Love these videos. Thanks for sharing your Journey. I am also a geek for home automation and for understanding the data and how things work. Very cool to see how much progress you have made at Everstoke

@bkxc

2 күн бұрын

Thanks so much! Glad you're digging it

I pay for youtube premium so I don't have to watch ads, but now everything is just an ad. Gonna have to rethink that one!

That was extremely interesting. Thanks. Hoping to head up there in a couple months

@bkxc

2 күн бұрын

Love to hear it!!

Wow. That's awesome B. Keep strivin'.

@bkxc

2 күн бұрын

Thanks!!

probably half the cost of providing electricity is for stuff that doesn’t vary with how many kwhs you use. Your average monthly usage is very low compared to rest of USA,but typical for mild CA climate. So the average rate per kwh for you will be very high. things like distribution lines, transmission lines, transformers, customer meters and service do not depend on energy usage and their costs don’t vary with energy usage.

I was just there last week. Everything looks great. Those biting flies though...

@bkxc

2 күн бұрын

Awesome, love to hear it!

the sound of the mozzy swatter was like Bullet Points in a Power Point presentation

@bkxc

2 күн бұрын

Hahaha!

The solar systems in FL last about 10 years and needs repairs after storms and insurance is higher due to solar systems on the roof and covering them for replacement. Just a few experiences to think about depending on where you live, Thanks for your info.

@bkxc

2 күн бұрын

Everything gets beat up hard in Florida! It's so much better to do a ground mount if you have the room!

Sweet setup!!

@bkxc

2 күн бұрын

It's working!

I bought the bluetti ac180 for 658 dollars USD. Amazing deao

@bkxc

2 күн бұрын

Yeah, that's a pretty sweet deal!

I would set the generator to come on at 5-10% battery as LiFePo batteries handle deep discharging just fine and you're just wasting gas/money and polluting with the last 20-25% if you use the generator.

@bkxc

2 күн бұрын

When we only had four panels the difference between 25% and 10% power was about 30 minutes, haha. Not much of a difference.

Can you elaborate on the mud mixer also? Thoughts and comments on how well it does?

@bkxc

10 сағат бұрын

I think it has been awesome. But I have never done a big concrete job without it. I can't even really wrap my head around how we would have done it up on that hill with a little cement mixer thing and have to scoop everything out. Mud Mixer seems like such an easy way to do it. We have to keep an eye on the moisture level and make sure the dry mix keeps falling through.

The grid is a massive infrastructure. $TRILLIONS to finance and also needs $100BILLIONs in cashflow. $30,000 tells that the grid is expensive. 5cents feedin vs 50cents supply kWh tells you the grid makes dirt cheap electricity expensive. And grid electricity is the smallest part of energy used. 15% of all energy used. 100% grid electricity energy is economically impossible. No grid electricity, rooftop PV, and a Battery Vehicle parked 23hrs every day and all night will kill the National Grid cashflow.

Oh man, living in AK my mosquito racket game is on point! ..it's all about the "executioner" brand

@bkxc

2 күн бұрын

Hahaha, I will look into that!

If you have to use a generator without a chargeverter you can get steady 60hrz, but turn off any surge appliances while charging, surge causes the gen to low freq then high freq when it catches up. I won't buy a chargeverter after the extra panels and change a connection next month I don't think I will ever have to use my Gen again, just there as a backup. If you ever move those panels and they are bi facial mount them vertical, I cleaned snow once as it melted from the top haven't washed the panels since sept, down about 20w, pv2 my 2790w array 3400w with snow, in summer with no white rock to reflect 1800w, 460w heavy rain to 780w in clouds 500w at 6am, summer production is down but it really doesn't matter when there is 16 hours of daylight, Unless you are grid tied. If anyone has to buy a gen, dual fuel and a 1000g tank could run a gen for over 2 months at 4 hours a day, it's a good back up if natural disaster happens. I have a 400gal, I can get over 380kw from a tank, before I swapped the faulty inverter. After working on solar power for a month anyone can look at a 175w appliance and know in 2 secs 4.2kw per day. When buying solar R.O.I. always happens but should anyone even consider that when they buy a 50000$ car that is worth 5000 in 10 years. Never mind ROI you should worry how much power will cost in 20 years. That battery is kinda expensive, I bought 48kw for 9600usd, Lead carbon sealed, non-spillable, -30c to 60c, discharge to 30% but can go lower, good PSOC 30 TO 70%, 97% recyclable, maintenance full charge every 30 days, no bms, equalizers, or heaters needed there just heavy 12v250 170lbs, not for mobile applications. Just run the inverter on lead acid with charge rate changes (57.8/55v). LC 51.6V is 100%.

@bkxc

2 күн бұрын

Yeah, I definitely agree on the ROI and the way people spend on a lot of things like cars that depreciate fast! Thanks for all the tips and info!

@bobmonztr

2 күн бұрын

@@bkxc I am retired and bored, sorry my comments are like a novel. I try to share it all. A lot of times the comments are for others cos the posters like you are informed. Panels got cheap, same price as my 465w in 2023 2024 gets me 605w.

I should get a new mosquito racket soon. Old one's just not crisp enough. 😂

@bkxc

2 күн бұрын

Hahaha, gotta get them VOLTS!

No payback

Woah! 42c?! I'm at 12c/kwh here in Texas...

@bkxc

2 күн бұрын

It's pretty crazy!

Ouch! Mine (in BC) is $0.11 - $.014 a kwh.

@bkxc

16 сағат бұрын

That's pretty good!

Le me tell ya man…. You get an EV, all power consumption is measured in kwh. You will find out pretty quickly how kwh works. It is the volumetric measurement for electricity use. In a conventional car fuel use is measured in miles / gal, (L/100km metric) an EV will show kwh/100km. Basically the same thing.

@bkxc

16 сағат бұрын

Yeah, it's so cool! Seeing the real time power output is sweet

Kinda new to this channel were you in the USMC? Like MTBing Adventures? And is the dude in MTBing Adventures related to you?

St George shout out! ❤

@bkxc

2 күн бұрын

Land of the cheap power!

@matt_metcalf

2 күн бұрын

​@@bkxc I would love to do PV but it just doesn't pencil out when rates are between $0.065 - $0.074 / kWH

Did you merge the smart gardener channel with this channel?!

@bkxc

16 сағат бұрын

Hahaha!

The one major cost is batteries. I'm not sure, but I don't think they will last 15 years. It's pretty cool, though.

@bkxc

2 күн бұрын

Most definitely, I'm curious to see how they go. But I think the batteries are more important than the panels!

Jesus why do people still live in CA. That price is robbery. Here in NC is a flat 0.11/kwh

Now you're cooking with natural gas. Oops. Wrong metaphor for this context. Now you're styling in tall cotton! Dang, did it again. Seriously, it's obvious a lot of work went into this project. I'm sure it will service your property for many many years plus when it's time to replace solar panels, the hard work is already done. Are there any specific parts or circuit boards that are known to go bad occasionally? Often enough to keep some spares on hand.

@bkxc

2 күн бұрын

Most of this stuff is very new and it's going to be some time before we start seeing the malfunctions. But there are pretty good resources on Reddit, the DIYSOLAR forum and Signature Solar customer service. Hoping for years and years of smooth saving

So funny. In germany we have a law that you need to built solar on your roof if you redo it... And most people do it even on old roofs. We pay 28ct/kwh and even than its a no brainer.

@CJinsoo

3 күн бұрын

no brainer? sounds like there isn’t a choice.

@Tschesslee

3 күн бұрын

@@CJinsoo there is. Solar for water or power is your choice. And I got it on my old roofs as well as it pays itself

@CJinsoo

2 күн бұрын

@@Tschesslee Thanks for that clarification. When customers go solar for water, what is the backup? On it paying for itself, I a do not dispute that outcome. Easy to set up program for solar such that the net energy payment rate, or install incentives result in quick payback period (5 years or less). But in the USA, that short a payback is the result of a very large subsidy embedded in the payment rate. It results in shifting costs to customers without solar. Don’t know anything about the programs in Germany.

@bkxc

2 күн бұрын

Surprised California hasn't passed that law yet!

Whoda thunk it would just take one dude discussing solar without giving the audience the 3rd degree about saving the earth, and instead giving real, usable knowledge that would get me excited about solar. Nicely done, BKXC! Looking into Bluetti thanks to your recommendation!

@bkxc

2 күн бұрын

Fantastic to hear that! Being your own power plant is the coolest thing to me!

Don't forget to add in any extra fees if you are borrowing the money or using a credit card.

it’s not a good idea to over size the system that much (1800 vs. 300) which is why it is taking so long to payback. also, all those extra kwhs that the over sized system creates, are sent to the grid, so you are actually using the grid even more as you send net 1500kwhs to the grid. but maybe you said you were storing the excess in that little battery?

@bkxc

2 күн бұрын

Yes, I agree it's a bit oversized if I was actually doing it for my house. One of the big things is that that winter changes everything. Much less daylight, much more overcast. It'd be really interesting to see how much less power I would be making.

@CJinsoo

15 сағат бұрын

@@bkxc Thanks for this clarification. It makes more sense for Everstoke as you should have higher energy usage when it is in season. Maybe DOE or NREL publish maps for solar radiation that could be of help. But I don’t recall if they are published for season, and they may be just an average for the year. If it is rated at 1800w AC, then it’s probably 25% of that rating that can be counted on year round. A wild guess on my part but 15-20% of the rating for winter? But that still doesn’t tell you how many hours in the winter it will produce at its max rating. Not being much help here, but it8s just a lot fewer hours.

I would never put solar on my roof.. that just me

@bkxc

2 күн бұрын

Yup, I agree, if you have the luxury of a backyard the ground mount or even a pergola would be fantastic.

This channel is getting a lot cooler. Do you plan to trim the trees around?

@bkxc

2 күн бұрын

Yeah, we've got about 5 million trees to trim or cut down