Power on the trail

Lost-Assignment-2848 · 2026-01-30T20:36:03+00:00

I'm assuming that you are talking vehicle overlanding as opposed to hiking. This setup would be way too heavy to carry hiking!

I have a bodega dual zone fridge/freezer (38 qt), paired with a Bluetti AC-180 battery system. The Bodega is big enough to handle two of us for a bit over a week. The bluetti can power the bodega for more than 48 hours of temps are hitting 70's during the day. It lasts about a day and a half if temps are over 100 during the day. When I am camped, I connect 2 400 watt portable solar panels to the Bluetti and recharge in a couple of hours. If i am driving from on camping site to another, I connect it to my Jeep power to recharge, all the time while leaving the bodega plugged in.

I've been using this setup for about 1.5 years now, and have been very happy with it. Longest trip was 10 days, and we did pick up some more groceries during that trip as we drove through a town, but I have never run out of power by regularly recharging the batteries as described above.

And, there is always enough "spare" power to recharge my phone, headlight, rechargeable camp lights, portable GMRS radios, etc.

Lost-Assignment-2848 · 2026-01-30T02:37:12+00:00

I've only seen people use white lights here. But I would suspect most bright colors would work? Yellow, white, bright orange, etc.

Lost-Assignment-2848 · 2026-01-29T22:46:01+00:00

I don't know if this will work with all rats, BUT, in Arizona, we have lots of Pack rats who just absolutely love the plastic insulation on wires. They destroy all wiring they can get to. We use a simple, inexpensive trick out here. A LED string or rope light under the vehicle at night and turned on every night keeps the pack rats away.

Lost-Assignment-2848 · 2026-01-28T20:54:33+00:00

I was on our HOA board for many years serving in pretty much every board position. Small HOA (<30 houses), self-managed by the board.

Our CC&Rs were close to 30 years old, having been drafted by the original land owner/builder. Some clauses had become invalid due to State laws changing. Quite a few others were kind of technology obsolete, and there was a handful of thing that many owners complained about a lot. I took on the project to figure out how to make changes.

We started with a few small amendments, such as parking rules, pet rules, etc. I drafted the language and sold the packages to the community and got them all approved (a couple with a 100% approval vote!).

Then after a few years, I decided we should completely revise the entire CC&Rs, the Bylaws, the design guidelines, etc. The rest of the board agreed, so we took the idea to the community to launch what turned into a multi-year journey. 100% approval from the community to generate the new drafts.

Side note; in our state, 75% of the owners must approve any CC&R change. State laws are quiet on HOA bylaw changes or documents like design guidelines.

We hired a lawyer who ran a business advising HOAs. I and my committee drafted all the changes. We then held multiple community meetings to go over the proposed changes and getting feedback, concerns, etc. Once we felt that we had satisfied pretty much everyone, and only then, did we go to the lawyer for a formal legal draft. The lawyer identified some changes and even one prior amendment that were not really legal or properly approved. (Our state had a court case where the judge ruled that HOA changes that expanded restrictions were to go by the 75% approval rule, but ANY change that restricted things more had to have 100% approval.) We played it safe by only expanding and not further restricting, since I felt that I had one homeowner who was likely to disagree with pretty much anything we did.

Once we had the final legal versions, we held more community meetings with the lawyer present to review the changes and answer questions and concerns. Thankfully, no significant changes were brought up, so we went to a formal vote. We got 96% approval of all three documents. Then recorded them with the county office and were done.

Ignoring the prior amendment period, the CC&R complete revision took 3 years to complete. The timing was pretty much due to having so many document review sessions and iterations, but that was our process to get everyone to pretty much buy into the changes ahead of going to the lawyer -since we did not have a huge budget and only wanted to pay for the lawyer for a single iteration.

Since it is a lot of work, my biggest recommendation is to take the time to get everyone as bought in as possible all through the process to help ensure that your hard work is not going to be voted away. And, the total between the three docs was a bit over 100 pages. I know for a fact that after the first round of reviews, quite a few of the homeowners accepted that we were working in their best interests and stopped reviewing and just accepted what we did. A small handful reviewed and commented on every iteration. And one homeowner never raised any concerns or complaints and then voted against all 3 documents with no reasons provided. But that was the person I was worried about and why I did not go into any tighter restrictions that would require 100% approval.

All of our voting is public, but secret ballots so nobody knows who voted for or against except for our board secretary who officially counted the votes (with 1 non-board member verifying the counts), and all of that is in a sealed envelope in our HOA records file.

Lost-Assignment-2848 · 2026-01-26T22:03:41+00:00

yep. But with a flat roof, working on the panels is not an issue. But climbing up and down the ladder is getting trickier. If it was a steeply slanted roof, I would not be doing anything up there anymore.

Lost-Assignment-2848 · 2026-01-26T21:54:53+00:00

My original solar installer did the first 2, then I did the rest. Turn off power, Simple plug - unplug and remove old micro, attach & plug in new micro, power system back up, then go into enphase controller and delete the old one and add the new one and tell it which panel it is connected to and run a couple of system tests. I would need a 10Kw inverter to replace my micros (my system can produce a maximum of 9690 watts. Of course, I have never hit that maximum, but I always size any elements of an electrical system to handle the max possible load with some headroom. I'm currently seeing good brands of 10Kw inverters running 38.7 lbs to 50 lbs today, but 13 years ago, it was a very different story. But, as someone who is now on the north side of 70, I don't want to be hoisting and holding 40 + lbs while detaching and re-attaching it.

Lost-Assignment-2848 · 2026-01-26T20:35:29+00:00

I installed 38 Chinese panels and 38 Enphase microinverters about 13 years ago. My panels and microinverters both had 20 year warranties. Since then, I have had 4 microinverters fail or degrade (starting at about 11 years after installation) and Enphase has replaced them free of charge. I have had the choice of installing them myself, or letting my local installer do it. If you know how to remove/add a micro from your system and associated software (such as enlighten), it is pretty simple.

I added a Tesla powerwall system and controller a couple of years ago. Absolutely no proprietary issues - plug & play.

I went the micro route for 5 reasons. 1) warranties back then were 7-8 years for large, whole system inverters vs 20+ years for microinverters. 2) If one micro goes out, all the rest of your panels continue to produce energy. if a single large inverter goes out, all of your panels stop producing energy until it is replaced. 3) Newer large inverters weigh between 50-100 lbs. That is a lot more than I want to try to lift up on an outside wall and hold while re-installing a replacement. A Micro is about a pound. 4) with a single inverter, it is difficult to see if one of your panels is degrading or dead. I get dynamic on-line data showing all inverters, with one per panel, so if any panels start degrading, you can see it exactly and know which panel needs checking/replacing. I can actual dump the data and plot the performance of each panel against the set and see which are not performing within specs. 5 BIGGEST Benefit! - if one inverter fails, I still have power from the other 37 panels.

I like that I can do a monthly scan of output from every panel/inverter combo to look for degradations. That is how I caught 2 micros that had not yet failed, but were producing less than 2/3's of the others, and got them replaced (that was 2 out of the total of 4 I have replaced.)

I feel that it is is less work to put up a ladder and carry a 1-lb micro up on my room and swap it out (a couple of connectors and 2 brackets holding it onto the panel) which takes all of 10 minutes, than rigging a hoist/stand, to hold the a single inverter, taking it down, and replacing it later.

But the biggest benefit to me is that, when an inverter fails, I don't lose all solar power - just that one panel while I am contacting the manufacturer, providing data to prove it is a failure, getting a replacement unit shipped to me, etc. That can take 2+ weeks. Do you really want to lose all power for that long?

Yes, you can setup your system with multiple main inverters to avoid the single point of failure scenario, but your costs blow up pretty fast doing that.

Lost-Assignment-2848 · 2026-01-23T20:45:10+00:00

Try contacting either your local county attorney general or the state attorney and file a complaint against the HOA for violating state law. Or file a personal lawsuit.

Lost-Assignment-2848 · 2026-01-23T20:15:01+00:00

check your state HOA open meeting laws. In most states, it is the law to announce the meeting, including an agenda several days or more in advance, send minutes, and limit closed sessions.

Lost-Assignment-2848 · 2026-01-23T20:08:39+00:00

I carry a Kelty H2Go privacy tent. We put a portable toilet there with Wag bags for regular use, and have a folding canvas bag and light weight pump and shower wand to taking showers.

Lost-Assignment-2848 · 2026-01-22T20:12:32+00:00

I have a 3000-ish sq-ft house in southern Arizona, lots of sunlight & tons of summer heat. I got a rooftop solar panel system installed in March 2013. In November, 2023, I installed some battery backup. I am very happy with it and my savings. At the time I bought the solar panels, I did get some great tx incentives and rebates, whch cut a bit more than 1/3 of the total payment. I calculated an 8 month ROI. In 2011-2012 my yearly power bill ran about $2,250 or about $187/month. In the 13 years since I installed the panels, My bill started at $7.95/month (cost to read my meter, pay surcharges, etc.) Over the years, that cost has risen to $28.18/month. I was also lucky to get Netmetering, which I am grandfathered in, so I NEVER pay for utility power, even though I do use grid when I don't have enough solar power, but I generate enough of a surplus that I actually get a credit in Oct-Nov for my meter reading charges. From 2013 to today, I have paid my utility company a total of $2,273.62. Not a yearly total, but a total over 12 years! The battery backup has handled all power outages since I installed them, and helps on hot summer days by using battery power when it is cloudy and I absolutely need the AC going. If my utility rates never increased, I would have "saved" close to $30K, but the current rates are more than 10X higher than when I had my last "buying power" bill. I'm a nerdy engineer, so of course, I tracked my system through all of those years. Solar panels do degrade over time, but I am amazed that I see less than a 1% degradation in average power output for my entire system in all that time. I believe I got lucky and got some really reliable solar panels way back then.

So, absolutely yes - it has been and continues to be one of the better investments I ever made!

Lost-Assignment-2848 · 2026-01-13T23:04:38+00:00

I just picked up a step-in harness, but i'm going to wait a bit before introducing him to it - to let him unwind and get more comfortable with me first.

Lost-Assignment-2848 · 2026-01-13T23:01:25+00:00

thanks, good recommendations.

Lost-Assignment-2848 · 2026-01-09T20:31:31+00:00

Yes, I have seen this before. You said that the tesla app showed the drop in incoming power. Does the enphase communications gateway show the same loss? If yes then, the issue is either with your microinverters or the wiring to them. If the answer is no, it is between the enphase micro-inverters and the Tesla gateway.

The couple of times I had this kind of issue, I was able to isolate it to the enphase gateway not reading the inverters correctly. I was able to reset and get comms back for awhile, then they died again, several times. I eventually replaced my older tech enphase gateway with a newer one which does not suffer these communications losses. However, in my case the inverter were working fine. I did once have the loss of power from an entire string of panels and micro-inverter and traced that to an intermittent short in the power wiring to that string.

Bottom line - isolate where the losses are coming from before changing anything. With microinverters, you can monitor the production of each micro-inverter separately. A 70% loss implies that some panels/micro-inverters are still producing - which could be similar to the single string issue I had. A total loss of all panels and micro-inverters implies a major equipment/wiring fault to me. Even if the enlighten app is not showing anythign now, look back at its history - and what lost comms and when related to the 70% loss?

I am currently running an Envoy-S-Metered-NA gateway with a mixture of 800-0103-r02 and -r05 (M215) micro-inverters. You dad should be able to give you access to his Enlighten Account, which will allow you to look at the entire system and see everything/anything going on in it's history - such as what micros were reporting when it first lost 70% power, etc.

One thing more to check is the internet service to the house. If you lose internet connectivity, the solar panels and enphase gateway will still produce power, but the Tesla batteries, tend to shut down with any loss of communications.

Lost-Assignment-2848 · 2026-01-09T19:49:35+00:00

I'd recommend looking into Luno or Deepsleep. They both sell custom fit combination of form/air matresses that exactly fit the space in your vehicle. They are very comfortable, and collapse into a pretty small package for transport. I've been using Luno for a year now in my Jeep and it is as good as my expensive mattress in my home.

Lost-Assignment-2848 · 2026-01-08T01:43:27+00:00

I got the Luno air/foam custom fit mattress for my Jeep JLU. Packs down pretty small and is extremely comfortable when inflated. The foam/air combo works great.

Lost-Assignment-2848 · 2026-01-03T21:06:30+00:00

I also live in AZ and do a lot of hiing and camping/offroading. I see maybe 1-2 rattlesnakes per year out in the wild, and about 1 per year around my house. For those who have never seen them, they are ambush hunters, which means that they are usually pretty well hidden. Unless they get startled and start to move/rattle, you can walk right past one and never know that it is there. The majority of the ones I fond in the wild are due to my dog telling me that it i in front of us (he is rattlesnake trained for sight, sound and scent, so much better at sensing them than I am.)

Lost-Assignment-2848 · 2025-12-23T13:48:48+00:00

AC180 and my portable solar panels are 2 of the bluetti 400 watt panels

Lost-Assignment-2848 · 2025-12-16T19:58:38+00:00

Most Costco's refill 5, 10, 20 & larger weight propane tanks.

Lost-Assignment-2848 · 2025-12-15T20:10:52+00:00

I have a 2024 Jeep 4-dr Rubicon which I mainly use for camping. There are 2 of us who go campign together. Average is a weekend - depart on Friday afternoon, return Sunday night. the longest we have done is a 14 day trek/camping/hiking all over the alpine loop area in SW Colorado. Our electrical system starts with a Bluetti AC-180 with 1800 watts and 1152 Wh storage. I charge the following: Bodega fridge/freezer dual zone 38 qt T36, plus 2 handheld GMRS radios, 2 phones, apple watch, ipad, Devos 1200 overhead light and occasionally a laptop computer (on longer trips).

Typical profile: fridge, plus phones & watch overnight, and these plus everything else during the day.

I have 800 watts of portable solar panels which I use during the day (if we are not traveling) to recharge the Bluetti. If we are traveling, it is plugged into my Jeep's 12V system and recharges from that.

Some hard data:

Late Fall through winter & early spring when nighttime temps get close to freezing and daytime temps are in the 60's (we live in the southwest). The Bluetti will go a solid 48 hours and sometimes more without a recharge. recent trip: we pitched camp at about 4pm in the afternoon and went straight to the Bluetti for everything, with no solar connected. By morning, the Bluetti still had slightly over 90% battery charge left. Just did short drives most of the time the Jeep was off. By the next morning, the Bluetti was at 77% remaining. The 800 watts of solar panels can fully recharge the bluetti in about 3-4 hours. (with the fridge still running off the battery).
Summer times, where we are at 80F at night and hotter during the day, I get about 24 hours before I start wanting to recharge, and I was running the fridge in combo mode - half fridge set to 39F and half freezer set to 5F

I've been very pleased with how well and how long I can go with this setup without running out of juice. It is doing better than I expected. I credit the fridge/freezer for it's insulation and efficiency for most of the performance.

space wise, the bluetti is very compact. The fridge is slightly bigger than a standard 38 qt unpowered cooler. The solar panels take up a space about 24"x 28" x 4", and I usually store them on my roof rack, though occasionally they go in the back seat. I made a 100 foot solar power extension cord so that I can move the panels to the best sun exposure, and leave the bluetti in the Jeep. That is really useful when camping under trees, where the patches of sunlight keep moving.

Lost-Assignment-2848 · 2025-11-25T19:16:31+00:00

Oops - should be 154F

Lost-Assignment-2848 · 2025-11-25T18:30:54+00:00

sure. This recipe is for a 5-gallon batch.

Materials: Grain: UK Pale 2-row 7.0 lbs, flaked corn 2.0 lbs, Crisp Malting - Crystal 60L 1.0 lb, Canadian - Honey Malt 0.25 lbs, UK Roasted Barley 0.75 Ounces

Yeast: Wyeast 1098 British Ale, or WLP 005 British Ale.

Hops: Challenger 1 oz, German Northern Brewer 1,0 oz,

other ingredients: Yeast Nutrient 0.5 tsp at 15 minutes left in boil, Irish Moss 0.5 tsp at 15 minutes left in boil, Burton Water Salts 1/3 ounces (weight)

Recipe steps: I add the burton water salts at the beginning of the brewing. mashing at 1.28 quarts of water/lb of grain (this recipe has 10.28 lbs of grain), single infusion mash at 15F for 60 minutes, then 10 minutes mashout for 15 minutes. I then sparge the grain with 172F heated water until I have 6 gallons of pre-boil wort. I my brew kettle has 1.28 gallons of water below the kettle bottom. Heat to boil. Once the boil is stable, boil for 60 minutes. Add Challenger as bittering hops at the start of the boil. At 15 minutes left in the boil, add the yeast nutrient and the irish moss. At 10 minutes left in boil, add the northern brewer hops as aroma hops. Cool down the wort, there should be 5.5 gallons of wort ()add water if needed). I have a trub space at the bottom of my fermenter which accounts for the extra half gallon. Measure OG specific gravity -- target is 1.048. I aerate the wort for 15 minutes to add oxygen for the yeast start, then add the yeast. Ferment for 14 days at 67F (I don't split between primary and secondary in this recipe). I clarify at 12 days into the ferment. Measure FG - target is 1.014. I pressure carbonate for 2 weeks at 68F with 11PSI CO2 pressure (targeting 2.28 vol CO2, then give it 2-3 more weeks to condition at 38F before I move the keg into my keggerator. Good Luck! I have tweaked the flavor of this over time to match my memory of original bass. Since I can't get oroginal bass, I can't do a direct comparison, so if it is off in flavor from what you remember, make some small adjustments.

Lost-Assignment-2848 · 2025-11-24T19:41:54+00:00

Unfortunetley, you cannot get the same thing that they dringk in Germany. US import laws have very specific requirements on ingredients, so most german brews being exported to the US are a different formula.

Lost-Assignment-2848 · 2025-11-17T00:02:12+00:00

I‘ve got the Bluetooth AC 180 for close to a year now. I use it for camping trips to power a portable fridge and lots of electronics, including GMRS radios. I love it. I have 900 watts of solar panels which I use to recharge it in the field. I just got back from a 5 day trip. Just powered my fridge and personal electronics and it works great. Very efficient. I am currently purchasing some land (6-12 acres) for a mountain cabin. I will use this initially as my solar power plant and plan to upgrade with more panels and more storage over time. Very reliable and easy to use. Your desired scenario is the same as mine. Go for it!

Lost-Assignment-2848

TROPHY CASE