About the only thing left to put together on this last day was the mount for the solar panels. It was a nice, bright, sunny day in paradise. It was so nice and bright and sunny that I had to keep draping my towel over the aluminum framework to keep from getting second-degree burns on my arms. Man it was hot!
The solar panel frame was pretty close to finished by the time the cement dried a few weeks earlier. It just needed a few missing nuts and bolts and an additional member across the middle to bolt the panels to.
Done! I hope they don't squeak. Any noise made by something like that would be transmitted straight to the ground and through to the sensor.
I replaced the duct tape that held the GPS antenna over night with a bolt to the solar panel frame
To help seal the box Mark suggested that I lay a bead of silicone caulk around the top before securing the lid. It sounded like a good idea to me.
The finished station as I left it. Mark was going to finish up the landscaping, cover the flat hose with dirt, and put some sandbags on top of the vault. If a sensor vault is going to tip as it settles it's probably going to do it the first few months after installation. Ideally you would like to bury the vault under a pile of dirt to keep the temperature as constant as possible, but it's a lot nicer if you don't have to dig it up to re-level it on your first servicing visit. I didn't forget to put the lid on the station box before I left. I just forgot to take a picture of it after I did.
2014-07-24