Jack's playing with software, I bought an elgato Neo Stream Deck.
I think it's a kind of "retail therapy." I buy stuff and I feel better, temporarily. I heard about the Neo line of elgato products on one of Dave Sparks' podcasts, Mac Power Users, I think. Maybe?
It's a pretty cool device, though it's dumb that I bought one.
First, it's kind of redundant. I've got the 6-button Stream Deck (mini?), which I seldom use. This has eight launch buttons, two capacitive touch page buttons and a little "system" display, which I've configured for the time, as if I need to be any more aware of it.
But I'm spending some of that time figuring it out and setting it up. I created a button for the marmot that takes me to the web site. It has a picture of a cute Himalayan marmot for the icon. I configured the YouTube button to go to my Premium account. (So I can waste time more efficiently, with less mousing around!)
I think I'll make some launch scripts for Captain's Log entries.
Second, I have no real need for one. So it's inconsistent with my wish to "do my best," and do the least amount of harm possible. But, I'm human and I fuck up. Not an excuse, just a reality.
Anyway, for the moment it's entertaining.
I noticed some more people bought Nebo 100W solar panels on Woot, and Florida seems well-represented. Amazon has a Bluetti promotion for the EB70S, $399 for 716WH of LiFePo storage and 800W of total AC output. Not a bad deal, I think. The EB70S has been replaced by the AC70, which is what I bought for about $80 more. The AC70 has an updated display and 1KW of total AC output, a different handle and no wireless charging pad.
I probably mentioned it before, but what these "solar generators" offer is an integrated battery and inverter solution in a convenient package. You can almost certainly create your own solution buying batteries, charge management system and inverter separately and save some money.
Like any consumer-grade electronic device, there are lemons. But, in general, the Bluetti systems seem well designed and constructed. I can't speak to customer service. It's also important to pay attention to the documentation regarding use and storage.
I may look into more of a DIY solution at some point, but for now I'm content.
My use case is curiosity, convenience and in the event of a genuine, long-term grid outage, continuity. If we had an outage that spanned more than one day, I'd reconfigure the house loads to minimize demand to the Powerwalls, and use the Bluetti devices to provide power to nice-to-have services like the cable modem/router. We're not 100% self-sufficient here (86% overall), but we can approach that; and I'm fairly confident I can keep us comfortable until utility power is restored.
We generated 40.9kWh of power yesterday, compared to 39.4kWh on Tuesday. Looking at the "valleys" in the graphs of each of the days, we had more cloud cover yesterday than on Tuesday, so the cleaning has seemed to increase output as expected. I'll keep looking at the data over the next few days. We're also still getting more daylight each day, but the low-angle stuff isn't very usable. The bigger impact is the more optimal angle-of-incidence as the sun is higher in the sky at the same time from day to day. April and May are our two peak production months, about 1.1MWh each, because we don't face due south.
If your roof is less than five years old, it's probably smart to look at putting solar on it. Maybe you get a battery, maybe you don't. If your roof is between five and ten years old, it's a bit of a trickier question because you may be looking at re-roofing in the next decade, and that'll incur additional cost, removing the panels temporarily. If your roof is more than a decade old, you may want to consider re-roofing early. Wait a year to make sure it doesn't leak, then install an array. That way there should be less finger-pointing if a leak develops after the array is installed. Roofs sometimes leak though, whether you have solar or not. It's a fact of home ownership. So, you really don't have to wait. Just have to figure out who you want to come fix it.
If you're lucky enough not to have an HOA with "design guidelines," you may want to look at a reflective roof as well.
The temp in the top of the post is at the airport. We're showing 95.7°F here, heat index of 109°F. I'd love to get a reflective roof. Maybe things will be bad enough by the time we have to re-roof that they'll have altered those design guidelines.
It seems I have digressed, yet again. Feels like a fairly benign post, but sentiment analysis is still coming in at -.5!
Originally posted at Nice Marmot 12:53 Thursday, 9 May 2024