4-Year Anniversary BABIES!!

Today marks the anniversary of our arrival in Pahoa on the Big Island of Hawaii on 12/12/12. And, we are celebrating two new "babies." Well, of course first are the "baby pictures" everyone wants to see --the sweet little girl puppy who was born December 1st. Here she is (a week old) curled up in Phil's hands and belly-up for a nap.

Outback 48Volt "Flex-Power" System

SUN POWER!! Here's the "baby" we didn't quite expect, but are happy it finally arrived. For a couple years now, we have been struggling to figure out what kind of solar set up we needed, while piddling along with half-steps, making mistakes, and learning our options. Well, we took the plunge and opted for a whole-house set up which means all the energy to run our house and our rental will come from the sun!!  Everyone will recognize "A" in the photo -- a standard electrical box connecting all the various appliances, lights, and electrical operations of the house.

Our first "baby" steps early on, were to get our most expensive items OFF of the electric bill. Switching the hot tub from electric to propane was a huge savings. Next was the refrigerator and the water pump that runs water for both our house and the rental. Just those steps brought the bill down to about $110 -- and that is for three people. Eventually we knew we wanted to do even more.

# F - Phil's new "mate" computerized panel

Two years ago, we were somewhat prepared for Hurricane Iselle because we had a good quality generator, and were able to maintain both internet service, refrigerator and freezer as well as TV and power for our ohana/rental. But, to do so meant electrical cords snaking through assorted windows and doors. After experiencing Hurricane Iselle that left many neighbors in our immediate area without power for three weeks, we decided to improve the system by adding "B" -- a sub-panel that ran a heavy duty line directly from the generator to the electric sub-panel that eliminating all the cords messy and dangerous mess of cords.

"C" is our new solar inverter an Outback "Flex-Power"-- a top of the line computerized "baby" that collects the sun's energy from eight solar panels mounted on the roof. "D" is the combiner box that takes all the wires from the solar panel into the inverter. This unit even has a lightning arrester.  And "E" are the amazing permanently sealed batteries that store the solar energy and will power our WHOLE house and the ohana rental!

There's even an "F"-- a unit installed in the house where we can visually and digitally "see" how much power we are getting from the sun, how much is stored in the batteries, and how much we are using at any given time during the day. Yes, we are still connected to the grid -- but with the sun we get, it's likely our new electric bill will be less than $30/month!

PS -- Just in case you missed it on the wall -- just below the computer "mate" is our annual winter "rat count" (last year's Dec-Jan had us at 25.) Hey, it's just part of tropical winter living -- might as well have fun.

We have to give a shout out to the amazing team at SolarSaint - Casey and Josh who make the process easy. If you are thinking about making a move to solar, check out their website and give them a call. SOLARSAINT - Mahalo Nui Loa guys!