Most reacted posts

All this math is giving me a headache. I'm just going to cut that damn tree down when my wife is gone to Walmart.

I've read through his thread a few times and tried to stay out of it but I just can't seem to resist adding my two cents worth. There seems to be an assumption by some people that there is something wrong with people with more resources having solar (or anything else perhaps) while those with...

Depth of cycle matters. my first wife would wear me down to 0% almost daily. In 20 years I aged 40 years. Just the opposite with my forever wife. We've been together a little over 20 years and she recharges me way more than discharge every day. I now have a longer lifespan than I started with...

Just checking in since I haven't been around here for a while. We're close to Livingston in East Texas. Lost power Monday afternoon and they're saying sometime Saturday before we get it back on. We've been fine with the solar but I have been letting the Generac run since it powers a few...

Man, my old ass is tired! But we got the 16 panels installed and wiring done down to the disconnect. Do the last wire pull tomorrow and hook these puppies up. And clean the old panels. This pollen has them pretty filthy. I thought y'all said this stuff was easy!!!???

Forgot to include the photo of the mounts as we were installing them. Here it is.

I haven't ran a forum in something like 20 years. I got away from that because it was too time consuming, too expensive, and wasn't appreciated. The technology has improved a lot since then but the reasons I stopped doing it haven't. It's a pain. In fact, probably more time consuming now...

It's been a hectic few months since I started this thread, but I finally got back around to finishing the cart build. I stayed with the EG4 3KW for the inverter but went with an EG4 Lifepower4 for the battery. It doesn't have the built in heater but I don't see that being a problem where it's...

Just a quick "rendering" but you get the idea. Okay, so two of the 18kpv might be overkill, but I had to try to hide the golf bags in the photo or it just wouldn't have looked right. Actually, I've got a golf cart I have on my todo list to switch over to LFP ... hmmm ...

Wow. Yeah, I'm gonna take a pass on the concentration camp thing. 40 or 50 years ago you never heard of mass shootings here and certainly not school shootings. Guns haven't changed. Society changed. Strict gun laws don't help, especially when you don't follow through with enforcement and...

Don't sell SS short just yet. They have certainly had some problems but James and many of his team are very active on this forum and have proven, at least to me, that they are determined to resolve those problems and provide quality products and service. Obviously some here will disagree and...

You know, we laugh and shake our heads, but there was a time I was nearly as ignorant. The difference is I at least understood load vs production so when I did the math I quickly realized solar wasn't in the cards. When it did become viable I still had a lot of stupid questions. That's why I...

A picture? Sure. Let me go find my good hat and maybe put on a nicer shirt ... oh wait. You meant a picture of the batteries, didn't you?

Just curious how everyone's solar and/or batteries did/is doing during this last freeze. I'll start. Mine didn't. Let me preface this by pointing out I am heating and cooling about 4,000 sf and of that about 3000 sf has 10 ft ceilings. So, if you compare to typical 8 ft ceilings and go by...

A good number of us. There are several threads attesting to that. I'll likely never get my money back (although I WILL get back a good portion) but that was never the driving force. There are some who are primarily focused on saving money but usually they are doing grid-tied and some of those...

A big part of the reason for the increase in consumption is the record increases in population. According to the census folks, Texas increased in population in 2022 by 470k people. That's like adding almost the whole state of Wyoming. I'm thinking that is gonna stress just about any grid...

You definitely do. I'm amazed at the difference in consumption, plus it keeps the house consistently cool even when we were having crazy heat. With the garage added we're cooling something around 4000 sq ft and the total usage, grid plus solar, is at least 20% lower. I have one two-ton unit...

No OCD here. I would have responded sooner but I spent all day making changes on stuff like wiring and conduit. But I'm not OCD. My wife told me at one point - don't glue any of that stuff up because you're just going to change it again like the last five times. But I'm not OCD. I'm just...

Around here we sit out on the porch with a shotgun across our lap in the morning, waiting for salesmen to show up. BTW, that's a takeoff from Second Hand Lion, in case you've never seen it.

That's not a problem. That's our life now. Embrace it! :ROFLMAO:

How about if you change the logo? Cuz @timselectric really wants it to say EG4 12K ... ?

I have to dial it down whenever anyone visits us or if I'm just having a conversation with someone. As soon as I get past anything basic like, "We run most of the house on solar" their eyes start glazing over. This forum has been a lifesaver and sometimes sanity saver (sane being a relative...

We get off on this topic and I start getting all antsy, wanting to buy a couple of those EG4 18K or maybe some of those Deye inverters like @timselectric snagged, and a bunch more batteries. I need to stop hanging out here until I recover from the last massive cash hemorrhage. Y'all are a bad...

I'm a middle of the road guy on most things and willing to compromise but almost everyone has topics where they feel they have to make a stand. The problem with compromise is that it can gradually erode what we feel are our rights, but without compromise nothing ever happens. So yeah, it's a...

My dad, not my grandfather but my dad, was born in 1898. He was 57 when I was born, ergo the wide spread on age. My grandparents and he and multiple siblings moved from Indiana to Missouri in 1904 in a covered wagon. My grandfather died there just four years later when my dad was 10. Lots...

Here - I fixed it for you

I love em. But they aren't cheap. I think it was over $900 for enough to do 32 panels. I suppose mounting on rails may not be much cheaper though. I will say these go on FAST. The other thing I did after the first round of panels was add a roof hatch. Now I can go up stairs then a short...

I have mine at 57v. Seems to be the only way I can get the batteries to balance. @timselectric told me to drive it like I stole it. :ROFLMAO:

Thank you. I firmly believe that calm and honest discussion can usually produce good results. When it degrades to shouting and name calling then nobody wins and more likely we get pushed farther apart. I blame MSM and social media for fanning the flames with click bait and inflammatory...

Grew up ridiculously poor myself and I agree with never going back to that. It's been my observation over many decades that some people are raised with a few advantages and complain because someone else has it better, while others take that leg up and build it into something more. Then some...

Someone needs to come up with one of those "make me 40 again" pills. And they need to do it pretty soon! I don't think I'd want to be 20 again but 40 sounds just about right. :ROFLMAO:

I agree but I doubt I can ever pull the plug unless I invest quite a bit more. But maybe. Who knows. For now I don't mind paying a tiny bit to the power company just so I can have them as my backup bitch. Only give them enough money to string them along ... ?

That's exactly what I do. Except I'm rarely dignified. And rarely silent. But otherwise that's me exactly.

There are a few minor things I would have done differently but with the technology and products that were available at the time not really a lot. Parroting @timselectric, I did a lot of research then I found this forum and did a lot more research and asked a lot of questions. One of the...

Investment viability in DIY solar (this is, after all, a DIY forum) is subjective no matter how you cut it. What I can say with confidence is that it is WAY more viable than it was even a couple years ago. There are different opinions on whether it will get even more affordable in the near...

If you clear a little more perimeter you could put up some ground mount to offset that loss. Be careful and don't put the claymores too close in case you have to do maintenance.

I'll add to this that it seems a little crazy for the feds and some of the states to be pushing solar with serious incentives (with our tax dollars but it's good to get some of those back) while the POCOs and municipalities, and other states, are fighting it every step of the way. Of course...

I don't think it will happen right away, but yeah, it's likely coming. The powers that be really don't like independent people. Then there's the whole idea of us paying for something once and using it for decades. It's kinda like all the software companies moving away from selling software to...

Hey! Don't be knocking us retirees. I just bought a rack of batteries from you in March! ?

We're all a bunch of multi-talented multi-taskers for sure!

I thought I had seen some serious rain. Back in 1994 we got almost 30 inches. A gasoline pipeline burst on the San Jacinto river on the east side of Houston and the river caught on fire. We lived about 45 minutes east of Houston and got something like 24 inches...

The POCOs here in Texas claim to be solar friendly and all about how to reduce your usage and use, but in the real world they block you at every turn. Or least some of them do. That's how I ended up going off grid and now I am extremely glad I did so. I did it with my own money and own...

I've always said if you know how many guns you have, you don't have enough. I'm thinking that could be applied to other things, such as batteries, spare inverters, spare panels, spare wire ...

Signature Solar came through and the batteries and rack I ordered yesterday arrived this afternoon. The freight company - meh. They called and said their liftgate was broken and could I unload it. Yep. Then the driver wouldn't come down my drive with the 53' trailer, even though there's...

I'm right up the road from you out by Lake Livingston. We're on SHECO and are paying around $0.13 per kWh. So far I have 14kw of panels, 30kWh batteries, and two of the MPP Solar LV6548 AIO inverters. I'm about $30k all in, including wiring, fuses, bus bars, gizmos, gadgets, tools, and some...

We used to do huge parties like that in the fall, mostly for clients and their staff. 100 to 150 people. I'm glad that's over. It was a lot of work. But yeah, let us know how they react. He's a pretty decent guy and owns a successful collision repair business, but he knows nothing about...

Huh. I finally made it into a 1% club! We have a coop here, which is a whole different animal and they aren't regulated the same or very much at all. I tried for six months to get someone to call me back about solar so I could try to do it the right way and make them happy. Never returned...

I'm not against EVs per se, but I agree with @Texas-Mark that mandating EVs is not in the best interest of consumers or the country. Beyond that, if you live in the city or suburbs and only drive short distances I can see the advantages. Taking a long trip in one has shown to be a trainwreck...

If they want to send me 16 I'll spring for the shop vacs.