Any of you considering solar should invest in a power meter first. This one is recommended by a friend and doesn’t cost too much. https://shop.emporiaenergy.com/products/gen-2-emporia-vue-with-16-sensors-bundle

You connected to your main 200 amp feeds coming in and it also has 16 individual CT’s to monitor 16 additional devices. Pro tip: you can run more than one wire through one of the CTs. For example you can combine two bedroom circuits in to one reading. You know, just on case your house has more than 16 circuits.

Use this device to look for phantom loads. Use this device to accurately estimate your electrical usage so you can make a better decision about how much sewer you need.

Ive got a question for the group... we've moved into a new house and the AC is 4.5tons. It runs for a very brief time and shuts back off. The house is 4800 sq ft, but extremely well insulated. So I want to get a smaller heat pump.... I'm looking at something that is top quality for the best efficiency because we are 100% solar off grid. A friend replaced a 20 year old heat pump with a Daiken minisplit with cassette and has raved about the improvement. I'm strongly considering this brand.... but I want to ask about geo thermal. It seems you can trench the yard 4-6' deep instead of drilling wells, and you can use a back hoe to dig out a wide ditch and simply place coils of pex tubing in them. So does anyone know about this stuff? I need an education.

I was looking at an old bush hog and broken rotary tine tiller over the weekend and it occurred to me that I could park them at the gate to block it. Would you drive your truck over a bush hog with parts of it sticking up? Finally a use for old “yard treasures”.

Good cutaway of how a remmington 870 works. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21uh28Z77Xg

Fire up your smokers! Happy Thanksgiving to all our subscribers

Bonus points if you're eating a turkey you hunted

On a serious note, look out for your livestock and pets. We just closed the side windows on the chick coop this week.

I love my wife. Last night we were discussing putting up a shop ourselves and got to the part about working on the higher places outside the slab. Her idea was a pair of forks to go on the bucket (which we'd been looking for anyway) and using one of my IBC tote cages as a platform to stand in. Just like that I have a platform on the tractor to work from with hand rails.

Yesterday I went on a field trip to "an undisclosed location". The directions involved 'turn off highway and go two miles on dirt road, the turn at the gate marked private property, and drive another 1.6 miles past the anti-aircraft gun". (really... I should have taken a picture) Wooo!! So I met these folks and hopefully they'll join us here on this channel. Super nice folks. I don't want to disclose their stuff, but trust me, SUPER NICE and SUPER PREPARED folks.

He was featured on engineer775's youtube channel as having broken solar panels. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFBHLodmIOI . He got the panels from a local company has having been damaged in shipment and promised to dispose of them. Can't fault a guy for that. So he wasn't getting anywhere near full power and ended up buying all new panels.... and his system is working GREAT. He is completely off grid with no power within 2 miles of his house. He and his wife told me yesterday that the engineer from the power company showed up to measure the length of the proposed power run with a walking wheel and the guy said "you may as well just use the odometer on the truck". When they told him running power would cost nearly 6 figures, his wife said "We get to pay you THAT much money AND pay you for the rest of our lives too?" So solar it is for them.

His issue is that as the days have gotten shorter his batteries aren't quite making it thru the night because they are running little ceramic electric heaters. So his sol-ark inverter cranks up the generator at 3am. Due to software issue will run the generator until the batteries are at 95%... which in turn means that the solar has little to do the next day when the sun comes up. We figured out a way to rewire one of the sol-ark switched outputs to interlock the generator from running if the battery is over 50% charged and he should be getting a relay ordered directly... or maybe I'll take him one today.

Another solar story for you. A friend in a nearby town recently cut over to solar using 4 growatt inverters making 12kw total. Suddenly he had a problem with the inverters dropping out. By troubleshooting he was able to narrow it down to one inverter... and guess what? He followed the mantra of two is one and one is none.... he had purchased an extra inverter. It's new in the box and the bad one is off for warranty work.... well not quite... turns out it just needed reset to factory settings and reprogrammed. Never the less, an excellent reminder for us all.... two is one and one is none.

What to expect after using your weapon. Good generalized info.

What to expect after using your weapon. Good generalized info.

Solar cigarette lighter. Radio shack used to sell these when I was a kid. Hell of a fire starter.

I posted a book about concealed carry a few days ago. One of the take-aways from this story is to be careful what you say in the aftermath. Today a story in the news caught my eye. He said "I took a moment to pause and get my adrenaline under control before shooting". Dangerous statement. If you have time to stop and THINK, a lawyer could argue that you were not in grave danger. Your statement should simply state the facts... two guys kicked in your door and you shot at them because "you feared for your life".

Also, the spokesperson for the police said "although you are allowed to defend yourself, confrontation should be avoided if possible." Maybe he should mention this to the criminals who cause the confrontations?

https://youtu.be/Nymx_g7P60g

I’ve always been fascinated by this cooker design. The mirror platform folds up when not in use.

Here’s a neat idea for a stall bar latch. Small screw or bolt in a recessed hole keeps horses from opening. Push bolt up and slide bar.