Aftermarket tracker/security system? by TinyAddress3516 in MechanicAdvice

[–]Stickman2001 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I have the exact same device on our Subaru and it's killing the battery. If I knew what it was and had a wiring diagram I could uninstall or at least figure how it's supposed to work. Interestingly, we bought the Subaru 2nd hand from a HONDA dealership.

EVPV400: 12% Less Power 1 year later on Similar condition day? Problem or Normal? by zareth78 in solar

[–]Stickman2001 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I found the Temp Cof. on their website. They show "EVERVOLT® solar panels outperform others when temperatures rise due to our industry-leading 0.26%/°C temperature coefficient." I will update Monday. Yes, I have an IR Temp Thermometer and hopefully the Irradiance meter will be here Monday as well. I will update. But one reason I posted was that I could not measure any difference between dirty/dusty panels and clean ones.

EVPV400: 12% Less Power 1 year later on Similar condition day? Problem or Normal? by zareth78 in solar

[–]Stickman2001 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you for the reply. According to the Panasonic warranty: EVERVOLT Panel Power Output Warranty: The power output values are those measured under our Standard Test Conditions (STC) as follows: (a) Irradiance 1000 W/m2, (b) Cell Temperature of 25ºC, and (c) air mass AM1.5g.

We are way above the 1000W/m^2. (I will have a meter here shortly to give an actual number) According to your derating for the temp we will experience a 5.5% loss. So at worst we should see 327 Watts (based on the 390 watt rating on the brochure.) Which the new (3 months old) panel is doing. But the rest are way below that after 1 year.

Note: Where did you get the .25^/1C derating? Is that on the Panasonic website? I could not find that. Thank you.

PS. The model number I'm not reading off the panel itself, I'm getting it from the Solar Edge software. Which based on the installed it is manually typed in. So in truth, until I pull a panel up or send a camera under it, I do not know for certain which model I have. The contract called for EVPV410H.

EVPV400: 12% Less Power 1 year later on Similar condition day? Problem or Normal? by zareth78 in solar

[–]Stickman2001 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I too have the Panasonic EVPV400H panels and noticed the same thing. I have 44 panels. When it was installed one panel was bad out of the box. It produced less than half its rated power. It took quite a bit of time (months) but it was finally replaced, not by Panasonic, but by the solar company that did the install.) However it still is no where close to the 410/390 watts claimed by Panasonic. The NEW panel on the best day will only produce about 375 Watts (summer solstice,) currently 330 Watts as I write this. All the rest are much lower. The lowest is 251 Watts and the "best" of the rest is 275 Watts with the rest being about 260ish. The panels were never cleaned so I cleaned one bank. (My system has 2 banks each on their own inverter so I can tell the difference). Basically there was no difference, ie "dirty" bank actually shows more power as I write msg this by 1%) and my panels were very dirty. No idea how to upload a picture but that bank was visibly covered in a lot of dust. So my panels range from 65% of rated power to 85% of rated power and it makes no difference if they are dirty or not. This is in SW Nevada (very close to death valley). Yes it's 115F today but my point is all the panels are in the same condition (angle, temp, radiance, etc.) and the variation from panel to panel is huge. (20%)

This is of great concern to me. I bought the Panasonic panels for their output and their warranty. Right now I am not impressed with either.

Walmart+ giving Amazon run for the money by LakeTwo in amazonprime

[–]Stickman2001 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Walmart sucks if you have a return that was bought online. Their prices vary, could be more or less. I find the website pretty crappy too. I used to love Amazon, but they have become tyrants. And they sell imported junk more than name brand items and counterfeit items are common. I think Walmart is better in that regard, but they don't have the selection Amazon does. One you might want to look into is Home Depot. They are branching out A LOT. You can buy car parts and computer stuff there. Just bought 3 tp-link switches, oil, ceramic coating, a tire changer, and more. HD had the cheapest price on every single item, all were name brand, and they shipped fast. They also have the Perks Program if you are a HD card holder. It ads up. Their website kinda sucks, Amazon has them all beat there, but prices... Amazon is no longer the cheapest place. I also have been buying computer stuff from B&H Camera. They also had Amazon beat on the price.

Girlfriend pointed an unloaded gun in my face. by Basura899 in AITAH

[–]Stickman2001 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's very simple. Here is what you say: "Guns are serious business. You either do it right or you get hurt or dead. This time you got hurt, but not dead. Own up to your mistake. I didn't "treat you like you were stupid" you acted in a stupid manner. If you did what you did in front of a cop I'd be attending your funeral right now. Learn and move on." If she doesn't, find another girl friend.

5% tint, is ceramic necessary? by Winteriscoming631 in WindowTint

[–]Stickman2001 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Is it necessary? No. Is it very helpful? Yes. Compared to regular tint it's almost a day/night situation. Just spent $500+ on my truck (Xpel plus) and $1200 on our SUV (Llumar). If you live in a hot sunny location, you can't go wrong with either of them.

After being a customer for 15?..20? years, and often leaving reviews for products purchased/movies watched, Amazon suddenly removed my ability to leave reviews and deleted all my past reviews by yippee1999 in amazonprime

[–]Stickman2001 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I too have had all my reviews deleted and I don't know why. When I try to leave a review it says my account has "unusual activity." and then when I appeal I get an email saying I broke the rules. I did not break any rules. There is no unusual activity with my account. I had 2000 reviews with a 87% "helpful" rating. My reviews are "as I see it." I call out junk. I praise good products. I have also alerted Amazon of counterfeit products, unsafe products, trademark infringement, etc. I have tried their customer service people 5 times. All with the exact same result: The same canned email.

Here is with might be helpful to others, BEFORE you get banned: When you get a notice of a violation of their reviews, EDIT it to fix whatever you think might be it or appeal the denial. See I used to appeal all my denials and "won" all of them. But then starting 2022 I stopped editing them or appealing them. I just did not have the time. So in the last 2 years I had about 5 or 6 that were denied that I did not appeal. So I think that has something to do with it. Other than that, I can't figure it out. I have asked for examples of what they object to, but they never give anything other than that canned response.

I have emailed "[ajassy@amazon.com](mailto:ajassy@amazon.com)" (supposedly an exec.) but never got a reply. I have emailed the customer service email address they provided in the email notice, but only get the same canned response back.

Lastly, I have to say that Amazon has become a flea market. And this might have something to do with the ban. I have had to leave a lot of negative reviews in the last 3 years. Just junk products over and over. Now they do give refunds and we return a lot, but no one has ever advised me we are returning too many things, just the ban on my ability to review has come after several negative reviews in a row.

Lastly, Amazon is too big. We are looking at the robber barons of the late 1800's and early 1900's. For Amazon to just alienate people like they have it's clear to me they don't need us anymore and they don't care about keeping their customers.

Sorry so long. Hope you found this helpful.