Recent content by Bear in NM

DW, I did not want to derail the thread into a discussion of "generators" per se, but the two considerable advantages of lithium lower weight and the fact that they can live perfectly happy in cold climate without a trickle charge means that we have a few more options than we would have with...

Great thread. Much like the OP, I did this same investigation last winter. My van sits in the driveway all winter, other than in town running around occasionally. Winters here in northern NM sound much like his. Months of freezing nights, some nights well below zero. In April, I redesigned...

While not specifically answering your questions, I would add that yes, you can do some "trickery" with various parts of a system. One of the little "tricks" I have experimented with is using a laptop charging brick run through solar charge controllers. Folks do this with bench chargers all the...

John, hey, cut that out. I was in very deep thought going through an Endless Sphere EV thread, when I got the email notification of your reply here.....That's a cool place, which is going to get a bookmark. Thanks again for hammering safety. 18650's are typically considered safe from what I...

Shade, Yes, that is the charger. I have just started to ponder this situation, and have finally figured out the connectors I need for the battery discharge and charge terminals. I have these on order now, so at least I have the connectors I need. John, thanks for that information. I have...

As to the EV part of the equation, I just did that to my system. With 270 watts on the roof, with an additional 100w portable and 160 amps of AGM, I went from more than enough all the time to "oh crap, how to add a 32 ah 60v E bike battery" to my load. My bike is a Sur-Ron, and requires a 1000...

Certainly all of the actual cutting safety rules should apply. They are real saws, real chains and real power. The physics of the bar and wood and skin and bone are the same. But, you may want to review additional "rules" for yourself, that give you a comfort level. On my Makita, I do not...

Mike, You have to bear in mind that this is an adventure forum, not an arborist or "lumberjack" website. My Makita is now the saw I grab when going to the ranch or back country, and I am even grabbing it when doing SAR trainings, and will do so on missions moving forward. If I were thinning...

67, Yes, clear on that. My two 135's are twins, and my GZ100 is little bit of a degrade. But I can put them all in parallel, or disconnect my two 135s and run my 100 out to the sun. My entire design, from day one of building my "yeti-ish" portable to my current van config has been about...

67, If not charging my new e-bike, what I have is working very well, so far. As to the e-bike charging, the tests I ran were early in the morning, before I had real solar amps, to see if I knew it was going to be sunny, would my bank recover, It did. I also have my 70ah solar suitcase that I...

I have 270 watts of panels on top of my van, with 160 (2x80) AGM house batteries. Running a 64q ARB and misc. led lights and small charging, I have no issues in the summer floating by mid-morning. This also kept up last November on a hunt for 5 days when I had some fog and cloudy weather. I...

4, Glad that worked out. Anderson junky here, and I would add that you should probably never trust those little plus and minus symbols, nor the color of wire when hooking things. I volt meter everything. I have MC4's on top of my van, and when adding in parallel pigtails it also can get...

Grassland, To your replies to my initial post, it sounds like you have the skillset and tools to build a portable. Some time spent researching designs, wiring, fuses/breaker etc. and I have no doubt you could put together a unit to your specifications. You are certainly further along the...

While I do not have a GZ Yeti, I have more than a bunch of other gear from them, and have built one portable power pack, installed a couple of dual battery systems, and two vehicle solar systems. Pretty much starting out a couple of years ago, at what sounds to be your comfort level with DC...

Lax, Even though I have a fair amount of solar, and a reasonable amount of house battery reserve, the e-saw and e-bike were not on my radar until a couple of months ago. I was out for a week up at the ranch last week, and really had the opportunity to "wail" on my system. Up until this trip...