Maintaining a Fire Extinguisher
Today I did some regular maintenance in the fire safety department of our homestead. I needed to make sure our fire extinguisher was in good shape.
Inverter Comparison: Magnum MS series vs Outback VFX series
For the last 6 years I have lived with an Outback VFX inverter. That may sound like a pretty close relationship and it is! When you live off the grid and need good clean electricity for work, the inverter play an important part in one's life. But a truly fine inverter is so hassle free that it demands attention only when you require it to do something different than it has been doing (i.e. turn it off while on a trip, equalize, etc). After getting married and moving into a rental homestead (temporarily until we build our own), I found myself using a spare modified sine wave inverter I had owned for some time...and wishing I wasn't!
Review: Magnum MS Series Inverter
For a comparison, see Inverter comparison: Magnum MS series vs Outback VFX series.
If there is one word that could summarize the Magnum MS series inverters, it would be "simplicity". That can be a good thing as long as its not so simple and automatic that necessary customizations are impossible. I think Magnum has done a good job of balancing this simplicity with their MS Series inverter. Initial programming took all of about 5 or 10 minutes but yet I can adjust or customize the items I really need to. While I personally don't mind dealing with a lot of options, this could be a real blessing to some.
Automatic Generator Start - to use or not to use?
Any recent inverter worth it's salt has the capability to automatically start a generator. At least one that is equipped with electric start and remote control capabilities. Of course there are a number of pieces of criteria to be met. Things like battery voltage below a certain point, battery state of charge below a certain level, regularly scheduled generator exercise, etc. Depending on which inverter you have it can do a number of different things. It is capable of starting the generator, can let it warm up for a given period of time, run a complete charge cycle, and run cool down time before turning the generator off. So the question is, would this be a useful feature to take advantage of?
Vita-mix Blender vs Modified Sine Wave Inverter
The vita-mix blender doesn't work?! That was our discovery not long after we moved in. It only runs when it is on high speed, not on any of the variable speed options. Why? Well, it turns out to be the modified sine wave inverter in our renewable energy system.