Good morning!!!!

[RedNeckGeek]

RNK
For off grid, LiFePo4 batteries are likely the prime choice, but expensive, especially if you need capacity. There are also environmental considerations and I don’t know how they would play in your situation. What might be of interest are the nano carbon variety of flooded acid batteries, seem to have more cycle than traditional FLA.

Thanks, David. The electrical contractor seemed to be really hyped about lithium batteries, but he didn't specify which chemistry. Looking at the offerings in the automotive and motorcycle markets, the prices are prohibitive even with the deeper depth of discharge they allow. Since battery technology is evolving so rapidly, it may make sense to buy this first set with a well proven and less expensive technology and give things some time to mature.

Thinking out loud here, 600 kWh/month would cover my electrical usage for all but the four warmest summer months. That's about 20 kWh/day. I get about 6 hours of peak sunlight/day. I need to sharpen my pencil and make some measurements to get a better handle on my electricity usage outside of those peak sun hours before I can get a clear idea on array and battery size. But I'm not aiming for a stand alone system like yours, and still want to have a grid connection. My main concern is to have a constant supply of electricity, especially through the start of power interruptions. PG&E threatened every day for the week before the Camp Fire that they would cut power if humidity and wind conditions got bad enough, then they didn't and look what happened. I want to avoid losing power to my computers, modem, and routers so as not to have them resetting and potentially not coming back on line, and it shouldn't take much of a battery pack to do that. With more battery, I can offset more evening loads, and with even more battery, I can time shift grid use, selling array power back to the utility during high demand hours while using grid power for off peak loads and battery charging. And if the grid goes down, I don't need to run big loads like the A/C and irrigation pumps. Lots to think about...

 

[RoyJackson]

2019-02-11, 0318

14 degrees right now...high in the mid-20's.

 

[sodamo]

While it appears much of the state has been slammed by this storm, even snow, we has so far had a great day. Even got some 2x6’s painted.

 

[Looking4new]

1°F and going to a high of 14°F. Wind NE 13 mph. Sunny.
We are under a 'winter storm watch'. Up to 35cm/12+". Time will tell. It is supposed to start snowing Tuesday and continue through Wednesday.

Town run today, then conserve energy till tomorrow morning.

Have a good day all

 

[Eric Salop]

RNG Another way to store your solar energy would be if you made that emergency water tank for fire fighting a little larger and when no one is looking, sneak in a pipe down to the dam below. Solar power can then pump water up to the tank when the sun shines. At night you let it down again through the pump which runs as a turbine generator.

You wouldn't be steeling public water - just borrowing it for a few hours

 

[Eric Salop]

Good morning. With lighter cloud cover it is noticeably lighter this morning than it has been for quite a while. Now we are getting towards mid-February, the extending daylight time in the late afternoon is particularly welcome.

If anyone would like to compare how much daylight we each enjoy, this website is a good place to find out The Time and Place

Where I live in Whitchurch, England, it shows

Subtracting sunrise from sunset (which no doubt some can eaisly do in their head - I cheated and used Time Calculator ) gives me 9 hours and 40 minutes of good daylight today.

I expect there will be quite a few reading Good Morning who have more light (way more, if you live in the southern hemisphere) and some who have less, although northern dwellers get extra light from all that bright snow

 

[Buppies]

31 high of 40 today nice coat of ice this morning but not enough to interrupt power tractor still sleeps

Prayers for all in need

 

[mpham]

21 going to 30 today. Not as windy as the last few days. Looks like 5 inches of snow coming for tomorrow afternoon into Wednesday. Should be cold enough to be light and fluffy. Tractor time!

 

[Thomas]

14F now low 20's for high.

After work attach plow to pickup fill deer feeder to top anything else needs look at before storm arrives Tuesday.
E- muffin feed little critters slow roll to work.

Enjoy the day all.

 

[wngsprd]

35 going to 39 and raining. Local weatherman is already calling for snow next Monday and Tuesday. We'll see.

Eric, I never knew there were 3 types of twilight although I do notice different stages. The longer days have been welcomed.

Need to clean, wash and vacuum today. Wife coming home after 3 weeks taking care of her parents. I hate our vacuum cleaner so much I actually bought one of those cordless Dyson models at Costco last week. It's pretty slick, and hangs on the laundry room wall when charging. RNG, didn't you try out one of those robot ones?

Cut some firewood yesterday, so got some tractor time.

 

[Rich B1]

Good morning, 30 right now, supposed to get near 38 later. We were 都upposed to get a light snow yesterday. Guess 4 is a light snow somewhere.

Kyle - I will post some pics when the bike become presentable. This bike sat in pieces for years. I actually had a very productive day yesterday. Likely the most complete the frame has been in years. I did a rough dry build to sort things out. Frame is ready for paint. A lot of Champions are nickel plated, the Bul specific frames were painted like a Bul frame.

I also pulled the trans out of the 1952 BSA. I have never liked how it shifted or turned. Since the sheet metal is getting painted, time to address the trans. And do something about the magdyno mounting. Seems expensive rebuilds don稚 guarantee the rebuilder sets the mounting dowels to the correct depth.......it is always something.

Well...back to work on a regular schedule.....guess I need to get my head into it. Finishing the 2nd cup of coffee

Everyone have a safe and good day....

 

[daugen]

Good morning all. Last night's rain never materialized, coming in later today, predicted for one inch. My plants will be very happy and so will I since I won't have to water them.

41 going up to 48 today, but then up to 70 tomorrow. And then back down, up and down. As long as the down doesn't go too far down, all good.
Daffodils, ornamental cherry and pear trees starting to blossom, apple trees starting to break first leaves.

I was told that the local shipping place sells CBD oil. Hmmmm.
Going to head down there today on a rainy day and check it out.
I'm sure mail order is the way to go though.
Will start out with 15mg of CBD and see how that works. Even my primary doc suggested I try it....

Used to be dark at 7am. Now I can get outside at 6:45, assuming it's warm enough that I really want to go out.
Won't be long until I'm outside at 6am.
I really like the early morning, cooler in the summer, though I don't run loud machinery then of course.

Don, I'm surprised the community doesn't require electric power. Gas engines make a lot more noise, have gasoline storage/fire issues,
yes they go fast...and if speed is everything, only way to go. Like the buckets seats in the back on that Yamaha.

 

[ronjhall]

Drinking first cup of coffee. 22° with cloudy skies this morning. Heading to 33° with cloudy skies. Got back panels for fenders made and installed yesterday. Going to work on installing lights on fenders today. Then back in house for a nap.

Eric, we have one of that type of power plant here in Michigan. I don't think RNG wants all the environmental problems it created. When I was fishing for Salmon. We would go into the outlet area to fish. Always caught fish there. Because the ground up fish bits in the water attacked the Salmon. When they started letting water out for electrical demand. A alarm sounded. We had 15 minutes before water started coming out of the outlets. Very turbulent water.
You can also get daylight info on Weather Underground. Need to scroll page down to see it.
Length of Visible Light 11 h 21 m
Length of Day 10 h 23 m
Here is your town. You were close.

Roy, I was referring to Thomas. He always has to put blade on his truck when it snows. I like your tractor with cab.

Wngsprd, RNG did try the robot vacuum. With not to much success. We have 2. A Roomba and a Shark. Run them 2 times a week. They work good for surface dirt. Still need to run large Dyson at least one one time a week to pick up deeper dirt.

Drew, my boss on a forum that I monitor is using a CBD product to help his back problems. He rubs it on the area where the pain is. I know nothing more about it other than he claims it works.

Good Morning All.

 

[daugen]

this is great, Amazon deals with Chinese companies blatantly cheating customs, stupid enough to state it right on the label, and yet Amazon won't do anything about it. Maybe they will, behind the scenes. My Mexican helper asked me to grow some of this for him, hard to find Mexican flavoring spice, and I ordered it from Amazon. Seems some Chinese company buys in bulk, assume from Mexico, and then puts in little seed packets in China, then mailing it by China Post to me. Took about two weeks, and this tiny envelope from China shows up.

Maybe I should find the address of US Customs and mail the paperwork to them.
Not only did they misidentify the product, apparently to avoid inspection due to agricultural reasons, and then valued the item at less than half.
And utterly amazingly, stated exactly what they were doing in print. Not very smart for sure.

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from Drew on February 9, 2019

They admit cheating customs

Printed note came along with tiny packet of super tiny seeds saying that due to blah blah
they had intentionally mislabeled not only the product identity but it's actual value, which they put on the
paperwork as 4 dollars. Why is Amazon dealing with Chinese companies breaking the customs law??????

 

[riptides]

32 outside this AM. Weather put a halt in the real job plans, so I get to telecommute.

Drew, on the seeds issue, I'd report it to the Post Office Inspector General.

Not much on the agenda this week, big deal is SO will be ordering new barn windows sometime today. Last I checked that is close to 30 windows. Summer project will be a siding job.

Hope all have a good day. Be safe.

 

[daugen]

Billy, good idea, thank you. Came by mail, but has to clear Customs. Which they clearly circumvented by mislabeling their product.

I emailed the seller through Amazon and asked her what kind of jails China has...
Letter going out to US Customs in Atlanta office, which controls this area. If no reply, I'll try what you suggest.
thanks

 

[farmeratheart]

Good Morning! 27F and snowing right now. About 4” on the ground since midnight eclipsing the estimated 1-3. Supposed to taper off this afternoon and then restart tonight as snow changing to sleet/freezing rain and eventually all rain late Tuesday. I love not having to commute in these conditions anymore! Please be safe. Frank

 

[ronjhall]

Billy, good idea, thank you. Came by mail, but has to clear Customs. Which they clearly circumvented by mislabeling their product.

I emailed the seller through Amazon and asked her what kind of jails China has...
Letter going out to US Customs in Atlanta office, which controls this area. If no reply, I'll try what you suggest.
thanks

One of the things I do not like about Amazon. They have/allow sellers that do not have enough information to tell where they are located. :thumbdown: I try to stay away from those sellers. Sometimes EBAY is the better choice.

 

[daugen]

I never use Ebay because I thought you have to have a Paypal account, yet another financial account I don't need.
Does Ebay accept Visa directly or must you go through their portal?
I've never used Ebay since my original feeling it was the Wild West.
But I bet it's gotten better and it seems Amazon is getting worse.

 

[txdon]

Don, I'm surprised the community doesn't require electric power. Gas engines make a lot more noise, have gasoline storage/fire issues,
yes they go fast...and if speed is everything, only way to go. Like the buckets seats in the back on that Yamaha.

Drew, They have decreased the noise level on the newer Yamahas. The noise difference is very slight. See youtube at 3:45 Yamaha's QuieTech EFI Sound Movie Experience - Short - YouTube
The first thing the Yamaha dealer wanted me to do is drive one to see how quiet it was.

Also the size of this neighborhood almost requires a gas because the extended range is needed. It will be 8 miles from one side to the other. The gardens are a 12 mile round trip for me. The Yamaha has a 5.2 gallon tank and a 260 mile range. With a gas station in the middle of the neighborhood I won't have to store gasoline in the garage.

BUT my darling wife gently reminded me of her vehicle having 130K miles on it, so, well you know . . . . (I should have bought your Outback) But I can still do research on these cold wet days. I should have got one when she saw me in tractor withdraw, but now that I'm on the clubs tractor operator's list that sympathy is no longer available. Timing, it's everything.

Good morning! Warmer today 53 ˚F to 63 ˚F cloudy.

Eric, from sunrise to sunset we have 10 hours 59 minutes and 11 hours 49 minutes of visible light.