Recent content by Westcliffe01

Have you lived on a north facing lot for a year yet ? When I lived in Germany for 3 years, the house that I rented sight unseen was on a north facing slope. The 140 stairs to the house from the street were icy for months at a time and I slipped and fell on the stairs on several occasions. The...

My motivation for the water cooled generator is that I plan to capture waste heat from the coolant and exhaust to get the most out of the fuel used to run the genny. I'm going to be in a cool climate where no AC will ever be needed so heat is a significant factor for most of the year. My...

I just bought a SunGoldpower split phase inverter/MPPT solar charger / AC charger. I have a 24V battery, they have 48V options too. This unit will accept up to 450V from the solar array. Accepts 120VAC from the grid/generator and will charge the batteries up to 40A. On the PV side will...

The county in Colorado I am moving to does not have building codes and provides no services related to electrical and plumbing, these are done through the state and with inspectors provided by the state. Has anyone had any experience with this from a DIY point of view ? What is the attitude of...

Take a look at this offer from Central Maine Diesel. https://www.centralmainediesel.com/order/Perkins-6-kW-Diesel-Generator.asp?page=P6125 This is rated at 6kW for $4800 and is water cooled. The generator is belt driven and I am guessing the engine runs at something like 2800rpm vs 3600. Will...

I just bit the bullet and got the Sungoldpower 3kW charge controller / inverter. It was $509 + taxes right from the source. I dont need the inverter or AC charger functionality, but in this deal I get them for free, and were my bigger low frequency inverter to take a dump, now I would have a...

Price reduced to $400.

I get the impression the high voltage DC input inverters are made by Sandi Electric in China. I dont know the history of the company.

Back in ZA some well heeled people had thatch roofs. They always had twin poles with lightning conductors on them because if the lightning did strike the thatch there was no way you were going to get the fire put out. They apparently went like that for decades without being struck. In...

I have a new never taken out the packaging Midnite Classic 200 in the factory packaging. It was bought in approximately June 2016 so the warranty would have expired for sure. Back when I bought it, 200V on the input side of a charge controller was a pretty decent voltage, but as it turns out...

Im currently building what I refer to as my "survival shack" which I will live in at 9000ft until I have my house built. Its not a conventional build, I made it from 2" square tube with 11ga wall, all fully welded and cross braced. When I originally started it I was thinking of going to...

Im pretty much going to be by myself. Extra storage is just an invitation to hoarding.... I might have tens of small 3 cylinder japanese engines in inventory, but I will just use vertical racking and pallets and get myself a small forklift. As far as hoisting goes, a Cummins 5.9 possibly with...

Your door height is pretty modest. What was the reason you opted for the high ceiling ? Im going to do injection pump rebuild / conversion and possibly build airplane engines. The only reason I went with a 12' ceiling was to allow the car hoist so I can maintain my vehicles in a bit more...

Thanks for the proper terms when referring to different parts of the building. Im not a builder although I have done 2 very extensive renovations over the last 5 years, all on a pay as you go basis, no sub contractors used. We will be the selling the house in town to pay off the mortgage on my...

The page on which I found that reference seems to supply professionals in the field. They have standard packages for 50-300kW lithium batteries, so utility grade, not homeowner type stuff. I have requested manuals for the equipment I referenced because it was not available right on their web...