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Off-Grid Ranch in Northern Arizona - Send me your resume!

Pack rats and field mice. Lights don't keep them away, but they prevent them from nesting in lighted areas. Both trailers are fully illuminated inside, and various traps are set in the dark corners.

I found out about pack rats quick enough when I first moved to AZ. I parked my truck & small trailer at a friends house at the foot of the Superstitions for two weeks while I was transitioning from my camp to another temporary place (a tiny-home park) and when I went to pick up my truck I had two pack rat nests sitting on top of each battery under the hood of the truck. Fortunately, they didn't get to the trailer and they didn't chew anything up in the truck. Thanks for the heads up.

Question, likely stupid - are their cockroaches up around your place? Before I moved to AZ I had never even seen a cockroach but I found that, in the city, if you don't spray chemicals, it's insane. It's like every breed of cockroach in the world loves to call Mesa their home. I'm hoping the cooler temperatures up north keep their numbers at bay?

My BMS communicates with the GX, so it's telling the system what to do. I ultimately need an external relay to completely isolate the battery, but for the time being, I'm pretty happy with the options. As it stands, the BMS tells the system the charge voltage from all sources. The GX will limit all GX connected sources to that voltage, and I can also set a charge current limit if I wish. The final word at this time is the remote switch on the MPPT. If the battery registers a critical condition, it will open that switch to the MPPT causing it to terminate all output.

Curious to see what your solution entails.

I haven't integrated my CANBUS BMS' to the Quattro's yet. Is that what you've done? I haven't bothered to dig into it yet but I'm pretty sure CANBUS is standard serial communication? It is something I need to look into. I need all of my BMS' in the same place & chatting with the Cerbo.

My current solution is almost completely analog and quite primitive, however very reliable.

I use several chineseum voltage/current displays w/ programmable voltage set points that trip multiple 200A contactors and a few smaller relays for different things. For charging, in addition to the Quattro I use two AIMS power 12/24V chargers for (FAST) generator charging of the lithium banks, along with two PowerMax 100A chargers for my FLA bank. (just four-six Trojan golf cart batteries I've been using for testing.)

I use two of these to control the AIMS chargers individually on the A/C side. These are great as they can handle quite a lot of current.

iot relay1.JPGiot relay2.jpg

For alternator charging or moving power from the FLA bank to the lithium banks I use a 200A Sterling Power DC-DC charger and a 60A Renogy unit. Which reminds me, I need to check into a secondary (24V) alternator for my truck. :)

I am a huge, huge fan of keep-it-simple-stupid so I don't want to complicate things but I do need to cover all of my bases.

Sounds like you're getting that sorted out! Good luck!

Thanks man, I appreciate it.

I'm gettin' there. I'm currently disassembling everything in preparation for moving everything.
 
I found out about pack rats quick enough when I first moved to AZ. I parked my truck & small trailer at a friends house at the foot of the Superstitions for two weeks while I was transitioning from my camp to another temporary place (a tiny-home park) and when I went to pick up my truck I had two pack rat nests sitting on top of each battery under the hood of the truck. Fortunately, they didn't get to the trailer and they didn't chew anything up in the truck. Thanks for the heads up.

Question, likely stupid - are their cockroaches up around your place? Before I moved to AZ I had never even seen a cockroach but I found that, in the city, if you don't spray chemicals, it's insane. It's like every breed of cockroach in the world loves to call Mesa their home. I'm hoping the cooler temperatures up north keep their numbers at bay?

I've never seen them up North, but I don't know how likely they are to get into trailers.

We see maybe a total of half a dozen a year here in Mesa. They are the huge "sewer" roaches that get in through the drains.


I haven't integrated my CANBUS BMS' to the Quattro's yet. Is that what you've done? I haven't bothered to dig into it yet but I'm pretty sure CANBUS is standard serial communication? It is something I need to look into. I need all of my BMS' in the same place & chatting with the Cerbo.

Communication with the Cerbo is a rigid standard. The Cerbo must recognize the device, so you either need to be able to make your own Cerbo driver, or you use an already compatible system. "all of my BMS'" is going to be a problem The Cerbo is designed to only work with a single BMS.

My current solution is almost completely analog and quite primitive, however very reliable.

I use several chineseum voltage/current displays w/ programmable voltage set points that trip multiple 200A contactors and a few smaller relays for different things. For charging, in addition to the Quattro I use two AIMS power 12/24V chargers for (FAST) generator charging of the lithium banks, along with two PowerMax 100A chargers for my FLA bank. (just four-six Trojan golf cart batteries I've been using for testing.)

I use two of these to control the AIMS chargers individually on the A/C side. These are great as they can handle quite a lot of current.

View attachment 162755View attachment 162756

For alternator charging or moving power from the FLA bank to the lithium banks I use a 200A Sterling Power DC-DC charger and a 60A Renogy unit. Which reminds me, I need to check into a secondary (24V) alternator for my truck. :)

I am a huge, huge fan of keep-it-simple-stupid so I don't want to complicate things but I do need to cover all of my bases.

Very nice.

The PM3/4-100LK units are fine for LFP as well. You can change the absorption voltage with the pot or set to constant voltage mode. I have three of them.
 
I've never seen them up North, but I don't know how likely they are to get into trailers.

We see maybe a total of half a dozen a year here in Mesa. They are the huge "sewer" roaches that get in through the drains.

I see only one or two a year IN the house, the house is really well sealed from pests/rodents but outside, if I don't spray, is freakin' crazy. American cockroaches, German cockroaches and it seems like a few of every other breed known to man thrown in for good measure. When I first came to AZ I certainly sprayed too much insecticide (all outside, never inside) and didn't see any cockroaches or scorpions outside.

This year I decided to do things a bit differently and didn't spray at all, to kind of get a "control" and see what things are like naturally, with no insecticide & it was totally out of control outside. I sprayed minimally outside while the cockroaches and scorpions were THICK and it did the trick, at least so far. Only a couple here, but we'll see how long that application lasts.

As for the travel trailers, as you mentioned, because they are so high off the ground & because they are sealed really well (even being parked on the side of the house right in the middle of where the cockroaches were thickest) only one managed to get in.

But, thanks, I was just curious.

Communication with the Cerbo is a rigid standard. The Cerbo must recognize the device, so you either need to be able to make your own Cerbo driver, or you use an already compatible system. "all of my BMS'" is going to be a problem The Cerbo is designed to only work with a single BMS.

Is that the difference between the Cerbo GX and the regular Cerbo, maybe?

I haven't looked into it yet but my GX has a couple of canbus jacks that appear to be industry standard canbus protocol & because the Cerbo is wide open using mostly open source software, at least on the surface, it appears quite doable... maybe without any software modification, but as I said, I haven't done a deep dive but it seems like it could be a fun challenge. However, because of my propensity to stick with the KISS principle as much as possible I prefer to keep my stuff as "stock" as possible for reliability so if it's too much of a PIA I'll find another solution.

I am still considering the ElectroDacus but we'll see how I feel about that after I spring for my second Quattro. ;)

What voltage is your system, BTW?

Very nice.

The PM3/4-100LK units are fine for LFP as well. You can change the absorption voltage with the pot or set to constant voltage mode. I have three of them.

I have both a PM3 (which I believe is actually 75 amps, now that I think of it) and a PM4 which states it is a 100A unit and I've had great luck with both of them over the years in my lead acid application. My PM3 has been beaten down since 2017 and still works perfect.

Heck, if you can change the CV via a pot, have you ever used them with Lithium?
 
I see only one or two a year IN the house, the house is really well sealed from pests/rodents but outside, if I don't spray, is freakin' crazy. American cockroaches, German cockroaches and it seems like a few of every other breed known to man thrown in for good measure. When I first came to AZ I certainly sprayed too much insecticide (all outside, never inside) and didn't see any cockroaches or scorpions outside.

This year I decided to do things a bit differently and didn't spray at all, to kind of get a "control" and see what things are like naturally, with no insecticide & it was totally out of control outside. I sprayed minimally outside while the cockroaches and scorpions were THICK and it did the trick, at least so far. Only a couple here, but we'll see how long that application lasts.

As for the travel trailers, as you mentioned, because they are so high off the ground & because they are sealed really well (even being parked on the side of the house right in the middle of where the cockroaches were thickest) only one managed to get in.

But, thanks, I was just curious.

We've never sprayed in 25 years except for 3 termite treatments.

I've NEVER seen a scorpion inside or outside.

Is that the difference between the Cerbo GX and the regular Cerbo, maybe?

No.


GX is the generic term for the control center. I have a Color Control GX or CCGX. There is the Cerbo-S GX that does not have the BMS-CAN and other features.

I haven't looked into it yet but my GX has a couple of canbus jacks that appear to be industry standard canbus protocol & because the Cerbo is wide open using mostly open source software, at least on the surface, it appears quite doable... maybe without any software modification, but as I said, I haven't done a deep dive but it seems like it could be a fun challenge.

Anything communicating with the GX must be recognized by the GX via a built-in/add-on driver. Period. While there are two "CAN" ports, there's a reason for it. The higher end Victron MPPT can be "daisy-chained" via built-in VE.CAN ports on the MPPT. Up to 25 can be connected to a single Cerbo. Thus the VE.CAN is for the MPPT and the BMS-CAN is for a BMS. They can't be on the same bus.

On a lesser GX like my CCGX, I only have one VE.CAN port. I can use it for a BMS OR for MPPT VE.CAN communication. Since I only have one 250/100, I'm using it for the Batrium.

However, because of my propensity to stick with the KISS principle as much as possible I prefer to keep my stuff as "stock" as possible for reliability so if it's too much of a PIA I'll find another solution.

I am still considering the ElectroDacus but we'll see how I feel about that after I spring for my second Quattro. ;)

For the love of all that is holy, do not use an ElectroDacus. It is the most primitive SCC on the planet and has no hopes of communicating with the Victron CAN bus. It's a nifty piece of gadgetry, but it's pretty limited.

What voltage is your system, BTW?

48V

I have both a PM3 (which I believe is actually 75 amps, now that I think of it) and a PM4 which states it is a 100A unit and I've had great luck with both of them over the years in my lead acid application. My PM3 has been beaten down since 2017 and still works perfect.

Yep. I got my PM4-100 around 2018, and it's been abused. :)

Heck, if you can change the CV via a pot, have you ever used them with Lithium?

Not personally, but LFP can be readily charged with Pb-acid chargers.

Default is 14.4 bulk+30 min absorption/13.6V absorption (10 hours?) and then 13.2V float.

Default behavior will fully charge LFP to near 100% with no intervention. When done in an RV with their shitty wiring, hitting 100% is challenging.
 
We've never sprayed in 25 years except for 3 termite treatments.

I've NEVER seen a scorpion inside or outside.
Wish I had that luxury here. When I first moved in the Mesa house, after it had sat (over the winter) I stepped on two scorpions within about a month and saw one just hanging out on the wall. That's when I decided to spray outside and haven't seen one in the house since. Even after spraying heavily I did see a couple outside, here and there. Since spraying this year I haven't been outside with the black light yet. Based on your information I guess it varies quite a bit, even within a relatively small area.

Sorry for the subject deviation and thanks again.

No.

Anything communicating with the GX must be recognized by the GX via a built-in/add-on driver. Period. While there are two "CAN" ports, there's a reason for it. The higher end Victron MPPT can be "daisy-chained" via built-in VE.CAN ports on the MPPT. Up to 25 can be connected to a single Cerbo. Thus the VE.CAN is for the MPPT and the BMS-CAN is for a BMS. They can't be on the same bus.

Understood.

I thought canbus was an industry standard that Victron was courteous enough to support. I suppose I should have known better. :)

For the love of all that is holy, do not use an ElectroDacus. It is the most primitive SCC on the planet and has no hopes of communicating with the Victron CAN bus. It's a nifty piece of gadgetry, but it's pretty limited.

Gotcha. When I first saw it I was pretty impressed, but again, that was a couple years ago. I haven't checked into it recently and don't know what new stuff is out there yet. Hmm... Batrium... I've heard of it, but can't place it.

Yep. I got my PM4-100 around 2018, and it's been abused. :)

Bought my PM3 in 2010, still going strong.

Not personally, but LFP can be readily charged with Pb-acid chargers.

Default is 14.4 bulk+30 min absorption/13.6V absorption (10 hours?) and then 13.2V float.

Default behavior will fully charge LFP to near 100% with no intervention. When done in an RV with their shitty wiring, hitting 100% is challenging.

Excellent information! Thank You once again!
 
I thought canbus was an industry standard that Victron was courteous enough to support. I suppose I should have known better. :)

It's a communications standard also used by automotive system (IIRC, it was developed by Bosch). The data that is passed is device/system dependent.

CAN bus is speech.

Gotcha. When I first saw it I was pretty impressed, but again, that was a couple years ago. I haven't checked into it recently and don't know what new stuff is out there yet. Hmm... Batrium... I've heard of it, but can't place it.

Batrium is out of Australia. It's expensive... :)

Bought my PM3 in 2010, still going strong.

(y)
 
FINALLY, we have a thread about AZ pest control ?.

We’ve had scorpions twice at our house SE of PHX over the years. Oddly enough, our dog woke us up one night barking like crazy at one in the living room, she didn’t get stung but knew it was there and alerted us.

I’m more concerned due to the disorganized black widow webs I see outside from time to time but haven’t seen a spider. We spray quarterly.

I have an off grid ham station in a sea can outside of town and worry about spiders, rattlesnakes and coyotes there. I leave the door cracked open and one night a coyote stuck his nose in for a sniff. Freaked me out a bit. I’ve learned to spot the rattlers in the spring and give them a wide berth.
 
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FINALLY, we have a thread about AZ pest control ?.

LOL!

We’ve had scorpions twice at our house SE of PHX over the years. Oddly enough, our dog woke us up one night barking like crazy at one in the living room, she didn’t get stung but knew it was there and alerted us.

I’m more concerned due to the disorganized black widow webs I see outside from time to time but haven’t seen a spider. We spray quarterly.

That reminded me of a suppressed memory... we found a barely alive (cold) black widow IN the trailer ON the bed up North. I try not to think about it.

I need to set off a bug bomb.

I have an off grid ham station in a sea can outside of town and worry about spiders, rattlesnakes and coyotes there. I leave the door cracked open and one night a coyote stuck his nose is for a sniff. Freaked me out a bit. I’ve learned to spot the rattlers in the spring and give them a wide berth.

We hear single/a pack coyotes up North. Can be a little disconcerting when it sounds like 20 are coming your way.

Had a coyote just trot down the street in Mesa. Was showing interest in neighbors' back yards, so I chased it away. We have a ferocious rat terrier that likely doesn't have the sense to hide from a coyote...
 
It's a communications standard also used by automotive system (IIRC, it was developed by Bosch). The data that is passed is device/system dependent.

CAN bus is speech.

So I'm going to guess that all the OBD2 stuffs in vehicles communicate in the CANBUS language. I'll check it out.

Cool, ya learn something new everyday. :)

Batrium is out of Australia. It's expensive... :)

(y)

One rule that always rings true - you get what you pay for.

I'll absolutely see what Batrium has to offer. Thanks!
 
That reminded me of a suppressed memory... we found a barely alive (cold) black widow IN the trailer ON the bed up North. I try not to think about it.

I need to set off a bug bomb.

I was laying in the master bedroom of my TT one evening and something caught my eye. I looked up and there was a baby black widow on a single strand of web, trying to work his way down to the floor from the A/C vent.

This was about a month ago. I grabbed a book off the shelf, opened it and let it land on the book and promptly closed the book.

Unsettling to say the least.

We hear single/a pack coyotes up North. Can be a little disconcerting when it sounds like 20 are coming your way.

Had a coyote just trot down the street in Mesa. Was showing interest in neighbors' back yards, so I chased it away. We have a ferocious rat terrier that likely doesn't have the sense to hide from a coyote...

"Ferocious rat terrier?" Ok, I get it, I've had a couple rat terriers, but I caught myself smirking when I read the sentence. :)
 
I’m more concerned due to the disorganized black widow webs I see outside from time to time but haven’t seen a spider. We spray quarterly.

Black Widows, like scorpions are notoriously hard to kill because they don't groom themselves, like, say a cockroach.

When you spray insecticide the only route it has to enter the critter is absorption through the skin. This works on scorpions as they drag their asses around but it does take MUCH longer to affect them as they have quite thick exoskeletons. It usually takes a couple of days after exposure before they die.

Black Widows, because they have such minimal contact with the surfaces they occupy, you have to hit them directly with the spray. The only way to thoroughly get rid of them is to eliminate their food supply or by physically removing them. If you see the web, there's a spider there. Go take a look around 12AM-3AM. You have to sneak up to the web though as ANY vibration will send them into hiding. (thankfully)

To me, the only thing scarier than a Black Widow is the Australian redback. Ugh.

I have an off grid ham station in a sea can outside of town and worry about spiders, rattlesnakes and coyotes there. I leave the door cracked open and one night a coyote stuck his nose is for a sniff. Freaked me out a bit. I’ve learned to spot the rattlers in the spring and give them a wide berth.

Oh! Based on your username I have a question you might be able to answer:

Have you had any issues with RF noise from your solar controller and/or other electronics associated with your off grid power delivery?

I haven't crossed that bridge yet but I have a pretty extensive shack that will be on my property and I've often thought about it.
 
Darn it. I found a black widow web under my stairs last weekend. was going to bug bomb.
 
Darn it. I found a black widow web under my stairs last weekend. was going to bug bomb.

I have no experience with bug bombs, could work if it coats their body? no idea though.

Honestly I don't even worry about them anymore. They want nothing to do with you and the only way they will ever bother you is if you stick your hand in a dark, unoccupied place, step on one, etc. but because they vanish so quickly with any vibration / movement chances are slim you'll ever have a one-on-one with one.

When it comes to scorpions, they creep me out but I've been stung twice (stepped on them) and, to me, it was the same as a bee sting, I wasn't really bothered. When I tell people this they say "huh? they are deadly!" They may very well be, I'm no expert, but that certainly wasn't my experience. (at least so far)

I found a dried out scorpion in my garage and made sure to put somewhere the wife would run into it... that didn't go over well.

But I DID take a picture.

Again, sorry for the subject deviation. :)
 

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Still off topic...
I just read through this thread.
What you guys are doing is basically the same as what my wife and I are doing except, we have a very modest 3.5 acres about another 20 or so miles south of Maricopa.
We started out with around $100k and with all of the prices reaching in some cases 400% more than what they were a couple of years ago that has mostly been burned away.
You aren't kidding, water is the new oil.
A short distance from me a couple drilled their well on a piece of property they had just purchased, in excess of $100k just for the well. A well would be really nice to have but for me, any amount of money spent on a well and if it ever goes dry, that's just too much money spent. That is a very real risk down here.
At the beginning of 2020 concrete was at around $120 / yard. I had 40 x 60 garage / shop slab and a second slab for a casita poured at Christmas time last year. $320 / yard. I had just over 60 yards poured. You do the math. It's ridiculous!

This little area we are in certainly has its share of wildlife. So far we've seen numerous types of snakes. King, rattle, coachwhip and some others I have no idea what they are. Scorpions, black widows, several packs of wild dogs are in the area. Fox, coyotes, gila monsters round out the variety.

I'm commuting to Mesa every day for work. That's a drive I'm getting real tired of.
 
Still off topic...
I just read through this thread.
What you guys are doing is basically the same as what my wife and I are doing except, we have a very modest 3.5 acres about another 20 or so miles south of Maricopa.
We started out with around $100k and with all of the prices reaching in some cases 400% more than what they were a couple of years ago that has mostly been burned away.
You aren't kidding, water is the new oil.
A short distance from me a couple drilled their well on a piece of property they had just purchased, in excess of $100k just for the well. A well would be really nice to have but for me, any amount of money spent on a well and if it ever goes dry, that's just too much money spent. That is a very real risk down here.
At the beginning of 2020 concrete was at around $120 / yard. I had 40 x 60 garage / shop slab and a second slab for a casita poured at Christmas time last year. $320 / yard. I had just over 60 yards poured. You do the math. It's ridiculous!

This little area we are in certainly has its share of wildlife. So far we've seen numerous types of snakes. King, rattle, coachwhip and some others I have no idea what they are. Scorpions, black widows, several packs of wild dogs are in the area. Fox, coyotes, gila monsters round out the variety.

I'm commuting to Mesa every day for work. That's a drive I'm getting real tired of.

Ouch. If you haven't encountered these guys:



They're in the low desert like you, and it may be more economical. In the high desert, we have about 11 in/year of rain. With 40 acres, I'll seriously be considering catchment over a well. I have a lot of terrain that would lend itself well to:



A 14x48 would harvest over 4000 gal/year on 11in/year.
 
That stuff is brilliant. Never occurred to me to have a ground level collection system. I’ve got the elevation. Thanks!
 
Oh! Based on your username I have a question you might be able to answer:

Have you had any issues with RF noise from your solar controller and/or other electronics associated with your off grid power delivery?

I haven't crossed that bridge yet but I have a pretty extensive shack that will be on my property and I've often thought about it.

Yup, most of the off grid goodies cause RFI. I love my Victron MPPT’s but they are my worst offenders.

Plan on choking solar equipment inputs and outputs, go device by device to find what is causing a specific problem. You will want to use mix 43 or 31 based on your frequencies of interest. Good reference here :


Proper grounding and bonding are vital as well. Good reference for that :


I just hacked away at it a bit at a time and now I’m quite happy with two different setups in different locales. Each one has all radios and amplifiers within 10 feet of the solar equipment and I’m running 160m through 70cm without much problem.

I’m just 10 countries away from DXCC Honor Roll and I took first place in 2023 January VHF contest SO3B for the 7th call district so it works.
 
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We started out with around $100k and with all of the prices reaching in some cases 400% more than what they were a couple of years ago that has mostly been burned away.

Kind of like solar panels, batteries & inverters. Even if you triple your best estimates you'll usually still be on the edge.

You aren't kidding, water is the new oil.

Gotta give the powers-that-be credit though. They've managed to monetize the most abundant resource on the plant.

At the beginning of 2020 concrete was at around $120 / yard. I had 40 x 60 garage / shop slab and a second slab for a casita poured at Christmas time last year. $320 / yard. I had just over 60 yards poured. You do the math. It's ridiculous!

The only thing you can really do is to hold off on the things that you can until after the depression / recession.

This little area we are in certainly has its share of wildlife. So far we've seen numerous types of snakes. King, rattle, coachwhip and some others I have no idea what they are. Scorpions, black widows, several packs of wild dogs are in the area. Fox, coyotes, gila monsters round out the variety.

@sunshine_eggo brought up what could be a workable solution to that issue, something that I didn't really thing about until he mentioned it: an electric fence. I definitely need to look into this.

I'm commuting to Mesa every day for work. That's a drive I'm getting real tired of.

I feel your pain. (Mesa to Scottsdale) I wish you the best of luck. :)
 
Yup, most of the off grid goodies cause RFI. I love my Victron MPPT’s but they are my worst offenders.

I have a ton of Victron equipment but nothing Victron when it comes to solar controllers. Warning noted.


I just hacked away at it a bit at a time and now I’m quite happy with two different setups in different locales. Each one has all radios and amplifiers within 10 feet of the solar equipment and I’m running 160m through 70cm without much problem.

I’m just 10 countries away from DXCC Honor Roll and I took first place in 2023 January VHF contest SO3B for the 7th call district so it works.

Thanks for the links. It won't be my first time tackling electrical / RF noise but I need all the help I can get....and congratulations on your honor roll! That's a pretty big achievement. Not to stray too far off topic but I'm getting ready to to tackle a 100FT tower on a 6000FT mountain. Certainly going to be a fun time.
 
Not to stray too far off topic but I'm getting ready to to tackle a 100FT tower on a 6000FT mountain. Certainly going to be a fun time.

It’s your thread so you can stray where you want ?.

This spring I did SOTA from Pinal Peak, Mount Union, Spruce and Mingus Mountains and worked Asia, Europe and around North America with 5W CW so the AZ mountains can help a lot. That tower at that elevation will be a sweet setup.

And don’t give up on the Victron MPPT’s. I like mine now that the RFI is tamed.
 
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