D Nikolls

Anne Miller wrote:Thanks for bringing this up as I have more questions.

How strict are airlines for carry on luggage?

I don't want to buy luggage and plan to use bags that we already have.

The duffel bag is bigger than the 22 x 14 x 9 that is stated.  If I have to pay to check the bag it is cheaper than buying luggage.

I want to put the laptop in a backpack that is bigger than the 9 x 10 x 17 to fit under the seat.  I can put my feet on the part that will not fit.

I really worry about my stuff getting broken if I have to check the bags.

I am spending our daughter inheritance to make this trip.

Airlines definitely vary. I don't have a ton of experience, and all of it was going to SE Asia. Most of the time, they don't care a lot about carryon size or weight; if it fits in the overhead it flies, and for the personal item if it basically fits under the seat it flies. They do go around checking that bags are in the right place, not sure how much of a problem it is if the personal item has made it this far but doesn't fit according to their criteria.

Some of the time they check if it will fit into a box of under-seat dimensions, and sometimes they have carryon weight limits that are being enforced, in both cases there does not seem to be any flexibility if they are checking.

If you bring a duffle that is not crammed full, but would be over if it was crammed full, I would guess it would be ok. But there is a degree of variety in the rules between airlines, and more variety in whether they are diligently enforcing them.

As far as checked bags go, when my wife comes home from visiting family, she uses beefy cardboard boxes wrapped in plastic with a fabric handle strap. They make her sign a waiver that damage is her fault due to unsuitable packing, but thus far it's worked out well. The one time we used proper hard suitcases they were busted after one trip..

It is not 100% necessary to have multiple MPPT charge controllers communicating with each other, or with the inverter or BMS, if you have a BMS.

The main thing to look out for is excessive charge current. If your battery, wiring, fuses are all large enough to handle the maximum input from all connected panels/chargers (on a cold sunny day with the thermal coefficient of the panels considered) simultaneously, then the MPPTs will not cause problems with excessive charge current, as they simply can't produce excessive charge current.

If this is not the case, you would have a problem to address.. you'd need some way to avoid excessive current.


It might also be a good idea, if the above is not an issue, to configure slightly more conservative charge parameters in all but one charge controller. The idea being to have the other controller/controllers end their charge first, so that around max voltage only one charger is operating, in order to avoid confusing behavior as multiple chargers try to manage the relatively low current/high voltage gain end of charge behavior. This may be completely unnecessary, but can probably be determined experimentally..

Dakota Miller wrote:

D Nikolls wrote:I use a system with a 50micron, 10/1 micron, 0.5 micron in series, followed by a Luminor GUV-4S LED UV treatment.

I run it at well under 1GPM, into a 40 gallon stainless tank that gravity feeds the sink. Sink is the only water source in the tinyhouse.

I like the energy efficiency of the very small UV system that I can use with such low flow, and batch filtering keeps power usage super low.


Your system sounds pretty good to me; I haven't used a RO system before for comparison..

I would want to hit the shower water with 1micron/UV, personally. I usually take my mouth with me into the shower, so it just seems less worrisome to treat that water like it might meet my mouth.


Main issue in my system that may also pertain to yours; first flush diverter and coarse filtration before the main storage tank. I have a first flush diverter using a screen at the intake, a float to divert water to tank when diverter full, and a small weep hole to allow it to drain slowly.

It sucks, it clogs in multiple ways, and it runs all the water over the accumulated debris. I will start from scratch on this part of the system next time round.

I am thinking covered gutters, centrifugal first flush diverter, and a barrel sand/gravel filter before storage..  time will tell.

Ok. I think I found the same unit. The specs me it
(30 mJ/cm2 at 95% UVT) 0.6 GPM

(40 mJ/cm2 at 95% UVT) 0.4 GPM
So it looks good.

I'm wondering if I set up a low flow rate UV system, how would it affect the physical filters? If I recall correctly the standard Culligan candle style filters need at least 20gpm to work properly? Maybe I need some sort of flow/pressure regulation between the prefilters and RO. And between the RO and UV.

There are more small UV filtration options becoming available over time, I haven't compared lately. I don't much like the connection style on this one, but it has been working without issue for a couple years so far.

I am using 10" 'big blue' style filters, which are generally specced for a suggested minimum of 1gpm for 'efficient operation'. But I don't see any mechanism that should make them cease to filter at a lower flow rate.

I am using an RV water pump with a small pressure tank. Then I manually flow limited the system with a ball valve, with new filters. Flow falls over time, I can recalibrate if I care to bother.. the pump is noisy as heck and clearly doesn't love this way of using it, I will seek a more appropriate pump for the next iteration.

Personally I would absolutely not want to use untreated rainwater, at one point I was cleaning gutters and discovered I had a rat or chipmunk hanging out on a gutter doing his business extensively.. yuck.

I use a system with a 50micron, 10/1 micron, 0.5 micron in series, followed by a Luminor GUV-4S LED UV treatment.

I run it at well under 1GPM, into a 40 gallon stainless tank that gravity feeds the sink. Sink is the only water source in the tinyhouse.

I like the energy efficiency of the very small UV system that I can use with such low flow, and batch filtering keeps power usage super low.


Your system sounds pretty good to me; I haven't used a RO system before for comparison..

I would want to hit the shower water with 1micron/UV, personally. I usually take my mouth with me into the shower, so it just seems less worrisome to treat that water like it might meet my mouth.


Main issue in my system that may also pertain to yours; first flush diverter and coarse filtration before the main storage tank. I have a first flush diverter using a screen at the intake, a float to divert water to tank when diverter full, and a small weep hole to allow it to drain slowly.

It sucks, it clogs in multiple ways, and it runs all the water over the accumulated debris. I will start from scratch on this part of the system next time round.

I am thinking covered gutters, centrifugal first flush diverter, and a barrel sand/gravel filter before storage..  time will tell.

Latest that some of ours have hung on is end of November in northern PNW..

The quickest method is certainly to buy a 12V car charger for your particular brand of power tools, if available. Some brands have one that handles 12-24V nominal input, others only 12v.. and some brands may have nothing to offer.

As others have noted you don't want a 12V to 18V power converter, you want a charger that is correctly set up for your batteries...

Chat GPT is not a good choice for electrical information. It cannot be relied upon for technical details that might cause a fire or injury.


You need to size your fuse to protect your wiring, and to size your wiring to suit the maximum current.

I personally do not install cheap chinese fuses, fuseholders, breakers, relays, etc.. I have had them melt/burn up far below their rated capacity, after working fine for months on end. I am not sure if I'd prefer a cheapo fuse/breaker to none at all.. but I wouldn't run either option in anything but a crisis.

With lithium of any sort you should consider the maximum interrupting current rating of protection devices; there are plenty of fuses and breakers that are rated high enough in terms of max amps, but they cannot all be relied upon not to short when faced with the massive potential current of a lithium battery.


A good source for info specific to this topic is Will Prowse's DIY solar forum; https://diysolarforum.com.

A cement tabletop could be DIYed in any shape, much cheaper than cutting stone. It could be made as thick as you think your floor will support.. much of it could probably be filled with larger stones to save cost and environmental footprint, since it is not very structural..

Or large tiles or pavers or even metal as a tabletop on a bin full of sand.. much easier to move.. no risk of leaks.. I think key here would be having somewhat decent thermal transfer from the tabletop in direct sun, to the rest of the mass..

One could get fancy and put some hollow tubes through this to speed thermal transfer..