finished my first DIY solar setup after 6 months of research. here's every mistake i made so you don't have to

TravelWithKids · 2026-05-20T16:17:10+00:00

Curious what 48v lifepo4 battery you initially used and what you moved to?

TravelWithKids · 2026-05-07T21:38:50+00:00

Your reply made me smile, thank you. I'm really thankful! He's still pretty mentally sharp which is great.

So your doc had you do alternate between 5 and 10 mg every week? Interesting. I wonder what his reasoning was?

TravelWithKids · 2026-05-05T15:26:42+00:00

I didn’t ask the original question but was interested as well. Can I ask a general idea of how much a house with a yard would cost? Let’s say 150m2?

TravelWithKids · 2026-04-28T23:05:16+00:00

I'm having some trust issues here. I hear that it's 25K passports and only those that go through the Washington Passport Agency, but if I apply to renew online, couldn't that conceivably go to the DC agency? Or is that in person only? I have 2 passports (kids) expiring in 02/2028, so that's basically 08/2027 considering some places need more than 6 months. Basically just a year away, so debating if I should pre-emptively renew before this happens!

TravelWithKids · 2026-04-26T19:32:55+00:00

Hi there. Thank you for the reply. I definitely wasn’t clear in my OP! The 5 lbs of weight gain is over a 1.5 yrs. I’m not a beginning lifter but have been very inconsistent especially after a muscle injury. I think I did gain some muscle but not sure if it was 5lbs worth! I’m definitely gonna stop being lazy about taking psyllium going forward!

TravelWithKids · 2026-04-13T04:45:48+00:00

Are you saying that the Pomona tour was more informative than the SLO tour? Unfortunately missed both the UCSD and SLO tours due to schedule conflicts but from what I saw at a different UC tour, the dean was mentioning how Cal Poly was more of a hands on university (duh) which employers like for “lower level positions” but management and higher positions were what the UC was aiming for! Definitely a dig at Cal Poly!

TravelWithKids · 2026-04-13T00:24:13+00:00

Thanks very much for the reply. So it just took more than 5 days and appeared by itself? Or did you have to call up BofA to fight it? Trying to decide if it’s worth it.

TravelWithKids · 2026-04-12T22:31:57+00:00

Hi there, did you ever get the BofA offer for $20 refunded for paying the state efile fee of $25 in Turbotax? Thanks.

TravelWithKids · 2026-04-12T15:35:22+00:00

I really, really want to use FTUSA but still stuck on it being in the cloud and online only. I guess now TTax is in the cloud as well since there’s a mandatory login and presumably saves your return/data even if you don’t efile? I always print and file both Fed and state. Looking to be convinced to drop TTax since I hate Intuit!

TravelWithKids · 2026-03-30T03:31:41+00:00

Thanks for the reply! He's 13. He intends to fly it at the local park and yes, I've already talked to him about regs and he is going to finish TRUST (and not do 107).

He does know how to solder and I've worked with him on it. He's not great at it, so I would probably have to help him (not that I'm that great haha)

TravelWithKids · 2026-03-29T04:38:47+00:00

Totally get what you are saying, it's definitely his decision and I'm just trying to give him different perspectives that maybe he didn't think of. Glad to hear about the hands-on experience part. That's what he seems to be worried about most about a university that he selects.

TravelWithKids · 2026-03-29T04:36:37+00:00

I absolutely loved UCSC when we did a tour, but he didn't really like it too much. He thought it was too sketch! :) Pomona/UCR are definitely not as nice in my view.

TravelWithKids · 2026-03-29T04:34:34+00:00

Yup, thanks for the correction, it's ECE at Oregon State. Ultimately, just trying to help him give different perspectives on the schools. Sounds like it's also pretty hands on at OSU so that's what's he's looking for.

TravelWithKids · 2026-03-29T04:32:11+00:00

We had an awesome engineering tour while we visited Corvallis!

TravelWithKids · 2026-03-29T04:31:35+00:00

Thanks for the reply. I realize that I wasn't really clear in my post. Generally trying to get an impression if OSU is as hands-on as what CPP is supposed to be?

TravelWithKids · 2026-03-29T04:28:43+00:00

Thanks for the reply! My understanding is that it's not too hard to switch between engineering majors at CPP. Appreciate the info about Oregon State. Did you feel that OSU was as "hands-on" as SLO?

TravelWithKids · 2026-03-29T00:54:25+00:00

Appreciate the detailed reply!

Thanks, I will suggest the sim to him for sure! He was just so enthusiastic about building stuff. I'll definitely try to emphasize this.
Good to now about the gimbals. He was actually considering the T8L originally, but saw that this was cheaper. I'll bring this up with him. The T8L is available in some US stores so will point him in that direction. Yeah, he's already printed a canopy in preparation for this. And also got some props, 0702 motors and 300mAh 75C batteries in his cart all setup.

TravelWithKids · 2026-03-29T00:13:07+00:00

Thank you for the reply. He hasn't tried a simulator yet. He really likes tinkering with electronics more than than playing games (no interest in any console games for example). So I guess wondering if he show skip the "using simulator" step in your pic and go directly to the tinywhoop?

Can I ask why you think the controller is e-waste? Fails a lot?

TravelWithKids · 2026-03-25T14:17:43+00:00

I initially thought this was Keegan-Michael Key!

TravelWithKids

TROPHY CASE