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Just used spray foam for the first time...
  • Can confirm, the metal spray guns are way better than the disposable cans. Their 'reusable' disposable cans had poor flow and kept clogging on me.

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    Tesla to bring electric semi truck production to Gigafactory Berlin
  • Wikipedia says Europe uses mainly the shorter cab-over-engine tractors in order to maximize trailer length while staying under the total length limit. They commonly pull standard ISO shipping containers, so in that case at least the difference is all in the tractor.

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    Panel Mounting System Recommendations
  • I see the Unistrut SLR100 solar panel clamps and they appear to be UL-listed, so that does seem like a good option . I just need to find galvanized or aluminum strut locally.

    Do you have any recommendations for hardware to mount the strut to the roof?

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  • Hey all,

    I've got a set of three 60-cell panels and microinverters that I want to mount on an asphalt shingle roof. I'm planning to expand the array to 16 panels in time.

    Does anyone have recommendations for low-cost mounting systems and online retailers that sell them? I like the idea of rails, but from what I've seen shipping costs are prohibitive and I'm trying to do this on a budget, so rail-less options are appealing also.

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    Largest US solar-storage project goes online
  • The storage capacity is sized for daily consumption, not the yearly figure you quoted. And of course, this is one small project out of the hundreds of plants that will be needed to meet climate goals.

    The biggest issue with solar right now is that the output varies over the course of the day, leaving other power plants to take up the load at night or during cloudy weather. The attached battery storage averages out the solar plant's output, letting it be a useful contributor to the grid around the clock. There's other benefits like grid stabilization and peak shaving, where the battery stores and releases oversupply from the rest of the grid, not just the attached solar panels.

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    Multi-Criteria Fire Alarms
  • OP here, I ended up purchasing one USI MI106S, which advertises the following:

    • Combines the benefits of both Photoelectric & Ionization technology in one alarm
    • Smart Alarm Technology virtually eliminates nuisance alarms
    • Automatic temperature and humidity compensation continuously adjusts to variations in environmental conditions, reducing nuisance alarms

    Which sounds like what I'm looking for. I'll try some informal tests on it before I buy more.

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    Multi-Criteria Fire Alarms
  • It's a good idea, but at this point I'm too frustrated to wait a few months to see if the moved alarm does or does not go off. And then I'd have to figure out what's different and how to fix it.

    Right now I'd rather spend some money and get smarter alarms, if they're available.

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  • Hey all,

    This is only tangentially related to HA, but it seems like this crowd might have answers. HA integration would be nice but is not required

    We moved into a new house about 3 years ago and have been plagued by nuisance alarms ever since. They happen most often in the middle of the night, but aren't uncommon in the daytime.

    I have:

    • Replaced all the old hardwired detectors with new battery-only ones thinking it might be caused by EMI.
    • Ruled out insects crawling into the detectors.
    • Sealed the electrical boxes thinking it might be dust from the attic.
    • Installed an excellent filter system in the HVAC.
    • Cleaned out all of the detectors with canned air.

    Other random info:

    • Only the ones on the second floor go off. There are five upstairs and two downstairs.
    • I'm pretty sure one (and only one) of the false alarms was caused by humidity from a shower.
    • Seems like they're happening less often since I installed a new HVAC system, but that could be due to less dust or due to smaller temperature swings (less of a setback at night).

    I think at this point I want to get some fancy multi-criteria alarms, ones that are specifically for reducing your nuisance alarm rate. Also for increased capability, though - one of my coworkers just narrowly escaped a housefire with his wife and dog. Their fire alarms failed to go off and he was only woken by the sound of the flames.

    Any suggestions for multi-criteria alarms that work with hardwired 120VAC, preferably with hardwired interconnection?

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    Multi-Sensor Residential Alarms

    Hey all,

    We moved into a new house about 3 years ago and have been plagued by nuisance alarms ever since. They happen most often in the middle of the night, but aren't uncommon in the daytime.

    I have:

    • Replaced all the old hardwired detectors with new battery-only ones thinking it might be caused by EMI.
    • Ruled out insects crawling into the detectors.
    • Sealed the electrical boxes thinking it might be dust from the attic.
    • Installed an excellent filter system in the HVAC.

    Other random info:

    • Only the ones on the second floor go off. There are five upstairs and two downstairs.
    • I'm pretty sure one (and only one) of the false alarms was caused by humidity from a shower.
    • Seems like they're happening less often since I installed a new HVAC system, but that could be due to less dust or due to smaller temperature swings (less of a setback at night).

    I think at this point I want to get some fancy multi-criteria alarms, ones that are specifically for reducing your nuisance alarm rate. Also for increased capability, though - one of my coworkers just narrowly escaped a housefire with his wife and dog. Their fire alarms failed to go off and he was only woken by the sound of the flames.

    Any suggestions for multi-criteria alarms that work with hardwired 120VAC three-pin connections?

    0
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    Would a mechanical counter pressure suit make you poop?
  • But the pressure from the atmosphere applies to both sides of the sphincter, resulting in zero net pressure. Unless the suit actually does press against the outside of the sphincter like it does the rest of the body, I think OP's concern about the suit squeezing you like a tube of toothpaste is valid.

    Maybe the suit only applies a few PSI instead of the full 14.7, which it seems like one's sphincters would be able to withstand.

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    Another successful Honeywell T6 install
  • I've got a T6 Z-Wave also, controlling a 2-stage heat pump. I have it connected to HA through Zwave2mqtt. It's been pretty great except for two things:

    A. Changing the time has no effect, as if the clock is read-only due to a hardware issue. I've had to set up the daily schedule in HA instead, but it's probably better that way anyway.

    B. I can't see the stage and aux heat status in HA. Looks like all it exposes is a 'heating' or 'cooling' state. Anybody know how to get more info?

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    ZigBee RGB Lightbulb w/o 3rd party app
  • I've had 10 of the RGB ones, E21-N1EA, for a few months now and they've been working perfectly. Not the brightest or the most accurate color, but they're simple, cheap, and local-only.

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    Cloud services for controlling things inside your house are the worst
  • Have you checked out Frigate? It's a local service that captures RTSP streams from cameras and uses neural net image recognition to trigger events / recordings. It has good integration with Home Assistant.

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