Most reacted posts

My home is not quite in the path of totality. It will be about 99.8% at close to 2pm. My PV setup is way more than needed this time of year without AC needed and minor day time loads. The batteries recharge from overnight discharge by 11AM-12 noon. So far clouds have been just a light haze with...

I have been adding more loads to my AIO as I try to make use of additional PV generation. The latest has been my kitchen outlets that are used for my microwave, induction cooktop, pizza oven and a lot of other occasional use things. In doing so I found out that I had made a mistake in trusting...

Just a personal thing with me but I do not deal with holds of greater than a few minutes. Any company that does that to me I go elsewhere. If a company offers a call back option instead of hold I usually take it. The idea of being made to wait on hold for 30 minutes or an hour is simply...

Depends if a major Middle East war explodes in the coming weeks with nuclear weapons lob'd between Israel and Iran. Also depends on if China decides to invade Taiwan. It might depend on if the collapse of EV sales continue or if Congress decides to shut down Tik Tok. But recent history would...

Me? At my advancing age and diminished mental capacity I stand aside while the young and bold pave the way.

As a DIy person you can make effective EMF shielding for personal wear. Tin foil has been proved to deflect, cancel harmful signals and even mind control attempts. Do not just wear it on your head! Full body suits are necessary.

Looks pretty fancy for your location at the ends of the earth. You will know fairly quickly if you have done anything wrong once you start turning things on. I call that time explosion testing. You flip things on and if nothing explodes you did good.

Puny little foreigners with their puny little cars and homes. :p

This is an order from your local Code Enforcement Officer to remove the un-permitted bird feeder you have placed in your back yard. There will be severe fines and possible legal consequences if you do not comply effective immediately. Bird feeders can only be used after plans are approved by...

After considerable research and experimentation I can conclusively state the Solar production is near nothing when all it does it rain outside. Colored graphs, charts and complicated math will all be included in my published research paper.

The important thing is to learn the right lesson. Sometimes folks jump to conclusions based on biases rather than an objective review of the facts. In failure analysis such as what caused the bolted door on a Boeing 737 to fail mid air could easily devolve into an argument about other things...

You only get 15-25% efficiency from a solar panel and then you lose some of it trying to change electricity back to heat. Direct solar water heating collection gives a much higher energy transfer. Or simply dark things in the sun get hot.

While Svetz explanation is probably the most sound I have an alternative theory. The little solar cells in the panels had been starving for a day and a half. Once the sun came out the little buggers gorged themselves on photons as fast as they could stuff them down. Thus production went...

The need to hide insulated jacketed wires seems excessive at times. Do you have flexible or solid conduit to house the wires from your microwave or blender? I can see being concerned about exposed connections that could lead to shock hazards, and also potential mechanical stress failures that...

Someone should clean up all the personal identification things the OP was injudicious enough to post. Than the thread should be closed. UNP beat me to it.

Clever use of items available to you. I am afraid of posting pictures of my solar shack because it is my home. :) Would not want to have to fight off all the women such pictures would attract.

I think you are jumping to the wrong conclusion regarding the notice from your utility. No where does it state anything about a reduction in your use leading to their investigation. It seems rather straightforward and politely worded. Simply provide a simple response back of your direct drive...

Depending on your location you might have recourse to local building laws. Many places do not allow putting structures up that negatively impact a neighbor.

It is. No point in wasting attention on things and people you have decided are not worth it. I use Mute on TV commercials and would block them if possible due to the annoyance factor. I use ignore on Forums for the same purpose.

I was attempting humor. Thank goodness I live in a State where working on your own place requires no State approval. And in my County no permits.

I am utterly opposed to tax subsidies. If you think it is worthwhile you pay for it.

Actually Victron could be at fault. They have to police their distributors if they do not handle Warranty issues themselves.

Sometimes you just get lucky. The grid went down today with temperatures already close to 90F, 73 dewpoint and a heat index of 99F. Why is that lucky you ask? Because it is just the beginning of a full sunny day, my batteries are at about 80% and the PV is enough to provide A/C to maintain my...

Probably some of you already have seen these but I had not until now on Amazon while looking for a 30a din rail AC breaker. About twice the cost of the Chinese mini breakers but I would trust the Westinghouse name much more. They are rated for the 1 pole at 277vAC and 60vDC and the 2 pole...

The solar patrol is usually not out flying the County on Saturday mornings searching for illegal solar installations. So I had the camouflage netting down off my solar panels to maximize my solar production when I heard the ominous "Whup-whup" of helicopter blades coming up the Valley. It was...

Off grid requires no official sanction or approval (At least where I live). There is no need to account for power sold over power received nor changing Terms of interconnect. Using grid as backup keeps it all so much easier in my opinion.

$122,400.00? Do they throw in a house with every purchase? I am right now in the process of building a ground mount to use with 4 -200w panels. The price is under $75 for materials. Course I have no permits, building department, planning commissions, and any other folderow to have to put up with.

Depends on your needs and abilities. I am doing just fine with a couple of dirt cheap 3kw Tier None AIO's (not stacked or parallel but powering different circuits) at the moment and a motley collection of solar panels bought a few at a time over many years. Over the years I have tried out...

Rather than unplug I like using a simple plug in On/Off switch. This way there is less mechanical wear on things.