From the monthly archives:

July 2018

Solar Ammo Can Disconnect Switch

July 26, 2018

On the original Solar Ammo Can project, I got a few questions about a battery Disconnect Switch. “Don’t we need one?” Well, the answer is NO, but let’s discuss this deeper. Many battery chargers can become a slow drain on a battery if they are left permanently connected, but are NOT powered up. That’s not […]

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DIY Home Automation Controller for Electric Car Charging

July 22, 2018

Although most electric vehicles have some sort of a timer feature available, they are often simple or have poor user interfaces. Since I was already using a Samsung SmartThings home automation system, I was wondering why not control my electric car charging with my automation system? I set to work on the project. At it’s […]

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Remote Control Electric Car Charging! (Proof of Concept)

July 14, 2018

The other day, a friend of mine posted his “latest gadget” – It was a box containing a basic mechanical timer and a hacked ON/OFF remote. The idea was to have some control over the basic EVSE (electric car charging station) for his car. Mostly, he wanted it to turn off automatically after a certain […]

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Solar Monitoring

July 9, 2018

I LOVE my garage solar array! The only thing I don’t like is the fact that I can’t see how much power it’s making RIGHT NOW! Sure, I have software which gives me TONS of info about the system, but it requires a computer or smart phone, internet access, and username and password. Can’t I […]

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June 2018 Solar Savings

July 6, 2018

I’m weird. I know it. I look FORWARD to getting my electric bill. On the other hand, it’s gotten much easier to take knowing that it’s most likely that the power company OWES ME! In this month’s electric bill, not only did I NOT have to pay, but the electric utility owes me $18.07. That’s […]

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