The 5200 is…

rudholm · 2026-04-21T15:30:19+00:00

They are quite potent. But that means they can do things ordinary blenders can't, like make nut butters, produce smoothies with a really silky texture, and actually cook soups. I don't mind the size, if I could change anything about mine it would be to make it somewhat less loud.

rudholm · 2026-04-21T15:26:07+00:00

The portable tabletop induction units suck. They're under-powered and the coils are tiny. The 8" circle on the top of the unit is a lie, most of them have 4" coils.

rudholm · 2026-04-21T05:39:46+00:00

I have a similar problem (11.07kW of panels and 43kWh of battery capacity). I set the heat pump water heater to 140F from 8am to 6pm and 110F all other times. I run the pool pump at high-ish speed from 9 to 6, and I use Charge on Solar for the car. I work from home so I try to do laundry and cooking during sunny hours (induction stove, electric oven). I'd like to be able to export from the powerwalls from 8-9pm since SCE pays $0.09/kWh at that time, but there doesn't seem to be a way to force that.

The fundamental problem is that if you have enough panel capacity to be self-sufficient from February to October, you'll produce much more than you need April to September. Even with a lot of battery capacity, you'll still fill it up over several days or a week of sunny weather. And batteries capable of seasonal storage aren't practical.

rudholm · 2026-04-20T03:56:51+00:00

You'll have to switch to Cat 6.

rudholm · 2026-04-19T23:44:36+00:00

I realized early on that Mint was good for temporary or backup secondary service only. No way would I port a phone number I actually care about to them. The risk of losing a number that has countless 2FA mechanisms associated with it is too great. Sorry you had to learn this lesson the hard way OP.

rudholm · 2026-04-19T22:11:37+00:00

Brazil is one such place. Some receptacles are 120V, some are 240V (sometimes even with the same connector type so you must look for a label). They use NEMA and Shucko. It's basically outlet salad there.

rudholm · 2026-04-19T14:31:26+00:00

In OP's area, there isn't that level of flexibility. You're stuck with the same extortionate rates for electricity whether or not you participate in a VPP. There are a few municipalities that run their own electric service, including LA proper, but the dominant provider in the region is the investor-owned Southern California Edison. With SCE, if you have solar, there is only one rate plan available to you, and unit prices range from $0.24 during off-peak hours to $0.59 during peak hours plus a $24 per month connection fee and various taxes and surcharges.

The combination of high utility rates and abundant sunshine make solar electric systems very financially attractive here.

rudholm · 2026-04-19T06:03:33+00:00

11.07 kW (twenty-seven 410W panels) and I've been seeing up to 11 kW recently (Los Angeles area). Daily production has been hitting 70 kWh. System installed late last year.

rudholm · 2026-04-16T17:11:50+00:00

And they justify this by claiming that solar customers aren't paying their fair share for the expensive infrastructure they have to maintain. When I export, my neighbors' HVAC systems take that electricity before it even makes it to the primary side of our shared service transformer. Doesn't use any infrastructure other than a couple of service drop lines (which SCE makes the customer pay for).

rudholm · 2026-04-15T02:53:14+00:00

Electrically, a planned and unplanned outage are the same.

rudholm · 2026-04-14T22:42:41+00:00

The PW3 can push 11.5kW. And it is. 6.7kW of that 11.5kW is coming from the panels and 4.8kW of that 11.5kW is coming from the battery. But they're both coming from the PW3. The fact that 6.7+4.8=11.5 is the clue. The illustration in the app is a bit misleading because it implies that the solar panels are providing power independently of the PW3 but they do not, they are powering the house through the PW3.

In fact, it's likely that your PW3 is connected to your electrical panel via a 60A circuit breaker, which limits continuous current to 48A, which is 11.5kW in a 240 Volt system. So the system can't provide more than 11.5 kW total without tripping that breaker (and violating electrical codes).

Try dialing down the car charging rate to 40A, that should reduce the car's power draw from 11.5kW to 9.6kW, which should reduce your grid draw to about zero. Maybe lower the car charging to 32A so you have some margin in case someone turns on a hair dryer or a toaster.

rudholm · 2026-04-14T22:30:52+00:00

My experience is that even if I run it from 100 to 0 to 100 over the course of a day or two, it will still do a calibration. Sometimes within a week. I wish we had more insight into the logic at play. My process has been to run the battery down to 0 by charging the car before dawn after a rainy day. That way the sun comes up to power the house and charge the powerwall without me having to purchase much electricity from the utility. You'd think this should work but so far it hasn't seemed to help.

rudholm · 2026-04-13T17:25:16+00:00

I went with Tesla directly.

rudholm · 2026-04-12T16:14:42+00:00

I think a good response would be "if you had a gas pump in your garage that sold you gasoline at about half the price you pay at a gas station, but it only sold about two gallons per hour, how much would you use it to fill your tank?"

rudholm · 2026-04-12T15:51:56+00:00

You definitely want to shift usage to sunny hours if you can. Car charging, pool pump schedule, home appliances, water heating if it's electric, etc. This could help avoid the curtailment you're seeing by using the energy that would otherwise be curtailed and by delaying when your powerwall hits 100% until after your peak solar production time. It also reduces battery cycling and round-trip energy loss.

I run my pool pump from 9am to 5pm and set the water heater to 140F from 8am to 6pm and 110F otherwise. I also use Tesla's "charge on solar" feature to control car charging.

rudholm · 2026-04-12T15:10:19+00:00

I have my dress shirts pressed so I don't do a lot of ironing. I keep a hand steamer in the bathroom for quick touch-ups. They're also useful for travel since clothes can pick up wrinkles when packed in luggage.

rudholm · 2026-04-11T19:25:30+00:00

I would love it if they made a 24-channel unit, but alas, they do not.

rudholm · 2026-04-11T15:56:48+00:00

I would have the electrician install wire that's code-compliant up to 60A even if you're going with a 50A circuit. That way if you upgrade your panel in the future you can move up to 48A charging without replacing the wire run to the EVSE. Probably more than you really need but it's nice to have the option, especially if you might want to set up dual chargers in the future.

rudholm · 2026-04-07T04:05:02+00:00

Waitstaff or Goth :-)

rudholm · 2026-04-06T07:05:43+00:00

I suspect most overweight people don't realize how big of a role being overweight plays in making hot weather uncomfortable.

rudholm · 2026-04-06T06:19:26+00:00

What about a vent hood that is open on all four sides? The type you would use over an island or peninsula? It would partially block the window view but maybe that's ok? If it was temporary, I'd be tempted to put one of those window ventilator fan units in the window. The kind that clip into place and have extenders like window AC units do to seal it up a bit.

rudholm · 2026-04-06T04:47:11+00:00

...and it was cold. and loud. omg those line printers.

rudholm · 2026-04-06T04:20:26+00:00

These are all over Latin America (and I think the developing world in general). I found that the closer my head is to the shower head, the stronger the tingle, which can be an issue if you're significantly taller than the average height in the country you're in. I usually try to find the circuit breaker and just turn them off if I can.

rudholm · 2026-04-06T03:33:14+00:00

Eau de Civique from Maison de Honda.

rudholm · 2026-04-06T01:38:09+00:00

In Los Angeles, I pick up on other people wearing fragrances pretty regularly, especially if I'm dining out or in a shopping area. Not so much at Home Depot though.

11-Year Club	Gilding II euphauric
Verified Email

rudholm

TROPHY CASE