Yes, I first found out about MorningStar when I was trying to find a charge controller that had a proper network port and didn't need a stupid app to configure it. I bought one and I really liked it, so I have 4 of the now.

I've spent a couple of years trying to find a decent inverter (eg. not cloudy and supports standard protocols), and it has been hard work. So far so good with this one, although their modbus support is buggy :(

Sorry! Added 😊

It looks like even the forum is gone now, and generates 403 errors for me 😞

Not sure how Porn = Terrorism. Sounds like mission creep to me.... Oh well, I guess it makes a change from using Anti-Terror laws to stop people putting the wrong things in wheelie bins: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/3333366/Half-of-councils-use-anti-terror-laws-to-spy-on-bin-crimes.html

There's an old thread about someone doing it here: https://diysolarforum.com/threads/replace-apc-ups-sla-batteries-with-lithium.25424/ but sadly he doesn't give any details, or any updates.

It's wierd. APC do a really crappy small one for telecoms cabinets, but none for servers. I would love to replace my APC batteries with lithium ones.

Let us know what ones you chose in the end.

Got a link? that name isn't very unique :(

I like the MorningStar brand, but they aren't cheap. I wrote a review here if you're interested: http://www.gogreenit.net/index.php?page=morningstar-tristar-60a-mppt

I know, but it shouldn't be like this :(

I wish I could recommend Fairphone. I bought a "2" new a few years ago as my first smart phone, and while it worked, it wasn't very robust. I had to replace the "bottom module" (USB charging port and microphone) because it broke, which is ok, these things happen. Then, about a year ago, it went wrong again. I went back to the online shop, and the bottom module was there again. I went to buy it.... "out of stock"... "please try asking on the forums"... seriously? Go to the forums, loads of people wanting a replacement module, nobody selling theirs.

Soon after I get an email saying, "good news, android is now available for the Fairphone 2", and they were singing and dancing about how it was a load of hassle etc. etc. to port. Great, but no use to me if I can't get spares.

Much to the annoyance of my other half, I bought a Fairphone 3. After a while that started going buggy and not charging. There were a few other issues with it, so I thought I would send it back to get fixed. When I read the details of sending it back, they said to make sure it was backed up as it will be wiped "due to GDPR".. wtf??? That has nothing to do with GDPR - that's your poor data hygiene.

My Fairphone 3 isn't rooted, and I don't use google accounts, so it would be very difficult to back it up properly. I understand, if it's totally broken, there may be no way to retrieve the data, so you might loose it all, but that has nothing to do with GDPR.

I've not bothered sending it back, so it's yet another chunk of e-waste. A mate gave me his old Samsung s20, so I'm going to use that until it breaks.

I really want the company to succeed, but at this rate, it's cheaper and probably better for the environment if I just buy a second hand old "flagship" phone instead.

I am never buying Fairphone again 😢

Sounds good. Maybe some sort of forum system, like https://github.com/hometown-fork/hometown (activitypub-based) or https://karrot.world or even an instance of lemmy ? Nextcloud is good as it has a lot of plugins for sharing photos and chatting etc. Video conferencing It would be worth looking at something like https://www.freedombox.org/ as it's all self-contained, and might be easier to set up. at least as a proof of concept?

I like camping and festivals, and it was fun to get a small solar panel to charge my phone etc. about a decade ago. My parents were in to gardening, and used a lot of water butts to store water at our house. My other half and I watched a lot of Doomsday Prepper episodes (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doomsday_Preppers) during Covid lockdowns, and while some of them were a bit crazy, others had really good ideas. It felt like a sensible idea to try and be a bit more self-sufficient.

It will all take a long time to pay for itself, but I am learning about DC circuits and it feels good to have a backup for everything, even though we live in a city and are grid-connected to water, electricity and gas.

Still, it would be nice to see. Nothing wrong with second hand hardware - most of my setup is second hand. Here is a rather rubbish diagram and short explanation of how it is set up: https://mammut.gogreenit.net/@chewie/113075530030174991