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Just a comment on the gas mileage. Yesterday, from Tucson to Deming, 15.68mpg in my 2016 NV3500. Now that was at 62mph on cruise control. But I have three solar panels and fan housing on the roof. We get about 12mpg in town. I have nothing but time, so driving slow, cranking the tunes is...

Update: It took exactly 3.25kw for the nine hours of air conditioning (on eco mode at 75F), so I figure, with the inverter inefficiency and more fudge, at least 500w an hour (with a 70w fan blowing on him). If he doesnt run the a/c at all after the sun sets, his system (1800w of panels, 225ah...

What we ended up doing after numerous calls and inquiries is just insuring the vans like regular vehicles and have renter's insurance cover the contents (replacement value). It did require 2 different insurers-Geico for the vans and trailer and a USAA rental policy. Geico won't write a...

Hmmm. I noticed that on some 24v inverters that they have the option to start a generator if the voltage goes too low. Maybe we need to investigate that, but I have no idea where to start. It's starting to get mighty complicated.

Paying rent=paying mortgage=paying van (home) payment. We're gonna pay one way or another. It would be nice if we could afford to own our home free and clear. But we ain't in that position. We have enough fixed income to make the van payments (at 3% interest) easily. Plus rent where we were...

B and C, It's four 225ah six volt batteries. Currently we have them in a 12v bank, but will be rewiring it into a 24v bank. Thats still 450ah, right, or not? I've only worked with 12v systems so far. So far I've missed a lot of details, I'm so glad I asked! But since the batteries are already...

Okay, I just reset the wattsup with the unit until 2100 tonight as we have grid power in our plave. I have the a/c set at "eco"and 75F. I'll report my results when I have them. Unfortunately, my son would not be willing to live with a smaller unit. Especially when Mumsy comes to visit and...

I noticed that the Victron 100/30 will do up to 880w of panels at 24v. So if I used two charge controllers instead of one, his system can be up to about 1800watts of panels. Let's work on that supposition? Ted

I'm not understanding how I only have 100ah available with a 450ah battery bank (four 6 volt batteries) at 24volts. I thought I would have 225ah available. But maybe if he pre-chills the cabin down when there's plenty of sun, would that help. Also, now my question is, will such a high rate of...

Duplicate post, sorry

Wow, Malamute, thank you! I guess I didn't run it long enough! I thought those numbers were too good to be true. After four minutes, the compressor did kick in and the a/c consumption went up to about 900watts. Bummer! Using the above numbers, with a 25% fudge factor for the inverter, that...

I don't know about SNAP, but have worked with plenty of people on Medicaid. As far as being out of state, theoretically you're supposed to notify your Medicaid provider when you're gone for 30 days or more at a time. Notice that I said "theoretically ". But many Medicare/ Medicaid plans now...

I'm in the middle of planning my son's solar system for his cabin.  I'm giving him our older 450ah (will be 24v) battery bank. He'll be working nights and is where the days are in the high 90s to low 100s, with cool nights (down into the 70s and 60s). So he needs air conditioning to sleep during...

Apply to other lenders, they all have different policies. When we bought our first commercial van (Nissan NV), USAA Federal bank financed the van. When we bought our second van, they changed the policy to no longer financing commercial vehicles for private owners. Navy Fed wouldn't finance a...

We've not had any problems getting routine service from Florida to AZ for our vans. But then again, we've never needed anything done EXCEPT routine service. Seven years, no problems. Any dealership has done the few recalls over the years. And we live in BFE. There's a reason for the 5 year...

Don't discount out of hand using local real estate agents in your search for land. My son found land that wasn't on the MLS, 40+ acres for $43k. Within city limits. Now, he cannot ever put electricity for multiple reasons, but that's not a problem since he's gonna put in solar. And if he wants...

This is the "game room" (the view from the front porch)

Photos of shed conversion:

I like the idea of two arrays, Jim, especially keeping one of them at 12v for the fridge and other low voltage essentials. I worry about my son ruining the whole bunch of batteries at once and two arrays would reduce the cost for when my he does trash the first set. He is pretty clueless as...

My son bought some land where there are no utilities available.  He's putting in a tuffshed barn to turn into a tiny house and is planning to put in a solar system that will run everything, including his desktop computer, 12v fridge, and a 12,000btu a/c (need that in Southern New Mexico) .  Of...