Solar Electricity Only

These devices, if unopened, have about 24 hours of autonomy. After 24 hours, look for a sunny spell during the middle of the solar day (11am to 3pm) and plan to do a little switching.

The really valuable stuff is in the refrigerator. Plug the freezer if there’s time and energy.

1. In the Ofuro Room (so named because it has never had an ofuro in it) confirm that the orange-with-grey-stripe extension cord [1] is plugged into the box beside the inverter.
2. Beside the refrigerator, swap the black lower plug to the socket on the end of the same extension cord and note whether the refrigerator starts.
3. Inverter control in computer room, northeast corner: push INV button (backlight should go on.) Press INV again, and a display like this [at right, below] should appear
4. Press the (deeply!) the button below INV on the display ON. Inverter display should respond ON
5. Press (deeply) the OK button to see battery bank and state of charge. You are hoping for “in” greater than “out”. Right now, a semi-cloudy day, in the first column I see voltage falls below 56 vDC in: 82.4, out 56.4. This is healthy. The second column of numbers is Amps (power) and while the fridge or freezer run, the out will likely exceed the in.
6. After an hour or two, and if the fridge shuts off, unplug the freezer from its standard out let and into the nearby smaller orange extension cord [2]. Confirm that it, too, is plugged into the inverter source beside the inverter. At this point, the freezer should hum.
7. Over time, this drain will discharge the batteries, and THAT is what you want to minimize to the degree consistent with giving the fridge and freezer an hour (or more) a day of runtime if possible.
8. Try to resist the temptation to open either box. Trust the sound. And above all, don’t worry. It’s only frozen food!
   
9. When finished – after 4pm, sun off the panels, OUT voltage falls below 56vDC – simply replug whatever device is plugged into their normal sockets in the (possibly forlorn) hope that PG&E will restore power.