Solar Power Archives - Rick's Daily Tips

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…]

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

Posted on April 29, 2024

Note: The links in this post are affiliate links.

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…]

Thursday, April 4, 2024 – Handling Two-Factor Authentication when switching phones – The best computer upgrade you can make for the money

Posted on April 4, 2024

Hello, and welcome…

Rick’s Daily Tech Tips Update for Thursday, April 4, 2024

Topics covered in this issue…

• My bi-annual gadget cleaning and maintenance routine

• Q&A: What happens with Two-Factor Authentication if I switch phones?

• This is the best computer upgrade you can make for the money

• Bananas are berries, but strawberries aren’t? Are you kidding me???

• April’s Tech Tips Giveaway: Anker 521 300W Portable Power Station

[Read more…]

Q&A: Can I run a fan off solar power without using a battery?

Posted on May 18, 2023

Note: The links in this post are affiliate links.

Question from Adam: I hope you can answer a question about solar power for me.

I have a small outbuilding that’s located about 120 yards from my house. This outbuilding has a dark green roof and it gets extremely hot inside on hot summer days.

What I’d like to do is install a fan in the eve of the building to pull fresh air into the building while expelling the hot air, but there’s no electric service there to power the fan. Can you help me with this? [Read more…]