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Re: Retired, Want to Go Off Grid Because of High Cost of Electricity
MTBF may not actually be the right metric. Just a guess, but I suspect a curve of failures over time would be bimodal, with a peak in the first few months (defects, shipping/install damage, misconfig…1 · -
Re: Retired, Want to Go Off Grid Because of High Cost of Electricity
There are some "lumpy" recurring costs for off-grid power. For planning and LT cost purposes, replacement cycles might run; 5-10 years for (quality, well maintained) batteries, 10 years for…1 · -
Re: Solar panel production
FWIW, I leave my solar charging when I'm not here, including break-up/ freeze-up when I can't really get here for ~2mos for each. There are some risks to doing so, including water use. So far it's wo…1 · -
Re: Mixed Voltage Charging
In theory, using higher voltage panels would mean 2 strings of 2 panels in parallel, vs 4 12v panels in series, the former of which may handle shading from stays etc better. In practise, a 24v 160w p…1 · -
Re: Generator bogs down, no longer charges battery bank
Some inverter/chargers have a setting to limit total generator current draw (charging + pass-through loads), and/or a limit for charging current. On my Outbacks, I set these limits to ~75-80% of my d…1 ·
