Wednesday (01-January-2020) — Florida to North Carolina

Gone to See Florida — 2019/2020 Road Trip.

I started the road trip back home figuring the traffic wouldn’t be too bad. A Garmin VIRB-360 camera was set up to record the trip as a time-lapse video. A little over 13 hours travel time, 947 miles, and 31 mpg (diesel).

 

Daily Electric Energy Used (36.4 kWh) from Sense and Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (19.4 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. A deficit of 22.9 kWh. Most of the hydroponic gardens were off or only on for fewer hours. Also, the thermostat for the Geothermal heater and hybrid heat pump hot water heater were set for vacation mode.

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Tuesday (31-December-2019) — Florida

Gone to See Florida — 2019 Road Trip.

First Night Fireworks in St. Petersburg. My brother and I went down to Vinoy park to view the early fireworks display. I set up two cameras [Fuji X-T3 camera with a 8-16 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 200, 8 mm, f/8, 8 sec) and Leica CL camera with a 18 mm lens (ISO 100, 18 mm, f/8, 8 sec)] and a Garmin VIRB-360 time-lapse camera to record the show. The early fireworks display was only 5 minutes long. I think the show just before midnight is longer, but I needed to get up early to start on my way back to New Jersey.


Click on the above image to access my PhotoShelter gallery with the individual images in the following slideshow.



Click on the above image to access my PhotoShelter gallery with the individual images in the following slideshow.


Daily Electric Energy Used (36.4 kWh) from Sense and Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (13.4 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. A deficit of 22.9 kWh. Most of the hydroponic gardens were off or only on for fewer hours. Also, the thermostat for the Geothermal heater and hybrid heat pump hot water heater were set for vacation mode.

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Sunday (08-December-2019) — New Jersey

Autumn Yard Work

One final pass to vacuum up the fall leaves before some heavy rain. Little Planet 360 degree time-lapse video.

Daily Electric Energy Used (90.1 kWh) from Sense and Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (32.1 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. Overall a net deficit of 58.0 kWh.

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Wednesday (27-November-2019) — New Jersey

Autumn Yard Work.

Snow is forcasted for early next week. I finished assembling the DR-Power leaf vacuum and connecting it to my John Deere lawn tractor. I added ~ 1.1 L of 5W 30 Mobil One oil and filled the gas tank. It took a few minutes to start the engine. I am happy I got the electric starter option. Between the noise from the tractor motor and the leaf vacuum motor, I decided I needed to be wearing hearing protection. Even though the grass and leaves were a bit damp, the majority were picked up. I also learned the hard way to check to see if the leaf collector was full. I kept going until the leaves were not being sucked up. Then when I checked found that the trailer was not only full, but over full. Compare the 2nd and 3rd video… It was very difficult to empty the trailer, and I had to dig a good portion out. I managed to collect three trailers full of leaves that are being used to start a new mulch pile. I will go out again tomorrow to finish the job, and to assemble the snow-blower attachment for the DR-Power Field and Brush mower.

 

Daily Electric Energy Used (74.1 kWh) from Sense and Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (9.4 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy.  Cloudy all day. Overall a net deficit of 64.7 kWh.

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Tuesday (26-November-2019) — New Jersey

Some Assembly Required.

Snow is forcasted for early next week, and I still have some outside end of season projects that need to be completed. While using the DR-Power Field and Brush mower a couple of weeks ago, two bolts holding the disk brake pads fell off. Since it was only the 2nd time I had used the mower, the company sent me replacement parts. I needed to get this fixed so I can install the snow-blower attachment. I also needed to make a custom attachment to connect the DR-Power Lawn Vacuum to my John Deere lawn tractor. They provide a generic attachment that needs to be cut to fit my mower. Some assembly required. I spent the afternoon in the garage working on these two projects and used a Garmin VIRB-360 camera to make a Little Planet view Time-lapse video. Tomorrow, I will connect the lawn tractor to the leaf vacuum and make sure it works.

Daily Electric Energy Used (70.1 kWh) from Sense and Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (30.6 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy.  Overall a net deficit of 39.5 kWh.

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