I haven’t slept well the past couple of nights, as this bum shoulder sometimes still keeps me awake. Finally gave up around five to find we’re enjoying the first cold night since I got back from the big city two weeks ago. Nights have been freakishly warm, often well above freezing, about the only thing good to come from all this wet weather. But this morning we’re in the low twenties, not all that cold by normal January standards but enough to turn the Lair’s yard into a sea of crystals.
And enough to turn the Lair into something that requires a coat for an hour…
I decided years ago that the unsung hero of the modern age is the humble thermostat. Still not as great as electricity or the flush toilet, but right up there among the biggies in the pantheon and yet never quite given its due. Having so recently returned from a city house for the first time in several years, I could not help but give praise this frosty morning to that comforting little gadget, which I hope to see again before too long.
The much improved Lair is shrugging off the cold ambient temp – and embracing the heat of the fire – much better than it has in the past, I’m happy to say.
I had to go outside before I could write this quick post, because for the past few nights I’ve been turning off the inverter before settling in with my book in the evening. It makes a startling difference in the morning voltage reading – so startling that at first I thought something might be going wrong with my inverter. But then I checked my records, for I went through the same thing last January, and found I’m getting the same readings. I can actually lose as much as 3 tenths of a volt over the course of a long winter night, just from parasitic draw from the inverter. The power draw from 12 volt LEDs is not negligible, exactly, but not comparable. The inverter is my second-biggest single power draw by a lot, (not counting momentary draws like power tools and the coffee grinder (PBUH)) topped only by this laptop. Which I arguably shouldn’t be running here in the dark, except it’s mine and I want to. Also we got enough sun yesterday for my new, improved solar panel array(s) to charge the batteries, and I’m hoping for a repeat performance today. This week was the first since installing the new panel rack that I’ve gone two days without the charge controllers hitting float – which is of course why I started turning the inverter off at night.
Ah, the incomparable joys of off-grid living. Later, maybe…
But still imagine if you were living 500 years ago. People would think you were a witch or wizard for sure but your level of living is still anove that of 1/3rd of the world TODAY! Praise solar praise the hermit known as J for taking a chance and showing all of us what great things can be accomplished by saying fuck you civilization Ill own use you when I have too!
Would it be worth putting a relay on the inverter so you could turn it on and off from inside the cabin?
Joat, actually Magnum Energy makes a remote for the type of inverter I have, quite inexpensive, and I’m occasionally tempted by it.
If only it didn’t involve trenching yet another cable between the cabin and the powershed, I’d do it.
If/When you do trench to the powershed….why not bury conduit? Or plastic water pipe. Cheap and makes for easy pulling of wires.
You are lucky with regards to sunlight. I think we here in SW MI this season have seen maybe 12 hours of sun in the past 3 weeks, otherwise so overcast it does not get light until well past sunup by hour or so and most of the day is a grey fog, heck the street lights are staying on all day and night.