Interesting seasonally adjustable panel mount... but... it needs jack screws, and if the wind kicks up it'll need to be stowed horizontally. There are part of me that loves this... and theres a part of me that says too much opportunity for a failure point... just buy more panels. The panels are the cheapest part of the system. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u04C-M-FS9E

I am at 33 degrees north. Since my house is well insulated, my HVAC system doesn't use any more power in winter than summer and since we drive the electric cars the same amount each month, I need to generate the same amount of power each month of the year. By running various tilt angles through the PVWATTS calculator (on line), I found that a 29degree tilt gives me the most annual production 15503kwh vs 15291kwh at a 40 degree tilt. I'm able to trade some higher producing months in the summer for a little extra production in the winter by tilting my panels steeper than textbook.

Here we see that February is bad no matter what you do. The solution is to add more panels until February usage is covered.

PS: tilt is measured down from horizontal. 0 is horizontal and 90 is vertical.

Shipping containers can also rack and twist causing the doors to misalign. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AS_IM9fnhxE

Where the usa is headed

I've just learned that Victron makes a smart shunt that is only $75. This is the gold standard for keeping tabs on the state of charge of your batteries. JKBMS is a great BMS but it's SoC reading can be pretty inaccurate. You can use an ESP32 to convert the serial data from Smart Shunt to pylontech compatible inverters.

https://a.co/d/3fjeeur

I just learned something today about Victron inverters.. they have a power boost feature that allows you to undersize a generator. Let's say you have a 1000w generator. I'ts not enough to run a microwave oven or make coffee... so when you turn on the microwave the inverter makes up the difference from batteries. When the microwave shuts off, the generator is used to charge batteries again.

But wait there's more... it has what they call dynamic power boost... when a generator is given a sudden load it may slow down or droop in voltage. These changes may exceed the frequency / voltage limits of the invetrer and it will think there' something wrong with the generator and disconnect from it. When the dynamic power boost, the inverter will take the brunt of the new load and gradually relinquish power over to the generator.. .so the generator sees a gradual increase in power draw and the inverter takes the sudden surges.

The really put a lot of thought in to this.

My neighbor welded a tube over the center of the axel I got him the otehr day and extended it to be 110" wide. We moved two shipping containers today. Got them close enough to where he wanted them that he can move with a jack and some fence posts now. I can 100% tell you that a hydrostat drive tractor is the best thing ever for nudging a shipping container around.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srs_4LDm5Vc

These videos are actually quite good. Here's what hyper inflation looked like in Germany in 1923. It's coming to the US.

I think he's cracked the code.

We had a few really nice days, got some paint on the steps. Milled up some boards for window and door trim. Components for the ridge cap should be here this week. Bastards shorted me on parts. Me thinks the exterior is complete enough until spring.
God has graced me with some serious good weather but I feel it's coming to a close. Stuffing insulation in the rafters now. We'll be moving in with the table saw soon when the crack trailer freezes solid 🤣