Product Reviews
Real-world product experiences, evaluations, and lessons learned.
Choosing the right equipment for the right reasons and for the rights application can save time, money, and frustration. These articles provide practical reviews, evaluations, and observations based on real-world experience with solar, energy, preparedness, and related products. The focus is not on promoting specific brands or products, but on sharing honest assessments, performance observations, strengths, weaknesses, and lessons learned to help others make informed purchasing decisions.
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MCB Interlock
My experience with an MCB Interlock device has been a total success so far. I needed to build a control box for my solar well. My solar well pump can directly accept AC or DC…
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Wireless Float Switch Review
Introduction – Okay, I’ve written a whole lot about our solar well and lightening problems; some here, some on a DIY solar website/forum. Bottom line…twice in 4 years we were hit with lightening transient voltage…
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MCB Interlock
My experience with an MCB Interlock device has been a total success so far. I needed to build a control box for my solar well. My solar well pump can directly accept AC or DC…
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MidNite Solar Battery Review & Install – Part #1
If you watch it on youtube please do me a favor and “like” it. And you can even subscribe to my channel there as well 🙂 Related Articles – Trouble in Solar Paradise Update on…
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SOLAR: New Battery Bank – Part #2
I already explained in painful excruciating detail about the ‘needs’, ‘issues’, and ‘resolutions’ of the new battery bank in Part #1. I also explained why the change/upgrade, but for those of you who missed it……
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SOLAR: New Battery Bank – Part #1
Thought I would reach out to the solar tech-heads today. I wrote previously that I thought I had a problem with one of my 3 LifePo4 batteries (1x230ah + 2x205ah). Turns out that it wasn’t…
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Trouble in Solar Paradise
Twenty-two months ago I added a new 230ah 48v Trophy battery to our solar system. That coincided with a major upgrade to the entire solar system we have here at the glamstead. The system seriously…
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EMP, CME, & Lightening Surge Protection – Part #2
If you haven’t read Part #1 of this 2-part series you probably should. < click here to read Part #1 > My Protection Strategy – So how do I protect my off-grid home? First off…I…
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EMP, CME, & Lightening Surge Protection – Part #1
Time to go technical…’high-tech’ to be exact…let’s talk surge protection. For this discussion surge protection will include the concepts of lightening strikes (LS), Coronal Mass Ejections (CME), and of course, Electromagnetic Pulses (EMP). While they…
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Great Solar Upgrade – Day #9
Day #9 come and gone! Oh Boy! What a day #9 was…bitter/sweet. I started in Saturday morning wanting to jump on first the circuit breaker upgrade that I talked about in my Day #8 post.…
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Great Solar Upgrade – Day #7 – IT WORKS ! !
Day #7 come and gone! Started working this morning about 7am trying to figure out why I couldn’t get the Victron Quattro inverters programed correctly. On Saturday I did get the system up and running…but…
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Great Solar Upgrade – Day #4
Day #4 come and gone! OK, yesterday I was whining about it getting old, me being ready to move on…and especially getting rid of the generator sound. Well, it is the morning of Day #5…
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Victron Lynx PowerIn – Class T Fuse & Battery Switch
In a recently installed solar system I use a Class T fuse between the Trophy battery bank and the inverter. A Class T fuse is a fast-acting, high amp rated capable fuse. I installed a…
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Victron Lynx PowerIn – Used as a Battery BusBar
I’ve written about Victron’s Lynx PowerIn before…and how really cool I think it is. Today I am showing you how I used it for a busbar to connect three 105ah LifePO4 Trophy batteries into a…
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Victron Energy Lynx Distribution System – Lynx PowerIn Part #2
Welcome to Part #2 of the Victron Energy Lynx PowerIn article! In Part #1 < click here to read Part #1 > I shared a bunch of information, here in Part #2 I will show…
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Victron Energy Lynx Distribution System – Lynx PowerIn Part #1
The Victron Lynx Distribution System is a modular busbar system that incorporates DC connections, distribution, fusing, battery monitoring and Lithium battery management. The system consists of the following components: Lynx PowerIn Lynx Distributor Lynx Shun…
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Third Battery Arrived – Trophy 220E-1
note: This post should have been made 6 days after the initial post regarding the battery purchase, but it was delayed along with the first post. Well, you know by my last post regarding my…
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TIP : Very Energy Efficient Air Conditioning for Solar Systems
As you know we have a solar system…3.8kw Canadian Solar PVs, 400ah LifePo4 batteries, 5kw Victron inverter powering a 120vAC household system. Originally we were not going to have air conditioning…but a summer of me…
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Our Solar Well Pump System
OK, let’s talk water, solar power, splicing, planning, plan changes, and gasoline prices… Back when we bought our place in 2016 we were lucky enough to buy a piece of property that already had a…
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TRAP: Solar – Growatt Inverter/Charge Controller
The Growatt SPF series of inverters has problems…serious problems if you don’t know how to fix them. The inverter unit also contains an integrated MPPT charge controller built in. And the unit has a great…