fratermus

For folks who get aborts/dumps on 6.x check to see if libxcb-cursor0 is installed.

Bartlett’s proposed ordinance amendment to control the parking of recreational vehicles and similar things is a dicey situation. It seems easy to manage, but the specifics pose issues that need addressing. The overall purpose is to protect property values.

Yes, this discussion is about RVs owned by homeowners but the financial incentives are the same

Cf. homevoters

I hope everyone is doing well and catching some of that low December sun on their panels. The good news for folks in the northern hemisphere is solar harvest will start going up again. Those starving battery banks will start getting some relief. :-)

When I built the rig in 2017 I estimated my power requirements then used insolation models like PVwatts to figure out what it would take to meet them year 'round. In practice this meant sizing the array for Decemper in my wintering spots. It's worked surprisingly well. Just enough power in deep winter and power to waste the rest of the year.

Bob Wells, the Cheap RV living guy, has sold his last van-based rig and moved into a Subaru Forester.

He explains his reasoning in the video. I am all for people doing what makes them happy. :-)

Forked from a discussion on reddit. There is widespread belief that charging freezing is ok. That's not necessarily the case.

This situation is a bit different because OP will have access to shore power.

In the bread machine post I promised more foolish experiments. Here ya go, I run a toaster oven offgrid with solar so you don't have to!

Bonus content: I derated the oven's wattage using a harbor freight triac.

• the big idea
• testing and potentiometer adjustment

My first time doing a pop rivet and it worked perfectly. Woot!

Each winter brings a flurry (ha!) of first-timers wondering how to keep warm. Not giving advice in the above post, but explaining how I do it.

{Edit: it was based on my usual dried beans recipe}

This was enough for dinner that night and lunch the next day. So divide these costs in half to get the per-meal cost:

• 170Wh of energy
• $1.11, if my math is right:
  • ~$0.24 for onion, $0.49/lb at the local mercado.
  • 180g of small red beans. These were free because someone had them but couldn't/wouldn't cook them in their rig...
  • ~$0.01 5g of salt
  • ~$0.03 dried chili pepper from a bulk bag, again from the mercado
  • $0.83 1/2lb of louisiana smoked sausages (hot) from the manager's discount bin

Pressed the Beans button on the 3qt Instant Pot and forgot about it until it was done. Served with cold beer....

I am fully aware most folks won’t have the interest, space, or power to run a bread machine. But for me it’s cheap fun.

Did I burn down the van? Did I kill my my batteries? Did it make actual bread?

Another silly experiment in a week or so.

The article talk about camping but also describes full-timers. There is also a kind of Green Book angle that might be useful.

I maintain a list of all the vehicle-dwelling laws I can find primary or secondary sources for. Just added Belleville. Yay.

Many of the articles specifically mention that stricter laws on this kind of thing are a direct result of the SCOTUS Grants Pass decision.