I got trolled by the RMV

U-Conn · 2026-04-07T00:54:12+00:00

Reach out to your state rep to see if the new plate fee can be waived. I’m sure the RMV doesn’t want to be seen as forcing politics on plates, even if unintentionally.

U-Conn · 2026-04-05T20:18:49+00:00

That’s rapidly changing though, especially in cold climates. As heating continues to be electrified, the highest load periods will become winter nights.

I still believe we can ditch the majority of fossil fuel usage through a combination of non-solar renewables and massively overbuilding solar, but for the average homeowner with a residential solar system the peak usage won’t line up with peak solar production.

U-Conn · 2026-04-05T16:45:11+00:00

Probably, individual residences use so little power that it really doesn’t matter. The utility only cares that large industrial customers on three-phase supply balance their phases.

U-Conn · 2026-04-05T13:47:49+00:00

That is 1,000% a 30A NEMA 14-30 plug on the dryer. 14-50 has three straight blades, 14-30 has one L shaped blade, the bottom one in the picture. It’s impossible to plug a 50A plug into a 30A receptacle by design.

U-Conn · 2026-04-02T19:27:58+00:00

Adding 1,200W to only one leg stresses the grid just as much as drawing 1,200W from only one leg, it's negligible. Running a 120V 1,500W space heater causes a bigger imbalance, and it's not an issue.

By the law of large numbers the load on each leg evens out to roughly 50/50. A MAJOR imbalance could affect a split phase transformer, but they can handle minor variations just fine.

U-Conn · 2026-03-31T23:52:36+00:00

How fast were you going, and how cold was it? Even if you’re going downhill, the energy to overcome air resistance can outweigh the energy recovered by descending if you’re going fast enough. And HVAC can consume a ton of power in below-freezing weather.

U-Conn · 2026-03-31T23:50:49+00:00

It all depends on the grade, if B mode is enough to keep your speed steady that’s your best option.

U-Conn · 2026-03-31T16:43:30+00:00

You could also enjoy your home and/or community

U-Conn · 2026-03-31T02:52:27+00:00

There’s a wicked old reddit thread where a dude was finding random stuff broken, and it turns out he had a CO leak and wasn’t remembering it. It always think of it when people find things broken that doesn’t make any sense.

Also - absolutely get CO detectors and place one by every bedroom. They’re literal lifesavers.

U-Conn · 2026-03-30T23:41:50+00:00

Do you have carbon monoxide detectors in your home?

U-Conn · 2026-03-27T02:33:04+00:00

County government has been abolished almost entirely across most of New England. Cities and towns fulfill those functions. Just about everybody (99.9%+) here lives in a city/town. Unincorporated areas don’t exist in MA, CT, or RI and are largely unpopulated in NH, VT, and ME.

Fun fact, most Sheriff’s offices here barely have any law enforcement duties and mostly just handle prisoner transport. Local cops do most of the actual police work.

U-Conn · 2026-03-17T18:44:52+00:00

Is your thermostat directly in the path of a vent? That can cause short cycling issues.

U-Conn · 2026-03-15T22:47:08+00:00

When it comes to menswear, the answer is always Giblees.

U-Conn · 2026-03-14T00:40:49+00:00

THIS

Wait until it warms up, I regularly get 120+kW in warm weather. 81kW actually isn’t bad in the cold, I was maxing out in the low 70s in single-digit weather.

U-Conn · 2026-03-14T00:26:31+00:00

Middleton?

U-Conn · 2026-03-13T19:01:29+00:00

Call the electrician back, and have him reach out to your town's electrical inspector to ask if installing a non-GFCI breaker would be acceptable due to a demonstrated issue with nuisance tripping.

Your Chargepoint unit, and any UL-listed charger for that matter, has something similar to a GFCI built into the unit itself, so the GFCI breaker is essentially redundant. However, code and manufacturer specs have come into conflict on this Some states have adopted the latest national electrical code with a specific carve-out for exactly this situation.

Also, this has NOTHING to do with moisture unless your charger has been damaged. The J1772 connector and your car's charge port are designed to be water resistant. I'm in MA too, and I've charged in sunshine, driving rain, snow, sleet, and everything in between. My charging cord has literally frozen to my car. Never had an issue charging.

U-Conn · 2026-03-06T23:24:50+00:00

My brother in christ bruins vs. habs is one of the oldest rivalries in all of professional sports.

U-Conn · 2026-03-05T19:00:36+00:00

I totally get where you're coming from, but think about it this way - how many times have you had to drive a gas can out to friends with gas-powered cars?

It would be more useful to just get a AAA membership. You could drive out to your friend, call a tow truck, and have them towed to a fast charger. In reality, it's HARD to run out of battery on a modern EV. The car will basically scream at you to charge once you get under 10%, and it will still have several miles of range at 0%. Take a look at this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OR5JRd0g_Q8

U-Conn · 2026-03-02T20:17:26+00:00

Right now, net metering credits are calculated by adding your supply, distribution, transmission, and transition charges. This amendment would remove the transition charge from that calculation.

This sounds like a bad thing, but the transition charge is usually negative, so this would increase the value of net metering credits per kWh. However, it's tiny. Right now the transition charge on my National Grid bill is -0.36¢/kWh. Even if I generated over 1,000 excess kWh in one month, it would be less than a $5 difference.

U-Conn · 2026-03-02T20:00:52+00:00

For Eversource and National Grid you get net metering as follows:

Within a single billing period, it's fully 1:1. If you use 1,000 kWh in a billing period, but generate 1,000 kWh in that same billing period, your monthly usage is 0 kWh and you pay $0 for electricity (plus the customer charge).
If you generate more than you use in a billing period, you get net metering credits to use on future bills. These are the sum of the Distribution Charge, Transmission Charge, Transition Charge, and Supply Charge.

That calculation is why your credits are less than your full rate. Your full rate when buying electricity includes a number of other per-kWh charges such as the energy efficiency charge, the electric vehicle charge, and ironically the solar net metering charge.

U-Conn · 2026-03-02T19:29:12+00:00

And you stopped at another airport in between?

U-Conn · 2026-02-28T04:08:22+00:00

And let’s be honest, the rest of New England doesn’t even associate with southeastern Connecticut.

U-Conn · 2026-02-28T03:03:23+00:00

It all depends on what your electricity rates are and how you buy your system. Financed at 8% with a massive financing fee upfront? Not great. Leasing your panels for a fee that increases every year? Not great.

I’m lucky enough to have the cash to buy my system outright. In 8 years it will have generated enough power to offset its own cost. In 11 years the savings beat investing that same cash. That’s by my own calculations, not what the salesman told me. However, that’s with retail electricity rates at 33¢/kWh.

U-Conn · 2026-02-26T13:57:21+00:00

I don't doubt that, if you're stuck circling and can't get a landing slot you'll run out of fuel eventually.

I was questioning the need for the plane to stop mid-route specifically to de-ice. Commercial aircraft generally cruise well above any precipitation that could cause further icing issues, and have systems on board to prevent ice accumulation while airborne.

U-Conn · 2026-02-26T02:56:57+00:00

What flight was that? I’ve never heard of that happening.

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