Solar Power Archives - Rick's Daily Tips

Q&A: Can I replace the rechargeable batteries in my solar lights with better ones?

Posted on January 7, 2026

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Question from Sue: I have 16 solar deck lights around the railing of my deck.

These lights are a little over a year old and their cheap AA rechargeable batteries now only last about an hour or so after the sun goes down.

I really like these particular lights so I’d prefer to replace the batteries instead of the lights themselves.

Can I safely replace the old rechargeable batteries in these lights with something like Energizers? [Read more…]

Q&A: How do you take just part of a house off-grid to go solar?

Posted on October 29, 2025

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Question from Keith: I just finished reading your post about taking your home office off-grid and I found it very encouraging because I’d love to that for just a couple of rooms in my own house.

My question is how do you take just part of a house off-grid while leaving the rest of it connected to the power line? [Read more…]

How (and why) I took my home office off-grid and went solar

Posted on December 29, 2024

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If you work from home you know how important it is to have a dependable power source to run your computer, printer, modem, router, lights and other essential work-related gear.

That’s why power interruptions are such a hassle, even when they are relatively short-lived.

Our local power grid isn’t the best so my neck of the woods experiences frequent outages that last anywhere from a few minutes to several hours. And every now and then, an outage can literally last for days.

This post explains what I did to avoid that inconvenience and aggravation in the future. [Read more…]

Q&A: I have solar power. How can I make the battery charge last longer?

Posted on July 9, 2024

Question from Kelly: After reading your articles about taking part of a house off-grid and going solar, I took the plunge and converted the game room in my basement to solar.

I installed several new lights and outlets and connected them to my inverter and everything works great, but the 12V 100Ah LifePo4 battery runs out of juice before morning.

The only things I have running off the battery at night are a refrigerator and a dehumidifier, both of which keep shutting off at some point during the night.

What can I do to make the battery charge last until the sun comes up the next morning and starts charging the battery again? [Read more…]

Review (Update): Vevor 3000W 24VDC to 120VAC Pure Sine Wave Inverter

Posted on May 27, 2024

Important update: I installed this inverter a little over a year ago and all was well until early last week.

All of a sudden the inverter started beeping and shutting down at random times. A quick check revealed that the fan had stopped operating, causing the unit to over-heat.

This was quite unexpected because, as I mentioned in the initial review, the device had always remained cool to the touch and the fan rarely turned on at all during normal operation.

Long story short, this device developed a serious issue shortly after the warranty had expired. For that reason, I can no longer recommend it since it failed even though it was never forced to operate under a heavy load.

My original review continues below… [Read more…]