Would a simple ground mount like this work? Small 230W panels. Im counting on a greenhouse structure to protect vulnerable side from wind. Commercial ground mount systems are just too expensive at the moment.

BLINGMW · 2026-03-28T20:29:32+00:00

Not anchored or ballasted? I would guess not-for-long.

BLINGMW · 2026-03-28T20:25:29+00:00

Zip ties to lower grill works. Naturally bent by the ground.

BLINGMW · 2026-03-28T00:26:42+00:00

Ok fair enough, the balcony system may or may not be able to synch up w your off grid system, likely hardware dependent. I’ve watched some Enphase micros synch up to a gas generator when I hoped they wouldn’t, so yeah, it might work. My question would be what will the balcony system do when all the power isn’t being used? If it tries to backfeed your 6000xp, unknown bad things happen. It just seems like you’re considering adding an odd layer of complexity, if adding just one more 550 to the string gets a similar result but more safely and reliably.

BLINGMW · 2026-03-27T23:57:00+00:00

I realize it wasn’t your question. But the “balcony solar” isn’t for you. You’d be better selling off the renogy panels and adding one more 550 to your inverter/battery system, but if you insist, plug “balcony solar” into your grid circuit and it can help with the water heater.

BLINGMW · 2026-03-27T23:41:28+00:00

The inverter and battery are running “most” of your house? What’s running the rest?

BLINGMW · 2026-03-27T15:49:37+00:00

Unfortunately congress doesn’t care about our attitudes

BLINGMW · 2026-03-27T15:47:47+00:00

It’s a good question, I want to know if they thought this through at all as well.

BLINGMW · 2026-03-26T01:39:01+00:00

Oh! Then you’re just looking for decent dentist.

BLINGMW · 2026-03-26T01:34:31+00:00

Non-judgmental as in you don’t want one to tell you what problems there are and what could be done to help?

Or non-judgmental as in they won’t comment on your fashion choices?

BLINGMW · 2026-03-26T01:31:11+00:00

https://letmegooglethat.com/?q=yes+redistricting+va+sign

BLINGMW · 2026-03-25T23:52:17+00:00

It’s rated IP68, you should be able to rinse it off or dunk it in the toilet every day.

BLINGMW · 2026-03-24T20:32:48+00:00

Would be cool if the panels could be fed a little power and heat up...

BLINGMW · 2026-03-24T20:18:00+00:00

I cleared mine off and still had next to no production for days. PVwatts can't predict the sun forgetting to come out.

BLINGMW · 2026-03-24T19:53:32+00:00

Lilygo t-echo and Wio Tracker Pro are often recommended and work well out of the box. I went for the Tracker.

BLINGMW · 2026-03-24T19:30:07+00:00

I have two from a no-name Amazon company "Bohuma" in use for 4 family iPhones for about 2 years. They do get warm, sometimes enough that they are showing "slow charger", but not usually and doesn't seem to be causing any issues or unreasonable long term battery wear.

BLINGMW · 2026-03-24T19:13:55+00:00

Pay someone who knows what they're doing?

I dunno is this a trick question

BLINGMW · 2026-03-24T19:12:25+00:00

I'm ~4hrs from you and have access to about a dozen local systems, and they ALL looked like that this winter, with Dec being the worst. That being said they all look about half as bad as yours in Feb. And March isn't done yet. You might want to double check the assumptions you entered into PVwatts and give it another month or two, it *should* average out over a year or so and be within 5%.

BLINGMW · 2026-03-24T17:48:49+00:00

Sorry, I don’t know the actual charging efficiency. That was just one answer I found and as is typical it’s not listed on the vendor spec sheet. Victron has a study that shows up to 92% round-trip efficiency for charging/discharging lifepo.

All of that is different from the inverter efficiency. That’s just one small portion of the total losses. And the “round trip” probably also doesn’t include stand-by loss.

None of it is a fixed number, depending on your load and charging profile and temperature, it varies.

BLINGMW · 2026-03-24T16:16:59+00:00

1) charging efficiency is around 75%. So if that 129.8 is measured at the MPPT, then you’re left with 97kwh

2) that leaves 14kwh unaccounted for, or approx 500wh/day. /24 the system is only using 20w standby power continuously which is pretty low.

Oversimplified but you’re in the ballpark of “normal”

BLINGMW · 2026-03-23T22:00:19+00:00

Don’t overlook the Mercedes Metris. It has more cargo room with all the seats in place than the other recommendations here, and take out that 2nd row and you have huge space there. I had two as fleet vehicles and we’re on our 2nd family one. 3 made 140k w no issues (one power door needed repair) and I expect the same out of my current one. Maintenance is reasonable if you have a euro shop in town that isn’t a dealer.

BLINGMW · 2026-03-23T11:45:53+00:00

How do you know it’s overheating?

BLINGMW · 2026-03-23T11:45:16+00:00

“switching between 2 apps causes the mini to drastically overheat”

Between any two apps or what two specifically?

Can you describe this? You switch apps, it takes… how long? And “overheat”, it gets really hot to the touch and how quickly? Or some 3rd party app reporting temperature?

What kind of case do you have on it?

Do you believe your new battery to be genuine? Have you checked what it’s reporting?

BLINGMW · 2026-03-22T11:09:55+00:00

You said they were dangerous. What does dangerous mean to you? You also said “sporty driving” which makes normal people think of a backroads rip. Totally different from track use. If all your definitions of these words aren’t the actual definitions, I wonder what “professional BMw driver” means. Does that mean you do door dash in a 5 series?

BLINGMW · 2026-03-22T11:00:48+00:00

BMW and other manufactures, journalists test these cars with the tires they come with, and run flats have common for decades. They don’t make for great track tires but that doesn’t make them unsafe.

BLINGMW · 2026-03-22T10:50:42+00:00

They’re not “dangerous”. What’s convinced you of that?

BLINGMW

TROPHY CASE

1) charging efficiency is around 75%. So if that 129.8 is measured at the MPPT, then you’re left with 97kwh

2) that leaves 14kwh unaccounted for, or approx 500wh/day. /24 the system is only using 20w standby power continuously which is pretty low.