Installation of the System
     
Feb 19, 2001  
  Drove to Willits to pick up the brackets from Two Seas
Feb 20, 2001  
  Panels arrived. Moved 24 panels in individual cardboard boxes into the garage.
Made 2 stacks, each stack is about waist high.
Feb 25, 2001  
 

During the 6 hours of partly cloudy skies, we bolted down the 2x4 pieces that will support the panels closest to the top ridge of the roof.

Spent the hours after work during the week constructing the brackets into similar units.
 
Mar 3, 2001  
 

With a window of dry skies, we spent the day on the roof bolting down L-shaped corner brackets that will hold a 2x4 on edge. We mounted the panel brackets to the 2x4s. We installed the 4 panels on the top ridge of the house and one of the bracket/panel units on the lower portion of the roof.

The weather was overcast the whole day, so we worked faster the darker it got. At 5 PM it started raining and we were cold.
 
 
Mar 4, 2001  
  After continuous rain since yesterday, we crawled in the attic to confirm there were no leaks in the roof.
Mar 9, 2001  
  Inverter arrives.  
Mar 10, 2001  
 

Gary and I spent the weekend on the roof installing the panels, pulling wire and connecting the wire to panels. We worked from sunup to sundown both days and are really tired.

By noon on Saturday, we had all the panels mounted on the brackets. I began wiring the panels to each other and Gary installed the conduit from the panels and along the roof to the garage.

 
 
 

 
March 11, 2001
 

We measured, cut and pulled the wire from the panels to the spot in the garage where the inverter will be installed. Gary began connecting the pulled wire to the panels that goes to the inverter.
 

 
 

We used the cardboard to "turn off" the current from the panels, when wiring.

 
March 18, 2001
  Gary finished installing conduit and connecting the wire from the panels to the inverter.

 

The inverter, minus the cover.

 
March 19, 2001
 

Utility meter (spins back the energy created by the panels) was installed by PGE. Thanks to the installer that did this during a rolling blackout, so we did not have to schedule when to shutdown the power to the house. (PGE decided that for us.)

 
March 20, 2001
  Installed Manual Disconnect near power meter.

 
March 24, 2001
 

Connected the inverter to a manual disconnect, then to a breaker in the breaker panel. Installed ground wire from panels to ground rod and connected 2 ground rods together.

Connected panels to the power meter. We are now online, spinning the meter backwards.

We noticed moderate fan noise of the inverter (that cycles on and off), and happy that we installed this in the garage and not on the outside wall of bedroom or kitchen (where we would have to listen to the drone).
March 25, 2001
 

Adjusted the angle of the panels for optimum generation for this time of year. And spent the rest of the time caulking holes in the house, putting tools away, and looking at the paperwork needed to complete the rebate and inspection.

Also checked the digital readouts of both the inverter and the PGE meter about once an hour and danced a gig as we watched the LED arrow point back to the power pole on the street, indicating that we are sending energy back to PGE.
March 27, 2001
  Passed inspections from the City and PGE. The City inspector was honest and said that this was his first time at inspecting a PV system, but did not see any electrical problems that would cause a concern. The PGE inspector was happy with everything he saw and liked the Manual Disconnect box enough to think about requesting other installers to begin using that model. He and Gary talked about the possibility of connecting a computer to the data connection (serial port) on the inverter and tracking the inverter's log files. Now if we could only figure out how to make that work.
 

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