u/hypergoose94

The 450/200 can do 11.5kW, but only 4kW at 16A per tracker, which would only be 6x ~500W, 45V panels, at which point you can buy almost 3x as much MPPT capacity with three MPPT 250/85 (4.9kW), and run a 5-2 series-parallel configuration per unit.

Is there something I'm misunderstanding? Just seems like on modern 500W+ panels it's hard to fully utilize an MPPT RS, especially at higher voltages.

I'm surprised it doesn't get recommended more, I think I have a common situation of a sorta slow HDD ZFS pool, and some proportionally small SSDs that it would be nice to use to make my main pool faster. I tried L2ARC but for all the reasons that have been discussed before it didn't really help: people don't rewatch movies so Jellyfin would fill it with 0% hit rate data, and Syncthing would still take 30 minutes to complete a scan.

Using L2ARC metadata-only fixed the scan issue (it would only be slow the first time after a reboot), but then I'm still getting HDD speeds for everything else.

Instead I just moved the datasets that would benefit onto my single-SSD pool, and then configured sanoid in NixOS to snapshot hourly, with syncoid moving the snapshots to my main HDD pool. Worst case I lose the last hour, only need to send a delta not all data, and once on the main pool they get automatically included in the historic snapshot schedule.

Obviously a lot of caveats in terms of dataset size, higher risk of data loss, etc

It's a bit more complex to setup than L2ARC but instead of hoping/tuning the right stuff gets cached, I get full control over what needs to be on SSDs and what can stay on HDDs.

I've had a plug in system for the last 3 months, by August 27th I'll have passed 1MWh of solar generated. I just find it frustrating that following all the rules would've lost me a significant portion of the ROI, and that's not even counting the savings of having a battery (which we don't even have a timeline for).

Just in time for the end of peak generation over the summer is crazy too, Germany had it since 2024 but it took the UK government 2 years (plus the endless arguing about safety online) only to arrive at the same conclusion that 800 watts is perfectly safe and we don't need consumer unit upgrades.

I've got a fully DIY 2kW solar + 5kWh battery + 5kW Victron inverter setup (posted here), and I just did some math based on the 2 and a bit months of use so far.

I used 1.4MWh, pulling 0.8 from the grid and the other 0.6 from solar. Simplifying a bit, with a flat tariff I would've paid 1400*0.25=£350, but instead I paid 800*0.15=£120 on the Octopus Cozy tariff.

This means £230 savings, but calculating the solar component is a bit hard: you can say you're saving either the old rate for electricity per kWh generated (0.25£/kWh), OR you can assume the battery is already installed and calculate based on your new effective electricity price (0.15£/kWh).

In short, if you install a battery you reduce the ROI of solar.

Almost more importantly though is now the extra complexity that solar gives: it's not simple scheduling of charging the battery and turning on high power loads during cheap periods, you need to incorporate weather predictions. Don't want to undercharge the battery and run out of power if it's cloudy, don't want to overcharge and waste generated solar because you can't store or use it. I need to change my schedule throughout the months already as the amount of solar changes from "a little top up" to "covering all usage if I'm careful". It was fun to begin with, but given the marginal savings it's starting to feel like a lot of effort for not much return.

The only caveat to this is if the grid becomes unstable, or the prices of electricity spike. I'm not regretting solar yet as it represents a degree of insurance against volatile energy prices.

I would highly recommend doing the math on battery-only installs, and deciding whether a constant background amount of planning when to run the dishwasher/dryer/EV charging is worth it.

I've got a 2024 Grail with 420mm CP0045 bars that I'm finding a bit wide and also limiting when it comes to bike boxes due to the "real" end to end width being ~530mm.

Can I swap to the CP0047 and if so, what is the total width of the 370mm version?

I'm guessing there's no way to attach the Pace T-bar?

Also, does anyone have any experience with Aliexpress options? I really like my Elitewheels but I'm not quite seeing the same level of positive feedback for any of the carbon cockpits available there.

With both more heat waves expected each year and rising energy prices affecting winter heating bills, I thought I'd share some options folks maybe aren't aware of.

Air-to-water units are often what get advertised as "heat pumps" in the UK, with £8-15k installation costs. These are good; they're efficient and they re-use the radiators people likely already have.

However, air-to-air units are significantly cheaper (£500-1500), you can install them yourself, plus they give you cooling in the summer (real whole house cooling not just towel on your face cooling). You still have to use your existing hot water system for showers and taps, but I'd argue you still save on the vast amount of energy used in the winter for heating, even if you can't save on hot water. You're still looking at SCOPs of ~4, so that's 4x the heat energy you get out as you put in in electrical energy. That means it's 4x cheaper than resistive heating (storage heaters). Gas is around 4x cheaper than electricity, so you would think there's no gains there, except unlike gas, electricity comes with variable rate tariffs, so by running the heating during the cheap periods you can still get heating for half the price of gas.

Mini-split units like the Electriq Easy-Fit (~£600) use a non-fluorinated gas, so does not require an F-gas engineer to install; anyone can. I put two in my cottage to replace a resistive electric system and they paid for themselves in savings in one winter season. They're efficient and quiet as the noisy compressor is now outside your house, but you do have to attach the copper lines yourself, and mounting might be difficult for the exterior condenser.

The Midea PortaSplit is very nice, it's an efficient mini-split but is also portable and comes ready to use, however it's a fair bit pricier at around £1000.

Monoblock systems are marginally less efficient and noisier (as all components are in a single unit), and priced higher, but they are super easy to install as you don't have to tighten any copper lines, just cut two vent holes wherever you mount it.

Both systems might require drilling holes in your wall, either for the copper lines for mini-splits, or intake/exhaust for monoblocks, however since I rent I just cut a small rectangle of plywood. That slid that into my window frame with the window half-open, then I mounted the unit and drilled the holes in the plywood. Running these units through open windows is fine as long as you fill the gap somehow.

The real savings are in the DIY installation here, a huge huge chunk of the professional quotes are in the labour which is fair for a complex plumbing job, but the economics totally changes if you're willing to do a small bit of drilling yourself. The payback goes from 5-10 years to less than 2. Even better if you couple it with plug-in solar when that becomes available.

I bought two Electriq Easy-Fit units and they paid for themselves in one winter, and now I run them for cooling during heat waves. Fully DIY, no need to fork over money for installation and you can mount them in your window frame so no modifications to the property.

Portable units are fine too (the Midea PortaSplit is probably the best), others don't always have heat pump functionality. The single hose designs aren't super efficient though.

If you're on a variable tariff it'll be half the cost over gas, or if you have resistive heating (storage heaters, space heaters) they will be 75% cheaper.

Everything else is garbage: swamp coolers are just going to make it hot and humid, wet towels over a fan is just a worse swamp cooler, and if you're running your freezer to make ice, why not use the exact same refrigeration cycle to cool the air directly.

Just wanted to let folks know that renter-friendly plug in solar is in the process of being legalized in the UK.

This type of installation has been available in Europe for a while, and generally consists of a few solar panels and a microinverter, and optionally a battery. The up front cost will be several hundred £, but it will pay for itself in 2-3 years and continue providing yearly savings beyond that period.

The savings come in the form of generating your own electricity, and/or switching to a variable tariff where you charge up your battery when electricity is half-price, and then use the electricity during peak times.

Excellent way to reduce electricity bills and obtain access to the cost reductions that wealthier homeowners have had access to.

Happy to answer any questions:)