Perhaps I should keep some panels and racking in reserve.

softdown · April 12

Something funny “is in the air”. Billionaires are famously building elaborate bunkers. WWIII is either knocking on the door or already here. A big EMP or solar flare could knock out our solar arrays. I suspect the batteries would survive?

So instead of mounting four more panels facing east perhaps I should keep them in reserve? Actually have eight panels and two racks. I could barely "get by" with eight panels. Which beats not getting by.

If 2024 passes without consequence I’d likely change my mind and add to the existing array.

Insurance seems prudent with such troubling times in the kingdom. We are preparing to make Ukraine a member of NATO. I see this as more than extremely provocative. I see this as a huge punch to the head that will have consequences. Exactly what certain entities …..

Marc Kurth · April 14

Regardless of specific precipitating events, some level of preparedness has always been common sense. How far to take it is another topic altogether. Many of my customers have spare modules and components in protected storage. Generally along the lines of what you said: "Enough to get by."

Some use the grounded cage approach for storage while others do the exact opposite and float the shielding or "cage" to isolate it from ground. As I see it, a strong case can be made for either approach because of potential variation in the source, waveform, and amplitude of an event. The only universally accepted thing is to avoid any antenna effect, including of course power wiring.

softdown · April 15

Speaking of antenna effect I think I may have run my roof top “lightning protection” 180 degrees from optimal. Not sure what I was thinking of so many years ago. I’ve done a few bone headed things.

I’ll post a picture some day soon with luck. Ladder is sketchy since best ones are currently elsewhere.

WaterWheel · April 15

While I didn't buy them for emergency reserves I bought some 7 year old used 250 watt panels ($50) from a friend who had bought 2 pallets worth "because they were so cheap" but never mounted them and really doesn't have a good place to mount them on his property. Instead they still sit on the pallets in his back yard. I used 4 of them when I put in a smaller lower cost solar system in the barn but I'm not loving the Epever 40 amp controllers I used for that project.

I have also have a spare Mangum charge controller that I bought when I originally set up my solar system but later replaced it with a Conext controller which was a better fit for my system and a Mangum 4448 inverter with control panel I think I paid $800 for years ago from a guy who never installed it. Hopefully the inverter works because I've never powered it up but it is still in the box.
But I'm not putting them into an EMP cage or anything. They are just relatively inexpensive Peace Of Mind items.

Perhaps I should keep some panels and racking in reserve.

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