I'm ready for the next power outage!

This is a pretty cool video! I have a (normal) solar roof as well, but indeed doesn't work if the grid is down because of hz sync. .. The grid is very stable in the Netherlands like in your country.. however , your situation shows, Even if you have a good grid.. there can always happen something unexcepted .. and than it is good to have a backup solution :D You inspired me .. maybe i have to do something like this as well. just a solar panel with a good accu .. not to complex but works just right! I am a camping freak, so i have a lot of stuff for camping equipment which i can use as well .. like "dry" meals etc.. and some good stoves (alcohol and wooden that can charge up your phone (from BioLite) as during this kind of situations it is about cold/warm/water and eating.. and then it least it is nice to extent your life with a week or 2 :D Thanks for sharing!

Edo van Zanten

So, basically just using bit-mining as a form of heat. I suppose that makes sense in the winter time. I wish my window unit was a heat pump. I mean, in theory you could turn it around, but the controls would be outside in the weather, which wouldn't make a lot of sense.

The 8-Bit Guy

Those used panels look like a steal. Great find.

that guy

I also went down the rabbit hole of heating a room by electricity. I only use resistive heaters as a backup. You know, 400W of a radiator warms just like a 400W PC mining crypto coins or folding proteines for the good. In winter, I use leftover power for one or multiple older computers running folding@home client. (I have enough money, others might mine instead!) Curious of your thoughts on this! Second, more efficient are of course heat pumps. Those are expensive, right? Nope, just get some old used fridge and seal it to a window so its inside is connected with inhouse in summer and turn it around in winter... ;-) Your window ac should also be able to be flipped in winter... Hm...

L3P3

It needs to be split-phase.

The 8-Bit Guy

BTW, if you need a 240V supply, why not buy a European inverter?

Shachar Shemesh

Well, sort of. I can power some rooms on solar and some on city power using the transfer switch. But it isn't the same as a regular grid-tie thing.

The 8-Bit Guy

It was running on Sparc systems, as seen in the video. I believe it was some form of Red Hat Linux.

The 8-Bit Guy

Well, while it is snowing, there isn't any sunlight. I noticed that as soon as the sun comes out, the snow on the panels melted within a couple of hours.

The 8-Bit Guy

Electric water heaters are usually 240V AC, which would be a challenge as David outlined.

John Bailey

I was thinking, another use for the spare power without having a grid solar connection might be to have an electrical heater on your hot water tank (or a second independent one if it's already electrically heated). The solar would then partially heat up the hot water in normal times, saving grid power, then you could disconnect it when you need the power in an emergency situation.

Do you still have the Bluetti panels? If so, then you have a backup to the snow-covered roof panels. You have a backup to your backup. :-)

Kevin Tangney

I'm interested to hear more about the Linux machine you mention in the video. What was its purpose, what distro did you run, and how long was it in service? The UI screams 90s to me.

Chris Langridge

Great video David as always! I would love to buy your 8bit guy grey shirt in your video. I did not see it for purchase on your website.

Gotta say I'm flabberglasted by that "emergency stash" including a gun. Only in USA, indeed. But of course I don't believe for a second David is another gun-freak of those... I'm just deploring the necessity over there in the "land of the free and the brave". Gun issues aside, David's solar power rig is very interesting. And if I understand correctly, he can power his house either by city power grid OR solar power but NOT both at the same time?

Hugo Cardozo

The need for the gun in emergency situations sums up so much about the USA. News channels in Europe have had to explain the concept of school "active shooter drills" because not only do we not have those drills but don't even know they would be needed. Sure people are shot with guns in Europe but schools in Europe may as well have drills to prepare for asteroids crashing down since that's more likely than a gunman turning up to shoot all the kids.

Richard Bevan