211–220 of 234 posts
I live in an off-grid house. Solar isn't perfect, but it's been pretty good all things considered 6 months in. Converting an airport shuttle bus into an RV now, so I'll have to look this over for that.
Cool, I'd love to see the write-up on that if you have the time.
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I never considered the diode duty cycles. If nameplate was 120-240VAC (my TV says 120 but the p/s PCB inside says 100-240…) I’d like to think each would have the overhead to handle under 100VDC, but maybe I’m underestimating the impact of higher current. Edit: you’re right that the “hot” ones will run twice as hot with their 0.6V or whatever drop. All I could think about was the (potential) improvements on capacitor…
Welcome to the world of powering AC equipment on DC. It can be done, surprisingly often. But as soon as you've got some stuff that requires an inverter, you may as well just light the inverter up for everything. I've got the equipment to do a separate, lithium-backed "DC rail" in my office that would be around 40V, and then buck it down for various devices, run my routers direct on it, and... I've never gotten around…
That’s where I’m coming from: trying to convince a family member to setup a DC system so the inverter can stay in sleep mode during evening/overnight, because the efficiency is horrendous at small loads. it’s really academic in kWh savings per day, but it saves you the most when sunlight’s the least and reduces battery cycling. But if you’re running an office, the inverter is pretty much running a good load or off, I think.
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Passive solar heating should be very maintenance free. It's the point of it. Sure, a backup plan is a good idea. But it doesn't have to be very good or very efficient, as it will be rarely used.
Pretty sure you don’t live in Central Europe or areas like northern Michigan? There are weeks with zero direct sun, just low cloud cover, scattered snow, and cold cold cold. I was in Michigan once when Lake Superior froze over, shore to shore. Unless the place is so well insulated you can keep it warm purely with body heat, you need supplemental heating in climates like this. The sun is not always shining.
Marketing. I would take everything on this website with a grain of salt. Take it from someone who has actually built an off-grid system, one that is relied upon for 24/7/365 living rather than mere vacation cottage. For example: OP re lead-acid battery options: "Heavy, cheap, easy to use and they work! Typically will last about 3-5 years. Slower charge rates than lithium, much heavier, and they cost way more in the l…
> Look at nearly every 12v car or boat battery. You don't see those being replaced every 3-5 years. It is old reliable tech that just works. I actually do see this all of the time. In decades of owning multiple cars I've found the batteries tend to fail so regularly at about the 5 year mark that you could set a watch to it. They are easy to find and inexpensive to replace, but they absolutely do have a limited lifesp…
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Problem is, the sun doesen't necessarily rise above the horizon for weeks in northern countries
Yes, in locations like that you will have to use some other solution for those periods. Maybe wind power. Battery storage will not last long enough unless you have an absolutely massive setup that would not be cost effective the rest of the year. I had 48KWh worth of storage, 2500 W worth of wind and another 5000 W worth of solar. This was in Northern Ontario. Until we added the windmill we fairly regularly needed th…
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sounds a bit gate-keepy to me. People tell me that I shouldn't repair my own car for similar reasons. Instead I should go to the OEM and have it serviced there for 1000,- a pop. This assures I'm getting genuine OEM branded parts with a 800% profit margin while also reducing the time spent on diagnosing the issue because now whole modules get replaced since cost of human labor is expensive. If I would heed that advise…
He has a point, but there is a thing you can do to offset some of this: read all of the comments. Plenty of times there will be someone in the comments pointing out what's wrong in the videos. The problem with Lithium Ion installations of any size is that the batteries are inherently dangerous and mistakes can easily set you back more than you saved on the whole thing. Unlike say your car where as long as you stay aw…
He had a couple of sponsored videos in the past around building all in one systems, but it's not something he does anymore.
Together with my girlfriend I’m planning a trip. Driving from the Netherlands to South Africa and back with an EV. We want to charge the car with solar panels we bring with us. See our website for more details: www.4x4electric.com Challenge for now: how to charge the car with ~60m2 of flexible solar panels. We need a threephase offgrid solar system, but did not find a suitable solution yet. Any ideas?
How long are y’all planning to do the trip for?
Together with my girlfriend I’m planning a trip. Driving from the Netherlands to South Africa and back with an EV. We want to charge the car with solar panels we bring with us. See our website for more details: www.4x4electric.com Challenge for now: how to charge the car with ~60m2 of flexible solar panels. We need a threephase offgrid solar system, but did not find a suitable solution yet. Any ideas?
Leuk idee! Perhaps it makes sense to have a chat with Solar Team Eindhoven/Twente/Delft? Or have a chat with the people at Lightyear. They have a lot of former teammembers.
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Pretty sure you don’t live in Central Europe or areas like northern Michigan? There are weeks with zero direct sun, just low cloud cover, scattered snow, and cold cold cold. I was in Michigan once when Lake Superior froze over, shore to shore. Unless the place is so well insulated you can keep it warm purely with body heat, you need supplemental heating in climates like this. The sun is not always shining.
https://permies.com/t/42722/Passive-Solar-House-design-Cloud...
Some folks in less severe climates (like New Hampshire) seemed to get by with baking and other managed appliance heat. That does require you spend time doing, and orient your activities around, things to produce heat to stay warm. Some will find that palatable, others won’t.
Posters in Colder climates (like Ontario) noted propane, or thermal mass heaters (such as the rocket heater in the thread).
‘Then the propane could make up the modest difference on long cold cloudy stretches.’
Thanks for linking it!