u/BigBillSD

I live in an area that really doesn't need defrost running more than once a week. It seems to run daily, where it going from using 8-108 watts, to go to ~500 watts for about 15 minutes most days. My chest freezer doesn't have a defrost mechanism and it takes a few years to need me to get the plastic scraper out.

Thanks, Bill

PS. I am looking to move to battery to run this, similar to what I do in the motorhome.

Yahoo

The new EZ1 I received the other day has a feature I really do not like! I needed to disconnect the solar cabling and could not unlatch the positive DC mc4 from the Inverter. They added what I might refer to as a Guard to just those 2 positive MC4 connections on the new inverter. Those "Guards" prevent me from using a standard Klein 68426S solar "wrench" from disconnecting that cable. WTF? I had to go find two small flat head screw drivers to unlatch the clips holding it in. Before reconnecting I had to go find a set of 1 foot extensions which I will leave on until I find a tool that will allow me to undo those like every other MC4 connection I have. My first EZ1 does NOT have that feature.. I had not noticed this feature while installing it, just when I needed to move my panels to a rack, and couldn't disconnect the positive cable.

JFYI.

I saw this update this morning. Moved one of my EZ1's to one of their Smart plugs and set it to generation only. It is reading it as power coming in and the Watts are in bright green instead of grey like the usage ones. WOW

It works. I was able to setup both my EZ1 MI and now they are shown as a power Source. Then I setup a smart plug that charges my Home Backup Battery. I watched the power exporting to the grid and the charger came one. Then I turned on an AC so the export would stop. The charger turned off.

This is pretty cool. Now if I could configure it to turn that charger on just prior to exporting. Not sure that is possible. And I am guessing it will shut down, if it pulls enough power to stop exporting. That will not really work for me.

I added more wattage to one of my EZ1's (just bought & received a second one from Ware Solar yesterday)

If you go to your apps "Devices" icon on the bottom of the page and click on one of the devices on that new page you can see how much power is being generated from each MPPT input, it has 2, each allows 450 watts. (I have not seen more than 442watts.)

What I found was if you adjust the Maximum Power setting toward the bottom of that page, you can set it to what ever amount of power you want it to limited too. It appears to control both MPPTs, its not configurable for each MPPT. But the amazing thing is it adjusts the output very close to real time! I was generating 750w on one, noticed my incoming power was right at 5 watts from the grid. I changed down to 700w from its default of 900w and almost instantly I saw my grid consumption just to 55w and saw the devices showing on the app lower their output that 50w. This wouldn't be something you need to be concerned about once your state allows balcony solar.

Since the laws being approved today do not compensate us for exported power to the grid its to our benefit to find a battery pack that can be charged by any power in excess of current consumption. There seem to be things like that in Europe, but haven't found anything for our 60hz US split phase configuration. -Bill

Now wondering if he is owned by the Utilities.. It was passed 4 weeks ago.

I am probably moving from iDrive, been with them for over 10 years but they haven't fixed their short comings in all that time, now today I am thinking of duplicati and some cheap cloud provider they can support. Today idrive is ~$100 a year for 5 TB. I used BB years ago then switched to a different one that was really good but they got out of the business. iDrive is Ok but they won't create a report to find duplicate files are files that haven't been backed up in a long time etc. They also attempt to screw you if you go over the 5TB limit. Luckily for me I use VAN's can deactivate them once payment has been processed. Earlier this year they tried to charge me 25 cents per Gig over my quota per month Had there been an active CC on that account I would have paid for almost an extra whole year of service. That is where the reports are really needed, to clean up the 10 years of accumulated junk files that I probably no longer need. Another idiotic short coming is just one backup set. I've been asking for that for 9 years. Maybe they lost all their developers, or maybe just the ones that knew how it all worked. In any event, I think its time for a change as they do not give a crap about the customer, so its time for me to vote with my dollars.

Anyone figure out how to create a second backup set in iDrive? I have some very large (300gb) files I want backed up, but maybe once every two weeks or so, as not to consume all my limited bandwidth backing those up daily like the rest of my 5 TB of data from many Windows PC's and a single MAC. -Bill

They are not destinations to me, but a place to spend a night on the way To The Destination. Why would they design them all as Back-In's? A pull thru would have made way more sense if they had any intelligent person creating them. Quick in and out...

i know they are probably the noisiest places on earth but for an simple overnight they would make a lot of sense when you are just trying to get somewhere else.. Of course we are in a motorhome with Toad (4 wheels down). For us to detach and back in for a single night the place has to be spectacular! I am pretty sure they do no Qualify..

Rant [OFF]

-Bill

https://preview.redd.it/06biwp9n8m8h1.png?width=1917&format=png&auto=webp&s=c6ebce587910b3f5ee92aabca397f09d695c8d86

WTF? Any idea what is going on?

used the amazon.com/lockers site and found a locker in Lovell ME. It was in a local hardware store. I decided to call them to verify prior to buying something I needed. They did not have a locker there. The employee mentioned that any packages sent there not destined for their business are returned to sender. The place is a UPS shipping center, but only for outbound shipments, like Amazon Returns etc.

Is this something others have encountered? I am not sure why I thought I should call them, but glad I did. -Bill

I see in the app it says I have use X data since May 18th. Does that mean my next 300 GB block arrives on June 18th at UTC midnight? I'll be cutting it close as a traverse Canada this summer and want to keep Internet costs down as Fuel costs have skyrocketed this summer. (They are about double what they were just last summer. (thanks Billionaires)

The charge icon is showing but the percentage charged is not going up. Yesterday it stayed all day at 27% while I was trying to charge it back to 100%. I had it hibernate overnight and this morning it showed 23% charged. Been charging it a couple hours now, while using it a little bit and its still showing 23%. Battery lasted for 3-4 hours just a couple days ago. I usually charge it to 100% then drain it down to 10-20% and plug it back in. Its there something that needs to be reset what? Its a few years old now but normally I use it once or twice a week. Now i am using it everyday as I am traveling. Maybe the battery is actually charging but its just not updating the charged state?

Its seems odd Apple wouldn't allow more Apple TV remotes as it could be a revenue stream and make its users happy, but they don't. I see the Function 101 remote has a BT and an IR remote available. Will the AppleTV allow a second BT remote if its from someone else? Or do I need to buy the IR version as Apple will remove the 1st BT remote if I pair the Function BT remote like it does with a second Siri Remote?

The Cerbo v3.73 version release says its added SeeLevel 709-BTP7 Bluetooth tank sensors integration capability. Anyone figure out how? I upgraded and checked the BT settings and the Tank settings (the latter are physical connections) and see nothing yet. I have integrated some Ruuvi BT sensors in the past so I know its possible. I searched professional and regular Victron documentation and found nothing except the RVC stuff from a couple years ago.

I was thinking about using a smart-outlet to power them on to open the lock or even something like a regular front door deadbolt to put a square piece of steel in the way of a roller on each side. Electric would be good. I see a lot of 12v things being sold for hundreds of dollars but 12v in a garage seems like a kludge. 120v would be best as that is what is usually available in our garages. Has anyone mounted a regular manual deadbolt one one, what did your bracket look like? Anyway looking for diy ideas for doing this prior to our next 6 month trip.

I was shocked to learn there is no way to fix this without sending it in to apple (not a store) There isn't a reset button or anything else. Not as well engineered as I had thought before yesterday.