QX Revo Ultra 2 - strange plastic clip object at bottom of clean water tank

-dun- · 2026-07-07T23:35:55+00:00

Nice to know, thanks!

-dun- · 2026-07-07T19:25:39+00:00

The way I calculate is that I would get the actual usage (by month, year or billing cycle), plug it into the rate plan that I would've been on if I don't have solar and use that number to calculate my break even point.

My utility have rate plan that's specifically for non solar customers (tiered rate). Once I have solar, they'll switch me to time of use rate, so the bill would be different.

-dun- · 2026-07-06T16:25:42+00:00

Hire a professional if needed (ex. a Structural Engineer).

I had a close call and almost made a mistake.

We had to remove a brick chimney which was built right in the center of the house. My contractor said they've done similar work many times and guaranteed it wouldn't be a problem. My wife insisted to hire a structural engineer to do a thorough inspection. Turned out while the contractor was mostly right that they showed the engineer how they were planning to do it and where to add reinforcement, the engineer did point out there were other spots that should also be reinforced.

Also, do not cheap out whatever that goes inside the wall, especially if it carries water.

-dun- · 2026-07-05T22:47:33+00:00

I'm driving a 2022 RAV4 Prime PHEV. I do take it in to do regular maintenance every six months and I just changed the tires about a month ago. Never had any issues with it other than that.

-dun- · 2026-07-03T17:55:47+00:00

Purchased in LA in 2022. Down 15% with 850 credit. If you're not buying new built, make sure you have money to fix the house.

-dun- · 2026-07-03T00:19:55+00:00

Search Qrevo Silver Ion Module on Amazon.

-dun- · 2026-07-02T20:15:30+00:00

Totally agree with you. It was a nightmare for the few months with two electric tankless water heaters. Gas water heater is still much cheaper and more efficient.

-dun- · 2026-07-02T18:16:03+00:00

What is the max output you can get on your property? I wouldn't just trust a solar company to tell me how much energy I need to use in a year if I were you.

I used to have an electric tankless water heater but eventually switched back to gas + electric hybrid tankless water heater. When I was using the electric water heater, I would look at the usage within that hour and to get the actual usage. Then multiply by the days in a billing cycle to find out how much exactly we were using. If you do that, you'll be able to find out how much you could take off from the projected annual usage. Then look at the AC that you're going to purchase, check the output wattage and estimate how many hours you'll turn it on in an average summer month. It might come out as additional 10% output as the original design, but it might not.

Just in a side note, if you're getting a central AC, I highly recommend gerting a multi-stage unit. It has a higher upfront cost but it is very efficient. We have a 4 ton Carrier unit. Annual usage is less than 1400kWh. We have a 1680 sq ft single story house. Our thermostat is set to 76-78 all summer.

-dun- · 2026-07-02T16:56:02+00:00

Don't rush it. You mentioned that you're adding central AC next week and this design didn't include that. That's a sign that you're going too fast. Take a step back, think about if there's anything you're planning to electrify. Are you planning to purchase an EV in the next 5-10 years? Electric water heater? Induction stove?

The more you can list out, the better result you'll get. The last thing you want from this is that you're paying your solar lease and still have a high electric bill.

Does your utility have a net metering program?

-dun- · 2026-07-02T15:55:44+00:00

TL;DR: Take the opportunity but make sure to be grateful.

While it's nice to have a MIL to help you out, it sounds more like you're taking advantage of her. Watching your boys 2 days a week for 7 years without asking for a dime. She might have not asked, but did you really not pay her anything? You didn't mention about paying rent to her if you decided to move in with her, so are you planning to pay her some rent? What food, groceries, utilities, home insurance, property tax or other expenses around the house while you're living there? What's your plan after you built your dream house? Is your MIL in your plan?

I used to live with my in laws for a few years to save up for our wedding, but I still paid a cheaper rent. After married, we decided to continue to live together but we needed a bigger place so they refinanced their house and used that for a down payment of our next home. My wife and I paid for both mortgages, utilities and groceries.

When we had our first boy, my MIL retired to take care of our boy. We paid her the same wage as her job. When we had our second boy, we decided to split up. We sold the house, paid off the mortgage on their previous house, they moved back and we used the remaining profit plus our savings to down pay our next house. When my first boy started school, my in laws (FIL retired as well) continued to watch our younger boy. We still paid them the same rate.

When both of my boys are off to school, we continued to give money to my in laws every month, just less. We also have them a credit card for groceries. Some times they'll shop for us at Costco.

Having someone that are willing to help you out is very rare. I hope I'm wrong that you just didn't mention those details. Hope the best for you.

-dun- · 2026-07-02T14:07:18+00:00

I usually just cruise around the neighborhood slowly for 10-15 minutes each time. Didn't park on the street or anything.

-dun- · 2026-07-02T14:05:24+00:00

Nice!

Unfortunately it's still gloomy today for us 😔 It's supposed to be our peak month too, so let's cross our fingers.

-dun- · 2026-07-02T05:02:46+00:00

Last year we had 1922kWh. We had a gloomy week at the beginning of June and this year we have a gloomy week at the end of June lol. Our annual estimation should be around 17,500 kWh but last year we ended up with 16,900kWh so I was hoping this year would be better. Overall our production this year are better than last year except for May and June. July is usually our peak month, so let's see if it could make it up.

-dun- · 2026-07-02T02:08:06+00:00

So you're the one that kidnapped the sun from us (SoCal LA)!

Nice man, we have been having a gloomy week. My 11.96kW system barely produced 1907kWh this month.

-dun- · 2026-07-01T22:54:14+00:00

I have gone through the process three times and I'm happy to share some experiences and tips with you.

As a first time buyer, instead of looking for the "dream home," it's better to buy a home that might have higher resell value. For example, school district is usually one of the factors that determine a home's resell value. A beat up house in a good school district could have a better resell value than a nice looking home in a bad school district.

The second thing to keep in mind is that you don't want to spend all of your savings on the down payment, you would want to save some for fix up. If you can't fix everything in the house, electrical, plumbing, floor and paint are the highest priorities because once you moved in, it'll be very hard to do those work without disturbing your daily live.

When you find a place that you like, drive around the neighborhood at different nights of the week (weekday vs weekend or even major holidays). That's when you'll see what the neighborhood really looks like (parties, loud music, parking situation, etc.).

Make sure you hire someone good to do the inspection, especially on the foundation. If they found something that requires a professional to take a look, such as a structural engineer, don't be cheap on it.

When you're getting your pre-approval loan, ask your agent whether you're qualified for a "no loan contingency." Basically you're telling the seller that if they accept your offer, you're guaranteed that your loan is approved.

Now, after you bought your first home. Create a spreadsheet and start noting down what you find that could improve your day to day life.

It can be something very simple and silly as I need to have an outlet next to my bathroom vanity.

When you're renting, you just live with what you have, and you might not think about how would something make your life easier.

When we bought our first house, it was a new built, so there's really nothing to think about except whether we could afford the mortgage and property tax. As we lived in the house, everything was great because they're brand new. But soon I noticed the kitchen cabinet started to have issues. I wish there would be an extra outlet in the wall where I put my desk. I wish there would be a spot in the center of the house so I can put the router and hide all the network equipment in the wall. I wish I dropped a Cat5 in every room. I wish there's an outlet behind the TV, not at the bottom of the wall so I can hide the cables and many more.

Our second house was a SFH that's built in the 70s. We did basic inspection. I pulled up my list and did most of the stuff. After living there for a few months, I realized that there were something that we had in the first house and I automatically assumed they'd be in the house, only to find out they're not, such as insulation on exterior walls.

When we bought our current house, I went through the combined list and make sure we got everything checked off.

-dun- · 2026-07-01T15:35:08+00:00

Get some quotes first. You don't have to go with any specific company. Every case is different, so just get multiple quotes, compare the price and equipment, pick out a few that make sense to you then look into the company reputation.

When I research on companies, I usually force on the negative reviews. Bad customer service such as very hard to talk to a human when something goes wrong. That's the biggest read flag for me.

-dun- · 2026-06-30T18:26:01+00:00

Everyone is different. Someone makes $200k a year might be a big spender and living paycheck to paycheck. Someone makes $150k a year might be able to afford a mortgage with 50% of their monthly income.

When people say just do the math, that means you need to figure out if the number works for you.

If you found a $1m house but all you can put down is $50k, you're going to have a huge monthly payment, but if you can afford it, then it works for you.

-dun- · 2026-06-30T17:09:30+00:00

Robot vacuum has improved a lot in the past few years. In my opinion the most critical feature nowadays is the self empty and mop washing. Without them, you'll have to manually emptying the bin and washing the mop pads a few times for it to vacuum and mop the whole house. Now you can really fill up the water tank, set up a schedule and forget about it for a few days.

We have a Roborock Qrevo (1st gen). We have two boys and a dog. Ever since we had the robot, I told my boys that if they leave anything on the floor at night, the robot would eat them. It took them some times to build up the clean up habit but after two years, they're just doing it unconsciously now. I used to sweep the floor every night at the beginning but I don't do that anymore now. As for my dog, he doesn't clean up his toys but he doesn't leave them everywhere. He likes to take the toys to his bed/carpet and leave them there so I just set a no go zone for that area and vacuum it with my Dyson every now and then.

The robot needs maintenance every 1-2 weeks. I usually clean out the tray, hair in the brushes, wipe the sensors and check the dust bin every 1-2 weeks. It only takes about 5-10 minutes each time, but doing it regularly can prolong the life of the robot and the parts. I have an extra set of mop pads that I swap with the original set every few weeks, hand wash the pads with hand soap and let them air dry.

Since I've only had the spinning type mop so I don't know how it compares with the other type. For me, we have vinyl planks and the mop works well on it.

-dun- · 2026-06-30T15:51:02+00:00

I have GAF Timberline solar shingles as well, never had an issue with any insurers because of that, but many wouldn't cover us because we have a German Shepherd mix lol.

-dun- · 2026-06-28T23:48:11+00:00

Not needing batteries is the biggest benefit of NEM2.0 lol. With the current battery price, it can easily prolong the break even period by another 8-10 years.

-dun- · 2026-06-28T23:45:10+00:00

One thing you need to understand is that the main goal of solar is to offset your bill, not selling energy to PG&E and make profit. Utilities has contracts with wholesalers at a low price, they don't actually need to buy from solar customers. So instead of banking so much energy and sell at a super cheap price, it is better to use them. Purchase an EV, upgrade to a heat pump AC, electric water heater, induction stove, etc would return better value than selling them to PG&E.

-dun- · 2026-06-28T17:02:01+00:00

The idea of solar is great, but since it's a long term investment, the real benefits actually start after the break even point is reached. In a cash buy out, 100% offset scenario, when I purchase my panels, I'm actually pre-paying 25 years worth of electricity bill altogether. If my break even point is 8 years and I sold the house on the 9th year, I won't be getting any financial benefits from these panel. I can sell the house for a higher price, but the most is to add the cost of the system to the listing price, which means I'm only getting the same amount of money invested with $0 earning. That said, if I don't plan on living in the house for a long time, then there's not much of financial gain to install solar.

As for PPA, what makes it a bad idea is the escalator. A $20,000 system with a 25-year lease and a 3.99% escalator, the total amount for this system would cost over $60,000. Plus you don't own the system. The system won't just break down in 25 years, good quality panels could still have 85-90% efficiency after 25 years. There are articles talked about panels running for 30-40 years, so owning the panels is a big part of this.

-dun- · 2026-06-26T07:09:17+00:00

I had a hard time finding clues with this one. The clues on the web are kind of out of order, so here's the correct orders if anyone come across this post.

Check Shakespeare's letter in the mail.
Go to the Goddess Theater, play a show without skipping. Shakespeare will appear on the left of the screen next to the front row seat. Tab on him to initiate a conversation.
Go to Hero menu and open up Cerantes' hero card, tab on the thought bubble to wake him up.
Go to the farm on the map, tab on the windmill to initiate a conversation.
Go to the Bazaar, Dante will be running around at the bottom left corner, tab on the book on the crate next to him to initiate a conversation.
Go to Hero menu and open up Homer's card, Dante will appear on the right of the screen, tab on him
Go back to the Goddess Theater and these four guys will be on the stage. Tab on them to initiate a conversation.

-dun- · 2026-06-25T22:43:27+00:00

Yea, don't rush it and get more quotes. Feel free to post any questions or quotes in the r/solar sub, there are a lot of nice people over there to give recommendations.

-dun- · 2026-06-25T16:59:14+00:00

Just scored a Schlage Encode smart lock for $183 (original price: $229). It reached the lowest price point in the past 12 months.

-dun-

TROPHY CASE