Recent content by DenverGuy

I have been looking, but no luck. My solar-powered garage has a Liftmaster opener that I monitor and control with my phone. The same with my HVAC thermostat. Even my washing machine and range have apps for controlling them (not that I would bother.) But I still have to run out to the garage...

Thanks. That makes sense. I wonder if a one-time complete discharge would do permanent battery damage.

I did look for an answer here, but no luck. A friend of mine has a Bluetti setup and said that they recommend completely discharging them every few months. That doesn't sound right to me. Here is what they say. Notice that they don't say to completely discharge them, but is that what they are...

Many thanks - will do!

What do you think the Bluetooth range is?

I have an off-grid system that powers my garage, which is around 30 feet from the house. I'd like to get an MPPT Wi-Fi controller that I can monitor from inside the house. Can anyone recommend one? Thanks.

Thanks! Keep up the great work.

chrisski, great explanation - thanks! That makes sense. I am in Denver, if I ever move to the LV area or Phoenix I would use a roof-mounted swamp cooler instead of AC, as I do here. Hopefully that would work.

I'm curious as to why he would go grid-tied. There must be a good reason. He knows his stuff.

I saw a video a while back in which he had a grid-tied system for his Las Vegas house. I was surprised that it wasn't off-grid. Any thoughts on why that's the case? Or maybe things have changed or I got it wrong.

I have four panels on my garage roof hooked up in parallel. It snow last night, and I took a broom and cleared most of it, but I couldn't easily reach the vey tops of them. In bright sun I only was getting .3 watts. I then got a bigger ladder and cleared the top 3 inches and I am back at full...

Thanks, both of you. Would it also work if I tucked those wires under the panels?

I have four panels with two sets of wires. The panels are about 2" above the the wire junctions. We covered them the silicone, but I know that's not a good way to go. Should I put some kind of flashing over them, or should we lower the panels to cover them?

This is a really sunny roof with no trees. None of the wires are longer than 7 feet. It might be a toss-up. I just thought the MPPT units were higher efficiency.

No real advantage, then? I thought they were more efficient in general.