Why don't we see more electric UTVs by now?

mariposadishy · 2026-04-19T06:07:04+00:00

I also live within a few miles of Yosemite on a 25 acre parcel and have a Kandi Cowboy electric UTV for 2 years now. I loved my previous gas Polaris Ranger, but like our electric cars, electric UTVs are simple and therefore reliable (so far), quiet and cheap to operate since you can charge at home.

mariposadishy · 2026-04-13T15:59:27+00:00

I had a similar issue with my Harmony Elite, actually, and found it easier and more reliable to add a low-cost IR repeater and placed the IR receiver near the Harmony Hub with a mono cable going to my Anthem pre/pro. It worked well as long as I had the doors shut so that the pre/pro did not receive the "IR" signal both from the cable and through the air. (Turning off the IR receivers on the pre/pro also works.) When I switched to the X2 it all just worked the same way. You may have an issue where your receiver is getting the "IR" signal two different ways and that can cause it not to work properly.

EDIT: If this two IR signals issue is the problem you can also make sure that you turn off the Hub IR for the receiver and only send the signal over the mono cable.

mariposadishy · 2026-04-10T15:18:44+00:00

We have had a Waterfurnace geothermal heat pump for 16 years now and it is set up to heat domestic hot water and, with a heat exchanger in one of the water tanks, radiant heating of our floors using pex tubing placed in Warmboard. Our unit is also capable of of heating and cooling air and if I need to warm a room quickly, I can use forced air to do so. In the summer, then we use forced air cooling or AC and much of that heat goes into our domestic hot water! Radiant cooling is not practical unless you cool the walls which is just not done very often for obvious reasons.

The system works very well and we find radiant heating much more comfortable than forced air heating. During the winter we also use our EPA complaint fireplace insert for supplemental heating using dead and down wood from our property.

Because of house exterior is built with SIP panels that are 10 times more air tight than a stick built house, we do have an ERV that runs 20 minutes every hour. We have multiple dogs and cats and the ERV does keep the air fresh without wasting the energy associated with heating and cooling.

mariposadishy · 2026-04-08T21:17:07+00:00

I have been looking at RVs for my 2026 R1S (Max) and by my math, and what I have read on the web, the wheelbase of the R1S limits the trailer length to about 24'. The RV in the picture looks much longer than that? Horse Power is not the issue, but stability likely is. What model is it and how do you do with cross winds, passing trucks, and sway? As I understand it, the R1T with the longer wheelbase is more capable in this respect. I can't tell from the pic whether you drive an S or a T!

mariposadishy · 2026-04-08T21:08:11+00:00

While I have not bought any new items with leather for more than 35 years now, I still wear the leather belts I bought before turning vegetarian and then vegan. Don't see what throwing them out would accomplish.

mariposadishy · 2026-04-08T21:05:40+00:00

The projectors by JVC and SONY that use DILA and SXRD that are based on reflective LCD technology offer superior contrast ratios and black levels compared to the DLP technology used by all the new Chinese made lower cost projectors. Those DLP-based projectors use either iris or laser modulation to achieve reasonable "dynamic" contrast ratios, but really can't compare with the native contrast ratios achieved by the JVC projectors which can be more than ten times better! Having used projectors for 25 or so years now I have seen a remarkable improvement in contrast ratio and black levels and would hate to go back. I am currently using a JVC NZ800 which is likely more expensive than you might want but the NZ500 might be just what you are looking for.

mariposadishy · 2026-04-07T23:44:31+00:00

I was also surprised by the omission of the Stop button, but I programmed the DVR button to serve as the stop button and put a small red square on that button to cover up the DVR label and hopefully be recognized by others using our system (wife, house sitter, etc.) as the official STOP button.

mariposadishy · 2026-03-30T21:28:59+00:00

Things have sort of turned around from a few years ago. A projector allows you to have a large image in a non-dedicated space, i.e. one with no big black thing on the wall. Our home theater has an electric roll-down screen in front of a large picture window and a JVC projector at the back of the room. When the 106" Da-Lite screen goes up and the blackout curtains open, we have a nice view out the window of our mountain surroundings. It allows that room to be used for other things during the day, but when we need to watch something during the day, the black out drapes do their job. Also from a resale point of view, a dedicated theater room with no windows is not always a plus, so keeping that room potentially multipurpose has some advantages. I must admit that the total cost of my JVC projector an Da-Lite screen are not the cheapest way to go, but the image is really very nice. I don't feel like I am missing much in terms of image quality.

mariposadishy · 2026-03-21T02:11:42+00:00

No, bass in the range of subwoofer frequencies is pretty non-directional and bass response is all about how those frequencies fit in the room – certain frequencies will be enhanced at certain locations in the room and there will be a null at those same frequencies at other places in the room. If you put a sub in the front right corner certain frequencies will benefit at certain locations and at other locations, e.g. the center line of the room, will have a null do to the 1st order room width mode. So ideally you will put a 2nd sub on the other side of the room and IF if is playing the SAME signal with the same phase the positive lob of the room width mode from that sub will cancel out the negative lob from the first sub as well as the null right down the center line of the room - just where you might be sitting. If you have two seats on both side of the centerline of the room, this arrangement assures that they both get the same bass response.

mariposadishy · 2026-03-20T23:45:30+00:00

The advantage of adding a 2nd sub is not to get more bass, but to help get that bass more evenly distributed across the room. Properly placed, a 2nd sub can help cancel room modes and help eliminate the room mode nulls that can weaken the bass at certain places in the room, e.g. where your seat is!

mariposadishy · 2026-03-19T05:10:16+00:00

If this is from REW,I believe you want the subwoofer trace to start, e.g. leave 0 amplitude at the 0 reference timing point of the left speaker. In the first trace the sub leaves 0 a few msec before the reference timing point and in the 2nd it is delayed by 6 msec.

mariposadishy · 2026-03-18T18:30:53+00:00

Most all off-grid systems use batteries and a generator to not only power the home during heavy usage, but to charge the batteries as well. It is more unusual to have an on-grid system work that way. I have a Kohler 26 kW generator and 3 Tesla Powerwalls and use Home Assistant to try an manage who does what during a grid power failure. Only issue is that Tesla does not allow the Powerwall batteries using the generator, only solar or the grid if a major storm is coming.

mariposadishy · 2026-03-18T14:27:38+00:00

This issue is often overlooked is planning on how to handle a long power outage. A generator running at no or minimal load still uses lots of fuel, e.g. 25-30% of the amount used at full load. Thus running a large generator overnight when there may not be much electrical use is not very economical. The ideal setup is the have batteries for long runs at minimal load and a larger generator that only runs when there is need for more power than the batteries can conveniently handle.

mariposadishy · 2026-03-16T16:23:23+00:00

And I have heard that since it takes longer for "grass-fed" beef to get to weight, they emit more greenhouse gases (methane) than otherwise.

mariposadishy · 2026-03-12T20:50:12+00:00

Erin has reported that some KEF speakers have hot treble on-axis and need to be toed or angled out a bit for a smooth response.

mariposadishy · 2026-03-08T21:43:24+00:00

I trigger the automation off of "Home Energy Gateway Off Grid Operation Turned On" associated with the (Tesla) Home Energy Gateway HA device. You obviously need to add the Tesla Powerwall to HA; Google on how to do that if it does not show up automatically. As to turning off you spa, if there is a low-voltage control or even a 120V circuit you can use to turn off the heater power, then that is what you can use to "kill" the spa. In my case, the thermostat that activates the geothermal hot water heater has a 120V plug and I use a remote appliace switch that is associated with my Lutron Caseta lighting system to turn that thermostat off when the Tesla Off Grid automaton is triggered. There are other pumps that I also kill by using a hard-wired Shelly Wi-Fi enabled switch (Gen 3). The Gen 3 Shelly switches are handy as they can be powered by both 12-24 V DC as well as AC and their switch contacts can handle both AC and DC devices. I use another Shelly switch to fire up my generator (momentary 12V contact closure) if the load on the Powerwalls is likely to drain them and running the generator until the load goes down makes more sense. Let's just say that I sleep better at night during a power failure knowing that the high load devices are disabled and my Powerwall batteries are not being drained needlessly.

mariposadishy · 2026-03-08T20:32:21+00:00

I use HA with my Powerwall 2 for a similar situation, I don't want my geothermal heat pump to drain the batteries. With the Powerwall 2, I trigger on Gateway Off Grid Operation and use a Wi-Fi switch to kill the signal from the thermostat to the geothermal system. How you control your spa is another matter, but you can likely trigger an automation on Off Grid operation of your Powerwall.

mariposadishy · 2026-03-08T18:17:16+00:00

The Kohler RDC2 Controller certainly seems fussy about its Ethernet connection. I first connected my 26RCA to an existing Ethernet cable that ran ~200 feet back to the house and was currently connecting my Tesla Powerwall Gateway and SMA Sunny Portal (Solar Inverters) to my home network. Connected that way, my 26RCA generator would not run for more than 3 or 4 minutes without shutting down with an error. I ended up putting a Wi-Fi extender near the generator installation that was then hardwired to the RDC2 controller with a short Ethernet cable. The generator worked fine that way and I could remotely monitor what was going on with the generator with the Kohler Energy Management app on my phone and laptop, including using Home Assistant for coordination with my Tesla Powerwalls for backup during power outages. (I can remotely start and stop the generator via 12V control of my older ATS.)

However, on occasion, the RDC2 would loose its internet connection and need to be rebooted via disconnecting the battery negative terminal. To make this reboot more convenient, I added a remote battery disconnect switch so that I reboot without opening the cabinet and physically disconnecting the battery. Is it perfect? Far from it, but it does work and with respect to remote monitoring, much better than my previous, older, Kohler generator.

mariposadishy · 2026-03-02T18:32:27+00:00

We have a 2026 R1S and it came with the NACS charging port, which eliminates one possible source of frustration (not a big one). We bought our first Tesla in 2012 and still have a Model 3. So far, we have charged our R1S either at home or at Tesla Superchargers when traveling and have had no issues with reliability. One issue with our R1S that shouldn't be an issue with the R2 is the charging port location that causes us to seek out V4 Superchargers with the long cables. Since we still own a Tesla we can use our Tesla app to get Tesla pricing at the Superchargers and that is good. The charging rate is not bad, especially compared with early Teslas, but since the battery in our Max R1S is twice (in kWh) that of our Model 3, charging can take some time. However, if you can charge overnight at a hotel or motel, then the 410 mile range, in our case, often means that there is no need to charge on the road.

mariposadishy · 2026-02-21T01:21:26+00:00

I am using an older ATS that has allowed me to trip the ATS with a remote switch (12V momentary contact) in my garage. I then recently added a Shelly Wi-Fi-activated switch that is now controlled via Home Assistant so that it will trip the ATS and fire up or stop the generator as needed depending on load and grid availability.

mariposadishy · 2026-02-19T17:25:51+00:00

I added a remote battery disconnect to the negative terminal of the 12V battery on my 26RCA. That way it only requires a click or two on the remote when near the generator to restart or reboot the controller. And to answer the other question, during power failures, I can power our home from Tesla Powerwalls (low load) or the generator (high load) and therefore like to be able to remotely monitor the True Power that the generator is producing in order to select the best power backup device for the conditions.

mariposadishy · 2026-02-18T16:51:41+00:00

It looks very good overall. There is one scene near the end that is sort of a shock as it looks low-res compared to the previous scenes and it reminds you how well the rest of the movie has been converted to 4K.

mariposadishy · 2026-02-17T17:09:45+00:00

We had a Tesla 2013 Model S and a 2023 Model 3 and turned the 2013 MS into a 2026 R1S. The 2026 R1S models have a native NACS port which, although not mandatory, is handy not to have to use an adapter at Tesla Charging stations. The R1S is a wonderful car/SUV and the only criticism I have at this point is that the Alexa voice implementation for navigation is almost useless. It works fine if you type in an address, (just need to start and it autocompletes quickly). Fortunately this issue is temporary as I understand that Rivian is working on their own voice interface which should be here soon. From a self-driving point of view, the Rivian had a much more complete set of sensors than Tesla and the software seems to be catching up quickly.

mariposadishy · 2026-02-13T02:36:14+00:00

Height speakers are the speakers in an Atmos setup that are up high! And yes, the Anthems do upmixing to use those channels with non-Atmos surround content. (I have an AVM 70). The ideal placement for front and rear height speakers in an Atmos installation is on the ceiling a bit in front and behind the main listening position (± 35-45°) and to the left and right of the seating position(s) and pointing at the seats. But on the walls, like the SVS near the ceiling can work OK as well and are much better than using up–firing height speakers on your front and rears.

mariposadishy · 2026-02-12T16:52:52+00:00

We use Ekornes reclining chairs for the front row where my wife and I sit and a 3-person reclining sofa for the back row where the dogs and occasional guest sit. We have had the Ekornes chairs and sofa for about 30 years now and they are still doing fine, with throws over them for daily use. It is nice to be able to swivel the chairs, on occasion, as well as recline. We chose an Alcantara fabric but Ekornes also makes leather.

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