Rick's Daily Tips

5-Seater vs. 7-Seater: Which one should you go for?

Posted on July 10, 2024

You’re probably newly married, and on a tight budget so every decision must be thoroughly thought through because you can’t afford to make one bad purchase.

You’ve considered your family’s going to become larger soon, but not sure if it’ll be worth it to go above your budget (and possibly be broke for a couple months) on a vehicle just because you had a hunch. (Though considering a 7 seater MPV car would be a wise choice for your growing family.) [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…]

Q&A: What is a GaN charger?

Posted on July 8, 2024

Note: The links in this post are affiliate links.

Question from Darla: I went online to search for a new wall charger for my phone and iPad and I noticed that some of them were labeled as GaN chargers.

I had never seen that before (but it’s been years since I bought a new charger).

What does the GaN mean? [Read more…]