Category: Advice and Suggestions
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How Much Power Are You Losing? A simple introduction to voltage drop in wires and cables
Have you ever looked at an extension cord and wondered “how much power is it wasting”? And how about those cheap skinny solar MC-4 cables – maybe they’re not such a bargain either. Or perhaps you never gave any of this a single thought! It is a fact that using the wrong cable or cord…
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The Most Important Prep For Survival? Water Storage and Purification Alone is not enough…
There is one resource any Survivalist or Preparedness oriented person should be an expert on first and foremost. You must have skills in retrieving, storing and processing it – or all the rest of your preps simply don’t matter! Having the right mindset is still top of the list, yet everything still depends on this…
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A Quick Post On LiFePO4 C-rate – charge, discharge and treating storage batteries right
What is C-rate and why is it important? Recently, I tested a 200 amp-hour LiFePo4 12v battery for a video review I did for my YouTube channel (Timeusb 200ah, posted on this page). Although it was not the main focus of the video itself, during the review I made some comments about C-rate and decided…
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14 Watts Can Do WHAT? Getting smarter about solar power, efficiency and high-tech survival
Hi folks, most survivalists know how much food & water they need to survive “X days” in the jungle”. That’s because they are smart and take time to think things through! But have you ever wondered, how many slices of toast can that 12-volt 10 amp-hour lithium battery make?? Note: this article is about an…
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Solar panel has voltage but no power – what’s wrong? DIY Solar Troubleshooting Skills
Introduction Hi folks, in this blog post (and associated video) I am sharing some of my first hand experience in over a decade of working with solar power and electrical systems. A problem that a DIY solar power enthusiast may someday face is to find a solar panel [or a whole solar panel array] has…
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Solar DC Direct Drive 12v / 24v / Series car radiator fans – Bench Test with video
In this article and video I compare the performance of different car radiator fans in a direct PV DC driven (PV-to-Load) shed ventilation scenario. Overview A 50 watt solar panel and a simple car radiator fan makes an extremely simple and robust DIY shed ventilation solution. 12 volt fans are very common and affordable, but…
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Direct Solar Electric Cooking vs. traditional methods – A Grid Down Scenario
It’s happened, The Grid Is Down. Roads are closed. No gas stations are open. Nothing works. Electrical power and communications are gone. Chaos is slowly breaking out. But the Off Gridder feels fairly secure; solar panels on the roof, 20kw of batteries, a wondrous integrated inverter with bluetooth, MPPT charger all crammed into one giant…
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Simple Solar Electric space heater conversion project (With Video)
Introduction and Recap of Past Work Over the past several years, I have experimentally heated my home and workshop with custom space heaters converted from AC to Direct DC operation. What I wanted to achieve was to plug my space heaters straight into the solar panels, bypassing inverters, charge controllers and batteries. Plus save wear…
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The Cloud CAN Fail! My low power 12V DC Network Storage Appliance
Background – my private cloud and home datacenter project I believe it’s important to store my computer files on my own network, and not the public cloud – because that can fail at any time. For several years I have operated a small datacenter and home network. It is used to provide “self hosted cloud”…
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Cooling Your Shed With Solar Power! Ventilation and Concepts
(Note: there are detailed shed ventilation videos on YouTube and posted down below) Is your shed (or chicken coop, outbuildings, etc.) getting a bit too hot in the summer time? Ventilating and cooling your shed with solar power is a fun project within reach of just about any DIY enthusiast. Believe it or not, a…
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Learn About Solar / DC Circuit Breakers in 5 Minutes!
I work with DC circuit breakers quite a lot, and had the urge to make a quick video primer about choosing DC circuit breakers and the various ins and outs of the process. This presentation tries to be beginner friendly while encouraging further investigation and independent research – which is the core part of DIY.…
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Buying Used or New Solar Panels? A few thoughts…
It’s very common for people to shop used solar panels. I personally have had the experience of buying both used and new, and learned a lot. If you’re interested, I produced a video a while back that includes commentary on this subject (posted to the right). On with the article! Used Solar Panels The most…
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Surviving Planned Obsolescence
If I could only warn the common man about one often overlooked economic factor, it would be Planned Obsolescence. Simply put, it’s the practice by companies of deliberately designing and manufacturing the item or product you buy to have a limited lifetime. That way they can sell you more. Isn’t that great? This can apply…
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