Eat more kolatches

 I see this post was not nearly as amusing as intended.  I neglected to get the content published.  I'll have to try to bring it back from memory.

Trying to keep the floors free of debris seems a never ending task.  Stuff is tracked in every time I enter the house.  Counter intuitively, it seems more is tracked in than is tracked out.  The obvious solution is to just ignore.  A fine solution.  If I were willing to always wear shoes.  Which I am not.  The debris is painful to walk on barefoot.  Sweep every few weeks?  That's what I've been doing.  I deem too time consuming.

A few days ago, I made a kolache run to La Grange and Ellinger.  As usual, as I consumed the kolaches, I tossed packaging on the floor by the wood burning stove.  To be later tossed in the stove to contribute heat.  While walking around barefoot, I found the styrofoam trays that held the kolaches made for comfortable walking.  Perhaps a solution to the debris problem?  BUT, what happens when debris begins to build up on the styrofoam?  It gets pressed into the foam, is immobilized and makes walking more comfortable!  AND, when the foam trays are eventually picked up and tossed in the stove, much of the debris is embedded in the foam and goes with it into the fire.  The sweeping task is entirely eliminated!  IF I eat enough kolaches.

 

Comng to terms with societal demands

 I'm coming to see the need/benefit of regularly scheduled dish washing and kitchen cleaning.  "Every few weeks" has just not worked well for me.  I am having trouble dealing with the guilt of not performing on schedule.  Now, I'm thinking "every Christmas" might work.

30+ mph winds night of 12/13-14

 https://photos.app.goo.gl/e2Li6tQKRa7jhUfr8

 

Later in the day.... I've done a cursory inspection of all.  Several wirenut AC connections were pulled loose which resulted in at least two tripped breakers.  There was no damage to E/W panels (on N/S rails) if the panels were wired to across the rail panels.  Some were not.  "I'll come back later and fix that right".

 So, this experience was yet another reason favor E/W panels.

I do need to go over the entire system with a DC clamp on amp meter to look for problems.   To make sure all panels are passing current.

Without fixing all the minor problems, I'm already back near expected production.

 

The cost of roof top PV

 https://texassolarguys.com/solar-reroof/

 At least $140/panel to put a new roof under installed roof top panels. Excluding the cost of the roof.

Cost of DIY ground mount can be less than $100/panel.   "Professional" installs of roof top PV is at least $600/panel.

12/23/2020

Here is a thought that has come to me recently.  My first PV expenditures were for three professionally installed roof top projects.; one is now about ten years old.  Based on initial projections by the installers, I should be near recovering the cost; payback periods were 10-14 years.  BUT those projections were made based on full retail electric values of about $.12/kwh and those values increasing annually.  The fact is that electric rates have been declining and are expected to continue to decline as wind and PV push the more expensive coal and natural gas out of the market.  ALSO, I am now selling all the production from those early projects for $.06/kwh.  About half the initial projections.  So, my payback for those projects is probably about 30 years.  That is about 10 years longer than the life expectancy of the components.  I guess I could argue that the projects were about half paid before I started accepting the reduced rates; payback period might be about 5 years for the early  period plus about 15 years for the lower rate period.  At any rate, by getting into the compensated power production business, I have reduced the value of my early projects.

Video WELL worth viewing

https://twitter.com/co_tesla/status/1337403374400983040

 TSLA value, over time, compared to other auto makers.

 

Background here:

 https://www.teslarati.com/tesla-tsla-fundamental-difference-wall-st-competitors/

A "bubble"?  Certainly.  "Sustainable"?  Maybe.

By virtue of trading (attempting to sell high, then buy lower) rather than buying and holding, I own only about the same amount of TSLA stock that I owned in 2013.  I GREATLY regret the trading.  Except for my very first TSLA transactions, I have ingloriously failed to "buy low and sell high".

 i see parallels between Tesla/Musk and Panam/Tripp:

 https://www.panam.org/about/606-across-the-pacific-film

If life was easy

 EVERYONE would have one.

Free food

 About 10:30, I was walking back to the house from a minor work session on the new project across the road.  A school bus slowly approached me from the rear.  Heading toward Dale.  Went past slowly, then backed up to me.  Driver opened the door.  I asked: "Do I look like a student?".  "No, I have some free food for you".  There were a few small children aboard; one handed me a plastic grocery bag full of stuff.  Had I had my wits about me, I would have explained that I was not in need and suggested they give to someone in need.  But, I just took it.

On opening the bag, I found what appeared to be three breakfasts with three each of about six items.  Three no fat chocolate milk half pints.  Three green apples.  Assorted packaged foods.  Seemingly, the school district is feeding kids breakfasts on the busses.  Three extras today.

 I can find no villains here.  Other than the welfare system.  Better to give the food to someone not needy than to have it eventually tossed. 

A bit later:  I devoted myself to eating one of each item for lunch.  I think the package was for both breakfast and lunch.  Too much food for a single meal for a child. Contents:

small container of apple juice

foil bag of about six frozen chicken nuggets

1/2 pint of chocolate skim milk.  The chocolate partially offsets the skim

a Granny Smith apple

bag of small carrot pieces

bag of Eggo pancake bites, "blueberry flavored"

small box of raisins

 

The case for an open source microinverter design

My target is installing PV that allows me to make back my investment in five or fewer years when I'm paid about $.06/kwh.

I've found that inverter manufacturers seem to have very little interest in driving down costs.  They are more interested in maximizing their sales and protecting their customer base.

I've had very good experience installing obsolete Enphase inverters that are being liquidated.  The Enphase M215/M250 units are very reliable.  Near bullet proof.

The only flaw I've noticed is the horribly and unnecessarily expensive AC cabling which may be 1/4 to 1/3 of the total inverter cost.

 The old Enphase units "just work" when supplied a grid signal and DC power from PV panels.  A discouraging trend is for manufacturers to make their inverters work only after some communication with a gateway.  This is the case with newer Enphase IQ7s and a ABB inverter I've been attempting to test:

 https://www.energysage.com/solar-inverters/abb/5/micro-03-i-outd-us-208/

Though the DC input connectors are standard (MC-4), each manufacturer uses non-standard and proprietary AC connectors.  Needlessly.  Pointlessly other than to prevent mixing of inverters from more than one source.

We need an open source design that minimizes costs.

1940 census - my father's family

FamilySearch.org just notified me that this record is available.

 https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-L9MY-HHB8?i=7&personaUrl=%2Fark%3A%2F61903%2F1%3A1%3AKWNR-45V

The family was emerging from The Great Depression and was about to undergo additional trials and disruption.

 My father, age 21, is living at home, a rent house on the Arkansas side of Texarkana only a few blocks east of downtown.  He was working as a shoe salesman for the Gus Kennedy Shoe Store in downtown Texarkana.  I was thinking the shoe store was on the Texas side, which has a larger commercial district, but a little googling reveals that it was on the Arkansas side.  My father likely walked to work; it would have been just a few blocks.  As a child following the war, I remember being taken, introduced, and "shown off" to my father's much respected former employer at the shoe store.  I see Gus Kennedy Jr operated the store long after the passing of his father.

My Aunt Alice was living at home again after having spent her high school years in Junction  Texas living with her aunt and uncle.  Her namesake Aunt Alice McKemie Patterson, offered to host her for those years to lessen the financial burden of the Depression.

My Uncle Gould, oldest of the children, was missing from the family home.  He was a radio personality for Dallas radio stations prior to the war.

My Uncle Ernest had Down's Syndrome; my grandparents cared for him as long as they were able.  For about twenty years following this census.

My grandfather is listed as a farmer though he lived just a few blocks from downtown Texarkana.  He, and the rest of the family, were developing a ~200 acre farm about 20 miles west; they lived part time at both locations.  The farm was soon to be taken by the US Army:

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_River_Army_Depot

The government taking of private property was very common early in the war; patriotism dictated little resistance by the property owners.  Typically, owners were promised return of the property at such time that the government no longer had a need/use.  Just a couple of many Texas examples: Matagorda Island and Fort Hood.

Prior to the 1940 census, my grandfather was mostly employed as a "drummer" or manufacturer's rep.  He would travel his large area by train and by car calling on retailers with dry good samples and make sales.  He also worked as a "land man".  Acquiring mineral leases to sell to wildcatters.

My father was soon to enlist in the US Army.  My mother traveled to California to marry in March 1942; my father had enlisted a month or so before Pearl Harbor.  My October 1943 birth certificate lists my father's employment as attending Officer's Candidate School.  The story is that they met while he was traveling down Moores Lane northwest of Texarkana and stopped to buy some figs which my mother was selling at roadside.  That could have been ~5 years prior to the census.

Presidential election not over?

There seems to be much that the liberal media is not telling us.

 https://drive.google.com/file/d/1y5ybRSwDyATwRyNVvSnAe4KRo1Nlk5yw/view?usp=sharing

https://www.citizenfreepress.com/breaking/alan-dershowitz-discusses-election-lawsuits-with-john-solomon/

 

Medal of Honor

 This inspired by a CBS Full Measure story aired 11/8/2020.

My grandmother was very proud through out her life of her status as a "Real Daughter of the Confederacy".  A status awarded by United Daughters of the Confederacy.  Membership in UDC requires an ancestor who provided Confederate service.  "Real Daughters" are those whose fathers provided that service.

My grandmother is a daughter of Confederate veteran Whitfield Roger Taylor (1841-1899).  In the 1930s, my great grandmother obtained a Confederate Widow's Pension.   From Arkansas, as I recall.  She was quite a bit younger than Whitfield and married after the war, in 1885.  At age 37, she was left a widow with seven children.  Because my great grandmother was born after the war, in 1867, Real Daughters were relatively rare during my grandmother's life time.

Whitfield's brother, Ricard, received a very early Congressional Metal of Honor for his yankee service in the war described only as "capturing the flag".  At least that is the only description I have found.  Full Measure tells us that a Medal of Honor Museum is being built.  I hope to eventually learn more of Richard Taylor via that facility.   I guess Richard would be my great grand uncle.  Uncle to my grandmother.  Maybe it is just "grand uncle".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Medal_of_Honor_Museum 

BTW, I consider "Full Measure" to be one of the VERY few network newsy shows worth watching.  Full Measure exposes much media bias.  To stay on the air in the environment of liberal control, they have to do that in a circumspect way rather than by just stating the obvious.

 11/15/2020

I just learned through FamilySearch.org that my grandmother (above) is the 9th great granddaughter of a Mayflower passenger.  That, through her mother, wife of Whitfield, Sara Cordelia Southerland.  The passenger is Richard Warren, born about 1578 died 1628.

This link MAY work:

https://www.familysearch.org/campaign/mayflower?ancestor_pid_1=KXML-7XC&et_cid=1817225&et_rid=160901819&linkid=CTA&cid=em-brc-10035

 

No Comment

Cabin / Tiny House Shopping resumes

 

http://creativelivingsolutions.com/

 http://tinyhousetexas.com/

 

http://arnoldcustombuilders.com

 

The two pictured have the attractive to me high decks.  I have been looking into building such a deck attached to the new shed under which I expect to place the cabin but that it is a ~$20k choice.  The extra cost of the deck/porch in the upper photo is ~$12k.  As shown, that is a $90k-$100k unit.  I'll try to talk to Arnold about the structure in the lower photo.

Found the Arnold floorplan:

 https://cdn.hibuwebsites.com/08b0c476df4f4dab8abb1eda3ac7a70d/files/uploaded/Shelbi-Layout%281%29.pdf

 

 http://www.rrcathens.com/platinumcottages.html

 

https://photos.app.goo.gl/8zLLK2hdHvorDfcWA

 

11/9/2020

I received a quote on the Arnold unit pictured. 8'x28' with top deck and two small lofts.  $76.2k.  Plus, I imagine, state sales tax.  I had been hoping for $40k-$50k.  Otherwise, quite attractive.  Mini-split heating/cooling, two burner induction cook top, probably 10kw demand hot water.

11/24/2020

Homeless shelter:

https://www.palletshelter.com/

 

Why are we dealing with a time change today?

 Idiot politicians.  Poorly educated voters.

Anti-EV FUD

 This supplied to me by a relative:

 https://youtu.be/Lid-ipRCcg8

 

 Descriptions were "Smart Guy!", "Genius"

Of course, hauling around a gasoline powered generator is about the stupidest thing an EV driver could do, especially a Tesla where good, fast, cheap,and safe charging opportunities now abound.

UPC Universal Product Code

 Quite a few years ago I bought or registered a manufacturer's UPC number.  That gave me about 5 digits worth of  product codes I could use.  I believe my manufacturer's number was about 5 digits also.  Cost was nominal, $50 or $100, for lifetime registration.   I used 10-20 codes for my various products, 16 oz Shelled Cream Peas, 16 oz  Shelled Blackeye Peas, 10 oz Washed Spinach, 16 oz Blackberry Jelly, etc.  Anything sold to a grocery store in printed packaging.

I believe I've read that they have run out of manufacturer numbers.  I had long considered trying to share my unused product codes since I had used a tiny fraction of the entire space available under my manufacturer's number.

I just received a solicitation to buy my UPC for $100 along with a $100 check.  "We've tried to reach you by telephone".  I am returning the check and supplying my email address.

A little googling reveals that there are businesses selling individual product codes for near $100.  I assume they have some system for doling out thousands of product codes from a single manufacturer.

If any reader here has an unused UPC manufacturer number, it might be worth money.  Almost certainly more than $100.

Where will it end?

 https://www.cbsnews.com/news/jerry-jeff-walker-dies-at-78-singer-songwriter-mr-bojangles/

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVUGCdTVpug

 Buddy Holly.  Roy Orbison.   Guy Clark.  Townes Van Zandt.  Steve Fromholtz. Allen Damron.

 

Conversion to one microinverter per pair of panels.

 

I just finished this, my 3rd, converted rail.  It now has 18 pair of panels and 18 microinverters.  Before, it had about 14 pair of panels and 28 microinverters.  The rail had not been fully populated because I ran out of inverter cabling.  The cable had about four splices where I had used all available small pieces of cable.  The "floor sweepings".  Due to lack of supply of cheap microinverters, I had expected that to be my last use of microinverters; I've since been using the cheaper but much more troublesome string inverters.

I have at least two rails of 19 pair of panels still to convert.  I estimate that I am paying about a 10% penalty in lost energy harvesting by doing the conversions.  At mid-day, the shared inverters tend to get confused and stop working briefly.

The run length limit of cable is 17 microinverters.  For longer rails, I have been feeding the cable run from both ends by running 14 ga romex to the distant end.   The addition of the 14 ga should allow a string of about 30 inverters which, so far, is my maximum rail length.

My new project will have about ten rails each with 25+ pair of panels.  I do not yet have a firm inverter candidate for that project so the first rail will almost certainly use the recycled/repurposed microinverters I have freed up with these conversions.  Right now, it looks like I will have less than two rails worth of the recycled/repurposed inverters.  To free up more microinverters I can start converting single face rails to two face.  That will entail reorienting the rails to north/south.  That is, changing rail locations.

Speaking of the Dead

 http://www.caldwellcountyhistoricalcommission.org/speakingofthedead.html

Luck has not been kind to this wonderful Halloween season annual event.

Last year, 2019, it was held indoors, in the library, because of wet conditions in the cemetery.

This year, it has been canceled due to the pandemic.  The cancellation notice seems to have not yet made it to the website.  It has been publicized that stories covered in past events will be published on the website.  Apparently, not yet.  Stay tuned.

The traditional event has small groups gathering at some central point in the cemetery, then walking a route where actors portraying the persons interred present a biography of the subjects.  MANY historic figures are in the cemetery.

 

Contrition

 It occurs to me that Trump's Covid19 infection might give him a chance in the coming election.

"I've been wrong, I now recognize.  I am a reformed person and can become a better President if given the chance."

"I'll no longer give the appearance of an ignorant buffoon.  Give me the chance to save the country from my wild eyed liberal/commie opponent who will almost certainly destroy the country if given the chance."

New electric service project

New project will be 10 rails.  Pictured is one rail under construction; not at new site.

 

My electric provider, Bluebonnet Electric Coop, just published the rate that they will pay for "customer production" for 2021.  It is $.060631/kwh.  For 2020, it was $.0645.  So a reduction of about 5%.  For 2019, the rate was a bit less than for 2020.

So, off I go.  Planning to install new electric service for the sole purpose of feeding the grid.  It will be a 50kva transformer for full 200 amp 240vac split phase service.  Cost will be about $7k to get power to main breaker boxes.

My most recent iteration on two faced rails has been three joints of used oil field 2 3/8" pipe.  Total rail length is near 100'.  A 4th pipe joint is needed to cut into posts to support the rail.  A rail can support up to 30 panels facing each direction.  For string inverters, the panels are divided into four strings of up to 15 panels each.  Two east strings and two west.  Pairs of strings, one E and one W are combined at the rail.  A pair of wires then carry power to the inverter for each pair of panel strings.

The most cost effective string inverter currently seems to be the old SMA/SunnyBoy 4kw transformer type.  Cost about $600.  Four strings, 2E and 2W, of 12 panels seems to be enough to keep the 4kw inverter busy.  So, I plan to initially install 4 strings of 12 or 13 panels on each rail but leave room to add up to 2 panels to each string.  I also plan wiring that will allow using two inverters per rail.

So, I'm planning 10 rails with 10 4kw string inverters. 

Cost of materials for each rail:

1) four joints of pipe @ $20 = $80

2) 1 4kw inverter $600

3) 52 250w 60 cell PV panels @ $45 = $2340

4) 400' of two conductor 10ga DC wire @ $.40 = $160

So, about $3200 per rail or $32k for all ten.

Total project cost might be $45k excluding my labor.

Since I've had similar rails in production for several months, I should be able to come up with a pretty good average energy production estimate.  September 2020 was not a particularly good sun month and the production average for a 48 panel rail was about 30 kwh/day.  With several 40 kwh days.  So, 365 x 10 x 30 = 109500 kwh/year.  $6570/year.   A seven year pay back period if rates remain fairly stable.

Note that paying for the meter/transformer is a significant fraction of the cost.  I've been claiming that my pay back period for adding PV production to existing meters is about 5 years.  These cost estimates support that claim.

Note that there is significant risk of declining rates.  Utility scale PV installation costs are declining.  It seems such installations are now selling  energy as low as about $.02/kwh.   I believe Bluebonnet is able to offer as much as $.06 due to their transmission costs for the cheap west Texas wind and PV energy.

I will build the inverter shed and install wiring to allow adding  panels up to strings of 15.  Several possibilities: I can use two 4kw inverters per rail; I believe each inverter would produce no more than about 3kw.  Or, I might find more cost effective inverters around 3kw.  Or, I might find ~6kw two tracker inverters that are attractively priced.  All of those strategies would produce more energy per rail but might not be cost effective.

I've seen half rails of a pair of 15E and 15W strings produce about 2.5kw.  So, I would lose about 1kw by running a full rail of 60 panels into a single 4kw inverter.   OTOH, it would cost twice as much for inverters to get that 1kw.  So, I'll likely use rails of 52 or 56 panels.  Maybe even only 48.

For weed block, where the panels sit on the ground, I've been using used or scrap metal roofing material which is free.  I'm mostly able to drive my mower over that metal to keep weeds from shading panels.  I'm have trouble getting the material and priced new corrugated steel roofing.  Near $2/foot.  An additional cost of around $3/panel.

 10/6/2020

Charge from Bluebonnet for new meter/transformer was slightly less than $2k rather than the expected/quoted $4k+.  Other costs to get electricity flowing: an electrician to satisfy Bluebonnet and install disconnect and main breaker boxes.   $2k+.   Plus shed, $2k-$4k.

I haul panels sixty at a time.  So, about ten trips to fill the ten rails.  Once the transformer is in, I will need to try to haul about one load a week.   Maybe I should consider building a loading dock or ramp and buying a fork lift.

10/13/2020

Getting all rails staked out before I construct the first.  There will be 12 rails staked between the view point and the utility pole at the top of the hill.  I'll likely select the ten to be constructed.  South boundary fence is on left.  Many Christmas Trees on right will be removed.  North/south is slightly up hill from left to right not quite perpendicular to the fence; about 75-80 deg.

https://goo.gl/maps/RqAstVCSzDRa8izx7

Transformer and meter will be installed near the pole whose shadow is visible on the left of the map and is silhouetted against the sky in the photo.

10/14/2020

On ordering the needed inverters, I am informed that they are sold out.  So, the search for most cost effective inverters resumes.  With the conversion to one microinverter for a pair of panels on old rails, I will free up enough equipment to do one or two rails on the new project.

A test of using a more modern Enphase microinverter to serve four old 250w panels is planned.

Despite news of "rapidly declining" PV costs, much of the equipment remains astonishingly expensive.

10/20/2020

Bluebonnet decided their first cost estimate was correct.  So, near $5k for the transformer/meter, near $3k for a shed, maybe $1k for an electrician.  No doubt, other expenses also.  I'm about to get another load of oil field pipe.  $15 each for 40 plus ~$200 to haul.  Crappy pipe has to be welded because threads are rotted.  An additional cost of at least $20 per 3 joint rail.  No joy in trying to get a cheap surplus SolarEdge inverter to work without the "optimizers" that cost $50-$100 per panel.  Enphase and SolarEdge are the big players in the inverter game.  Neither seems eager to drive down costs.

11/1/2020

The new shed should  be completed today.  These photos from yesterday.

Wood stake in foreground will be location of new transformer pole which is in line with other poles.  Building will be 15 feet from power line.  Building will be 8' x 24'.  8' high on near side, 7' on far.  Two walls, left 8' and far 24'.  Breaker boxes will be on 8' wall and inverters on 24'.  Pine trees will be removed to allow for rails.

11/2/2020

New shed completed yesterday.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/UiuZ1Y9w1oamXVtTA

Some photos in the album have associated comments/explanations.

 

11/5/2020

Pole and transformer were installed this morning.  I added a few photos to the above album.  Breaker box not yet installed in the shed.

James welded up several rails for me.  As soon as I get some 120vac I'll start boring holes for rail posts.

3/4/2021

12 of 18 pallets were delivered today:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/kTJeEQgRs4Q35NuX9

Two and a half rails have been producing for a couple of months but I had run out of panels.

 

Sixth Emporia

 I just added my 6th Emporia energy/power monitoring system.

https://emporiaenergy.com/how-the-vue-energy-monitor-works/

My first five are "gen1"; "gen2" recently became available.   I just installed an 8 CT gen2. Initially, I've using 7 CTs.

I recommend as being very cheap as well as cost effective.  The "gen2" is offered with either 8 or 16 CTs.  The main box of each offers 16 CT connections.  So, you could buy one 8 CT version and one 16.  Then use more than 8 CTs on each.  Say 12 on each or 10 on one and 14 on the other.  This install was only about 1/2 day from start to working; that includes a lot of time searching for breakers and such.  The gen2 8CT is $110, gen2 16CT is $150.  I see they have some gen1 8CTs that are $85; they were priced at $100 so they are likely closing out.

https://shop.emporiaenergy.com/collections/emporia-products/products/gen-2-emporia-vue-whole-home-energy-monitor

CT == "current transformer".   Space permitting, a CT easily clamps around a AC wire and is plugged into the Emporia main box. One CT allows monitoring of current/power/energy on one wire.  The main box has both wifi and Bluetooth wireless connectivity.  The box is initially configured through Bluetooth with an app on a smart phone.  After configuration, the box continuously updates a cloud based data base through the wifi internet connection.  That data base can then be accessed from anywhere through the smart phone app.  Browser based access is planned but not currently available.

I recently received three new gen2 units and just installed one on the old meter / main breaker box at the old barn.  AKA "pool" or "PV shed".

For zoomable images:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/3PoQJRVSbKzudEyX8

This is a 15 kw transformer so production is limited to about that.  There are about 6 arrays of panels totaling about 100 that are now monitored.   The monitoring will allow me to better guess how much more can be added.  I THINK I'm near the limit so changes/additions will likely be converting to E/W rails.

 For trusted people who pledge not to mess with the configuration, I will supply my Emporia log on credentials.

Sept 2020 construction projects

The one hour work days seem to be over!

 https://photos.app.goo.gl/YhmKvFxxbMHaTkoi8

I'll be adding to that album as projects progress.

Instead of replacing, I decided to fix my 10' shredder so it has a fixed height rather than being hydraulically adjustable.  The lift mechanism involved wire cables that needed to be replaced. A successful fix!  I need to catch up on my shredding.

I have two newly constructed rails, one across the road and one near the house.  Each three joints of pipe, near 100' long.  I expect each rail to support 28E+28W panels and feed a 6kw transformerless Delta inverter.  The Deltas have failed to work on the panels I've been using with transformer inverters and these two new rails will be using panels that are touted to have no such trouble.

A new building, roof only, is going up over the guest house slab.  About 40'x70'.  There will be ~20' north of the slab which might be used for protected RV parking.

9/16/2020

Things go fast when rails are in place and other material is ready to use.  Over the time of two days, I have the two new rails partially populated and producing.  11 panel pairs on one rail and 9 on the other.  The really good news is that the different panels seem to be allowing the transformerless 6kw Delta inverters to work.  The Deltas are both cost effective and well suited to my needs.  I think each will support 26-27 panel pairs.   I have a little exposure to high wind since none of the new panels are well secured.  I have the choice of "doing it right" and  producing more power.  The choice I've made is obvious.  But, I hope to get everything secured in a few days.  I have the 20 pair producing and should have room for a total of at least 54 new pair.

In the afternoon:  I think I have 12 pair plus 11 pair installed and producing.  Started the securing task.  Two weeks ago, I would not have considered afternoon work.  So far, EVERY CanadianSolar panel in new shipment has had to have connector replacement.

9/16/2020

Shed project was completed yesterday.  I've NEVER put up a building which seemed "big enough" in the years following erection.  I may put a high deck in the "away from the brush" (west) section.  Something to shoot hogs from.  I see I can put a trailer under the west end as well as the north.  The height allows rain to blow all the way through; may have to do something about that.

The new Delta rail across the road is REALLY sweet.  A bit less than half the rail is producing near 3kw at times.  That's two combined strings of about 14 on one of the two trackers.  The new Delta rail near the house, not so much.  A shower induced an "isolation fault".  It took a day for it to straighten itself out, but is working now.  Will continue to populate it.

Strings are REALLY troublesome.  I found one bad new panel as I was adding to new rail.  It seems a good strategy is to measure short circuit current with a clamp on amp meter.  Comments solicited.   On strings, one bad panel screws the whole string and the bad one is difficult to find.   My two faced rails make checking panels difficult for both micro and string inverters.

9/19/2020

I'm out of panels for the Deltas.  I believe I have 14+9 pair of panels on one rail and 13+10 on the other.  Of the 8 strings, I have 2 not producing.  Still working on finding the problems.  I have at least two other string problems on older installations.

SO! All new projects near to stopping points.

9/20/2020

Two rats killed.  Three more strings working.  Still have a problem near the pool but that is $.03 electricity.  Total of 46 pair of panels producing on the two new rails.  Room for, I believe, 56 pair.  Production is near 4kw per rail for much of the day.  Might go over 5kw when/if all slots are populated.

Especially across the road, I'm hoping for a new production record of over 300 kwh.  With not perfect days, I've been doing ~280 kwh/day over there.

9/22/2020

Sadly/alarmingly/disappointingly, all transformerless inverters have been down for more than a day due to wet conditions.  The new Signature panels worked several days in dry conditions; that was a notable improvement over the Santan panels.  Not good enough, though.

Regrouping.  The only transformer string inverters that seem to be available in quantity are the SMA/SunnyBox 4kw.  So, I'm considering putting two on each rail even though I think 4kw capacity is more than can be used.  I plan to test a SMA 4kw with two strings: 14-15 E and 14-15W and see how much power might be output.  I'm not sure 15 panels will fit on half a rail but know that 14 will.  I have a few PVPowered transformer inverters that might be used but the specs indicate a voltage limit of about 13 panels.  The SMAs are spec'd for higher voltages.  I can consider dividing the rails into 15 and 13 panel strings; though that might lead to costly mistakes.

Old friend recalls 1973 motorcycle trip to Mexico City

 I sometimes reminisce about that trip we took to Mexico, me on the SuperHawk, you on the 2-stroke Kawasaki 750. There were some interesting episodes. 

We left Austin in October, on the coldest day of the year until then. Heading south to connect with the old Panamerican Highway, it started to rain at Reynosa. The further south we went, the harder it rained, but it warmed up a little. We spent the night at Tamazunchale, in a cheap hotel across the street from the bus station. At dinner the truck drivers at the next table began to regale us with baroque tales of spectacular road accidents. The next morning it was so foggy you could see the backs of the buses parked across the street, but not the fronts. Undeterred, we started up the mountain.

After a few times coming around the corner to find big rocks in the road, or big rocks falling from the cliffs through the clouds and fog onto the road, we figured out why there was no traffic. The truck and bus drivers knew more than we did. Coming to the first short straight and level stretch in many miles, I decided to dry off my front brake. I squeezed the brake handle, but nothing happened. i squeezed a little harder and the rusty spot in the cable came loose, the front wheel stopped turning and I went down. I had on a rain suit, leather jacket, good gloves and helmet. As I slid along on my back, I noticed the bike headed for the guard rail, and thought, "If it goes under the guard rail, there's about a 1500-foot drop." Then I thought, "If I go under the guard rail..." Both the bike and I stopped before we went over the side.

Neither I nor the bike was notably damaged. We rode on until we came to the big Pemex station at Ixmiquilpan, the top of the long climb up the eastern slope of the Sierra Madre. The gas station has a good sized restaurant which has a beautiful view on a clear day. That day the visibility was about 20 yards. We were the only customers in the big restaurant. We were soaking wet. I was covered in mud from my sliding excursion. You literally poured water out the the sleeve of your rain suit onto the floor. By and by a pretty young girl, maybe 15 or 16 came out to wait on us. She looked at us, held in the giggles as long as she could, but broke down and fled back to the kitchen. After a while we could see her and a woman looking through the window in the kitchen door. The girl came back out, collapsed in giggles again, fled, recovered, and finally kept it together long enough to take our orders.

Coming in to the outskirts of Mexico City traffic began to thicken. I was out in front, stopped at a red light, when I heard a couple of loud thumps. Turning back to see what was going on, I saw you methodically kicking the driver's door of a taxi that had been crowding you. The driver sat still and looked straight ahead, studiously avoiding eye contact.

In Mexico City we checked into the Hotel Yale, near the big train station. The neighborhood was pretty dicey, but the Yale was clean, cheap, safe, and had a walled parking area for the bikes.

Riding in the rain for a few days rusted the key into the SuperHawk's ignition lock, where it couldn't be removed. I figured it was okay, since the bikes were in the walled and locked enclosure. The next morning we found that kids playing in the parking enclosure had turned on the headlight and run down the battery. We walked a couple of miles to the only motorcycle shop I knew of in Mexico City to buy a new battery. There was a big burly Mexican there, with an impressive beard, working on a cool looking old motorcycle. A sign above his head read, in English and Spanish, "This is a 1937 Zundapp. It is not for sale, and I will not answer any questions."

You stood looking over his shoulder for a while, then said, "Making a wet clutch? I made one once..."

Soon you and the big Mexican were friends.

Heading back to Texas we stopped for the night in Matehuala, a dusty former mining town. Driving around looking for a cheap hotel I remembered, we passed some teenage boys standing beside a pile of dirt that had been dug out of a deep ditch along the side of the street. Wandering around looking for the hotel, we ended up driving by the boys again. They threw a few clods at us. After turning the next corner I didn't see you in the rear view mirror. Retracing our route, i came upon you standing beside the ditch. "Where are the boys?" I asked. "Down there," you replied, kicking a little dirt into the ditch.

We ate a bunch of flour tortillas and drank some beer at the bus station cafe, then walked around and came upon a nice big brightly lit bar. We went in and sat on bar stools. The back bar contained a line of bottles of different brands of tequila that was several feet wide. When we ordered shots, the bartender asked which brand. You indicated the leftmost. After finishing our shots, you indicated the bottle next in line and asked, "Have you ever had that brand?" "No." You ordered a couple of shots from that one. Then the next bottle was sampled, and so on, until I lost track.

How we made it back to the hotel is still a mystery to me.

Next day we made it through Monterrey, and onto the new highway north toward the border. When we came to one of the big cuts through a mountain for the new road, you said, "Let's take the old road."

It was narrow and twisty, and came out on a high cliff with a nice view of the setting sun. We got out the tamales we had bought in Monterrey and had dinner. Then you said, "We might as well smoke the rest of this dope before we hit the border." I am confident the statute of limitations has run on that criminal activity.

We started back down the mountain to the highway, turned a corner and found ourselves in the middle of a herd of cows crossing the road. You were in the lead. One panicked  cow just about charged into you, but you whacked her so hard on the nose she nearly went down on her knees. She stopped and turned away. Some benign influence similar to the one that got us back to the hotel the night before, led us safely through the herd of cattle.

We stopped for the night at Sabinas Hidalgo and checked into the hotel above the bus station, still feeling a little elevated. The desk clerk eyed us suspiciously, but took us down the hallway to the room. There were two beds. I tossed my helmet onto the one next to the window, to claim it. Laughing merrily, you picked me up and bounced me off the wall onto the other bed. The desk clerk was last seen retreating rapidly down the hallway.

After we made it through the border and the checkpoint a little ways north of Laredo, you fell in behind a big new Chevrolet full of people from Mexico, and disappeared over the horizon at about 95 mile per hour.

Linda, the kids and I used to head to Mexico between Christmas and New Years. A few months after the motorcycle trip we stopped at the Ixmiquilpan Pemex station in our big red Pontiac. It was a beautiful day. We were looking forward to a good lunch and a nice view. We went in and took seats. The same young girl came out. She looked at Linda, checked out the kids, and turned her glance to me. She recognized me as the mud covered motorcyclist, broke into giggles and fled to the kitchen. Linda turned to me and said, "I'm sure this is going to be an interesting story."

....at least that's the way I remember it.

Large test of one East plus one West facing panel on a single micro inverter

                                                     Rail1 on left, then Rail2 and Rail3

       Two panels hooked to one Enphase M215 via splitters; the west panel is propped up to allow photo.

        Small black plastic breaker box that has one breaker for each rail

        White stuff around breaker box is Emporia monitoring system.  That is supplying the data below.

         White 14ga romex will feed AC to the far end of string of drop cable.  

                                                  19 drops is a little beyond the limit of supplying AC from one end only.

                                       All three rails with the building that supplies some morning shade to Rail1

 I intend to post some daily energy harvesting data here on three rails, each with 19E panels and 19W panels.  Rail2 and Rail3 each have 38 microinverters, one for each panel.  Rail1 has been converted so 19 microinverters each serve two panels.  Rail1 gets some morning shade from a nearby building and some evening shade from Rail2.  Rail2 gets some morning shade from Rail1 and evening shade from Rail3.  Rail3 gets only morning shade from Rail2 and none from the west. 

Cost of the 1 panel 1 inverter units is about $110/panel.  Cost of the 2 panel 1 inverter unit is about  $79/panel.   After the conclusion of this test I expect to start converting Rail2 and Rail3 to 19 inverters each.  These conversions free up inverters and cabling for new installations.

Saturday Sept 5 was a mostly cloudy day with overall energy production about 60% of a good sunny day. 

Rail1        21.88 kwh 

Rail2        19.93 kwh

Rail3        24.32 kwh

Sunday Sept 6.  More sun than yesterday.  "Partly cloudy".  Maybe 80% of a good sunny day

Rail1        24.0 kwh

Rail2        22.66 kwh

Rail3        27.37 kwh

Monday Sept 7.  Pretty good sun! Maybe 90-95% of an all sun day.

Rail1        30.37 kwh

Rail2        29.27 kwh

Rail3        34.52 kwh

Tuesday Sept 8.   Fully overcast all day.  About 50% of a good day.

Rail1        19 .92 kwh

Rail2        16.71 kwh

Rail3        22.03 kwh

I'll likely call an end to the test after Tuesday's data.  Tuesday looks like cloudy all day.  The results are clear: The energy lost to a pair of E/W panels sharing an inverter is not significant; especially when ~40% hardware savings are considered.   One second power sampling does reveal that energy is lost when both panels get good sun.  For that reason, I believe the scheme will work best when panel slopes are steep.

Well.... one more day  Wednesday Sept 9 was cloudy and rainy all day. Maybe 30% of good day.

Rail1    11.18

Rail2    8.45

Rail3    12.55

I don't believe shading is the cause of low production on Rail2; I suspect one or more non functioning panels though I have no easy way to confirm.  The production on the converted Rail1 is about 10% lower than that of Rail3; that meets my expectations.

Here is a post after the 3rd rail was put in production about a year ago:

https://wmckemie.blogspot.com/2019/09/3rd-twofaced-rail.html

And another post dealing with the beginning of the 3 rail project:

https://wmckemie.blogspot.com/2019/07/first-new-project-on-across-road-meter.html

I put in the first rail, the one recently converted, not fully intending to add rails 2 and 3.

Donate to Kyle Rittenhouse

https://fightback.law/

https://www.freekyleusa.com/

Touring around Roswell

This a about as big a PV plant as I've seen.  Rows of single panels on rails, tracking from east to west.  A very large substation in the middle.

 https://goo.gl/maps/v1L7FGoR133jTTPD9

I happened upon it while on the way to visit Bitter Lake Wildlife Refuge:

https://www.fws.gov/refuge/bitter_lake/

Included in photo album:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/6bHtiWHAKMfrFgo17

is a much smaller plant just south of Roswell.  Probably less than 1000 60 cell panels, fixed facing south.

This was my second trip to Bottomless Lakes State Park.  The first, ill fated and in 1967, I completed about half a lap of the 7.7 mile road race course "Los Ochas Millas" (as it was advertised).  This trip, I did 2.5 laps letting the car do most of the driving.

Bottomless Lakes is a series of sinkhole lakes much like the ones in/near Santa Rosa also on the Pecos River but up stream.

See, also, photos of the Iron Cross memorial in Roswell:

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/german-pow-iron-cross

Robert Goddard moved to Roswell in 1930 to work on rockets:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_H._Goddard

This horrible day seems to roll around every year

 https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/statesman/obituary.aspx?n=marcia-jean-mason-mckemie&pid=159365684

A new PV production record?

 Can't be sure; have not been paying close attention.  BUT, net for 8/19/2020 according to Bluebonnet:

1) Across the Road:     305.34 kwh  ~$19

2) House                       178.69 kwh  ~$11

3) Barn/Pool                   56.51 kwh   ~$1.50

The first two are worth $.0645/kwh to me; the third, only about $.03.  Because of the lower value, I have been concentrating on increasing the first two.  The house has significant demand in this hot weather; estimated to be about -30-40 kwh.

I estimate the capacity of the three transformers to be about 400 kwh/day, about 300 kwh/day, and about 150 kwh/day.  I imagine average production is 70-80% of this unusually good day.

Los Ocho Millas

In my early racing days, I almost ran this race.  I believe my first race car was a MGA Twin Cam.  I bought the car out of Indiana with a blown engine.  "Blown" engines were very common with Twin Cams which were notorious for "sucking valves".  Without trying to resurrect the Twin Cam engine, I fitted a push rod MGA engine.  Since the fancy Dunlop four wheel disk brakes were an option on common MGAs, the car qualified for SCCA F Production class.  Standard for common MGAs were Girling disk brakes on the front and drum brakes on the rear.  Associated with the Dunlop brakes were very heavy knockoff wheels, not the common  and lighter wire wheels but disk steel.

A college friend and I pulled it from Austin to Roswell with my old rusted out 1956 Pontiac station wagon.  That car also from Indiana where road salt had induced severe rust; I think I paid $200 for it.  I had made some progress holding things together and limiting air circulation by applying galvanized sheet metal patches with sheet metal screws.  

As the name implies, it is an 8 mile course so parts of it were quite some distance from the pit area.  I rolled the car about half way through my first practice first lap.  Uninjured, we loaded back on the trailer and came home.

I think it must have been 1967 since I remember the fatal accident where a fellow racer/doctor used a pen to perform a tracheotomy on the injured driver who ultimately died at the hospital.  I was still at least a year from being out of college.

Needless to say, my parents, especially my mother, became quite apprehensive about my developing racing hobby.

I believe the car was totaled; I don't recall what became of it.  But the "tuned" engine and transmission (close ratio gearing) ended up in my first Elva Courier.

 https://digital.olivesoftware.com/Olive/ODN/RoswellDailyRecord/shared/ShowArticle.aspx?doc=RSWDL%2F2020%2F03%2F08&entity=Ar01301&sk=16AA2312&mode=text

https://hooniverse.com/forgotten-racetrack-las-ochas-millas-bottomless-lakes-state-park/

https://www.racingsportscars.com/track/Bottomless%20Lakes.html

Those college years were hectic.  Go to class on Friday.  Drive all night Friday night to a race weekend.   150-500 miles. Get back home in the early Monday morning hours.  Make classes Monday.  Work nights the rest of the week preparing for the next race.  That's why it took me 6 years to get a degree.

One memorable long week end, probably the 4th of July, involved going to Ponca City Oklahoma maybe Thursday night, running a race there on Saturday, then pulling to Galveston all Saturday night.  With a stop in Dallas to get some parts from a fellow racer.  Then running a race in Galveston Monday after working on the car and getting in some practice on Sunday. 

Here is another interesting 60s era sports car racing site:

http://www.tamsoldracecarsite.net/index.html#Email

Racing Sports Cars is striving to document the era; data is frequently added.

https://www.racingsportscars.com/

Bluebonnet bill, 8/18/2020

 Credit for the month was $633 with accumulated credit of $2621.  Bluebonnet threatened to send me payment whenever accumulated credit reaches $1k.  But, they have not.  My monthly credits have been $600-$700 for four months.  I have not been making great strides in increasing production.  Though work and planning continues.  I did bring one more rail into production a couple of weeks ago and it should have a larger effect on the current billing period than the past.

I eagerly await the announcement of the new rate Bluebonnet will be paying for the next 12 months.  Current rate is $.0645/kwh.  If new rate is above $.06, I will proceed with plans for a new 50kw meter/transformer.  I will plan to have my accumulated credit applied to the cost of the new meter/transformer; I think that will be about $5k.

Downward spiral

 https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/california-set-pass-nations-first-wealth-tax-targeting-ultra-rich

https://www.teslarati.com/elon-musk-bernie-sanders-one-time-tax/

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8631063/Hollywood-Apocalypse-rich-famous-fleeing-droves.html

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8635857/Why-NYC-WONT-survive-coronavirus-Entrepreneur-outlines-city-forever-changed.html

https://californiaglobe.com/section-2/california-dems-wealth-tax-follows-people-who-move-out-of-the-state/

UAE position

 A good synopsis of the current UAE situation.

https://www.debka.com/the-uae-israel-normalization-deal-upends-rigid-arab-conventions-on-mid-east-peace/

Another take on E/W panels

https://s93.photobucket.com/user/bcroe/library/ENERGY%20CONSERVATION/East%20West%20Facing%20Solar%20Array?sort=6&page=1

VERY nice compared to mine.  Nice and level with easy grass/weed control.  Though I imagine pretty costly with very high labor and material content.

8/1/2020

I think I'll use this post to expand on my love affair with E/W steeply sloping two faced rails.  I've had to go over the points several times to different people/groups.

I first started using single face rails, not steeply sloping, with rather random orientations.  Mainly pointed away from shading.  I've long been aware that almost any pointing direction can give 90+% of total energy as optimal pointing.   I had considered N/S rails with E panels on one side and W on the other.  I first rejected the idea because of the limited access to the microinverters which hang from the rails.  But, finally, I was swayed by the near half cost of mounting.  Using used oil well pipe, about $20 worth will support 9-10 panels on one side.  OR 18-20 panels on both sides.  So, my ground mounts can cost as little as about $1/panel.  A negative: since the lower ends of the panels sit on the ground,  the strings of panels never look straight due to ground surface variations.  I accept that negative as a good cost trade off.

I was further swayed by the need to "flatten my peak".  Even though E or W panels produce less energy than S panels, the sum of one E plus one W is considerably more than one S.  AND the through the day power curve is significantly flatter.   I typically produce more than 80% of the peak for about 9 hours during the summer.   If the peak is near the capacity of a transformer (or wiring to the transformer), total energy production capacity is increased with E/W panels.  That is, E/W panels maximize the use of the transformer and the wiring between transformer and panels.

In the good old days when Enphase M215s were going for $35 plus $15 for cable, my installed costs were about $110 per 245-250w panel.  The M125s disappeared from the market and I was forced to consider string inverters which are much more difficult to install and much more prone to "getting working right" problems.  But, the potential is for cost to be as low as about $15/panel.  That puts my cost per panel down as low as about $70 even considering the increased wiring cost for strings.  Working with string inverters and E/W panels illuminated the possibility of inverters doing "double duty".  That is using near the full inverter capacity on two sets of panels.  Producing from E panels in the mornings and the same inverter producing from W panels in the afternoons. 

A single E or W panel can be expected to produce about 1 kwh on a good day.  Under similar conditions, an optimally pointed S panel might produce 1.1-1.2 kwh.  Observed average day (over several weeks over about 100 panels) is about .7 kwh/panel/day for string inverters and .85 kwh/panel/day for M215 micro inverters.

I have recently failed to produce similar "double duty" results from micro inverters.  That is, having a single micro inverter serving both one E panel and one W.  Preliminary results are that SolarBridge inverters work fairly well while M215s work poorly.

My goal is to get a ~5 year payback by selling energy for $.06+ per kwh.  It will take a few more years to see if I can achieve that but results are so far very encouraging.  My monthly income is approaching $700 and climbing.   Investment has been $60k+.

Take away points on my E/W panels mounted on rails on one end and and resting on the ground on the other:

1) energy production is not greatly less than optimally pointed panels

2) mounting costs are minimized, indeed, mounting cost savings are huge

3) use of grid connection is maximized

8/31/2020

Yet another turn around on doing double duty with M215s.  More recent experiments indicated that the M215s may do a little BETTER than the SolarBridges.  I'm in the process of converting the first of three rails near the RV building from 18E+18W with 36 M215s to 19E+19W with 19 M215s.  Preliminary results are that the shared inverter panels are giving about 700 wh/day.

A New Radio Tower Near Dale

My hog trapper just reported a crane working within sight of my place.  I went over to snoop.  It is about 1/2 mile north of Dale on Dale Lane.  It seems to be less substantial than a cell tower.  A guy parked on the road reported "Practical Telecommunication".  Likely these people:

https://www.tta.org/team/practical-communications-inc/

BTW, my trapper reports a total of 29.

A dent.  But not a large dent.

A recent catch was a large boar with notched ear and was castrated.  So, either he wasn't born in the wild or the wild hogs are developing a society which includes selective breeding.

Pear Season!

I've been shredding along the edge of the pear tree rows and find them surprisingly close to being ready to pick.  The Orients have a fair crop and LeContes have a heavy set.  Since there are more Orient trees, I will have far more Orient than LeConte.  The LeConte are  naturally smaller are  made smaller this year by the heavy set.  Even with a light set, the Orients are smaller than their normal large size.

The LeContes are edible now and can be picked now for off tree ripening.  Contrary to most tree fruit, pear quality is higher if picked very firm and allowed to ripen in storage.

In the past, Orients have dried very nicely after softening in storage.

Pear pickers welcome.  Offer to give me a small fraction of your pick.

                                                     Orient

                                                        LeConte

I don't think the inline images allow zooming.  I'll post a link to an album that will allow  zooming.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/7JuDECdWmBtXZYra7

7/9/2020

For my wuse pickers (and myself), I shredded the areas adjacent to the trees.  I picked perhaps 1/2 bu.  Eating LeContes as I went.  I'll devote myself to putting away several bushels of the LeContes and then start on Orients in a week or so.

8/1/2020

I've been the only picker.  Softening LeContes snuck up on me more than a week ago and I've been devoting myself to cutting and drying.  It looks like about five gallon pickle jars of dried.  I've stopped cutting LeContes and am metering the remainder out to very happy and enthusiastic burros.

I'm getting a little head start on the Orients.  I hope to dry about 50% more Orients than LeContes.

8/15/2020

Pears are about done.  I quit picking Orients, got most of the LeContes dried and am near the end of drying the Orients.  Got the cooler working nicely.  It stays 45-48 deg.  I think I will have about 15 about 1 gallon jars of dried pears; starting from about 10 bushels of fresh pears; that was about 500 pounds.  They dry to about 1/10th of fresh weight. What will I do with them?  No idea.  Eat as many as I can tolerate.

Hog trapper continues to make good progress; about 40, now.  Still plenty more out there, though.

MORE PV scheming and planning

It seems this PV stuff has taken over my life.  An obsession.  Not all that bad since it is economically positive.

As my three meters/transformers approach capacity, I am contemplating adding a 4th.  But, I will wait for a good rate to be assured for another year.  That happens in August or September.

I will estimate how much more PV production I might be able to add to my existing three meters/transformers.

The Pool/BigBarn meter is on "net metering" meaning I can use the grid as storage for a billing period.  The downside to net metering is that I get paid only about $.03/kwh for excess production.  The other two meters are on a "buy it immediately" or "sell it immediately" rate schedule.  Buy it for $.10/kwh, sell for ~$.06/kwh.

The Pool/BigBarn has a 15kw (15kva) transformer which limits production to 15kw.  The House has a 37.5kw and AcrossTheRoad has 50kw.

The Pool/BigBarn has had recent observed excess production as high as 125kwh per day.  It is not optimized for energy production which means relatively few paired East and West facing panels.  So, I estimate that I might get ~10% more energy/day by reworking to all E/W facing panels.  I do believe I am now producing at the limit of the transformer.

AcrossTheRoad has some room for increased production.  The observed daily sales have reached 255kwh.  That transformer should have a capacity 3 times that of Pool/BigBarn.  So, total production on that meter might reach 375kwh/day.  120kwh/day more than current.

House also has some room for increased production.  Observed daily sales have reached slightly more than 200kwh.  With only a 37.5kw transformer, the head room would be only a bit more than twice that of Pool/BigBarn or 250+kwh/day.  About 50kwh/day more than current.

SO!  I should have growth capacity of 170-200 kwh/day without adding or upgrading transformers.   That would be peak days of 375+250= 625kwh on the two not net metering meters.  That's compared to 455kwh current.  I can hope to increase my monthly credits to 625/455 = 1.37.  37% more than current.  Notice the shift from peak daily sales to average over a month.   Peak monthly credit so far has been $680.  So, with current rates and with no transformer upgrades, I can look forward to monthly credits around $935 as I build out to fill current capacities.  I will not likely reach $1k/month unless I increase capacity.

Adding a 4th 50kw meter/transformer might add an additional 375kwh of peak day production or an estimated $500/month.

Feel free to critique my estimates.

When the inmates take over the insane asylum.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efRTosGodyU

https://news.utexas.edu/key-issues/the-eyes-of-texas/

http://www.quorumreport.com/Quorum_Report_Daily_Buzz_2020/former_sheriff_keel_remove_austin_city_council_aut_buzziid29633.html

Pulling unlicensed unlighted trailer at night

Pulling empty cost an estimated less than 5%.  That is, a slight decrease in range.

Below is charging empty in Corsicana.  The loaded trailer cost around 10%.  Less than 15%.

Below is checking load that was hauled from Mabank to Brashear.  Straps fell off but load stayed on.

Below is charging again at Corsicana while hauling second load from Brashear to Dale.  The final two hours of driving was in the dark.  But, entire trip was pretty smooth.  SuperCharger demand was low enough that I could occupy three stalls and not unhook the trailer.  I had to stop at night at the Giddings SuperCharger.  So three charges, two at Corsicana and one at Giddings.  I added about 50 miles worth of slow charging while loading near Mabank.   About 600 miles altogether.  Without the trailer, charging at Corsicana each way would have been sufficient.  A single charge at Sulfur Springs would be just barely feasible.

Here are some photos from previous towing adventures:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/3H1JtRE5nkogf9pb7