But as we grew, more and more manufacturer's would deal with us. Since we are located so close to the US border we are able to import many items ourselves to keep costs to a minimum.

The next big problem with our home system was our gas range. It was an off-the-shelf propane range from Sears. Little did I know that every gas range sold in Canada either has pilot lights or glow plug ignition. Pilot lit oven ranges were only available in ugly "camp like" kitchen ranges and consume a lot of propane via the multiple pilot lights. All of the nicer propane ranges used a glow plug to light the oven and spark ignition to operate the top burners. The spark ignition consumes less than a watt and only operates while the burner is lighting. No problem. However, the glow plugs turn on with the oven, light the propane and stay on the entire time you bake....yes the entire time you bake. Most of them burn between 400 and 500 watts the entire time you bake. For an on grid home this amounts to a few dollars a month and is only inconvenient if the power goes out (the oven will not operate without electricity). To an off grid home this amounts to not being to bake without buying a large amount of solar modules. Two hours of baking could consume up to 1000 watt hours (1kWh) of electricity. For the short term we did not bake unless the generator was operating. Within a year we found a solution...a Peerless Premier Pro stainless propane range. The Peerless Premier is the only range in North America that does not use a pilot or a glow plug to light the oven. Instead they use the spark ignition on the top burners and their own design of a spark ignition to light the oven. They are amazing. When you turn the oven on, the spark ignition lights the pilot. After about 20 seconds the pilot lights the oven burner. When you turn the oven off, the burner turns off and a few seconds later the pilot turns off. No propane wasted...no large energy consumption. Both the top burner and oven ignition systems use less than a watt to light and then shut off after the burner has lit. Both the oven and the top burners can be lit with a match if there is no electricity available. The Peerless Premier ranges are difficult to find in Canada at this time. If you would like more info click here. We can get you one if need be...just email me. Update late 2010: All Peerless Premier gas ranges will be sold with the GE glowplug system as of January 2011. The US DOE (Dept of Environment) is forcing Peerless to change their system as their current thermostats have a tiny bit of mercury in them. I guess they did not consider how much extra mercury would be emitted into the atmosphere by the extra electricity consumed by the glow plugs.

 Over the next few years we were able to purchase eight more Evergreen 180 watt modules. This tripled our solar energy and cut the generator run time by many hours per week. Now we could get through the summer without running the generator and only had to run it from November to March. However there were only two of us...my wife and I.

Now our system (early 2005) was like this:

16 Trojan T 105 6 Volt Golf Cart Batteries 6 BP/Solarex 120 watt Solar Modules 8 Evergreen 180 watt Solar Modules 1 Southwest Windpower Air 403 400 watt 24 Volt Wind Turbine 1 Trace/Xantrex C40 Charge Controller 1 Trace/Xantrex SW4024 4000 Watt Sine Wave Inverter 1 DC250 Disconnect with various fuses and breakers

In the summer of 2006 we had a lightning strike within 500 feet of our home. Only minutes before I had made a comment to Anne that there were going to be some power outages tonight and something like "I am glad we don't have to worry about that". Then...a large lighting strike hit and everything went dark. The lightning struck within 400 feet of our solar modules and induced enough current to cook our C40 charge controller and SW4024 inverter. After sending the inverter to a repair center in Ontario and waiting for months we decided to buy a SW4048 and also upgrade our charge controller to an Outback MX60 MPPT controller. The 48 volt upgrade was a no brainer as it allowed us to use smaller cables, wires and breakers and costs no more than a 24 volt model. It took about 4 months to get the damaged inverter repaired and cost about $1500. For that reason we have always tried to have a spare inverter in case of lighting damage again. We also added lots of Delta LA302DC arrestors although in a direct strike they will not help much. Lightning has the power to make large holes in items like wind turbines so a little plastic container filled with sand will not prevent damage every time. However they are cheap and it is silly to not add them to your system for the cost.

Now our system (late 2005) was like this:

16 Trojan T 105 6 Volt Golf Cart Batteries 6 BP/Solarex 120 watt Solar Modules 8 Evergreen 180 watt Solar Modules 1 Outback MX60 MPPT Charge Controller 1 Trace/Xantrex SW4048 4000 Watt Sine Wave Inverter 1 DC250 Disconnect with various fuses and breakers Lots of Deltec LA302DC Lightning Arrestors

You might notice the Air 403 wind turbine is no longer on the list. As it was a 24 volt model it would no longer work in our 48 volt system. It really was nothing more than a toy anyway so I do not miss it. Our solar energy system worked very well for the next few years and with only Anne and I we were able to get by with the power we made. However by the end of 2008 our batteries were getting very weak and the Xantrex SW4048 became extinct. As we operated a renewable energy business we decided we should not have a system with parts that are not available. We couldn't show our customers our system and say "here is a great system....however you cannot get one as they are discontinued." Seeing as the batteries were worn out as well, we built a completely new system. We acquired eight more Evergreen modules, sixteen new Surrette S530 batteries, two 48 volt 3600 watt Outback inverters, FW500-AC AC breaker panel, FW500-DC DC breaker panel, a Mate and all the accessories. A two inverter system was perfect for us to give us redundancy. If one inverter fails, we can easily operate on the other until the faulty unit is repaired. The inverter on the top is the "master" inverter and the bottom inverter is the "slave" inverter. The "master" inverter is "on" 24 hours a day to keep things like clocks, cordless phones etc. operating. The "slave" inverter is sleeping most of the time. It only powers up if the "master" inverter needs support such as when we use a hair dryer or our 120 volt 1/2 hp submersible pump. Once the larger load is turned off, the "slave" goes back to sleep using only a watt or two rather than over 20 watts if it was to remain "on" all the time. This was a brilliant idea for Outback to design into their inverters.

Our new system (early 2009) was like this:

16 Surrette S530 6 Volt 530AH Batteries (1060 Amp-Hours at 48 Volts) 6 BP/Solarex 120 watt Solar Modules (720 watts) 8 Evergreen 180 watt Solar Modules (1440 watts) 8 Evergreen 195 watt Solar Modules (1560 watts) 1 Outback MX60 MPPT Charge Controller 1 Outback FM60 MPPT Charge Controller 2 Outback VFX3648 3600 Watt Sine Wave Inverters (7200 watts@120 vac) 1 Flexware 500 AC and DC Breaker Panels with various fuses and breakers 1 Outback Mate 1 Outback Hub-4 Lots of AC and DC Delta Lightning Arrestors

 Finally we had the system we always wanted. We were able to put together 3720 watts of solar modules. We now had enough power to operate our fridge, freezer, washer, dryer, dishwasher, various computers, internet, cordless phones, printers, air conditioners and even an electric kettle and toaster oven. The last three items we only operate in the summer as we would be short in the winter. This system has worked well for the two of us, however lately our needs have changed.

As of June 2009 Anne and I had been married for 15 years and were unable to have children. We decided to adopt two children from Haiti in January of 2006 and were still waiting three years later. Unexpectedly, Anne became pregnant in the summer of 2009.

In late September 2009 we were able to visit our two adopted children (Jeffson and Rihanna) in Petionville, Haiti. Petionville is a village about 5 miles from the center of Port Au Prince. It is one of the nicer areas in Haiti however the living conditions are far worse than any conditions one would experience in Canada. Below you will see a photo of Anne and I while we meet our children for the very first time on the balcony of God's Littlest Orphanage in Haiti. This photo was taken about one minute after we met each other.

If you would like to read more of our experience adopting in Haiti or would like to learn about the process of adopting internationally please click here.(this page will be ready by the middle of November...sorry for the delay)

On January 12 of 2010 the big earthquake happened in Haiti. The home/orphanage our children lived in was spared major damage. On January 27, 2010 Jeffson and Rihanna flew from Haiti to Canada to live with us forever. Three weeks later, February 17, 2010 our baby girl Ava was born.

 We had three new arrivals in three weeks. It has been very chaotic however it is a good chaotic. With all the extra people in our home our energy needs have increased dramatically. I'm not sure what we'll do right now as money is tight but we will hopefully buy more modules sometime next year. In the meantime we will just run the generator more.

HAITI:

Haiti is still in very bad shape. The streets have not been repaired, most buildings have not been removed and replaced, and most Haitians have no where to live. Fixing this is very difficult. So many homes cannot be repaired as they are in the middle of groups of homes that have not been damaged. It is hard to justify damaging and moving a good home to get to a damaged home. As well there are no roads in a lot of these communities. No way to get materials in and out. The other issue with houses is that most of the damaged homes were rented and not owned. If you own your own home and property you can tear it down and rebuild. If you were renting the home you can do nothing. If the landlord does not want to or cannot replace your home, you are left outside. This is the case with most Haitians. Not only that...if you have a relative trapped in the destroyed home you are responsible to pay a company about $200 for removal. This is about 2/3 of a years salary. So you are left with the sadness of leaving your loved one under a pile of rubble. It is very sad. We at Renewable Energy New Brunswick Ltd. have a strong connection with Haiti and are doing everything we can to help the good people of Haiti. We have been to Haiti and will keep going to try and help as much as we can. We are always looking for folks to join us and help.

The average Haitian makes about a dollar a day. By giving very little money you can help a lot. One great organization to support is Compassion International. For $41 a month you can sponsor a child in a community in Haiti. Compassion uses this money to provide medical care, nutritious food, life skills training and vocational training....for only $41 per month. They are able to do this by getting support for a whole community of children and pooling the resources. Check them out at http://www.compassion.ca/index.asp . Please pray for people of Haiti and consider giving of your time and money to help the Haitians who are just as deserving of a good life as we are in Canada....

Take Care,

Jody