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Fun fact: Our fire marshall (Michigan) for my employer says no heaters at all can be plugged into an extension cord, ever, even if the cord is rated for the amps. Thus we have to plug them directly into the wall or cubicle outlets.

@MrNatural22 that stand is a great idea! Then I can use zip ties to tie the panel to the frame. I found some reusable zip ties on Aliexpress, they are very handy. They have a special lever to it's easy to undo the zip tie without cutting it. Here's an Aliexpress search. As for panels failing...

This file talks about the basic terms and is designed for beginners. It also talks about boost and buck convertors, boost/buck convertors, and battery types. There should be a button in the upper right of the page to print this if you want. The Print button makes it nicely formatted for your...

If you forget to put heat shrink on, or the wire is in an odd place where heat shrink won't work, and you will want to cover bare wire, they also make liquid electrical tape like this...

I didn't grow up with those but I've seen them once in a while, they look pretty good. I don't seem to have a natural knack for electronics but I can do simple things. My very first foray into electricity was when I was about 3 or 4 and stuck a hairpin I found on the floor into one side of a a...

The only stupid question is the one that was unasked. We were all beginners once. So, no problem here. Ask away.

Yes I've used them for about 3 years, various styles. Here's what I've found out. I live in Michigan. Weather goes from -10F in the winter to 80F+ in the summer, and those are average temperatures. These large temperature changes seem to be really hard on the batteries which are mostly NiMh...

I think I have the first edition of the Kernighan and Ritchie "Learning C" book, or whatever the title was. I had no idea who the authors were, but I loved the learning style of this book. Little did I know but my C programming class at uni required me to actually know C before I took the class...

I've never found a local brick and mortar store that meets my needs for electronic parts. Sometimes the automotive stores have a few of the parts, or Home Depot, but that's why I order everything online, typically on Amazon. They have one day shipping for my area, which is free if you're a Prime...

In Michigan we dig a hole 3 ft deep to be below the frost line when installing fence posts. If you're in a colder area, like Alaska, you might need to dig deeper. This is why I make a mark on my shovel handle 3 ft from the tip of the shovel point. YMMV. Tip: I spray painted my new treated...

I have no proof the seller cannot have negative comments removed on Aliexpress, all they can do is remove the item for sale, lose all feedback on it, and relist it with no feedback. Aliexpress is pretty strict about rules and will remove sellers that list unrelated items in one listing that try...

The cost of lithium batteries has dropped a lot in the past 10 years. Is the current price near the lowest point? Possibly, if no major changes to manufacturing or battery efficiency is made. Another fun graph going back to 1991.

This sounds more like a scam or from someone who didn't do their due diligence and calculations. It doesn't sound very efficient with all those physical moving parts.

Speaking of journals, I've used a tree-type journal software for 15+ years. The one I use isn't being updated, so I will recommend some others. Go to http://bulrush.freeshell.org/00frames2.htm. Now on the left, click on the category "Info mgmt". This site is all about freeware. For apps that...

If you want to start with a cheaper battery go to an automotive store and ask for "old stock" batteries and see what they will sell you. I normally start small until I get some more knowledge about all this. Then I expand later.

Great idea about the clothes drying rack! Did you get your wife's permission to use that? :) I am thinking of getting more panels in the spring (Renogy) but I cannot mount them on the roof myself as that would void my new roof warranty. And a licensed installer would be too expensive for me.

Make a Tritiled, the battery lasts 5 years for a blinking version. https://hackaday.io/project/11864-tritiled This guy sells them here. It's an open source project. https://www.tindie.com/products/Kontakt/tritiled-v22/

I have a manual hand grinder with a ceramic grinding cone, I love it. I have a lot of control over the grind, the ceramic grinders are the best. And it's a lot cheaper than a $100 invertor! It was about $35usd.

No it does not. The 18650 is for the size/format only. Look carefully for the chemistry of the battery. AA batteries come in many chemistries: alkaline, zinc, "heavy duty", even lithium (at 3.7vdc) and universal lithium (1.5vdc). 18650s also come in many chemistries like lithium and now LiFePO4.

Would it be correct to say iron has higher resistance to electricity flowing than copper, and that resistance is where the heat comes from? Some people have old copper pipe lying around and they pound it flat, drill holes in it, and use that for a bus bar.

Panels are rated based on lab conditions which are rarely, if ever, met in real life. So ratings on the panel exceed real life results. I look at panels and start at 80% of rating, then go down from there when I control for overcast days. The 80% of rating will only happen on a perfectly sunny...

The batteries you linked to are standard UPS batteries. I have a couple. They are very common. I would hope they have those in lithium ion versions too. Yay! They have a LiFePo version...

I only remember the 16kb expansion. I got it after having the VIC-20 for about 2 years. I also had a little color plotter that used 6" wide roll tape. Color printing back then was a really big deal. I think the roll tape was 40 columns wide so I even printed my programs on it in small print.

It would be nice to have a summary of all the pros and cons of each generator so we can quickly read through it. It takes quite a lot of time to listen to all the videos he's done on these things. :)

Thanks for the links in your sig, Will! Those are very handy.

I have several small/portable battery banks with USB ports. I plug in USB LED lights to them. I also make custom LED lights which I can dim so I can use even less power if I just want a moonlight mode, or full lighting mode. I'm sure they make these in "the wild" also. The power banks are...

What are your requirements for the battery capacity? What do you want to run from the portable system? And how often will you use the portable system? What city and state do you live in? This will give us an idea of how much sun you get per year and how much sun you get during various seasons...

If your ambient temperature is 110F then AFAIK a heat sink will not get you below 110F. Correct me if I'm wrong, I'd like to know a way to cool things down too. I might try a small peltier cooler but I've heard they are very inefficient. Some people get a cooler full of one large block of ice...

I have lived in Michigan for 40+ years. Michigan sometimes gets a lot colder than that. It was only in 2014 that we got -30F ambient temps. It destroyed my GPS I had left in the car. You might want to prepare for -30F ambient temps so you are covered for 95% of the winters here. Insulate...

Anker brand products on Amazon are pretty good, I've used several of them. They make all kinds of electronic stuff like battery banks, USB chargers, etc. That's actually kind of a high drain and will drain your battery eventually, but that depends on your battery capacity. I prefer stuff with...