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@@cristiancucu4100 Hey Christian, I really appreciate your input and taking the time to post. You're correct and many months ago I had the lead solar technician come out. He fixed the battery imbalance issue and update the Sol-Ark so everything is great now. You run your LiFePo4's down to 5% wow. Factory settings on mine are to shut down at 20% and kick back on at 32%. I know this by opening the Sol Arks program settings. I would lower the values to say 15% / 27% or even 10% / 22% if I needed to squeeze out more juice but living here for almost two years it's not necessary as we never killed the batteries. Many times we didn't see the sun for several days but we just save laundry washing & drying for a sunny day. As you know clothes drying is a massive draw.

@@lbroome Why hello there! Our main house will be finished next week, they are knocking out the punch list items now. The solar was installed and inspected a few months ago and it's amazing. We have 22 Canadian Solar "all black" 400 watt panels, 4 Life Power 7.5k batteries (same as the cabin but 4 of them instead of 3) and a Sol-Ark 15k. No tankless water heater because it would require a second inverter. A Rheem 60 gal tank is in the corner of the 3 car garage. The house is 2,000 sq ft under central air with soft start motor. We are very excited to move in soon. Thank you for checking in with me and the suggestion.

@@HomesteadOnThePreserve Wow, that's good to hear. That 60 gallon tank is a good idea with all those panels, free hot water! Sounds like you are all set!

The small vent on each side and the front door remain open during the hot months. The chickens can enter and leave the coop at will. This provides lots of air flow keeping them happy and healthy.

It's definitely work getting chips out of it. In it's defence, it works much better after I sharpened the blades.

It passed inspections but yeah, I totally understand.

I solved the tankless water heater with an $8 adjustable flow valve. (I made a video on it) Everything works perfect now. Thanks for your suggestion which otherwise would be a great solution.

@@HomesteadOnThePreserve I will check that out. I really like your setup plus what an amazing price. I recently installed my own off grid system (3300W solar with 14.4kW battery bank) and am now focusing on water. Here in rural spain many people have solar thermal panels with tanks on their roofs. Thanks for the detailed tour. All the best!

@@tjwoodsman1782 Thank you T.J. I really appreciate your kind words and feedback. All the best to you and your solar!

The actuator has held up perfectly. About 4 months ago my brother came to visit and preferred the thumb throttle so I swapped it for him. I never put the twist throttle back on because he's coming to visit again. I much prefer the twist with one exception. Going off road when it gets real bumpy it's difficult to maintain throttle control and can actually be dangerous. My final verdict, if you're riding on smoother surfaces the twist rocks, otherwise the thumb throttle wins.

I worked hard my entire life. Save alot, spend a little and Invest wisely. You don't want to see our main house which just finished being built and also 100% off grid. I'm afraid you'll have jealousy overload.

GE model GUD24ESSM1WW We like it allot, very efficient and simple with no digital panel.

@@HomesteadOnThePreserve Thank you thats my thoughts also no digital, seems I read alot of ppl complain on the digital. I seen yours and had to ask. Thank you.

@@krisneville7701 You're welcome and you're correct, digital panels are always first to break!

No, I lived in South Florida until moving to the NW Panhandle in 2022.

Our SolArk inverter is an "all in one" and always stays on. It has an idle draw around 60 watts.

@@HomesteadOnThePreserve I have to switch off my inverter (which is my load) in the house in order to make the battery charge faster. Any idea why? Thx in advance

@@zbnxnndnxbcbb9990 Sorry, wish I could help.

So far the three batteries have been sufficient and it's been a year and a half living here. Our main house is almost finished so having guests stay in the cabin for a few day or a week we definitely have enough storage. I installed an $8 flow valve on the shower head which solved the tankless heater problem. I simply dialed down the flow to around 1 GPM and it's working great. Draws around 3k and the temp is slightly over 100 degrees. I did a video on that if you're interested. What you suggested with the heat pump is great but luckily unnecessary for us.

Hey that's super cool! Owning that property, especially back then (less people) must have been amazing! Thanks for sharing.

Afternoon Halil. To make sure I don't give you wrong dimensions, just Google "Tractor Supply Sentinel Coup." It's holding up really great and actually still looks new. We are both very impressed with it and I hope you will be too.

Forgot.. The electric fence is 4 foot tall and made by Premier One.

Thank you David, I really appreciate that.

1kw/hr baseload roughly you got running your settup....you really could use 30kwh of batteries if you have no grid backup. That might buy you enough to get past most cloudy days if you dial back the consumption.

We've gone multiple times, 4 days without a hint of sun and never ran out. It's been a year and a half so far and it's been great! The only issue we had I fixed. The tankless water heater I talked about, solved it with an $8 flow control valve.

@@HomesteadOnThePreserve Surviving on 5kw a day sounds pretty rough to me, just hope you have a generator for a backup if it gets hot.

@@user-hg2tk3xj9y No, luckily we don't need one.

Hey glad you enjoyed it!

I solved the tankless hot water problem with an $8 flow control valve. The system has been amazing ever since.

Yes sir, I had the lead tech. out months ago. He updated the software / fixed the imbalance issue. System works amazing now!

It's hard to pick em with gloves and long sleeves because the thorns keep snagging on them and it's harder to get to the berries. You definitely need jeans or heavy long pants though!

I took a photo where she fell asleep while laying in the stream, it's really cute!

She's a super sweetie as long as you have two legs. Anything with four and she enters Beast Mode!

It actually is heavy because it's built very well. We move it with a wheel system called ChickLift which we did a video on if you want to check it out. Makes moving it pretty easy.

I hate to say this but I bought them both from Amazon. Only place I found them in stock and the price was fair.

Good for you, they are beautiful critters and a treat to see. Luckily we have a strong population here and they only have to worry about their natural predators.

Thank you sir, appreciated. I solved the tankless water heater issue with an $8 adjustable flow valve and the system has been amazing since!

Hey Steve, it's been over a year now since I made this guard and it's holding up great! In fact, just last week I turned the kayak upside down to install a transducer so I checked out the guard. It's heavily scratched but doing it's job and protecting perfectly! It's not pretty like a store bought one but those are like $80 and besides, it's more fun to make your own. Remember, once you have the fiberglass kit you can touch up any gouges if necessary.

Awesome that's what I wanted to hear ...Good fishing to ya and have a gereat day.@@HomesteadOnThePreserve

@@steverogers1053 Appreciate you!

It's actually working great since I sharpened the blades. What chipper do you suggest?

Months ago I had the main technician fix the imbalance issue. He also updated the SolArk's software and everything has been great since. I solved the tankless water heater issue with an $8 flow control valve. (I made a video about it) Thank you for watching and taking the time to comment!

I solved the tankless water heater issue with an $8 part. I made a video on it to help others. Being over a year now living with solar it's been absolutely amazing!

got a link to your solution@@HomesteadOnThePreserve

@@stevepailet8258 Thanks but I already solved it with a flow control valve. It's only drawing 3 - 3.5k watts now and heats the water to around 106 degrees!

did you disconnect on of the heating elements? @@HomesteadOnThePreserve

@@stevepailet8258 Nope

Great question. We do have a Honda generator we used in South Florida during power outages like hurricanes. Pretty sure it can be linked to the SolArk as it's 60Hz but we don't have the needed hardware attached. Since it's just a cabin for guests (the main house is almost finished) I'm not worried about the batteries running down. We've gone a max of 3 1/2 days without seeing the sun on several occasions and still had a bit of power remaining so it's just not a concern. After solving the tankless water heater issue (i did a video on it) all has been amazing.

Doing research on PVs in 2021 and 2022 Panasonic made the most efficient and reliable products, plus they had one of the best warranties. No wonder Tesla used (don't know if they still do) Panasonic PV's for their flat solar tiles and the Tesla Powerwall is actually made by Panasonic, it's a rebadged "Evervolt."

Interesting - Google searching doesnt even show any half decent Panasonic PV panels that I can see and states that the Powerwall is made in Nevada. Evervolt seems to come out of India. @@HomesteadOnThePreserve

Yeah, I should have done that before the test video. After the video I sharpened them by hand with a wet stone. They were really dull and one blade was cut at a bad angle which I corrected. It's cutting great now!

We decided on a tankless because we love them and there's no room inside the cabin for a tank. Besides all tank heaters rust and leak after 10 years. No way I would ever put one inside the cabin. I did solve the tankless water heater issue with an $8 valve which I did a video on. The system has since been flawless and amazing. Our main house is almost built and that's 100% solar also. 3 bedrooms, 2 baths with central AC..... You shouldn't run any battery chemistry under 20% if you can help it. It slowly degrades it, effecting the max charge levels and overall performance. It's not right away noticable but will show in time.

@@HomesteadOnThePreserve You are good at stating things with authority but I notice you are not sighting your sources. I sighted two that will show you, to the molecule, why you are wrong. RE. the hot water. It is your house and you choose what you like thats the point of it all. The hot water set up I suggest is far more efficient as it only uses solar and it would be dirt cheap compared to your system even it you had put it outside. Yes I hear you you dont want to do that. FWIW. Every hot water tank short of the very cheapest that I have ever seen has anodes in it. Change the anode every 3-5 years ... blow the bottom of the tank clear with the valve that is there and you are good for at least 20 years on any $500 hot water tank. No no one does this as they are ignorant and or lazy. Its the way it is. Its all in formation. Education takes time. OMG 135 943 new videos up... I gotta go watch videos. cheers

@@user-pi8us8dp3b Had 2 (brand new) hot water tanks in our last home. Both rusted and leaked after 9-10 years (Rheem and Whirlpool brand) Had a tankless for 9 years in the same house until we moved. It was as good as the day it was installed with zero maintenance. The main house is getting a tank heater, otherwise I'd need another inverter and it's not worth it. Besides if it leaks it will harmlessly run down the slanted garage and outside. I don't know what sources you are referring to about rechargeables. Everything I read including manuals on rechargeable products all state to not let them run down if possible and some state the 20% rule. Only deep cycles can take the hit of low discharges but it's better if it can be avoided.

I'm headed back next week. Hopefully the winter weather took out some of the weeds otherwise I'm going top water frog!

Love that kayak! Took it on a lake loaded with cypress trees yesterday, it was gorgeous.

We were going to make an assembly video as a Part 1 but the instructions are so well made it's not necessary. Likely harder to follow while watching than just reading. If assembly troubles you, it's actually pretty easy and straightforward.

Hello and good morning LLA! We didn't take a loan for the solar, it's paid in full. I like to say our electricity is free since we have no bill or loan but figuring it out, it will take about 9 years to break even. (versus if we had a monthly bill from the power company) Remember, after credits we only paid 19k for the 28k system. Would have cost 20k+ if we ran power lines and then we would be at the mercy of the power company. We are in a good situation because we sold our house in S Fl for over half a million and it was paid off. Bought that house 30 years ago and only paid 89k! Actually paid it off in 15 years so the bank didn't get much interest from me. That money is what's paying for our main house. Speaking of, it will of course also be solar and it's a 3/2 2000sq ft with central AC! Goes to show how solar is viable these days with all the amenities of an on grid home! As for the cabin, I solved the tankless water heater with a $8 flow valve (i made a video on it) and everything has been amazing since. A couple days ago I spoke to my buddy for 2 hrs, helping him figure out his grid tied system to install. He's doing the same as you, to supplement. Bonus for him living in S Fl, when the hurricanes blow power he will have the battery storage so no more noisy generator and storing 20 gallons of gas like he's currently doing. The generator can only run selective stuff and no AC but his solar system will run the entire house. With the tax credits now is a great time to install! Not many people in S Fl have propane, only in their bbq grills lol. I know it gets real expensive in northern states! Best thing to do is have a big tank like 500gal and fill it in the summer when prices are lowest. If you have any questions about solar email me at DukeTogo_13@hotmail.com I can give you my number at that point if you want to call and really get into details.

Hey Rich! I stopped making videos because no one's watching. Takes a lot of time to make and edit, especially without editing software. After making this video which was a lot of fun, I figured it would get lots of views. Weeks later and I had about 30 I said forget it. I had a lot of great videos planned but unfortunately they will never come to light. One of them was an update on the fish. The bass are getting so big it's crazy! I was going to catch some bass, bluegill and tilapia on a flyrod. Thanks for watching buddy, hope all is well with you and the family.

Very true, that's why it's a full review and not a wood chipping demonstration. BTW after sharpening the blades it now chips much quicker as they came dull.

Good morning Bowen. Yes, the SolArk is programmed to shut down the batteries at what it preceves is 20% remaining capacity. That number would give me around 18k of usable watts. I have never run dry on power and we recently had another 3 days of solid clouds. On day 4 we were a bit low but the sun was showing and by around 1pm all batteries were back at full charge. A few months the lead tech guy come over and updated the SolArk software and fixed the battery imbalance issue. (I solved the tankless water heater problem with a control valve which I made a video on) Everything is working flawless now and the system is amazing. I'm not a solar guy but I've always loved the technology. You're obviously extremely knowledgeable and if you do solar videos I'll definitely check them out. Thank you for taking the time to comment.

The purple band? I donated to a no kill rescue for that, it's got paw prints on it.

Very good question. The battery cabinet protects them and it's raised off the floor. Not ideal like a waterproof cabinet but it works and passes all codes.

Yup, Ftlaud911 and you are both correct. I had the lead solar tech come over a few months ago. He updated the SolArk software and fixed the battery imbalance. I solved the tankless water heater issue with a flow control valve which I did a video on. Everything is working perfect now and we are extremely happy. Thanks for taking the time to comment.