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Not one to disappoint! I did want to verify that the unit Lithium Solar showed wasn't a 1-off. And indeed, it's just like their teardown! The SOC was nearly identical to the SOC of my system when I got home, so the voltages matched almost perfectly. Just finished my cable, shut the system...

Reducing load became a game to me. My whole house idles about 200w now. My critical loads are about 500w above that, but it’s all solar/battery powered. It’s amazing what picking away at things does - upgrading to efficient items when it’s time, insulating here and there, dialing back the...

TL;DR: For a bit over $3k (after tax break) + my time, I'll offset half (or more!) of my electric use, and this should pay off in less than 5 years - even in rainy urban Portland! I've been looking into solar for 20+ years, and never had the opportunity to dive in. With the Biden 30% off sale...

You CAN do things inexpensively... IF YOU DO IT YOURSELF!!

I'll chime in my story - I dithered for about a year before pulling the trigger on a mini-system. Like others, I got a quote for $50k (without a new roof, which I needed!) after subsidies, and... ended up here. I installed a glorified UPS - Bluetti AC300 + 6 kWh batteries + 6 400w panels. The...

Gotta say, after using this for a week or so - it was a pretty boring upgrade! I heard that at full charge is where the cell imbalance could be seen if it exists. Doesn't appear so to me.

Conclusion I'm REALLY please with how this came together. I've done a ton of projects that went off the rails, but this came together nicely. The Bluetti? Marginally reliable, and their support stinks - until you "find a way". The software works - just barely, but good enough. It's the...

My friend’s nearly new, almost totally south facing, completely non-solar paneled roof in Sisters, OR. I just want to get a ladder and start plunking down panels!!!

2nd the recommendation for the Vue. I just ran a test of my massive electric oven today to see what it actually draws vs. the 50amp breaker it's on. Basically I see I can likely pull close to 50 amps when all things are on high, but more like 30 amps in a normal "really cooking" scenario - 2...

The 20% discount looks like a good-faith effort to make you happy, without having to process and take the expense of a return. The other stuff is perhaps them proactively wanting to see if your experience is a one-off or not - perhaps to help them decide whether to continue selling the product...

Every, darn, time - go upstairs, or into the garage... "Why did I come up here...? Oh right!" I also have multiple pairs of glasses stashed away for just such occasions!

If the Internet goes down for 3 days...

When I gutted my bathroom, I put in a bidet. Being an overachiever, I wanted warm water. Reducing complication, I put in one of these mixing valves to at least have the max temp be < scalding. Seems to work reasonably well, isn't hard to install and set, and is easy to adjust...

Holy SH*T! That's like $25/day for power! 😲 As for tracking it down, an Emporia meter and a Kill-a-Watt were super useful in collecting data. Moving the chokes to different circuits and turning things on to see the draw was... fun! 🤓 Really helped inform which things to tackle first. LED's...

Today my batteries were full by 2:30. So the inverter stopped pulling. So I turned on the window AC to pull more power to get that sweet sweet ROI 🤣 a bit higher.

in for 1. $1023 delivered. Will post a review when it arrives. Wish me luck!

Portland's not a mess. It's be best place I've lived, 28+ years. They tried something, and apparently it didn't work. I'm not going to say why, because I'm not up on the details, and try not to comment on things I'm ignorant about. But I do hear they're trying something else, and I hope it...

$1023 with code Lithium7. I got one delivered yesterday and posted a photo tear down here. Very pleased first day experience. It happily drained last night, and happily filling up with solar today. Boring is good! https://diysolarforum.com/threads/vatrer-server-rack-battery-arrived.82460/

Supercapacitors are the future, but we'll get to those the year after fusion.

I have 6 of the 400w panels. Even with sub-optimal angle (16 degrees vs 31 optimal), I'm frequently pulling in 2000+ watts. Not sure I've hit 2400w, but have come really close. (So yes, they hit rated power nicely, in my experience)

I made a roll around dolly out of 1x4’s and wheels from Amazon and leftover carpet. No rack necessary. Just a saw, glue. Staple and finish nail gun helped. I plan on adding a strap eventually just for extra. Made it big enough for a 2nd battery, too. 😁 Ashgoob wheels

Now you made me realize how I can mount a few more panels in my backyard. Adjustable, no less! Damn you! Damn you to hellllllll! 🤣

I'm not in one of the affected groups, and it doesn't have any material impact on me to change a few words here and there. I choose to listen and accept change. Change is hard, but life is pretty good if that's what I'm complaining about...

Lol! PDX the war zone trope. 🤣 When the "riots" were going on, my Rochester co-workers asked me about it, and I said, "Wut?" so I went down that night to check it out. It was 4 blocks, 2 of which were Federal buildings. There were bullhorn speeches, and between 9p-10p, everyone was on their...

Was looking for a battery to increase my storage capacity, and decided to take a chance on this one: Vatrer Server Rack Battery. $1023 delivered to my door, in less than a week. I was planning on opening it up and taking a look inside, but don't really feel compelled to. Ordered last week...

I'm still happy with mine - blissfully boring, actually. Tempted to get another on Amazon - $1044, and 5% back through Amazon card = ~$945 --> $185/kWh. That ain't bad, but since I avoided (will-powah!!) getting those $50 100w panels, not sure I can use the extra storage consistently.

Pretty tempting - that's a nice looking build, and might be pretty good for my needs (I just want a battery that's pretty self-contained, and balances itself). I think I'm in for being a beta-tester! Sub-$1k server rack batteries - whoo-hoo!! Edit: Anyone have any OMG NO DON'T DO IT...

So, is it OK or not? I was basing my decision on the layout of the wall mount and server rack batteries being the same design.

Actually, if you read the product page, Mixing valve info page, that's exactly the scenario they describe (even the temp!). The problem is that you'll have to feed it fresh cold water to get it to the 35c, so if you're concerned about bugs in the fresh water line, you're just re-introducing...