Monday, November 21, 8:30 PM. Brewer.

I hit the jackpot on batteries today, but not in the way I expected. I was driving around Dallas with Claire and Trevor, giving them a change of scenery and Amy a break, and we were trying to figure out where to find electrical equipment. I passed a Tesla warehouse and thought: wait a minute, don’t they make some kind of house battery?

Turns out they do. And I think they’ll meet our needs pretty well. I brought home all they had, which was eight of them. They each hold 13.5 kWh, so that’s 108 kWh to work with. Not as much as I planned, but enough to start out with.

I found a supply of solar panels, though it may not be enough. A house about a mile away from us has twenty-four ground-mounted 300 watt panels. That’s 7.2 kWh—enough for our normal flow but not for the heat of the summer. I’ll see if I can find at least 20 more elsewhere.

I’m nervous about installing all this. I’d say the chances of getting shocked if not electrocuted are pretty high. The chance of me burning out, blowing up, or igniting sensitive equipment is significant. I’ll have to take my time. That’s one thing we seem to have plenty of.