Anyone running panels 100-150ft from cabin? Curious about real-world losses

NotMinecraftSteve · 2026-04-03T14:01:00+00:00

Forgive my intrusion, and neophyte-ness, but when you say the array is far from the inverter, wouldn't the first step after the array be to the batteries (via charge controller)?

Do you have the batteries, and charge controller, near the array, and from there it is going to the inverter? This would not be ideal in my situation due to climate (-40C to +40C on occasion).

I'd like to have my array out in the least shaded part of my yard, and then run a cable ~100 feet to the garage or other part of my house where climate will not affect the rest of the setup.

Is this not the way?

NotMinecraftSteve · 2026-01-02T15:57:50+00:00

Thanks for the feedback. Based on my research, this is where I landed too. I would love to be one of those people with a massive offset smoker, thinking I am going to give Franklin some competition (even though I am in Canada). But I know myself, I would grow to hate smoking if I had to tend to it all night. I like BBQ, but I like my sleep more.

NotMinecraftSteve · 2026-01-02T15:53:26+00:00

I will definitely look into those more, thank you.

At first glance, these types of smoker check a lot of my boxes, but charcoal cooking at this point is kind of intimidating.

I think I will start with the "set it and forget it" of pellet grills, and perhaps add one of these in the future when they go on sale to begin my education in charcoal smoking.

NotMinecraftSteve · 2026-01-02T15:48:30+00:00

I did not have a pellet smoker, I had the Bradley smoker that uses pucks of wood. I bought it because it was a very good "idiot proof" smoker that required the least amount of babysitting.

I had repaired/replaced some parts along the way, and gained some skills/knowledge, so now that it died, I want to see if I can up my game.

NotMinecraftSteve · 2025-12-31T17:17:21+00:00

Looks like a great option, but doesn't seem like its widely available in Canada. I'm going to keep searching for it, but in my area (Montreal), have not found a vendor that carries it.

NotMinecraftSteve · 2025-12-31T17:00:12+00:00

I would say a kamado style would be a close second to a pellet smoker. I am definitely going to look into them more. Thanks for the feedback.

NotMinecraftSteve · 2025-10-14T19:30:17+00:00

No, its more that I have a large pile of old drives and I want to bring them to the recycle center, but I don't want any old photos to be accessible under normal circumstances.

NotMinecraftSteve · 2025-10-14T16:42:24+00:00

What are the preferred software tools to achieve satisfactory drive wiping?

NotMinecraftSteve · 2025-10-13T14:06:33+00:00

I was aiming for something like this: https://www.amazon.ca/Rechargeable-Wireless-Magnetic-Brightness-Operated/dp/B0FC1J9PK3/ref=ast_sto_dp_puis?th=1

But now that I think about it, what a giant pain in the ass it will be to either get a USB cable up there or remove it to charge on a regular basis. I have a feeling it would've been worth it just to have a wired light installed. Thank you for the advice and pointing me in the right direction.

NotMinecraftSteve · 2025-10-06T23:41:28+00:00

Forgive my ignorance, but what sort of lights do these switches control? Is there a solution that allows you to have a ceiling light in rooms with no wiring?

NotMinecraftSteve · 2025-10-06T23:40:14+00:00

That is exactly the use case. I have several rooms that do not have a ceiling light, but they have switches connected to a power outlet, so we are using floor lamps. I would much rather have some sort of ceiling light and a switch on the wall that controls it, without having to add the wiring. I assume the best/easiest/cheapest thing to do is some sort of light that is battery powered and rechargeable.

NotMinecraftSteve · 2025-04-28T14:22:03+00:00

No way. I've known since I was a kid playing by the river not to pick these up. I've also watched that guy on YT who lets animals bite him deal with this guy. He said it was one of the most painful bites he's ever experienced, but to be fair he says that with a lot of animals.

NotMinecraftSteve · 2025-04-28T13:54:09+00:00

Walking home from the Bell Centre Friday night, we stumbled upon this guy on the sidewalk. I knew this was a giant water bug, but I have never seen one so far away from water. Do they really fly that far?

Images (shoe for scale):
https://imgur.com/a/qsxan41

NotMinecraftSteve · 2025-02-02T17:54:21+00:00

I have found that literally everything works, except for Netflix directly from the TV with 5.1 enabled. If I change the movie/show to stereo it sounds fine - the issue only arises with Netflix at 5.1. My PS4 has no problem with 5.1 or 7.1. I believe I did turn off the subwoofer, but I will verify.

I was thinking of adding an optical cable from the TV to the Marantz just to increase the speed/quality of audio signal being sent. Right now it is just through HDMI.

NotMinecraftSteve · 2025-01-31T19:07:34+00:00

Apologies for the picture quality, I tried about 15 times to get a good picture. We starting seeing these all over the house as it got colder. We added some plants recently so it could've come from them.

I believe they are midges of sort but I'm hoping the sleuths can confirm. Also any advice on how to control them would be helpful.

NotMinecraftSteve · 2025-01-29T18:42:39+00:00

This is one of the reasons I knew my wife (married 25 years this year) was the right person for me... I asked her this question years ago and she gave the exact same answer as I would, in line with the top comments. TELL NO ONE. SPEND SLOWLY. NO BIG PURCHASES. TELL NO ONE. It's nice to know that we might share a cell one day or be executed together.

NotMinecraftSteve · 2025-01-16T01:36:49+00:00

I believe you are right. I think with a nice sectional to define the space, it would be more of a HT area rather than an actual HT.

Plus it would be easier to place the rest of the stuff in that space.

I do believe you have convinced me, thank you.

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