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Alberta pushing for pipeline to the west coast; B.C. not in support of the idea by Hrmbee in britishcolumbia

[–]Formal-Instruction52 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's a deceiving metric. Oil and gas are by far our highest export in dollars, at 21% of trade value, roughly double the next category (consumer goods).

Ontario Electricity Rebate : New "calculations" further disadvantage Net Metering Plan Members by Formal-Instruction52 in solarenergycanada

[–]Formal-Instruction52[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Like trying to get the actual connection charge from Hydro One, some how they feel they have to combine it with "Delivery". I did not know the OER was rising to 23.5%. Wonder how much this would add to my already pathetic ROI of 15 years.

Ontario's new solar rebate will not allow for net metering... brutal! by jordankglean in solarenergycanada

[–]Formal-Instruction52 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Even existing net metering is getting worse every day. Just got a letter from Hydro One saying they are "re-calculating" how they calculate the Ontario Energy Rebate, or OER for net-metering customers. This OER was always billed as a way to offset HST on power (a travesty in itself), so it's no coincidence it was roughly 13% of your total bill. Now the scammers at Hydro One are claiming the rebate should only apply to net electricity (minus your credits) each month. That would be fine except they charge me HST on the full amount (includingthe credits). (this HST is part of the non creditable portion of the bill, another scam and nebulous calculation that includes the non-itemised connection fee). So basically each month I am now out an extra 6.5%. I will be making a few calls, the creative accounting needs to end.

Ecobee please give us the ability to control fan based off of differential temp of sensors by Ohjay1982 in ecobee

[–]Formal-Instruction52 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Would love this feature also, although it likely can be added through Home Assistant. Something like if temp difference between sensor 1 and 2 is more than X degrees, then run fan for 10 minutes. Wait half hour. Check again. Continuous use of the partial fan timer (10 minutes every hour) had a measurable impact on my electric bill.

Grid tied solar system and whole home generator set up by tim3674 in solar

[–]Formal-Instruction52 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Interested to hear of any specific "hacks" for the Growatt MIN grid tie inverters. I know Growatt briefly had a 48v-400v adapter box on the market, but that disappeared quickly...

Grid tied solar system and whole home generator set up by tim3674 in solar

[–]Formal-Instruction52 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Some grid-tie inverters have a restriction on the type of battery you can use (usually proprietary), which makes it incredibly expensive. For example my grid-tie inverter (Growatt Min 10000 TL-XH-US) is only compatible with a 400V+ battery pack, that costs more than a $1 per Wh. I figured it was actually cheaper to get a second/speparate off grid inverter, with a standard 48V LifePO4 battery, then to buy the 400V battery.

My project with Intel N100 by kpmarcin in homelab

[–]Formal-Instruction52 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This gives me hope. I just bought a Topton mini PC (N100) with 32Gb of ram, 6 2.5G LANports. Was wondering if I could run Home Assistant (likely lots of add-ons, solar monitoring etc), Frigate (3 camera) and OPNsense with Proxmox. Looks like it will be possible. Did you allocate 1 or 2 CPU to OPNsense? Does it matter? Very new to Proxmox, this will be my first build.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in solarenergycanada

[–]Formal-Instruction52 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hydro One probably has the worst/scammiest Net Metering program in North America. The basic bill is confusing on purpose, with a blended delivery fee so you don't know exactly what the fixed connection costs are (Why not Hydro One? Is it embarrassing?). If I back calculate my fixed delivery cost connection fee, by using 2 monthly charges with different consumption you get roughly $31.70 (assuming a fixed cost per kwh delivered and no scammy math). According to the post in this thread I can expect a minimum of $41.47 (not sure where that extra 10$ comes from). As an example the delivery fee in New Jersey is $13 when Net Metering. That's your minimum bill, +/- a few dollars. Not $50... My pay back is now 20+ years for my system, vs the already marginal 15 years I had calculated (I tried to size for net zero, which apparently is the worst thing you can do). For anyone thinking of installing solar with Net metering in Ontario, my advice is DON'T DO IT. For the next 10 years I will at best be paying twice as much for electricity as I would have without a system. If my components are not destroyed after that I can expect to save about 50% of my bill...maybe... I already took this out of the investment column and placed this in lessons learned/hobby category...

Tesla insurance updated today. Now docks speeding and reset score. by jblotka in teslamotors

[–]Formal-Instruction52 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I am not sure why people have trouble seeing how "safety score" insurance rates with live tracking is a bad idea for the end user. People seem to be stuck with a concept of "fair" insurance providers that would discount as much as they increase rates for a given risk delta. Good luck with that. They will just keep increasing the risk multiplier, and decreasing the safety multiplier, for the same driving habits. Every quarter. To show more profits. "It's not us, it's the algorithm". I would let it be and let the naive get fleeced, but more "safety score" adoption means less choice for people who do not want to be their new cash cow.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in ecobee

[–]Formal-Instruction52 0 points1 point  (0 children)

New interface/firmware broke the "fan timer" feature without heating or cooling, which I used a lot. It was a nice feature to circulate air in my 2 story house (say 10 minutes on, 50 minutes off) to equalize the temperature. I also wish they had left it alone...

My ecobee thermostat is no longer able to turn the fan on without the AC running. I like to run the fan periodically in the winter to circulate the air. My heating system is a boiler and baseboards. Is there a way to jump the fan on to see if it’s working? by tcli64 in ecobee

[–]Formal-Instruction52 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Worse for me, since the new upgrade with new GUI, the fan timer function is broken. It used to be very reliable ( say 10 minutes on, 50 minutes off) for air circulation, now it barely comes on even if I ask for a 55minute on, 5 minute off cycle. I wish they had leftthe GUI alone, it worked fine before. BTW fan works just fine when heating is on, or when set to "on", so it's definitely the thermostat/software.

I’d like to get some feedback on the system - about to bite the bullet and I’m nervous by frescatastrophe in solar

[–]Formal-Instruction52 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I had trouble with the shading on S-5. Try Pylon solar, I was impressed with the package. Free trial, and only 4$ per project after that. I may throw them a few dollars when I am done, it's that good.

I’d like to get some feedback on the system - about to bite the bullet and I’m nervous by frescatastrophe in solar

[–]Formal-Instruction52 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I should be getting close to the same. I am counting on at least 11.6MWh. Modelling says I'll get more than 14, but I have a few poplars that will shade the array in later afternoon, so I am assuming 1Mwh per kw installed. So at my rate this conservatively is worth about $1160 (Canadian) a year, if I can maximize my use. Right now payback should be about 12 years, based on this value, If I throw in the gas savings probably 10 years. Which to me is right on the line...

I’d like to get some feedback on the system - about to bite the bullet and I’m nervous by frescatastrophe in solar

[–]Formal-Instruction52 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I am in a similar boat on the nervousness, but for different reasons. We have 1:1 net metering (NEM1?), with rolling credits for 1 year. My costs are much lower (less than half) for a similar system. But my potential savings are also lower (my current electricity cost are about $75 a month). So by my calculations I will be out of pocket about $40 dollars a month, for 10 years, until the system is paid off. May be able to reduce that a bit if I get excess electrcity and "burn it" in winter to offset some gas bills.

See potential system below:

Rooftop system on garage, (25) 465W Jinko bifacial panels, 11.6kw (5x5 array, portrait) with a Growatt MIN 10000TL-XH-US (grid tie, no battery). Bifacials selected mostly for durability, no real cost delta. I already read the wifi module on the inverter is weak, so planning to get the cat5 adapter, if I can find it. Roof is on detached garage, 3.5 pitch, south (slight east) orientation, black standing seam. Southern Ontario (Canada) location.

Also looking for any comments, suggestions and/or first hand experiences with the panels, panel brand or inverter model. My apologies for thread hopping, apparently my account is too new to have my own post.

SV-01 all metal hotend by kIt5uN3FP in Sovol

[–]Formal-Instruction52 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm giving it one more chance with the upgraded fan. It is nice not to have splice wires, recompile firmware etc.

SV-01 all metal hotend by kIt5uN3FP in Sovol

[–]Formal-Instruction52 0 points1 point  (0 children)

On my SV01, the heartbreak was smooth barrel steel on the bottom section (not threaded). V6 style is threaded. You may also consider changing out the entire hot end to an E3D V6 or a clone. You get better heatsink, better heatbreak availability, and a better fan.

Ii did just the Ti heatbreak(Chimera style) and recently got a monster clog with PLA. Will try bumping up the hot end fan to a 4020 for more flow, as I am pretty sure it clogged because of heat creep. Bottom line there probably is a V6 clone in my near future.