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dk1393
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# Posted: 19 Jan 2010 08:45am - Edited by: dk1393
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I have been looking at this site for a while. I figured I should put up some pictures of our cabin. We had it built in January '08. It was finished on the outside. We have been working on the interior since. We hope to have it finished this summer. It is in upstate NY. The cabin is 16x20. We have put in a composting toilet. The solar is up and running. So far it is working ok. We have no well yet. Maybe in a few years. We plan to do propane for the heat.
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dk1393
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# Posted: 19 Jan 2010 09:33am
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I hope my pictures upload correctly
just built in Jan '08
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June 09
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Solar panel finally up
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dk1393
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# Posted: 19 Jan 2010 09:37am
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More pics. I finished the shed in October.
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dk1393
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# Posted: 19 Jan 2010 09:49am - Edited by: dk1393
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Solar setup in the cabin.
I have 2-180w solar panels, 4-380ah L16 batteries wired for 12v. I mounted the batteries in a box under the cabin. I have a 1500 watt Samlex inverter, and a Steca 2020 charge controller. It is over kill for the cabin but so far I am happy with it.
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MikeOnBike
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# Posted: 19 Jan 2010 12:24pm
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dk, the cabin looks great. I really love that siding. I'm going to have to go with boring fiber-cement because of fire danger.
We are going to build a similar size this summer. Do you have a sketch of your cabin layout? I'm still agonizing over ours.
16x20, south is down, east is patio
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dk1393
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# Posted: 19 Jan 2010 02:15pm - Edited by: dk1393
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I don't have a good floor plan drawn up.We have been working on the inside and think we have decided how we want things. We use the outdoor kitchen a lot. We plan to enclose the porch in a year or two. Planning to do storm windows all around the porch. That way we have a good view and are still some what protected from the elements. I don't mind the cold, but trying to cook with the wind and snow doesn't work. We do use the cook shed by the fire pit a lot. I plan to put a 3' fence around the fire pit. That will help a lot with the wind. There always seems to be a breeze. We also have a small camp stove we use inside sometimes. We have a table that folds up. And the murphy bed will fold up so that there is more room if you want.
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cabinbasics
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# Posted: 19 Jan 2010 06:42pm
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Sweet plans guys! Lemme know when they're ready for rentals!
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MikeOnBike
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# Posted: 19 Jan 2010 07:24pm
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I'm envious of dk, at least he is dried in. All I have are dreams on paper.
My brother and I have two 16x20 and one 20x32 cabins to dry in this year. One each of the smaller ones for my brother and I and the larger for my mom and all the kids/grandkids. We have an 80 acre rock pile of high mtn. desert and are going to spread everyone out a bit.
dk, thanks for the drawing. It gives me a couple of things to think about.
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bugs
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# Posted: 21 Jan 2010 05:38pm
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Hi dk
What a great looking cabin.
I was wondering what type of composting toilet you are using. Also what you run off your solar setup and did you do it put in together yourself?
bugs
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Anonymous
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# Posted: 21 Jan 2010 06:40pm
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Can u go into more detail for your solar panel as far as approx costs. I have a 15x20 cabin that is wired for a generator but we use lots of gas and it's noisy.
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dk1393
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# Posted: 21 Jan 2010 08:45pm
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As far as the composting toilet goes. I have a biolet electric. I bought it before we decided to go solar. It is nice, but not good with the solar. It has a heater, which I disconected. It also has an electrtic auger and fan. I am going to put in a DC vent fan in place of the AC fan which will help. If your going solar you want a non electric composting toilet.
As for the solar. It is more than I need but it works great. It is running all my lights(CFL), toilet vent fan, which is AC at the moment. Radio, laptop. I also run a DC ceiling fan and DC vent on the battery box.
I will have a LCD tv when I get the time to install it. The system was designed to run 4 days on batteries. That takes into account winter days, overcast and not much sun to charge with. I ran for 6 days last month before the inverter cut off. It took me a week of sunny days to charge back up to 100%. The inverter cuts off when the batteries reach 10.5 volts.
The panels are 180w each. They cost around 720 each. The L16 batteries ran about 320 each. my 1500 watt inverter was 680.00. Charge controler was 150. You probably don't need as big a setup as I have. One panel, 2 batteries wired for 12v and a charge controller hooked to some DC lites would be a good start. I do like having AC though. One problem I do see with my system is if I run out of battery and use the generator My vent fan and ceiling fan will not work. (again they are DC). I am checking into a battery charger for my solar batteries so they will charge when running the generator. I wish I had bought an inverter that had a built in charger. If it was not for the ac vent on the toilet I think I could run for 9-10 days on batteries in the winter.
I hope I have answered your questions. . It was fun installing the system. I knew nothing about it when I started, It was not that difficult. The reason I put the panels on post instead of the roof was because of the snow load. Redfield, NY gets about 300 in average snowfall every year.
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bugs
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# Posted: 22 Jan 2010 07:47am
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Thanks for the info dk.
I suspect it is better to oversize a solar set up than running out of power all the time. One other question, when you have the time. Would you suggest running everything on ac or dc or both?
bugs
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dk1393
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# Posted: 22 Jan 2010 07:44pm
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I can only go by my own experience. If I had a choice I would go with AC. An inverter is not that exspensive and everything is wired for your standard outlets. Plus you hook up your generator and your still good with AC. If your wired for DC only the generator does you no good for powering your lites and accessories. Unless you have an AC to DC converter. If you have both that doubles some of your wiring. I like to have everything on a standard household outlet. Even if you don't plug somethings in when your using the solar, you still have the option of starting the generator. Such as power tools , vacuums........
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Josh
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# Posted: 24 Jan 2010 08:08pm
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Hi i notice on your January 19th post of those pics that you have that porch on the front. That is exactly what i am planning to do on the front of my 16x16 cabin. i have a 5x12 pallet down in front for the deck temporarily but thats just to have a place to nock the mud off of boots before coming in. I want to at least start the deck part this spring and then continue by putting the roof on by summer. I also might close it in with knee walls and windows along the top half about waiste high. Just wondering if you had any details of how and what you did to build that. Thanks
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dk1393
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# Posted: 25 Jan 2010 07:17am
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The porch is my wifes favorite . We love to sit out there. I am planning to close it in next summer. For windows I am planning to use storm windows. They are cheap and with the screens in them it will be nice for the summer breeze and still keep out the elements in the winter. I also have the outdoor kitchen set up on the porch.
The porch is just 1x8 for the joists. The footings go down 4 feet. The decking is 1x6. The roof is also 1x8. We have a good snow load where I am at. Next time at the cabin I will take better pictures of the porch and post them.
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RickandRandy
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# Posted: 1 Mar 2010 12:33pm
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Awesome place DK! Thanks for the info about the composting toilet and solar system. If we could have just enough for lights that would be awesome. Looking forward to more pics.
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dk1393
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# Posted: 1 Mar 2010 02:54pm
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If I only ran lights with my set up I could run for a few weeks in the winter. If you want lights only, there are some nice little setups for a cheap price.
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Vince P
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# Posted: 4 Mar 2010 09:38am
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dk,
Beautiful place. Was your cabin built by Kuhn's of Christmas & As.? It looks suspiciously similar to mine.
They did part of the rough shell on my cabin and I'm very happy with that builder... especially since it would have cost me more to build it myself.
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dk1393
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# Posted: 5 Mar 2010 08:11am
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the shell was built by Christmas and Assoc. I was pretty happy with it. I may get the interior done this year.
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RickandRandy
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# Posted: 21 May 2010 03:58pm
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I *really* like how you put the power system in a separate structure. Very smart.
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dk1393
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# Posted: 23 May 2010 07:54pm
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Thank you,
I figured it would be easier to keep the panels clean that way. If the panels were on the top edge of the roof, I would not be able to reach them with the snow rake. If they were on the lower edge of the roof where I could reach them they would hold the snow on the roof. It has worked good so far.
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dk1393
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# Posted: 25 Jul 2010 09:57am
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Finally started staining the cabin. We also passed the electrical inspection and the building inspector signed off on the insulation. After we finish staining this month we plan to start on the tounge and groove pine inside. So far so good. We have spent most weekends there. It is quite nice. We work half the time and relax the rest.
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dk1393
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# Posted: 25 Jul 2010 09:58am - Edited by: dk1393
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more pic
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Anonymous
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# Posted: 25 Jul 2010 12:06pm
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hey i have a 16 x 20 cabin in Redfield also that i bought from Dan Christmas... would love to take a look at your solar system sometime if thats ok and kind of pick your brain.
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dk1393
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# Posted: 25 Jul 2010 02:15pm
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email me dk6365@yahoo.com. I'm happy to help
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nyantler
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# Posted: 1 Aug 2010 08:49am
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Here is the finished cabin
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dk1393
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# Posted: 1 Aug 2010 11:44am
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Very nice, Hope your enjoying it as much as we do ours
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nyantler
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# Posted: 1 Aug 2010 02:21pm
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I am ... still have lots to do, but looking forward to actually. I was there all day prepping a hole for the OUTHOUSE. First order of business.
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dk1393
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# Posted: 1 Aug 2010 07:17pm
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sounds good, keep the pictures coming
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RedsFan
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# Posted: 13 Aug 2010 05:06am
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Thanks for the info. Can you post the close-up pics of the steca regulator.. I just wanna see how it diplays solar panel output
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