After all that… and there was a lot of all that to all that… I have decided the power system with those former race car batteries (cells, really) is just too complicated and potentially dangerous to be worth the cost savings compared with the all-in-one units from SimpliPhi I had been contemplating at the start. In consultation with another engineer friend, who specializes in power systems, I came to understand that I had bitten off more than I cared to chew in this. There were several critical use and failure cases that my design wouldn’t handle well and to mitigate them just made things even more complicated than they were already. No thanks. I was hoping to save some $ by doing it myself but not at the expense of a whole lot more work to get a not-nearly-as-good/safe a solution.
I’ve installed electric panels, run heavy circuits and light ones, done plenty of plumbing and other utility tradecraft no problem. These things do not intimidate me and I am able to do them safely. This was some next-level stuff that was just getting too far past my risk tolerance threshold. I can check a gas line for leaks. I can test a circuit for proper polarity and grounding. I can’t be sure that my system won’t experience a 1150A (yeah, over a thousand!) inrush current, spot weld my safety interruptors shut so they can’t perform their safety function at the critical moment (or worse, appear to be fine and not open days or years later, when they need to). So… no. I’m going with the much more expensive but much easier to use, everything-taken-care-of-inside-the-box solution.
I can only afford 1/3 the storage I want using these things, so that’s what I will buy. I am going to allocate space for two more, which I’ll purchase as budget allows.
In totally random other news, I have been installing the bathroom ceiling mural one panel at a time. There’s enough of it in place now that it looks like something. Indeed, it looks like this:
There’s a minor forest of T-braces holding the panel in place as the adhesive cures. Sometimes one must get creative in a jiffy when doing glue-ups. For example, there were two spots that needed a little extra support and I didn’t have any more braces at hand…
So naturally, I grab whatever’s about the right size and jam it in where it needs to go. In this case, a bottle of solvent and a piece of shim stock get the job done, with a power assist from the graywater drain manifold.
That wasn’t the only one. There was another spot that needed a boost. What’s a fellow to do when racing against the clock (the adhesive sets quickly)? No time to build more T-braces. What’s around? A ladder and a section of 2×3 which is almost long enough. Add a crumpled shop towel as a cushion and a piece of shim stock… and presto, support where it is needed.
The mural looks kinda awesome already, even though there are two more big panels to go. It’s exciting to see it finally coming together in place, though.
Speaking of coming together, I just ordered some lumber to trim the interior windows. That will probably happen this weekend, if not sooner. It’s a little thing, but it will make the inside look a lot more finished, which, in turn, will make the whole project feel better.
Right now, I’m mostly waiting for the electrical stuff to arrive so I can factor that in to my layout. That’s the next big thing that requires spatial allocation. And then I need to figure out what is on the ceiling of the utility loft. Right now it’s bare OSB and it doesn’t look so nice like that. It doesn’t have to be pretty what goes there, but it has to look better than bare OSB.
Maybe these foam interlocking dino play mats would make nice ceiling tiles?
It’s a bit busy, I think, especially since these are smaller tiles, 12″ square, though what was originally supposed to be a completely flippant idea has got me thinking that maybe something like this would work well for a confined space. You know, protection for the noggin as it invariably bumps the ceiling. Maybe not high-contrast dinosaurs, though 🙂