CPY-2410 on the way

Right now mppt controller pricing looks something like this, using 10A as an example: Premium like Morningstar $200 Standard like Victron $100 Cheap like Epsolar/Tracer/Renogy $50 Ultracheap no-name from China $25 I use the cheap stuff, but would use premium if I had the cash.  I am interested in ultracheap to see what is possible,

RVwiki: shallow-cycling

I’ve blogged about it a bit and made a forum post, but finally got around to making an RVwiki article about using the car’s starter battery with small solar installs.  

Shallow cycling at Vabs = 14.4v & 14.2v

The 20AH controller I ordered for the experiment came in first so that is the one I am using. It is is connected to some ancient HF 45W panels (3 x 15W in parallel). The panels are in a worst case scenario: out of direct sun most of the day, partially obscured by weeds and

Shower thought: shallow cycling for car dwellers

I was thinking about solutions for car-dwelling folks with minimal resources:  not much room, starter battery only. Seems to me quality of life for car dwellers would likely go up if they had an inexpensive/automatic/easy system for charging small devices through USB and running a fan or laptop off a ciggy lighter without hurting the starter battery (much).