#offgridflaki — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #offgridflaki, aggregated by home.social.
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“Still Life with Solar Panels and Canine-Expedited Disposal of Macroplastics”
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“Still Life with Solar Panels and Canine-Expedited Disposal of Macroplastics”
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It's starting to look like inside the Nebuchadnezzar over here :blobCat_nom_wire:
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It's starting to look like inside the Nebuchadnezzar over here :blobCat_nom_wire:
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Being a long-time city-dweller who recently moved off-grid and (self-inflictedly) "closer to nature" my days are basically just this meme on repeat :woozy:
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Being a long-time city-dweller who recently moved off-grid and (self-inflictedly) "closer to nature" my days are basically just this meme on repeat :woozy:
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Can you guess at which point did we start charging our EV off solar? :ablobbowtie_neon:
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Can you guess at which point did we start charging our EV off solar? :ablobbowtie_neon:
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“How do you install solar panels of decent power on your balcony without drilling holes all over the place?”
This is a somewhat wacko idea I had and I'm rather thrilled to report it works quite well! The 5+5 20AWG strands of this parallel silicone wire add up to roughly 2.5mm² - the rest of the run is ~6m of standard 6mm² solar cable (quite stiff and unseemly but is what I had lying around already so it's free).
This strand carries about 300W (less than 6A) at peak so this is ample copper to avoid heavy transmission losses/cable heating
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“How do you install solar panels of decent power on your balcony without drilling holes all over the place?”
This is a somewhat wacko idea I had and I'm rather thrilled to report it works quite well! The 5+5 20AWG strands of this parallel silicone wire add up to roughly 2.5mm² - the rest of the run is ~6m of standard 6mm² solar cable (quite stiff and unseemly but is what I had lying around already so it's free).
This strand carries about 300W (less than 6A) at peak so this is ample copper to avoid heavy transmission losses/cable heating
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RE: https://flaki.social/@flaki/116851395165019155
The reason my 'fallback plan for when it gets too toasty' 🔥 is to just take refuge in our EV is because I know it works.
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RE: https://flaki.social/@flaki/116851395165019155
The reason my 'fallback plan for when it gets too toasty' 🔥 is to just take refuge in our EV is because I know it works.
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Achievement unlocked: fully recharge your EV for the first time ever only having used power produced by your own solar panels ✅
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Achievement unlocked: fully recharge your EV for the first time ever only having used power produced by your own solar panels ✅
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There, good as new! Well, it *is* new.
Part of one's solar journey is being able to tell the difference between things like this, part is knowing where to source *good* connectors (had the misfortune to work with *so many* terrible Ali Express connectors — but there *are* really good ones! These are XIONGISOLAR, they are wonderful). And to build a veritable arsenal of good-quality tools. The original metal Stäubli wrench set I had to order off off some rando eBay seller, shipping cost as much as the wrenches themselves (some 35€ IIRC) but they are worth every penny.
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There, good as new! Well, it *is* new.
Part of one's solar journey is being able to tell the difference between things like this, part is knowing where to source *good* connectors (had the misfortune to work with *so many* terrible Ali Express connectors — but there *are* really good ones! These are XIONGISOLAR, they are wonderful). And to build a veritable arsenal of good-quality tools. The original metal Stäubli wrench set I had to order off off some rando eBay seller, shipping cost as much as the wrenches themselves (some 35€ IIRC) but they are worth every penny.
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Some useless schmuck* has messed this connector up. Time to get it fixed!
You see, this is an MC4 Evo2 — an upgrade over the original MC4 connector rated for slightly higher voltages & current. The two connectors are *inter-mateable* and so you will be able to plug an MC4 Evo2 into the older MC4 connector (as long as you keep to the lower limits of the original) but the *tools* needed for either are different, which you will immediately realize once you try to disconnect an Evo2…
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* it was me, Past Flaki was the schmuck all along -
Some useless schmuck* has messed this connector up. Time to get it fixed!
You see, this is an MC4 Evo2 — an upgrade over the original MC4 connector rated for slightly higher voltages & current. The two connectors are *inter-mateable* and so you will be able to plug an MC4 Evo2 into the older MC4 connector (as long as you keep to the lower limits of the original) but the *tools* needed for either are different, which you will immediately realize once you try to disconnect an Evo2…
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* it was me, Past Flaki was the schmuck all along -
RE: https://infosec.exchange/@RichBartlett/116838571922641380
We don't have air conditioning (yet¹) at the "cabin"/tiny house, so if temps get really scorching hot² our fallback plan is to hang out in the car, an EV with airconditioning (actually, a built-in very efficient air-to-air heat pump), which we can also just charge (and thus power) off the house's batteries and solar panels.
Our small off-grid setup has captured over 15kWh of pure solar power yesterday, which translates into 15%+ charge (roughly 75km range *with* A/C on).
Of course the people freaking out about air conditioners are doing so because it's (understandably) making the Old World central electricity grid buckle. In the "new world", and even without solar panels you could have a small (e.g. 10kWh) battery installed which you could charge off-peak from grid power and use it to power or offset an A/C's consumption. Of course, running it straight off solar panels is better (not to mention rooftop solar actually helps insulate from excess sun).
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RE: https://infosec.exchange/@RichBartlett/116838571922641380
We don't have air conditioning (yet¹) at the "cabin"/tiny house, so if temps get really scorching hot² our fallback plan is to hang out in the car, an EV with airconditioning (actually, a built-in very efficient air-to-air heat pump), which we can also just charge (and thus power) off the house's batteries and solar panels.
Our small off-grid setup has captured over 15kWh of pure solar power yesterday, which translates into 15%+ charge (roughly 75km range *with* A/C on).
Of course the people freaking out about air conditioners are doing so because it's (understandably) making the Old World central electricity grid buckle. In the "new world", and even without solar panels you could have a small (e.g. 10kWh) battery installed which you could charge off-peak from grid power and use it to power or offset an A/C's consumption. Of course, running it straight off solar panels is better (not to mention rooftop solar actually helps insulate from excess sun).
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I wish this was as easy as "plug your EV's wall adapter into the inverter" — that's where we were *last week*. Spoiler alert: it didn't work 🙃
Turns out EV chargers (or, at least, this one) are quite picky, and it refused to start on anything but a properly grounded outlet with a working RCD ("residual current device", also called a "ground-fault interrupter"). Which, all in all, is great, I don't mind forced into safe wiring. The issue was, even after fashioning a "central breaker box" with an RCD this didn't work. :ablobcat_thunder:
Guess I had to learn more. Enter forums and hours of digging — ta-da. Turns out, the way things should work, is you should have a ground-neutral bond *somewhere* in the system. This is not an issue for grid-connected setups, but when off-grid, usually inverters supply this bond. Except small ones tend to not do so, and you will have to wire them in yourself. :ablobbowtie_neon:
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I wish this was as easy as "plug your EV's wall adapter into the inverter" — that's where we were *last week*. Spoiler alert: it didn't work 🙃
Turns out EV chargers (or, at least, this one) are quite picky, and it refused to start on anything but a properly grounded outlet with a working RCD ("residual current device", also called a "ground-fault interrupter"). Which, all in all, is great, I don't mind forced into safe wiring. The issue was, even after fashioning a "central breaker box" with an RCD this didn't work. :ablobcat_thunder:
Guess I had to learn more. Enter forums and hours of digging — ta-da. Turns out, the way things should work, is you should have a ground-neutral bond *somewhere* in the system. This is not an issue for grid-connected setups, but when off-grid, usually inverters supply this bond. Except small ones tend to not do so, and you will have to wire them in yourself. :ablobbowtie_neon:
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Balcony solar experiment quick update: after a bout of bad weather we had a few sunny days and batteries are, once again, fully charged.
My homeserver and network, what used to make a 40-50kWh dent in my monthly electricity bill has, up until now in June used 3 (three!) whole kilowatt-hours of grid power in total. This is partly due to direct DC-to-DC efficiency of solar power/batteries directly powering the equipment (mostly 12VDC, plus some esoteric 53VDC for the PoE), but it still uses ~1.1kWh/day. So that's 23kWh this month, over 85% of that came from pure photonic bliss. ☀️
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Balcony solar experiment quick update: after a bout of bad weather we had a few sunny days and batteries are, once again, fully charged.
My homeserver and network, what used to make a 40-50kWh dent in my monthly electricity bill has, up until now in June used 3 (three!) whole kilowatt-hours of grid power in total. This is partly due to direct DC-to-DC efficiency of solar power/batteries directly powering the equipment (mostly 12VDC, plus some esoteric 53VDC for the PoE), but it still uses ~1.1kWh/day. So that's 23kWh this month, over 85% of that came from pure photonic bliss. ☀️
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Chat, there is some unexpected shading on my solar panels — any ideas how to fix this? :meowthinkingsunglass:
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Chat, there is some unexpected shading on my solar panels — any ideas how to fix this? :meowthinkingsunglass:
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While the large unobstructed ground PV at our off-grid abode had no trouble keeping us topped up, this past week's challenging (read: ass) weather has definitely made my balcony setup struggle keeping up.
With splendid timing last Monday I've decommissioned my second old 12V 100Ah battery at the house and took it back to the apartment to add it to the balcony solar/home server setup, doubling battery storage to ~2.5kWh. That certainly helped keeping the lights on through the constant rain and gloom this past week. There are a few things to optimize still (e.g. the Victron is current-limited at 12V to only ~60% of the panel's potential), but on the bright side, even throughout all this crap weather the balcony solar has reduced my homelab's power consumption by 90% this month!
The home server and network uses ~1.1kWh/day, and so far we had to resort to the grid charger for less than 2kWh all month (out of the ~17kWh total consumption). I'll say that's not too shabby.
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While the large unobstructed ground PV at our off-grid abode had no trouble keeping us topped up, this past week's challenging (read: ass) weather has definitely made my balcony setup struggle keeping up.
With splendid timing last Monday I've decommissioned my second old 12V 100Ah battery at the house and took it back to the apartment to add it to the balcony solar/home server setup, doubling battery storage to ~2.5kWh. That certainly helped keeping the lights on through the constant rain and gloom this past week. There are a few things to optimize still (e.g. the Victron is current-limited at 12V to only ~60% of the panel's potential), but on the bright side, even throughout all this crap weather the balcony solar has reduced my homelab's power consumption by 90% this month!
The home server and network uses ~1.1kWh/day, and so far we had to resort to the grid charger for less than 2kWh all month (out of the ~17kWh total consumption). I'll say that's not too shabby.
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My smaller charger tops out at 580W (20A) with a 24V battery pack. Today's one of the worst forecast weather for the past couple weeks — it's been raining non-stop since 9AM. I only have 6 panels actually hooked up, due to the ongoing rebuild — and those have been happily feeding a couple hundred watts into the charger despite the trash weather.
By 4PM we are fully charged (generated over 3kWh today), I have cooked food, made a broth for the dogs, charged power tools, had the fridge running and even a small heater to keep us nice & warm while I have the windows slightly open for extra fresh air circulation. All completely from solar power on a terrible, gloomy, rainy day. :ablobcat_thunder:
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My smaller charger tops out at 580W (20A) with a 24V battery pack. Today's one of the worst forecast weather for the past couple weeks — it's been raining non-stop since 9AM. I only have 6 panels actually hooked up, due to the ongoing rebuild — and those have been happily feeding a couple hundred watts into the charger despite the trash weather.
By 4PM we are fully charged (generated over 3kWh today), I have cooked food, made a broth for the dogs, charged power tools, had the fridge running and even a small heater to keep us nice & warm while I have the windows slightly open for extra fresh air circulation. All completely from solar power on a terrible, gloomy, rainy day. :ablobcat_thunder:
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The new setup means significantly simplified wiring (4-panel clusters in series) but also a lot higher voltage (200VDC is no child play!) so the new build has a lot less margin for error, hence this one I'm doing slowly and "properly". Proper footing, cables running underground, properly double-triple-checked and tested cables, properly mounted solar charger & DC breaker box.
The first cluster of 4 panels should already propel us past our previous peak power (12-1300W), the second set (just 8 of the 12 panels) will max out the 60A charger with the current 8S/24V battery config (1800W+).
The next step will be a battery box assembly (so I can safely take advantage of all 16 cells as a 48V/14kWh battery pack) and a solar inverter-charger later this summer.
Honestly the only reason for that will be to be able to charge our car from solar (which is a pretty good reason, I should say!) — the 7kWh battery and the 2000W inverter pretty much covers our every need otherwise.
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The new setup means significantly simplified wiring (4-panel clusters in series) but also a lot higher voltage (200VDC is no child play!) so the new build has a lot less margin for error, hence this one I'm doing slowly and "properly". Proper footing, cables running underground, properly double-triple-checked and tested cables, properly mounted solar charger & DC breaker box.
The first cluster of 4 panels should already propel us past our previous peak power (12-1300W), the second set (just 8 of the 12 panels) will max out the 60A charger with the current 8S/24V battery config (1800W+).
The next step will be a battery box assembly (so I can safely take advantage of all 16 cells as a 48V/14kWh battery pack) and a solar inverter-charger later this summer.
Honestly the only reason for that will be to be able to charge our car from solar (which is a pretty good reason, I should say!) — the 7kWh battery and the 2000W inverter pretty much covers our every need otherwise.
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I put these panels down last year "just to get them to work", I was expecting shenanigans like this due to lack of experience and the proper tools. I also only had limited battery & solar charger capacity so I had all 12 panels in parallel, with two strands running to the house to separate solar chargers.
As you could imagine, this cost a small fortune in solar cables (IIRC easily 200€ — overall all 12 panels cost under a thousand!), but meant relatively low voltages and modest currents.
They are actually due for a re-assembly to better suit my new setup (one high-power solar charger, larger battery pack able to accept high-current charging).
Overall I'm quite surprised how much life I found under the panels — note that these panels have been there since last fall, yet the underside is not completely barren! If these were bifacial (=semi-transparent) panels this would be a lot less surprising but they aren't.
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I put these panels down last year "just to get them to work", I was expecting shenanigans like this due to lack of experience and the proper tools. I also only had limited battery & solar charger capacity so I had all 12 panels in parallel, with two strands running to the house to separate solar chargers.
As you could imagine, this cost a small fortune in solar cables (IIRC easily 200€ — overall all 12 panels cost under a thousand!), but meant relatively low voltages and modest currents.
They are actually due for a re-assembly to better suit my new setup (one high-power solar charger, larger battery pack able to accept high-current charging).
Overall I'm quite surprised how much life I found under the panels — note that these panels have been there since last fall, yet the underside is not completely barren! If these were bifacial (=semi-transparent) panels this would be a lot less surprising but they aren't.
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Half of my solar panels have been completely off-line for over a day, and I just noticed :harold:
These are six panels in parallel — for the voltage to dissapear *completely* in the middle of the day? I suspect shenanigans, maybe something on the main wire.
(cursory eyeballing doesn't show much, will need to properly investigate tomorrow)
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Half of my solar panels have been completely off-line for over a day, and I just noticed :harold:
These are six panels in parallel — for the voltage to dissapear *completely* in the middle of the day? I suspect shenanigans, maybe something on the main wire.
(cursory eyeballing doesn't show much, will need to properly investigate tomorrow)
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One of the coolest things I've seen in zero-emission winter heating/energy generation is sand batteries.
https://polarnightenergy.com/news/worlds-largest-sand-battery-now-in-operation/I really want to see if we can make something like this work on a residential/small-scale setting. There are some YouTube videos out there. This seems a lot less permitting heavy than residential wind. 🤔
(The base underlying tech is dead simple, take a large silo filled with sand, insulate it nicely then run pipes carrying hot air through the sand that you "burn" excess energy on — e.g. when solar is abundant — heating the sand to several hundred degrees celsius. With good insulation it keeps the temps up for months, which can be extracted and turned into heat or electricity. Although I'm sure there are plenty "fine print" issues to solve)
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One of the coolest things I've seen in zero-emission winter heating/energy generation is sand batteries.
https://polarnightenergy.com/news/worlds-largest-sand-battery-now-in-operation/I really want to see if we can make something like this work on a residential/small-scale setting. There are some YouTube videos out there. This seems a lot less permitting heavy than residential wind. 🤔
(The base underlying tech is dead simple, take a large silo filled with sand, insulate it nicely then run pipes carrying hot air through the sand that you "burn" excess energy on — e.g. when solar is abundant — heating the sand to several hundred degrees celsius. With good insulation it keeps the temps up for months, which can be extracted and turned into heat or electricity. Although I'm sure there are plenty "fine print" issues to solve)
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Smells like… fossil freedom! :iris_dog: :lumi_dog:
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Smells like… fossil freedom! :iris_dog: :lumi_dog:
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@flaki now adding some wind turbines to your #offgridFlaki setup? 😉
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@flaki now adding some wind turbines to your #offgridFlaki setup? 😉
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Yeah, I'm crazy, I know. Also my dogs hate me (my god, they are so bored!). But this is so extremely satisfying :cuteFroggie:
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Yeah, I'm crazy, I know. Also my dogs hate me (my god, they are so bored!). But this is so extremely satisfying :cuteFroggie:
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TFW you receive 14kWh of raw LFP battery cells 💙
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TFW you receive 14kWh of raw LFP battery cells 💙
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How it started/how it's going. :ablobbowtie_neon:
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How it started/how it's going. :ablobbowtie_neon:
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I've replaced my monitor's 19V power brick with a DC voltage regulator directly hooked into the solar battery pack (avoiding a needless & inefficient round thrip through the inverter) and… I'm gonna need to get into 3D-printing now, won't I… :blobcateyesspin:
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I've replaced my monitor's 19V power brick with a DC voltage regulator directly hooked into the solar battery pack (avoiding a needless & inefficient round thrip through the inverter) and… I'm gonna need to get into 3D-printing now, won't I… :blobcateyesspin: