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Sitting by the diesel heater rather than the wood stove this morning, 23°F. My daughter next door is going to have 3 huge 100+ year old ponderosa pine trees cut down when she goes full solar PV this summer so that will be enough firewood for years.

If we're lucky. I've seen snow and low 20s in August although it's rare.

Hasn't snowed here in almost 48 hours! Oregon Cascades. A warm 32° F this morning where lately it has been in the 20s overnight. The last wood stove fire of the season should be coming up in early July.

eBay https://www.ebay.com/itm/304712537845?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=MvbsRTEuTMK&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=OBNvB0WBQ6-&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

Longest service I've had from flooded lead acid batteries is 8 years from Trojan L16s. I did have a Walmart car battery last 9 years in my Toyota pickup.

Yes you are thinking about it in the right way.

Think of your battery as a bucket and your solar array as a garden hose. Think of your loads as a pipe with a valve on it coming out of the bottom of the bucket. When the sun shines water flows from the garden hose into the bucket. When the bucket is full it overflows onto the ground and is...

The PV array in my small system is shade challenged during the winter so I want maximum efficiency. My old 3kw inverter drew 36 watts with no load. The 4 watts my new 3.5 kw inverter draws at idle was a check in the plus column for that model.

If I had an extra $50 I'd buy one to disassemble but a fuse will work fine and be safe in my system.

I have a EPEVER Tracer 4215bn that came with the MT50 display. I found the MT50 difficult to work with, very poorly set up. I switched to the $20 Bluetooth dongle and Solar Guardian app which is much more logical and easy to use. Adjusting parameters, monitoring performance graphs, is easy and...

That one looks identical to the one that failed. It would be interesting to have a look inside to see if there is any difference in construction. A steel pivot for the plastic lever (rather than plastic) would likely prevent a similar failure.

If it has a brand name it must be on a sticker on the back side which is inaccessible right now. I think all of them that look alike and have the same specs are probably the same. I have taken it apart to examine the inner workings and it seems like a pretty simple and solid design.

Here's one for $10. https://www.ebay.com/itm/364836179527?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=z2lxpkrusjm&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=OBNvB0WBQ6-&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

Yes the failure would not have prevented the circuit breaker from opening in an over current situation, it just prevented it from closing the circuit once I manually opened it.

I drilled out the rivits and opened it up. It's basically a bimetallic plate and contact points like an old car. The contacts are not pitted and there is no sign of overheating. My best guess is the little plastic lever inside that opens the contact points was twisted out of place and partially...

For $72 I'll use a fuse. The one that failed cost under $12 shipped.

I shut off this breaker to do some work to the system and it wouldn't complete the circuit when turned back on. The breaker was on the positive cable for a 1000 Watt inverter. No smoke or heat detected and the breaker has never clicked off on its own. I put a fuse in its place for the time being.

I use one of those electromechanical switches similar to the one in the link above but it's the standard size one. Cost about $14 and works as designed.

My yard in Central Oregon 1 week ago. Still burning here.

The tankless propane water heaters in my house each use 2 D size batteries for ignition. The batteries last for years.

I just had a Vevor 3500 Watt PSW 12v inverter delivered yesterday. Bought from Vevor's website for $232 with free shipping. Standard UPS shipping only took 2 days, Tacoma WA to Bend OR. I have no experience with Vevor branded inverters but I do have a Vevor diesel heater that has been reliable.

Yes it changed names but I don't see any difference otherwise.

David McLuckie on YouTube attached a diesel heater to a dryer

Hard to beat the old top load Whirlpool/Kenmore direct drive washers for reliability and easy repair. I bought one in 1987 and it's still working fine. I let it freeze once and cracked the pump and inlet valve but $20 in parts and 30 minutes of time and it was fixed. It has been powered by an...

Tricycle I built 30 years ago for my 4 year old daughter from junk in the garage.

Reminds me of the electrification of Bodie California where they first ran long distance (13 mile) power lines to the mill. They ran the lines in a straight line because they thought electricity would jump out of the lines on corners...

I bought some 1/8" x 1" copper bar stock, held it in a vise, and bent to 90° with a hammer. Not sure of the alloy but it was made to be used as a buss bar. It bent easily cold with no cracking. I use stainless steel bolts to attach it to the battery terminals and to attach cables. Stays cool at...

The first inverter I ever bought was a Tripplite square wave, not an MSW. It was a small aluminum box with some of the old TO3 case power transistors sticking out. Wouldn't even run a 13" TV unless I disconnected the degaussing coil. Everything plugged into it hummed loudly. MSW inverters were a...

Up until the last couple years I used nothing but MSW inverters in my off grid house (35 years off grid). The only things that failed on MSW power were an electric blanket controller and a bread maker. Everything else worked fine although some induction motors would hum louder than they should.

Wire welder, air compressor, washing machine, is what I power with my 3000 Watt MSW inverter.

Something is not right with your installation if you can smell exhaust. A diesel heater when tuned right doesn't produce much CO but it still produces soot particles that are bad for your health. I use a diesel heater every day, using one right now, and do not get any smell or CO in my living space.

Only a few months on mine but no issues. Works great and is accurate. I've disconnected and reconnected power to the shunt many times. If it fails I'll reinstall my Trimetric meter that has been in service 24/7 for over 30 years.

I looked but couldn't find my last power bill. It was about 35 years ago. I seem to remember a price of 4.3 cents per KWH.

The Wen 3800W inverter generator and probably other brands have a hose attached to the oil drain to make draining the oil easy without spilling. No tools are needed to change oil.

Most of the Chinese made generators are reliable knock offs of Honda or Yamaha generators. I have a couple Wen inverter generators, a 1200W and a 3800W that have been trouble free. I change oil every 75 hours.