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Well, 'Eloise' our Cummins Onan Quiet Diesel QD8000 (8HDKAK) numbers are in for her first tank of fuel. And show her to be a couple of cents more per hour than my highly modified 10HDKAG Onan 'Ellen' that preceded her, though about 20% cheaper than the stock unmodified 10HDKAG. In the last 98...

AFTER all of the above I used a microfiber (Libman Wonder mop) mop, and 1 cup of Trisodium Phosphate (TSP) per gallon of hot water in a bucket - hosed the panels down to get them wet, mopped them carefully with the TSP solution, then rinsed them thoroughly (twice). They look pretty damn good...

IMHO the Tesla Powerwall is a toy for rich people who want to think that they are acting green - the payback period for most situations is never. We're quite frugal with power living off the grid, but a single powerwall wouldn't get us thru a cold night, and would be totally recharged the next...

These are on the California side of the border - our nearest 'city' Crescent City lighthouse, Budiroux at the still pristine Smith River - the jewel of the Northcoast - and one of the multitudes of Roosevelt Elk (the largest Elk) that roam the area in herds. Several of the Jurassic Park, and...

I had some blood flow to my brain today (LOL) so I thought I'd share what I'm remembering while I remember it. If this is old news to everybody, or I wrote something just like this before, please disregard it. Industrial batteries will often be named as the one in my profile pic 24-125-11...

Wow, if anyone is on the fence about taking the plunge on LiFePo4 batteries, here's what I wish I'd known years earlier. These things are so much more efficient than my old FLA that they're going to pay for themselves quite quickly. It turns out that nearly 50% of my energy was being wasted by...

Nowhere near as far north as you here at the 42nd parallel N. I've got 18 - 330W panels and a 6kw inverter with similar (15Kw/D) usage and this time of year the generator runs every day (I haven't seen the sun in a week), in the summer I still need the generator to provide scheduled 'full' and...

My best recommendation would be to avoid the stuff from China.

15.6KwH/D for two households and two businesses/shops. Springlike temps here all year (even if we are as far north as Cape Cod) so we have little need for heat, and NO need for AC. We have a micro-split heat pump that is mostly for dehumidification - the rest is two household (energy star)...

If you are just going to use it once or twice, nothing beats Harbor Freight https://www.harborfreight.com/circuit-breaker-detective-96934.html

Factoring in depreciation, and major maintenance over 10 years (assuming you'll buy a new one or do a major overhaul) changes these numbers somewhat - the above is misleading. I've got far less in this one, and I doubt I'll be here in 10 years so the first numbers mean more to me, but they did...

How long of a power outage are you trying to plan for? You might not even need a generator, and if you do but your needs are few and far between (ie it only is cranked to recharge the batteries in the middle of an extended power outage) you may not need much generator. I've got to question your...

Lead-acid batteries, no way. Enough solar to make a noticeable difference in range, maybe if you tow a trailer with a fold-out array otherwise you don't have enough surface area to do anything beyond charging your phone. I tried to modify my Prius into a plug-in hybrid without a plug and came to...

Curious, how much data do most of you collect, and how? What a wet start to the new year - the Pineapple Express system. 3.5 inches of rain between Dec 28 and Jan 3! Solar production? Not much, but even on the wettest day there is something. Twin arrays of 3kw ea and a diesel inverter...

Victory! The (2)BMS, the SI6048, and the Whizbang Jr are showing SOC within 3% of one another

We were around 5000 hours when our Champion dual-fuel generator burn't a valve and didn't want to start. After 2 weeks in the shop Champion drop-shipped us a new generator. During that time we went to Harbor Freight and bought a Predator - and took it back two days later. Junk! We bought a $50...

personally I'd go to the San-Tan Solar link above and buy the new Trina 400's @ $180ea ($0.45 per watt) which was my price point on the JA's

I guess I could stuff the pallet with insulation.

From what I understand the automotive industry is as we speak considering a move to 24 or 36 volt systems due to all the electronics in cars now.

Use a solar charge controller! OR use a string inverter like a Sunny Boy. We've got three of them (Prii) and have toyed with all the above ideas. Aside from the batteries which are worth something, there are about 6 or 8 computers on board, the headlight height sensor, maybe HID ballasts, even...

My generator is completely under the control of my SI6048 Inverter/Charger - somewhere around 3hrs a day this time of year, though the weekly full charge is 6+ hours, and my monthly equalization charge is near 10. If I had it all to do again the only thing I would change is where my panels are...

Over 5 inches of rain in 28 hours (nearly 6) below shows 24 hours of it and it rained over an additional inch since midnite. The neighborhood is a chorus of (cheap) generators - worst solar day ever 0.2KwH We're at the 42 parallel North - on a line with Cape Cod but as you can see our weather...

And unless you've got a bunch of electrical consumption that coincides with your solar activity 30kw of battery is not enough for 25kw of panels. I've got 6kw in panels and 48kw in battery and I still have (half the year) days where I had the capability to make more power (much more power) but...

The Sunny Island SI6048 can be grid-tied, or off-grid - AC or DC coupled, and their warranty is 10 years. There are a lot of them on the market for less than half their list price due to a large solar installer going bankrupt a few years back. You can probably get two of them for $3400-$4100 or...

I know, I'm just jealous I can't spend $28,000 for just batteries - I could have probably bribed the awficcials <sic> sufficiently to let me have my power connection back with that kinda change.

No sir, we've been off the grid since 2016ish

Hi, last night my SI6048 shut down abruptly with W212 (high battery temperature warning) F206 (battery over-temperature) warnings - restarted it and it did it again (x3). Finally, after using an IR thermometer to make sure my battery wasn't really hot (72.4 degrees F) I disconnected the battery...

Well do what you will. I lived with a professionally designed APU like you are trying to cobble together every day for nearly 10 years. My APU was powered by a 3 cylinder kubota diesel and was also capable of making 6kw in power. In 1990's dollars fuel, and maintenance costs were just over...

Yes, I am aware of that. Trust me, I started with my county district board of supervisors and worked my way up - the only one I heard about back through the grapevine was the call from Kamala's office. Nobody else much cared. I made an impassioned plea to the board of supervisors - said they'd...

If they can work together, sure - otherwise I believe each charger is going to see the other charger as the battery. You might be able to get them to put out a steady current, or voltage but I doubt unless they were designed to work together they will do the proper charge cycles to charge...