by Al Christensen | Mar 3, 2023 | Solar Power
CRAIG SHACKELFORD has been into electronics since he was a child. He started using ham radios when he was 13, graduated college with an electrical engineering degree, and worked for a major electronics company. He decided corporate life wasn’t for him. Now Craig is...
by Al Christensen | Feb 13, 2023 | Build-Outs, Electrical, Gatherings, Heating-Insulation, Mental Health, Minivan, Organization & Storage, RVs, Skoolies, Solar Power, Supplies
IF YOU’VE EVER BEEN TO A GATHERING OF NOMADS you know there are always people who need a little help with something. A repair, an addition, a modification, some troubleshooting, just an extra pair of hands… It was at such a gathering that some people who wish to...
by Al Christensen | Nov 26, 2022 | Boondocking, Solar Power
WE TEND TO PREACH THE GOSPEL OF SOLAR POWER around here. If you’re going to use electricity, it’s the easiest, cheapest way to get it. As long as you have sunshine. Oh. Yeah. Sunshine. That’s a less common commodity in some places. Take a look at the map above showing...
by Al Christensen | Jun 20, 2022 | Solar Power, Staying Cool or Warm
UP UNTIL THE LATTER HALF OF THE 20TH CENTURY, our ancestors (and some of us old farts who’ve been around since the discovery of dirt) lived without air conditioning. The first air conditioner was probably the one installed in the Rivloi Theater, in New York City, in...
by Al Christensen | Jun 18, 2022 | Solar Power, Staying Clean
NASA ANNOUNCED its InSight lander will run out of power in a few months because its solar panels have become covered with many years of Martian dust. Meanwhile, my solar panel is covered with many days of New Mexico dust and fire ash. Cleanliness is next to...
by Al Christensen | May 24, 2022 | Budget, Solar Power
AS IF YOU NEEDED MORE ECONOMIC BAD NEWS, solar panel prices might jump soon, according to a report from CNN: In March, the US Department of Commerce opened an investigation to determine if four countries that supply the US with solar panels — Cambodia, Malaysia,...
by Bob | May 4, 2022 | Electrical, Solar Power
THIS IS MY REVIEW of the Bluetti AC200MAX Expandable Power Station. The AC200MAX is the upgrade of the AC200P, correcting some of its shortcomings. It has a massive 2,048 Watt hour LiFePo4 battery rated for 3,500+ life cycles to 80%. Not only that, the system can be...
by Al Christensen | Mar 21, 2022 | Solar Power
Glass, brittle photovoltaic wafers, thin plastic backing, and an aluminum frame. It all seems so… fragile. I mean, it’s a far cry from steel and stone, so it’s no wonder people are concerned about the durability of their solar panels. Well, let’s get the most common...
