See, there's a bunch of different ways you can Do Solar, depending on how Into It you wanna get. I'm typically on the raccoon end of the spectrum y'know, scavenge parts and cobble together and try to do it all on the cheap, which would normally rule out the sort of all-in-one inverter/chargecontroller/battery devices that rich folk go for. These are devices where you literally just plug solar panels in, keep your voltage below the max, and it does it all for you with an app, you don't have to know anything.
But. Big part of my use case was, frankly, next time there's a massive storm and half my mates are without power for days at a time and they need their freezer to get cold and their phone to get hot, I wanna be able to chuck a thing in the car, wheel it over, give them a couple cycles and take it back to get charged up in the sun again, and that ain't happening with the sort of screwed-into-a-big-plywood-board system I'd initially been thinking about. Plus I'd saved some money on the actual panels by finding a bloke who's upgrading all his, so the panels I'm getting are gonna be big and old and heavy and blue and not very efficient for their size but very very very cheap.
So. Gulp.
Ecoflow Delta Pro Three
which coincidentally has the same number of words as Two Fucking Grand Christ
I got 8 solar panels today, gonna go back for the others tomorrow.
The panels were in the woods.
Just, like, big piles of them in the woods. Full of rain and leaves and twigs and creatures.
I mean I guess it makes sense and I don't know what I expected, these machines are weatherproof, they're meant to live outside.
Dude wasn't there when I turned up so I got the car ready and had a look around and got my meter on some wires and yup, they work. These mossy dirty sleeping machines in the woods are silently pushing electrons trying to find something to push them through, not asleep after all, just waiting.
I've never handled a solar panel meant for roof mounting before, only those like little portable camping jobs
These things aren't light and I've got stairs in front of my house, had to carry them up balanced on my head
Ready for a little sit down now
Sounds like you and @Edmonds_Scanner might have interests in common.
Points for balancing them on your head! It is a cool, obscure skill.
My reflex mental image has you balancing them vertically, long side up.
Yes it is.
Especially in the old days when panels were really expensive.
I think someone tried to make "nega-watts" a term for energy efficiency.
I've had a Delta 2 for a few years and it's done very well for us. I am planning to add some solar charging capability once we're settled into the house so we have a few more options for resilient power.
@ifixcoinops the crimper is so worth it and also you can borrow mine seriously
anyone can
anyone?
she's crimped her last 00 probably here
two fucking grand christ O_O
@pixx @ifixcoinops Yeah, EcoFlow is pretty nice consumer grade kit
Fitting the batteries and inverters and everything into a case that can replace a petrol generator does drive the costs up somewhat
Yeah, it's just... I've got an inverter-charger on the way and I'm wincing at the $250 price tag rn (it's... probably worth it, since it should pay for itself in reduced electricity costs within 3 months), and I already had a separate 24V battery (~$300)
That kit is _way_ nicer, it's just... so expensive O_O
I mean tbh if not for house fire I'd probably have wanted to go for something like that too
but a few lucky breaks can be reversed by a reaaaaaal unlucky break, if that break breaks enough :P
and an advantage to getting something like this is that it reduces how much you need for the next famine :)
@cmdrmoto @ifixcoinops Yeahhh I'm in _very_ lean times right now, still forcing myself to get the cheapest inverter I can
Ensures that in the worst case scenario, even if I can't afford grid power in a few months, I'll still have cooling. And, more likely, it means bringing electricity bills down >75% for me...
@cmdrmoto @ifixcoinops again*
less likely to burn down my house _again_ :P
@ifixcoinops Heeeeeyyyyy, device buddies!
(My first solar generator / 3D printer UPS was an EcoFlow delta 3 plus)