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Man made contaminates are not the only things that can make water unpotable- here we have extensive coal and gas deposits under us that stretch for hundreds of thousands of square kilometres, and unless you go down at least 700-1000m (2100-3000ft) the water is that toxic that it can't even be...

Unlike the US government, ours is concerned with the health and safety of its citizens- and we like it that way.... (its rather ironic that so many US posters here are against drinking fresh rainwater (one of the best water sources there is imho) and drink water from wells (which can be...

Tempering valves are a legal requirement in Australia and New Zealand (and many other countries) as the HWS is required by law to remain above at least 60C for health reasons . but at those temperatures scalding becomes an issue, so a tempering valve is also required to bring water coming out of...

Well water here (well bore water) is considered non potable where I live, and is allowed to only be used for agricultural purposes (plus it tastes bloody nasty as hell lol)- anyone relying entirely on bore water for potable purposes has to have a 'treatment plant' fitted and undergo regular...

It is actually a legal requirement in many council areas that tanks have an approved standard fitting that the bush fire brigade can connect to... (in my case a 65mm Storz outlet is required at the tank itself...) One of these Basically, a T fitting is fitted to the tanks outlet valve, one line...

They are quite ok for drinking water as well, if kept out of the sunlight (I ended up wrapping mine in shadecloth- also kept their temps down in 40C plus temps) plus add either 'tank treatment' tables (widely available from most hardware stores or rural suppliers in Australia, or even a small...

One way is avoid using LFP (only common in the southern states in Australia lol)- LYP or LiFeYPO4 cells are FAR superior in both hot and cold conditions (they are a little more expensive than LFP, and have a lower energy density than LFP (so slightly bigger than LFP) but can be used at their...

At least in Australia, most HWS are rated for external use, so if yours are similar, then just run pipes outside to it (at worst you might have to built it a little 'leanto' to house it in...

I have two of those identical units (sold under a different brand name ie QH, they are all the same I have found though) and they are NOT a charger, but a power supply (although they can be used as a 'dumb' charger) I use as my 'extra' bench PSUs (they are actually quite a good little unit-...

The PI has a bad rep when it comes to its 'USB power input' it demands 5vdc, but the USB spec is 4.5v to 5.5vDC unloaded, so you can have a 'legal' USB power supply that won't run a Pi... Plus many 5vdc supplies are woefully underfiltered and will add 'hum' to the output supply, in which case...

Food grade IBC's are commonly available and quite cheap (I paid under $180 for my four) they used to contain canola oil used for cooking at 'fish and chip shops' but were pressure cleaned before I even got them... On the way to the campsite on my then new property 3 were used as 'storage', the...

Done 'far too many' marine installs on panels on ocean going boats, and I can say with certainty that panel mounts are an issue wherever they are exposed to sea spray... My personal favourite installation method is to use rubber strips to separate the panel from the 'usually' stainless frame...

I suspect it is simply a cost/benefit tradeoff- Victron don't sell that many inverters (and most of their users are offgrid anyway) and getting compliance testing done is EXPENSIVE!!! I don't know what it would cost to get it done, but it is BIG $$$- I know just for a simple testing done for...

BYD doesn't currently sell ANY hybrid in Australia, or indeed anywhere else but China AFAIK, although that is about to change this year with them bringing out the 'ute' to Australia The BYD Shark, the first BYD ute, is supposed to be on sale in early 2025, there are at least one and maybe two...

You REALLY need to vet your sources more carefully- I didn't even need to watch it to know immediately that was a video by a utuber named Sepentza- a notorious antiChina (and rabid anti EV) utuber with a long history of 'distorting the truth' aka lying... (he is a far rightwing supporter, born...

And to address the 'lack of red tape'- a gridtie or hybrid system in Australia requires installation of one of the 'Australian Standards Tested and Approved' inverters only (which can cost between $50k to half a million to get an approval per model, no approval, no install it)- to install the...

LOL- you yanks get much larger rebates than we do- in my state (Qld) there is no state rebate at all for a gridtie solar, and the federal government rebate is $400 Au (some states do provide a small rebate as well- two match the federal rebate $ for $)- that $8000 rebate was when the scheme was...

Yes- thats how tariffs work... If a particular item costs $100, and a 100% tariff is put on it- then the total tariff is also $100... Making the total price $200 (doubling the price) That's the way tariffs have been calculated since I was a kid... (and thats just when i became aware of how they...

That does seem a little dumb doesn't it... It wasn't the US consumers that brought in the tariffs, it wasn't the Chinese manufacturers that brought in the tariffs, it wasn't 'little green from Mars' or the Galactic Federation.... Guess who it was????

As for Aussie solar prices- well a 6.6kw gridtie is just over $2000 US.. Thats from picking up the phone or dropping an email, to sitting back and watching it power your house... (and that is literally the only thing you have to do- no 'permits' or negotiating with electric companies trying to...

No worries

There is a small LFP production line being touted, but it would be a flea in comparison to the big existing manufacturers... Sadly, Australia's governments have since the 1970's, run Australian manufacturing into the ground, and at this point little to none is being 'made in Australia'...

That's less than half the size of the deposit being mined in the Northern Territory here, and the NT mine is only one of 9 currently in operation in Australia, with all the rest currently in Western Australia (most of which are bigger than the new NT mine, which has only been in operation a few...

The US already pretty much has the highest solar prices in the world by a considerable margin, all this will do is slow its uptake further (and increase greenhouse gases- not a good thing for the future generations) All because the US has trained its population over generations that they 'need'...

Personally I would use a 500A fuse, as that covers both the connection surge and also any peaks and still gives an adequate safety margin if you short a mosfet or similar (although the inverters internal fuse should cover that)- itsjust that running a fuse too low a value can result in 'nuisance...

Check the panels for their recommended fuse rating for that '10A' fuse (most 190w panels have a 15A or higher recommended fuse, depending on the exact panel specs (Isc etc)- its usually written on the label on the back of the panel The panels breaker would be that fuse rating x2 (and located at...

With a Victron 150/70 With a 3S array configuration, as long as the individual panel Voc's are under 50v Voc each, then a 3S string is fine... on a 12v battery bank voltage however, the Victron at 70A can only handle up approximately 900w of panels however (so yes you are over paneled with...

Not sure Jaycar stock cables that big, but 'ye old starter motor cable' is quite adequate for the job, and a lot cheaper through Supercheap...

The voltage still rises with increased light levels- more slowly, but it does still rise... Worse, many people use Voc and Vmp interchangeably, (some even use the 'sales talk' of '12v panels', '24v panels', and use THAT as their basis for the PVmax rating....) :fp2 Some of the things I have...

Don't laugh, I mentioned before the motorhome (RV) that had bought the bifacial panels because they 'got more power' and then preceded to bolt them directly to the roof... I was seriously struggling to keep a straight face when I diagnosed his 'lost power' issues- he simply didn't know (just had...

Panels can most certainly generate more power than their rated output... (it is one of the reasons I push 'derate your PVmax voltage on charge controllers to only 80% of the max voltage figure they list' so much...) I have seen my own panels exceed their 'max peak output by over 10%-15% for...

So yours is pretty close to mine- about 20% lost in summer because of the heat... (mines a little worse, but my airtemps run for weeks well over 40C during summer...) At least I don't live in Marble Bar here- their highest temp in summer was 52C (125.6F) Not a big fan of ChatGPT- it likes...

They are ideal for bifacials as you might imagine, with light being reflected from the water underneath the arch up onto the 'backside' of the panel, giving you a real boost in production compared to single sided panels, and unlike cabin mounted ones, are well away from the sails, minimising...

Actually, those who have been in the solar game for a while are all too aware of the 'hot panel' dropoff, it is something that has to be factored into the offgrid calculations where I live (N/E Australia) where summer temps in excess of 40C or 100F are common for much of the summer months (just...