Matthew Loxton1d ago

I have reached the end of the first phase of shifting load to solar power.

All the household rechargeable devices - phones, tablets, headphones, and the big cordless tool batteries for snow blower, leaf blower, drills, drivers, etc, are now 100% replenished using the 500W solar panel

Next step is rigging the furnace blower to run from the solar "generator", making witing changes, and adding 800W of permanent solar panels

Show threadcobalt20h ago
@mloxton @Pollinators Whoa—first time I’ve heard something appealing about trying out a 500W solar panel. That’s doable here. I wish we could go for solar panels on our roof but it is unbelievably cost-prohibitive here in sunny Phoenix, AZ.
Show threadPollinators20h ago
@cobalt123 @mloxton These are a sad combination of words, “unbelievably cost prohibitive in sunny Phoenix, Arizona.” The fossil fuel industry has spent years making it unbelievably cost prohibitive. Leave them a solar panel at a time.
Show threadMatthew Loxton18h ago

@Pollinators

Right
At the moment, the solar setup charges everything that needs to be charged, which is a start.
I intend to add more panels up to 1600W and mount them on the pergola - which means not touching the house roof and incurring insurance penalties, while shading the pergola. So score there.

I will gradually migrate more appliances to the solar, and each time thumb my nose at the fossil fuel industry

@cobalt123

Show threadcobalt18h ago
@mloxton @Pollinators Aha! We have a pergola next to the house. Not connected. Soooo, we could mount one there. We’d use out outdoor electrical outlet or not? I’d imagine there is a special cable that just connects anything we need to charge up. ?
Show threadPollinators
@cobalt123 @mloxton Hashtags include #offgrid, #offgridsolar.
Mar 26 at 5:59pmWeb