Summer Update 2016 /17

Summer Update 2016 /17

Welcome to yet another belated update from Three Dams.

After a pretty mild lead up to Summer with a Spring that really didn’t happen, we now find ourselves in late December enduring torrential rain and high humidity! Finally weather warm enough to use the pool though! As usual, there has been plenty of action here with lots going on in the garden and around the house. The BIG news this year is that we now now have a fence fully enclosing the vineyard! After last years near total destruction of the newly planted Tempranillo vines by kangaroos, wallabies and various other native wildlife, the vineyard is now protected and as I write, all the vines are doing really well and most are now well and truly up and secured on the cordon wire. Things are looking good for a small quantity of wine in 2018.

JAN UPDATE: Shoot thinning completed and 60% vine gro guards removed this week.

In other encouraging news from the Off Grid set-up, the new 880Ah battery bank that was installed in Feb this year proved reliable right through the dark winter months with no power outages or generator use required. In September, I relocated a 295 watt solar panel I had installed on the Melbourne house up to the property which increased the solar array to just over 1Kw (1075 watts). This has given us a huge boost in charging capacity and has allowed the battery bank to recharge much faster during times of intermittent sun periods, common throughout Winter. The enlarged array can also now power our recently installed, super efficient split system AC. A comfortable 25 degrees inside is possible using only 450 watts of power!

In the garden, things have been stepped up too. Cherry and orange trees were added to the orchard along with a climbing blackberry. Wends has planted an abundance of various vegetables including eggplant, corn, zucchini, capsicum, tomatoes and is very excited about the amount of apples this year and the very first passionfruits after about 5 years! Apart from all that, there’s still a lot of time spent in the kitchen keeping us and the visitors sustained, along with plenty of local Heathcote wine to keep everyone hydrated!

Time out at the Heathcote Wine Hub.

The (overdue) Winter update!

It's been a while since the last blog post and so much has happened since April! We're in the middle of the wettest winter we've experienced here at Three Dams and the first time that all the dams are overflowing in July! We've also experienced some pretty extreme temperatures over the last few months and gone through a decent amount of firewood! There has also been a few glorious sunny days but unfortunately not enough to fully recharge the new battery bank we installed a few months ago. The new battery bank has actually provided all the power we require this winter and we haven't needed to use the generator at all so far but the size of the bank requires a larger solar array so the decision has been made to upgrade the PV array. 

Back in 2008 when we set up the initial off grid system, one 120 watt solar panel cost nearly $900. In 2016, I can get 6 x 250 watt panels for a bit over $1100 so over the next few weeks I'll be replacing the under performing 780 watt array with a brand new 1.5kw array.

The depths of winter bring a new task this year...grape vine pruning! Due to the dry summer conditions last year and the subsequent problems with roo and wallaby damage to the newly planted Tempranillo vines, they will need to be pruned back harder than we would have liked. This will be done over the next few weeks and a roo protection fence will be constructed.

All in all, as usual plenty to do at Three Dams.

The OFF GRID experience so far...

Off grid solar has come a long way since we started experimenting with it back in 2008. Back then 360 watts of panels cost us nearly $2700. Earlier this year, I picked up 1045 watts for $600!

The original system comprised of 2 x 12v batteries and a small 600w Modified Sine Wave inverter which we soon realised was hopelessly inadequate! One advantage of such a meagre supply of power was that we really had to consider every aspect of our energy usage and developed habits that have allowed us to become very frugal. This has translated into extremely low power bills at our grid connected house in Melbourne where we use an average of around 3kWh per day (the average is 18kWh!)

Back in 2008, it was very hard to get any information on setting up a Stand Alone power system and even after scouring YouTube and the Internet, I was still a little bit baffled as how to go about it. These days there are any number of companies supplying all manner of SAPS systems to suit every requirement and budget. 

Our system has gone from the tiny 3 x 120 watt panels to an array of 6 panels with a total capacity of 780 watts. The addition of the wind turbine adds potentially another 300 watts in really good wind which brings the total capacity to just over 1kW, still much less than the average rooftop array on houses in Melbourne.

How this affects our day to day lifestyle up here is very minimal. The only things we can't really run off the system are the toaster, microwave oven, vacuum cleaner or the air compressor. These loads are usually run off the Genset if we need them. The electric oven was traded in for an LPG unit and we use the griller to cook the toast. We also installed a gas fridge and boiling water and cooking etc is done on the gas cooktop.

What about when the sun doesn't shine and the wind don't blow you ask? Well, this does happen from time to time but with the 660Ah battery bank and careful usage, we can usually survive 2-3 days before we need to start the generator.

The best part about all this is that we never need to worry about power black outs and we'll never receive a power bill...ever!

Any questions, email me at: threedamsestate@gmail.com