It's been a few months since my last post due to a combination of factors but largely because of the despicable actions of thieves and vandals. The cabin was burglarized twice over the span of a few weeks. Nothing of great value was taken but both cabin doors were damaged and these incidents prompted a re-examination of cabin security. It's a cliche, but it really is the feeling of violation that's more traumatic than the loss of property, although having to clean up all the shattered glass from the front door was not that fun either.

In any case, I spent quite a bit of time working on making the cabin more secure. New features include:

• The addition of four high resolution IP security cameras for 24 hour video security
• New steel doors with double cylinder dead bolts on the cabin and utility room
• Motion detection LED lights on the front of the cabin
• Steel cable locks securing all the outside items (i.e propane tanks)
• Installing a lock on my battery box

Adapting the security cameras and recording system for 12V low power operation was the biggest challenge but was ultimately very successful. All four cameras constantly detect and record motion and the entire system uses about 25W.

Here's a video where I stitched together images from three of the cameras taken on a day I was at the cabin.

One other project I've completed recently is the refinement of my water supply system and the installation of a propane tankless water heater. I replaced the large water tank with a smaller tank that I can easily drain and refill in the winter. The large tank contained an 80 gallon block of ice from January to May despite my efforts to keep it from freezing.

I recently purchased a 12V DC refrigerator for the cabin which I will be installing in a few weeks. Because I now have several items running directly from the battery bank I also installed a dedicated DC breaker panel, replacing the marine switch/fuse panel I was using previously.