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I'm sorry, but have you met our judicial/political system of late? Someone will cry that the storm caused catastrophic damage and that a state of emergency needs to be declared and federal funds allocated. Watch and see if that doesn't happen.

Have you considered going with a ground mount?

I've been with Starlink for almost 2 years now, and I couldn't be more satisfied!

What part of Louisiana do you live in? I spent 6 years at Shreveport stationed at Barksdale AFB back in the early 80's.

This really is appreciated! I had not known that, but it makes complete sense. Fortunately, for me, I went down to the array to verify that I actually have 4 strings of 3 panels.

Don't get old, you'll make a ton of mistakes... I have FOUR strings of THREE panels! I just walked down to the array just to make sure. Jeeeez, I feel so... old. :)

Buy another solar panel? The three that I have are the same REC 360's that I'm currently using.

I'm actually pretty damn happy with my setup and it's performance. During the night I drop less than 10% on my state of charge, more when it's really cold. Maybe 15%. My house is just under 1000 sqft, and is insulated to the beejesus. I live up here on the western flank of Pikes Peak, just...

The new string of three would be connected into the same combiner box (the box that all the other strings feed into). Does that make a difference?

It consists of 360 w REC panels wired up in 3 strings of 4 panels each. Does that answer your question? Remember, you are dealing with a person who is a half step above a newbie.

See, this is why I had doubts. This entire field of endeavor has way too many variables for me to juggle in my simple mind. Now I have to figure out (I think) what the minimum amount of voltage (amps, ergs, knueter sparks, et all) is for my MPPT to kick in.

This is the best way to handle the water situation! For me, I'm in an area where drilling a well is an expensive operation. Wells often top out over 500 feet here in my "neighborhood" (Cripple Creek, CO), and often come up dry. For me, we went with a cistern with monthly water delivery. If...

I have a 12-panel array that is ground mounted and fixed to a single direction (can't do a seasonal adjustment). My array has done a good job of keeping up with my power demands (we are completely off-grid), but there are times when we squeak by, or I have to run my generator. This happens...

Just as soon as I get done building my wrap around deck, and the painting the interior of the house, and of course putting in the flooring, did I mention that I'm also doing some fire mitigation work? And the beat goes on. Ya the beat goes on...

I just wanted to thank everyone who chimed in and helped me with my problem. I don't like it, but now I have a work-around that seems stable. I may in the future sell off this washing machine and get an older model, which seems like a better fit for my power situation. .

Gotta work on my aim first...

Holy #$%@!!! That worked! I don't have a bench grinder handy, so I plugged in a moderately sized heater and turned it on. The washer ran through all cycles like it was freakin' supposed to! I gotta try it again just to make sure it wasn't some sort of fluke.

I think my head just exploded... I'll give it a try. I'm sure that my wife would be ok with handling a bench grinder in tandem with the washing machine ;) "...I'd piss on a spark plug if I thought it'd do any good..." - General Beringer, "Wargames"

Ok, I'll give it a try. "...I'd piss on a spark plug if I thought it'd do any good..." - General Beringer, "Wargames"

Holy crap! I thought that this was a beginners forum!

Interestingly, older washers utilize a transmission to change what the cycle required (agitation, spin, etc.) while newer ones, like mine, the motor handles all of the duties. Imagine what is going on when the machine agitates. The motor is changing direction of spin every second or so!

I just did a quick search on derating, and the only thing that I can find is that inverters will derate due to temperature. At higher altitudes the air is thinner and has less cooling capacity, thus causing the inverter to derate. Interestingly, I was told by a guy who has been messing around...

The generator is a Champion, dual fuel, 9750 watt. It's noisy as all get out, but it has done a great job for us over the last couple of years. The washer is a GE Spacemaker, model number GUD27GSSM2WW.

Sorry for dragging this out. The washer is a GE Spacemaker model GUD27GSSM2WW

What is derating?

Wow, that response got glitched up...

There may be a few lights going, plus the water pump and the propane boiler, which is used to heat the water as well as supply heat to the house.

9600 ft

4.8k advertised.

Hi all, I've been in stealth mode for over a year now, but I have a problem that I hope that someone here can help me with. I am completely off-grid here in the mountains of Colorado with panel array of 12 REC 360's, a Magnum Energy Inverter and a Midnite Classic charge controller. I have a...

I used Unbound Solar. I got good service from them and quality products (so far so good). What was more important for me was to connect up with a local tech who knows his stuff! That took a big load off of my back.

I have NO idea what you are talking about, but it kind of sounds like one of those old military vehicles that were advertised as running on anything shy of water. They could run on all those types of fuels, just not very well.

Yep, but is 3kw enough to charge batteries AND allow me to maintain a solar-normal lifestyle? I think I need just a little bit more juice than that. Is 10kw overkill?

The nearest neighbor is about 2 miles away, but I don't want a noisy generator. It has to run on propane since that is the only non-solar power source I'll have available. My hope is that the generator will only come into play when we have the odd times where it is cloudy for a week at a time...