Installing Solar Power System in RV

The speaker is in their RV on a cold Saturday morning in early April 2024. They are working outside in 37°F weather, with help from their father and a tech person. The RV interior is 40.8°F, indicating they are "at the mercy of the elements" without adequate heating. They have two cats (Oliver and Bailey) and mention a race car driving neighbor they've barely interacted with.

Energetic Signature

methodical excitement

Field State

infrastructure building

Orientation

toward material autonomy

01HTV5FE4GZVR456R5QCM9EQA0

April 7, 2024

36:14

View on YouTube

Author

rswfire

Status

ARCHIVED

Type

TRANSMISSION (CAPTURE)

Temperature

0.00

[0:00]oh good morning everyone it is Saturday

[0:02]morning here 9:00 a.m. it's 37° outside

[0:06]and 40.8 de in here which means we are

[0:09]at the mercy of the

[0:11]elements we are we're at the mercy of

[0:14]the

[0:15]elements guys you want to do this with

[0:17]great care we're putting a hole into my

[0:21]camper for my

[0:23]solar and my

[0:26]internet oh God help

[0:28]me yep okay done guys my solar panels

[0:34]are

[0:35]out how cool is

[0:38]that I got two of those probably way

[0:41]more than I

[0:42]need but they have very big cables and

[0:46]we're not sure how we're getting them in

[0:49]there I've never turned this thing on

[0:51]either so I don't know you're going to

[0:53]need a bigger hole Yeah because what you

[0:56]got to do

[0:57]look this one here hooks right under

[1:01]that that hooks to the solar panel yep

[1:04]okay and this is what you want to take

[1:06]in and hooks into your thing

[1:08]okay see yeah so neither one of those

[1:11]ends are going to fit through that hole

[1:13]but yeah I only need to like I'll put

[1:15]that one like we need to hold that big

[1:18]all right let me just I'm going to take

[1:20]it inside there wait a minute I want to

[1:21]show you I make through this

[1:24]okay oh man I guess we did need a big

[1:27]one after all yep okay see It'll that

[1:30]yep and then we put another hole watch

[1:33]we put another hole on this side for my

[1:35]internet for your internet okay you can

[1:37]use either hole if we make them the same

[1:38]size all right let me just um like I'll

[1:43]even like plug the thing the battery in

[1:44]now and it's it's portable right so I

[1:48]got to get the uh do we need a new drill

[1:51]bit drill bit okay this is fun

[1:57]guys I mean what's better than solar

[1:59]power

[2:01]for

[2:03]real all

[2:06]right what is better than solar power

[2:10]nothing so there's this giant cable and

[2:13]I'm assuming that it's for my battery

[2:16]let's hope I'm right huh I think it goes

[2:21]here wow this is

[2:23]massive yeah all right that is one

[2:26]massive cable and you lock

[2:28]it so we got

[2:32]that um it has no power so I can't turn

[2:35]it on

[2:36]yet so we use this find a spot for

[2:45]this this is the plug this is the power

[2:49]so we got this thing here

[2:52]four dots four circles four holes god

[2:56]I'm an

[2:57]idiot there's the hole in my hamper guys

[3:01]oh that's so

[3:03]scary oh my God that's

[3:06]scary well look you can see there's no

[3:09]insulation there no insulation

[3:13]dad what tiny little hole there's no

[3:16]insulation in this freaking

[3:21]camper oh here's one all

[3:25]right so we plug you in

[3:28]here oh wow that's awesome it's got this

[3:31]little thing you screw it

[3:35]on all right guys I got to get better at

[3:38]holding a camera while doing stuff we're

[3:40]putting it on a tripod right okay let's

[3:42]see if I can do

[3:46]this

[3:48]yep okay we're

[3:53]good all right so there's one here I

[3:55]don't know how to hook up this extra

[3:57]solar panel

[3:58]ow

[4:00]we are going to move this big giant

[4:03]battery over

[4:06]here I don't know that

[4:08]Cable's very problematic cable over

[4:13]here you definitely want to like you

[4:16]know I can't okay I can't go that way

[4:18]because that cable is too important it's

[4:21]kind of backwards but this is real heavy

[4:24]guys 80 lbs for the battery alone see if

[4:28]I can get away with

[4:32]yes this battery killed my side the

[4:35]other day I don't like it so here we

[4:39]go oh you're so happy you're like the

[4:43]heaviest batter on

[4:45]Earth okay I think I can do this now

[4:49]the oh my God you're

[4:52]having I'm old gay man guys we're not

[4:56]known for our Brute Force okay not that

[5:00]I'm trying to stereotype my people oh my

[5:03]God that's

[5:04]heav oh my

[5:07]God okay a little at a time I hope I

[5:10]don't wake up um like the other

[5:13]day boy that

[5:16]St

[5:20]okay all right so I feel like I got it

[5:24]um in a way that's

[5:26]good it's close to the hole

[5:30]working real good like all right I got

[5:33]one I got one hold on this thing is a

[5:36]beast there we go all

[5:42]right sorry guys I guess you probably

[5:44]didn't see any of

[5:47]that

[5:48]what coming right

[5:50]now or my foot stool still not

[5:55]working Tech's supposed to come today

[5:58]like probably anytime now

[6:01]okay here's the

[6:02]pen I think it's pretty much figured out

[6:05]like you know the two plug into each

[6:07]other and then there's a spot for this

[6:08]there's only one so I don't know how you

[6:10]do multiple solar panels okay so I do it

[6:12]from outside then yeah okay

[6:15]good so I need I need a part I don't

[6:18]have a

[6:20]part all

[6:23]right

[6:28]cool guys what do you think the

[6:30]cigarette lighter one is for what will

[6:32]it

[6:33][Music]

[6:36]power well imagine how much power can

[6:38]come through these

[6:41]pie wow that's going up against the camp

[6:45]on against a wall you get it with some

[6:47]silicone on it cool and then it's going

[6:50]to have made more fill it to

[6:53]this all right and then I'm going to

[6:56]slice this into like a star shape so the

[6:58]rubber fall back I like that cool and

[7:01]that's what I was calling a grommet I

[7:02]don't think it is a grommet but that's

[7:03]what I meant just so you know keep the

[7:05]water out do you know what it's called

[7:07]see there's a guy's race car my

[7:09]neighbor's a race car driver

[7:11]guys his engine's quite

[7:14]loud hope so if it ain't loud very fast

[7:20]I wonder where he goes do you think he's

[7:22]like an amateur

[7:26]or on it that's got name so pretty

[7:31]cool shout out to my neighbor that I've

[7:33]never

[7:35]met one time they waved to me when I was

[7:37]putting Christmas decorations

[7:39]out that's the extent of my interaction

[7:42]with them I mean I don't have wood you

[7:58]know

[8:01]sorry guys I Ain't Over the Mountain Dew

[8:04]yet I sure wish I was I mean I only took

[8:07]all my teeth right I'm telling you that

[8:10]stuff's

[8:11]addictive it's just addictive as

[8:14]cigarettes I hate Mountain Dew I

[8:17]seriously would like to just just

[8:20]um talk trash about them on YouTube all

[8:23]day long I'm so happy we're doing this

[8:26]this I I can't wait to test these oh I

[8:30]can't wait to turn this

[8:32]on oh my God we're GNA get solar

[8:35]power I wonder if it can run my ceramic

[8:41]heater if you want get a piece of wood I

[8:45]don't need it now

[8:47]oh all

[8:53]right like what would I have a piece of

[8:55]wood for you know ain't no Cowboy or Boy

[8:59]Scout anymore I was never a cowboy it

[9:03]was a Boy

[9:05]Scout oh I hope you guys are having a

[9:07]good day I am Tech gu was supposed to be

[9:11]here by

[9:12]now I'm coming in

[9:16]mother

[9:19]oh oh my poor cats let me show you my

[9:22]cats hey guys I can guess what you want

[9:26]look at you

[9:28]too go say hi to my mom she hates being

[9:30]on

[9:34]camera hi Mom

[9:37]hi dad's going to get a bigger drill bit

[9:40]so we can do the

[9:42]solar I'm excited wa well I don't know

[9:47]what to do

[9:48]now I was very busy but he distracted me

[9:51]your phone's going off that was

[9:55]Dad hold

[9:58]on I'm getting

[10:00]her I think on wait I don't think I got

[10:04]it do you hear him okay no I'm

[10:09]okay

[10:12]okay oh wait I want to

[10:15]go to

[10:17]Lowe's

[10:19]why your birthday oh you want to take my

[10:22]Lowe's stuff

[10:25]back cuz you know there's a little bit

[10:27]of that

[10:28]still all they got to do is look it up

[10:30]by my phone number awesome Tech guy is

[10:32]here he's going to do the cables over

[10:35]there and then fix the step ladder just

[10:37]in case he needs me I figured I'd be

[10:39]working on this out here don't know that

[10:42]I can really set this up where you'll

[10:43]see me we can

[10:46]try I

[10:49]guess TR you down here there we

[10:53]go you really need to get better

[10:56]out oh I take videos don't I

[11:03]something

[11:09]else there we

[11:13]go now looks like you guys are here with

[11:17]me this tape keeps coming off which

[11:19]don't make sense it's refle but we

[11:21]didn't use a

[11:22]lot know I need a cold it is freezing

[11:28]all

[11:30]my C ising to come out

[11:39]here stupid then's going to want out

[11:58]items

[12:00]oh yeah you're

[12:03]good I let my people know you're here if

[12:06]you want to say hi to the camera

[12:13]over

[12:14]okay I

[12:17]first first

[12:21]buddy hold

[12:23]on going to be right here okay right

[12:28]here

[12:37]down

[12:58]yeah

[13:28]how do did you get

[13:30]out hold on Oliver Stay Stay Stay Stay

[13:34]oh my God

[13:35]buddy well that

[13:47]was all

[13:58]right

[14:21]okay right here

[14:24]dude okay he

[14:28]good

[14:40]nightmare are you happy in

[14:46]there all

[14:48]right well I kind of want to W

[14:58]around

[15:04]are you

[15:06]happy you a happy little

[15:12]cat I feel like I have an

[15:18]A need a lot more of these

[15:22]Stu are you happy I didn't know I could

[15:24]just put him in his cat carry that was

[15:26]my mom's idea be happy he's outside with

[15:30]me that is

[15:32]convenient I will do that a

[15:36]lot man you lucky I didn't lose Oliver I

[15:39]that scared the crap out of

[15:44]me that what was the lesson learned let

[15:47]me tell

[15:48]you didn't realize that one side was

[15:51]open I'll make sure they're secure in

[15:53]the

[15:55]future but I knew he would be a little

[15:57]bit afraid out here he doesn't like a

[15:59]lot of

[16:00]noise so being in the front yard that

[16:03]just didn't seem like a good idea to

[16:04]start

[16:05]with May it's different though I

[16:09]guess you're having fun of there dude he

[16:12]just likes the air I

[16:17]guess a good

[16:19]cat you're a good cat baby

[16:24]bab

[16:27]hi

[16:31]yeah oh yeah I

[16:40]do

[16:42]okay you see they are V and be

[16:49]good I don't know how to do anything so

[16:52]I'm now about to learn something new

[16:57]here

[16:59]okay so I stick the tip cut that tip

[17:02]wherever you want to but I want it small

[17:04]so you put it in the

[17:06]here you squeeze that see it's got a

[17:08]Clipper in there right okay now still

[17:10]got a plastic seal inside there that's

[17:13]what this is

[17:14]for push it down in there a bunch of

[17:17]places okay

[17:20]yeah okay then you just take this and

[17:23]put it

[17:24]away like so right now this goes in this

[17:28]way down first up to here

[17:32]now once I start squeezing this it's

[17:34]going to start coming out now the catch

[17:36]is every time you're done using it you

[17:39]push this button in release the pressure

[17:41]if you don't it'll just keep going

[17:45]out I can see the neighbor's truck oh my

[17:51]God start a little bit on the back of

[17:53]this one right around where the screws

[17:55]are going to

[17:57]be

[18:07]okay cuz we're going to seal it later

[18:10]now I'm going to push that now stop that

[18:12]from coming out but I'm still going to

[18:13]wait I'm still going to lay it down so

[18:16]the tip and let it drip off right

[18:22]okay try to light that up

[18:27]good

[18:33]led up

[18:35]here come on obviously my be one might

[18:39]want to get a rag cuz we're going to

[18:41]want to all right I got

[18:44]something you can

[18:57]use

[19:02]what this shall

[19:05]do and my M

[19:19]do oh here's my

[19:23]co where you went got to get

[19:27]something I got

[19:29]to are you good Bailey H you good in

[19:35]there you I think he must feel secure in

[19:38]there cuz he's out in the front yard

[19:40]he's not

[19:42]complaining he really does like that

[19:45]thing maybe I should put Oliver in

[19:48]his melee feels very secure in that

[19:52]maybe that's all I needed and I didn't

[19:54]even know

[19:55]it say hi Mom

[20:00]all right let

[20:05]me all right got both my cats out

[20:11]here all seems to be doing

[20:15]okay I'm right here buddy right

[20:19]here that's

[20:21]loud it's

[20:24]okay I'm right

[20:26]here Bailey you're not getting out of

[20:28]there there dude if you want to be

[20:30]outside that is where you're going to be

[20:33]okay

[20:35]Oliver come

[20:37]on don't be that

[20:48]way should I bring the wires out or wait

[20:51]or what are we doing you can bring the

[20:52]wires

[20:55]out that's the best I can do on a silic

[20:57]corn I'm not real good at me

[20:59]come out

[21:01]pretty you want it not to leak so that's

[21:04]most important

[21:06]yeah I mean are the holes ready or yeah

[21:11]take a look I'll them out just don't get

[21:13]your finger in the silicone

[21:15]now we should we wait for it to dry no

[21:18]there's no silicone in

[21:19]there all right

[21:23]um

[21:25]yeah a drag you going to throw this crap

[21:27]up now put something in put some kind of

[21:29]a screw or something in the end it's

[21:31]going to it's going to get hard and then

[21:33]that whole tube will be wasted all right

[21:36]what about the inside you're going to

[21:38]have to pull them back out why are you

[21:39]doing that oh is this is the wrong way

[21:41]you're right I got to do it from the

[21:43][Music]

[21:46]inside solar

[21:54]power oh my God look at

[21:57]this so I'm going to feed these through

[21:59]here I

[22:12]guess all

[22:18]right all

[22:21]right right I'm going to plug this in

[22:25]all right let's see

[22:27]here

[22:29]H there's three sides of

[22:32]this I thought this had to be on

[22:36]top there we go okay we got

[22:40]it we got

[22:42]it

[22:57]cool

[22:59]all right might need to move my solar

[23:02]panels a

[23:03]bit I'm right here Oliver sorry dude I

[23:06]forgot about

[23:14]you all right oler ain't happy let's

[23:18]take him

[23:19]inside

[23:21]okay I hear you I know you're such a

[23:25]sensitive little man so sensitive

[23:30]we'll take you in the

[23:32]house this cat is so

[23:36]sensitive even after it's in your pocket

[23:39]okay yeah don't lose it M's like

[23:42]whatever I'm trying to get out of

[23:44][Music]

[23:46]mine you can get out

[23:48][Music]

[23:49]Oliver come on

[23:51]out come on

[23:54]buddy here you

[23:57]go

[23:59]two right

[24:02]bailing take these

[24:04]yeah okay dude come

[24:08]on this one's getting bad

[24:12]too sit on there see the hold on

[24:19]baby I mean if you want out that bad

[24:22]then you got to be out in an indoor

[24:23]space dude I'm

[24:26]sorry Oliver where are you

[24:30]going oh my God there's too much

[24:39]happening all

[24:42]right okay here's the Moment of

[24:45]Truth why are there four of them so I

[24:48]can put two out

[24:50]here I guess I can probably one panel on

[24:53]each one if you want I guess cuz I do

[24:55]have two panels you have two of these

[24:57]well yeah have another pan this is

[24:58]that's integrated it don't come

[25:03]out thought it could have like up to

[25:05]four but maybe it's just

[25:07]to

[25:10]okay cuz he wants

[25:16]out tell my C

[25:19]is

[25:22]okay here we go

[25:25]scary oh we got a Time

[25:30]Hello nice to see you 356 Watts wow how

[25:35]many 356 that's more than I thought it

[25:38]was charging right now it was 300 I

[25:40]thought it was a 300 B is that what it's

[25:42]charging right now I mean that's what it

[25:44]says 344 348 okay so it's going up and

[25:48]down a little bit

[25:49]Yeah AC Off DC off all right I mean

[25:53]that's really the best I can do I'm fine

[25:55]with that cable being out you know I'll

[25:58]figure something out but I need to get

[26:00]an extension cord so the solar can be

[26:02]out

[26:03]further you know um and just do a better

[26:06]job over

[26:07]here but it's on and we have solar that

[26:11]is

[26:12]awesome

[26:14]so that one

[26:25]off that's on too

[26:29]how do you make the screen come

[26:31]on sorry guys

[26:41]my and this is plugged

[26:48]in you're locked

[26:52]locked let's

[26:54]see you were

[26:57]working I didn't do anything

[27:00]here what could I done though

[27:04]really hey guys come on turn

[27:09]on I think it's

[27:12]charging

[27:13]no think I got

[27:18]solar

[27:24]okay are hooked

[27:27]up

[27:29]I your

[27:38]room

[27:45]understand why isn't that screen on that

[27:47]screen should be on right I mean it just

[27:49]makes sense the screen would be on it

[27:52]was

[27:53]on car button's not doing anything oh I

[27:57]see they even numbered 1 2 3 4 that's

[28:01]interesting so you go like this and I

[28:04]think you can only go in one way

[28:10]really

[28:13]okay oh you are a touchcreen I should

[28:16]have just tried that oh my God that's

[28:18]funny oh my god I'm an idiot too okay

[28:21]let's see PV shut down system completely

[28:24]oh it's ask me no don't oh that is so so

[28:28]cool all right let's see maybe you have

[28:31]to turn these on maybe that's why they

[28:33]didn't

[28:33]work charge my phone wirelessly please

[28:38]let's give this a try shall we guys

[28:40]charge my

[28:42]phone wow this is fascinating not

[28:47]charging maybe this is a DC port or

[28:49]something I don't know what do I

[28:52]know um DC

[28:57]on yep there we go we have it's charging

[29:00]my phone

[29:02]now

[29:04]wow we are charging my phone from solar

[29:08]power I mean oh my

[29:12]God oh my God that's

[29:16]awesome so what's the difference between

[29:18]DC and

[29:21]AC this is awesome guys so

[29:25]cool I'm not us I mean are these the AC

[29:28]yeah AC output okay so if I'm using my

[29:32]plugs 20 amps Max how do we know if

[29:35]we're like charging and not like how do

[29:38]we know if we're consuming more power

[29:41]than we can like we want to use less

[29:43]power we want to charge the battery up

[29:45]right but I want to put my big plug on

[29:48]it doing with all my stuff that's the

[29:52]only one all my stuff's plugged into

[29:53]that and see if we can get it to run

[29:56]from here this is 78% I wonder what that

[29:59]means definitely need to read some

[30:02]books DC load

[30:06]zero oh yeah and I have

[30:09]um

[30:13]grid

[30:19]grid I mean all I can do is try right

[30:22]guys what if I could run my my new um

[30:26]ceramic gater in high from this thing

[30:28]that would make a world of difference in

[30:30]this

[30:32]camper this is

[30:35]awesome all right guys this thing has an

[30:37]indicator we're already nearing 100 well

[30:41]we got 60% I mean maybe had a charg in

[30:44]there already I don't know I never

[30:46]turned it on

[30:48]um cuz if it charges that fast I means

[30:52]kind of need a second one but don't have

[30:55]the room for it and it weighs a lot

[30:59]but man that would be awesome if they

[31:02]charge that fast they charge that fast I

[31:06]don't need two solar panels either I got

[31:08]it cuz it said it was on sale but you

[31:10]know what it turned out to be like sort

[31:12]of a scam cuz you know they're always

[31:14]that price really s or not there's a

[31:17]squirrel out there hi squirrel I love

[31:21]squirrels they're cool they're

[31:24]playful this is so

[31:26]awesome I mean there's only one way to

[31:29]find out how much power we

[31:31]use this is going to be an interesting

[31:34]experiment I

[31:36]guess really got to get these wires

[31:39]cleaned up I don't like living this

[31:42][Music]

[31:43]way but all right so we take ourselves

[31:46]off grid

[31:48]power sh power

[31:51]and we just plug

[31:55]in and see what happens

[31:59]it's hard to deal with one hand

[32:05]okay okay I hear stuff coming

[32:08]on okay it's running the water

[32:13]dish my ring

[32:15]device this remic here but it's not on

[32:18]right now this was on I think it's

[32:21]plugged into

[32:23]it um oh my monitor doesn't standby on

[32:27]my laptop

[32:29]oh on the

[32:31]Internet it's

[32:33]on and we're good so let's see what it

[32:35]says about

[32:37]load

[32:39]79% I mean if that's what I think it is

[32:43]we're using 150 watts right now I'd say

[32:47]and we're getting 350

[32:51]Watts oh just jumped to

[32:54]230

[32:56]interesting

[33:01]wow this might actually work out oh my

[33:06]God oh my God this might actually work

[33:13]out finally sealed my door

[33:16]here my dad's doing this part ready

[33:21]yeah get up in here

[33:24]first

[33:26]oops

[33:43]you got to stay in here Bailey you'll be

[33:46]fine hang out with your grandma we not

[33:49]going to have much time with her you

[33:51]know you're going to regret

[33:56]it

[34:15]growing is it going to just keep doing

[34:17]that yep or is it it's going to do it

[34:20]for a while or is it just going to

[34:22]harden like that or is it going to get

[34:23]bigger it's going to get

[34:26]bigger

[34:38]there so we want to keep our holes open

[34:40]m that's where it goes

[34:43]into so I've shut down my solar panels

[34:46]for the day they weren't they were

[34:48]generating some power not a lot and I

[34:51]think I got my battery up to maybe 80%

[34:53]but they weren't out there that long

[34:55]couple of hours I'm super thrilled you

[34:57]know

[34:58]and we are going to run my new

[35:01]prop and let's just see if we can get

[35:03]through the night with this thing you

[35:04]know we can this is also hooked up to

[35:08]all my other stuff right now and it's

[35:11]using so we're running off battery you

[35:14]know and it's using well that's a lot

[35:16]1,600 Watts that thing isn't going to

[35:18]stay on long I'd

[35:21]say it think at 62 though so I

[35:26]guess um

[35:29]well it thinks it's 61 in here even

[35:31]though my other Thermostat say 68 so

[35:33]I'll have to you know fo around with

[35:35]that to figure out cuz that thing

[35:37]doesn't have to stay on you can set a

[35:39]temperature I'm so happy about that you

[35:41]can't do that with a propane

[35:43]heater I think it'll get us through the

[35:45]night I really do I'm going to bring the

[35:46]cats out

[35:47]here and we're just going to do some

[35:50]stuff out here I want to put up some

[35:51]lights some strip lights I got some

[35:54]ones real pretty and just

[35:59]not only make this a home but make this

[36:02]the place that I love you

[36:05]know so it's been a long day guys oh

[36:10]it's been an awesome day to you I'm very

[36:12]excited

Summary

The speaker documents installing a solar power system in their RV on a cold Saturday morning (37°F outside, 40.8°F inside). They drill holes in the camper for solar panel cables and internet, with help from their father and a tech person. The process involves mounting two solar panels, connecting an 80-pound battery system, and running cables through the RV wall using silicone sealant.

Throughout the installation, they manage two cats (Oliver and Bailey) who want to be outside, using cat carriers to keep them secure. The speaker mentions being an "old gay man" not known for "brute force" when struggling with the heavy battery.

Once connected, the system shows 356 watts of power generation and successfully charges the speaker's phone. They test running their entire RV electrical system off the solar battery, including a ceramic heater that draws 1,600 watts. The battery reaches about 80% charge after a couple hours of solar input.

The speaker expresses excitement about potentially running off-grid and plans to add decorative lights to make the space feel more like home. They mention ongoing issues with Mountain Dew addiction and reference a neighbor who drives race cars.

Signal Analysis

Substrate

This transmission documents the physical integration of autonomous power systems as embodied sovereignty practice. The field is establishing material independence through direct engagement with energy infrastructure, treating technical installation as ontological positioning rather than mere utility setup.

Dominant Language

solar powerwe got itI don't know how to do anythingawesomescaryoff gridthis might actually work out

Symbolic Elements

solargridpowerholecablebatteryconnection

Ontological States

•
transitional
•
embodied
•
sovereign
•
integrating

Subsystems

•
infrastructural
•
somatic
•
cognitive
•
relational

Transmission Details

Source Type

local

Video Quality

1920 × 1080 @ 30fps

Duration

36:14

Bitrate

3234 kbps

Codec

avc1.640028