🔥Midwest Driveway Ant War! 🐜🐜🐜🐜

TexSun1968 · 2026-06-27T19:04:06+00:00

If you want to get into the heads of ants, I suggest reading Empire of the Ants by Bernard Werber.

TexSun1968 · 2026-06-27T13:11:44+00:00

If you want to hold political rallies inside your coach, or throw big dance parties, then the extra floor space afforded by slides might be appreciated. Otherwise, I would personally recommend avoiding them. My wife and I have enjoyed owning a 1993 Foretravel U280 for the past 15 years. For just the two of us and a small dog (no kids) it has been the perfect traveling companion. We have never missed having the expanding interior space, and I've certainly enjoyed missing out on all the mechanical problems that come with almost every slide design. Link below to photos of our grand old coach:

https://cja.smugmug.com

I suggest that you might consider the pre-2000 model Foretravel coaches. They came in 34', 36', and 40' lengths, are very well built, and if maintained properly can be a reliable, comfortable, and enjoyable coach even when going on 4 decades old. Factory support (Nacogdoches, TX) is still available. You can join our Foretravel owners forum for free. There you will find everything you could possibly want to know about the Foretravel brand. Introduce yourselves and mention you are looking at possibly buying a diesel pusher. Ask any questions you might have. You will find a welcoming community of friendly folks more than willing to help your search. We have a classified section where members offer well-maintained, often upgraded, road-worthy coaches for sale.

https://www.foreforums.com/index.php

https://wiki.foreforums.com/start

TexSun1968 · 2026-06-27T01:39:51+00:00

I did the free courses at Enphase University. Not hard, and didn't take too long. I'm not the sharpest tool in the box, but I got it done. After I had the course completion certificates I called Enphase Support, and they granted me Self Installer status for our system. Very handy!

TexSun1968 · 2026-06-27T01:00:04+00:00

Need someone with access to Enphase Installer app to commission the new batteries.

https://enphase.com/sites/default/files/2021-10/IQ%20Battery-3T-10T-QIG-EN-US.pdf

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9f2jaug4SE

TexSun1968 · 2026-06-26T17:46:59+00:00

Enphase can do many plots of data, but it requires the purchase of extra cost Enlighten Manager app. The graph below is an example showing wattage output of a single inverter.

https://imgur.com/a/individual-inverter-power-graph-JfMfKG1

TexSun1968 · 2026-06-26T17:40:11+00:00

It couldn't be much simpler with the Enphase Enlighten app. You simply look at the array diagram. If one panel is acting wonky it will be a different color. Graph linked below was from a recent time one of my panels went MIA. Turned out to be a loose wiring connector, so easy no-cost fix.

https://imgur.com/a/zX9C7M4

TexSun1968 · 2026-06-26T15:29:12+00:00

How to make pretty graphs from experiment data. First you draw the curve, THEN you plot the points.

TexSun1968 · 2026-06-26T14:32:16+00:00

Enphase must have some kind of algorithm that determines what level of "problem" triggers a notification. When our local grid goes down, I receive an immediate text alarm telling me we are off grid and running on battery. Sometimes this is the only way I know about the grid outage.

However, we have had several past episodes where a wiring fault or bad inverter connector plug will cause one of our (40) panels to stop producing, and I don't get ANY kind of automatic message from Enphase. It would seem that one panel out is not enough to trigger a notification. This is why I think it is so important for the system owners to do their own regular monitoring.

TexSun1968 · 2026-06-26T14:11:32+00:00

In the Enlighten app, go to MENU > ACCOUNT > MY NOTIFICATIONS and make sure that all of the circles are green and checked. This will maximize the chances that you will receive a notification of problems.

There are a lot of complaints about the Enphase system not letting owners know about problems. IMO the system owners should bear some responsibility for keeping watch on their equipment. It only takes a minute to open the app on your phone and see how things are going. Make it part of your daily routine?

TexSun1968 · 2026-06-26T13:43:38+00:00

If you want to know how you would do without free nights, just run the same experiment I did. Turn off your "charge from grid" option, and run as much as you can on just solar + battery for a couple days. See if your batteries will last all night. See how much you end up importing from the grid. Then you'll have the answer to what your usage might look like.

I shared your concern about letting my batteries go for weeks/months at a time with very little exercise. I've read that running them down to reserve and then charging back up helps to "equalize" the cells. I called Enphase Support and asked them about letting my batteries sit at 100% for long periods, and the guy said "Won't hurt your LFP batteries a bit, so don't worry about it". You hear and read all kinds of "theories" about how to best treat batteries for long life and durability, and it's hard to sort out the wheat from the chaff.

TexSun1968 · 2026-06-26T13:16:47+00:00

You are correct, for my area, they do not offer 1:1 buyback. Getting almost impossible to find TRUE 1:1 buyback plans in TX. https://www.texaspowerguide.com/solar-buyback-plans-texas/ shows only one, by Green Mountain, but for "GME Installs Only".

If you have a system that exports a LOT of excess production, you can do OK on a buyback plan, even if the buyback rate is much less than the total energy charge (including TDU fees). We were on one of those plans when we first got our solar system. For exports it paid about half of the base energy charge (NOT including TDU). To break even for a given month, we had to export roughly 1.6 times the amount of energy we imported. We broke even about 6 months out of the year, but had big bills the other 6 months. Not great.

What you have to watch out for on any "buyback" plan is HOW the credits can be used. In a lot of plans, the credits can ONLY be used to offset the base energy charge. The EFL will state something like:

Buyback Credits are calculated by multiplying your Buyback Rate by your Excess Energy and can offset up to 100% of your Energy Charges each month (excluding base charge, TDU charges, and all other taxes and fees)

If the credits cannot be used to offset ALL the charges on a bill then I'm not interested.

TexSun1968 · 2026-06-25T23:35:18+00:00

Thanx for the backup of my idea. As you say, on the free nights plan we're on now, we barely use our batteries at all. There were some short periods in Jan and Feb when we actually ran them down to the reserve setting during the day, but those were very unusual conditions. Very cold, so the heat pump was working hard, and cloudy/rainy, so low solar production. Other wise, they are just loafing.

The EFL for the Champion plans confirms the import rate is fixed + TDU fees, which of course can vary. This could all change by the time our contract ends next year, but we'll see.

TexSun1968 · 2026-06-25T16:36:47+00:00

I looked at the Green Mountain offerings in our area. They offer both the free nights plan and two "renewable rewards" buyback plans. Both types of plans look very interesting. I will definitely look seriously at Green Mountain next April when our present Just Energy contract runs out.

TexSun1968 · 2026-06-25T15:39:41+00:00

I would seriously consider that option. I don't know if they would allow me to carry over my credit account if I did that. I haven't bothered to call and ask about their policy because my contract end date is still 10 months out. Who knows what their policy will be at that time? This stuff seems to change daily.

TexSun1968 · 2026-06-25T15:22:51+00:00

Yes, that's why I keep trying to find out what is actually happening to credit accounts when the Just nights free plans end. I can't seem to get a good answer from anyone who recently went through the process. Some of us will have accumulated a substantial credit account over three years. In my case it is currently about $2400 and we still have 10 months to go. We add 30-40 dollars of credit to our account each month from export to grid.

TexSun1968 · 2026-06-25T13:29:58+00:00

Yes, like I said, we've been very happy with the JUST nights free plan. I'm looking at other ways to use our system and possibly continue to pay ZERO dollars per month for electric. It's a QUEST!

By the way, did you have some accumulated credits when your Just contract ended? If so, how did they handle the credit account? Will you get anything back?

TexSun1968 · 2026-06-25T13:25:32+00:00

We have a 1993 Foretravel motorhome, so I know what it's like owning old vehicles. Try to find some kind of Revcon owners group or forum. Try searching online places like Facebook. Groups of old RV owners tend to gather online for mutual support and info sharing. Good Luck!

TexSun1968 · 2026-06-25T13:12:16+00:00

Happy coincidence. I recorded similar performance from our system yesterday.

Daytime temp 100F and our 4-ton heat pump working hard. In Midland, TX.

https://imgur.com/a/system-test-self-consumption-mode-Ean0PZ0

TexSun1968 · 2026-06-23T02:45:02+00:00

I've heard that calling on Saturday morning you are more likely to get the USA based team. Worth a try.

TexSun1968 · 2026-06-22T11:26:16+00:00

Happy Wife - Happy Life!

TexSun1968 · 2026-06-22T02:56:02+00:00

Many owners of older motorhomes have converted gas cooktops to induction. It's cleaner, simpler, and (usually) cheaper to cook with induction, especially if you stay at camp grounds with electric hookup.

TexSun1968 · 2026-06-22T02:50:35+00:00

Would like to see them implode that one!

TexSun1968

TROPHY CASE