I've Been Putting It Off..

[Zema Bus]

A thunderstorm rolled through, sounded like it was right overhead, and the power went out earlier this evening while I was working, only for about a second, fortunately my router stayed up and my work laptop of course has a battery. The little mini computer I'm using for work related stuff on the other hand did not stay up. After work I dug out a small APC UPS with a fresh battery, it should be able to handle both the mini computer and the router, which is an X86_64 machine but is also low power. I've been putting off getting solar and whole house batteries installed again because of the two painful days it takes and I don't currently have as good of a place to put the equipment as I did at the other house, I'd like to put it in the building addition in the backyard once that's in place, assuming it could be that far from the breaker box. Guess I'll reach out to one of the solar companies and see what the options are. I've also been kind of reluctant to spend that kind of money after my recent struggle. I might just go with a smaller number of panels and put more $ into the batteries. I could always have additional panels installed later.

[Zema Bus]

These look interesting, lasts 10 years instead of 3, and a lot less weight.

[Grogan]

Lithium iron phosphate, eh? I've never heard of the brand, but it sounds great on paper. These things are a pain in the ass, every 4 years or so and longer lifespans are welcome.

One of my requirements for a UPS is that it tolerates being on generator power. The first iterations of those Cyberpower didn't (APC units at the time did), but in recent years the Cyberpower units get along well.

Where you live now, do you have the same arrangement where you get good market value for excess power that you produce from solar?

[Zema Bus]

Same battery tech I had in my solar batteries at the previous house, a lot safer than lithium ion.

In both California and Arizona they changed it (net metering to net billing) to a lower compensation rate, and that will likely continue to be reduced in the future, though once a new system is connected the rate is locked in for 10 years. So it won't be as good as what I had at the other house, where the system was installed in 2021. When I got it before the federal 30% tax credit was winding down so I didn't get the full 30%. They brought it back for new installs, but then Trump happened and his big ugly bill ends it at the end of 2025. Here's a video on this from a year ago (12 mins):

[Grogan]

Oh yeah, Trump hates Green energy initiatives... it pisses off his wealthy donors who make their money from planet destroying, old technology and sabotaging anything that threatens it.

At least solar doesn't cause cancer, like windmills

That sounds like a burn now, the power company will make profit on any excess power YOU produce.

[Grogan]

It gets worse! I heard that yesterday, Trump vowed to ban all new wind and solar projects.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/elon-musk ... windmills/

Trump announced the latest escalation of his long-running war on windmills on Wednesday, writing in a Truth Social tirade that he would ban all new solar and wind power projects—despite growing electricity demand across the country.

“Any State that has built and relied on WINDMILLS and SOLAR for power are seeing RECORD BREAKING INCREASES IN ELECTRICITY AND ENERGY COSTS,” he wrote. “THE SCAM OF THE CENTURY! We will not approve wind or farmer-destroying Solar. The days of stupidity are over in the USA!!! MAGA.”

What a completely dishonest, douchebag of a man he is.

[Zema Bus]

Doesn't surprise me, more twisted logic. The "days of stupidity" started in January 2025.

[Zema Bus]

I went ahead and got one of those GoldeMates. Amazon brought it this morning and I set it up before work since thunderstorms have been coming through almost every night. This one is a 1000VA, 800 Watts, normally I'd get a 1500VA or at least a 1300VA, but their 1500VAs cost twice as much, just to go from 800 W to 1000 W, and I didn't see a 1300VA variant. The computer it's powering even under load never gets anywhere near that so it should be fine. Though if the power goes out completely the run time will be shorter than for a 1500VA so less time to shut down. So far so good, it's super light weight compared to what I'm used to with lead acid battery models.

GoldeMate.jpg (119.98 KiB) Viewed 160 times

[Grogan]

That's another thing that has deterred me from lithium battery UPS units, I always buy 1500 VA units and last time I looked at those, I didn't even see one. I typically put a big computer, monitor, modem and router on one and one thing I've learned, is to always be under capacity for electrical shit. Generator too.

Probably 1000 VA would be enough for me too, I shut down immediately if the power goes out while gaming (before I go start the generator) so I don't drain a UPS battery. If I've got a big build on the go, or something, it's a mad dash to the generator though