I am sorry, that is a poor analogy - car would be more like airplane. An hobby RC airplane or helicopter is not required to be registered with the FAA, why should a hobby RC drone? My hobby go cart, or RC car / truck do not require registration then why the hobby drones? They are really no more capable, just popular.
You did not specify where you were building the home - North with heating concerns or South with cooling concerns.
In the North I have found one of the best heating methods that is very comfortable and economical is radiant in floor heating with PEX tubing in concrete floors so you get a nice thermal battery and very good heating characteristics.
In the south some of the posts on ground loop heat pumps are very good advice.
Lots of insulation in either case. Radiant barrier in the roof. Living roofs can be very beneficial as well.
Metal roofs can be very long lived, but can be very noisy during storms.
Maintenance free exteriors are also a godsend.
The comment on the higher basement ceilings is also very good, I wish it was an option when I did mine.
Conduit to at least 2 places in each room is also good to a central wiring / electrical room.
Conduit between basement and attic also is something I wish I had done as we added spotlights out back and security cameras, would have made it much easier.
Home automation systems are a nice to have, control-4 seems to be a very good high end system with good support.
Lots of closet space, more than you think you need, bedrooms, bathrooms, attic floors, etc. people tend to collect tons of stuff.
Over sized garage - wider than the cars you tend to put in and deeper - lawn mower, bikes, patio furniture in the winter, kids stuff, and on and on.
The indoor wall sound proofing is also a great idea - we did a little for the master bedroom and bath, but not enough.
Just get the laptop with the specs / price you want and if it has Windoze 8 on it install one of the many programs, many free, that make it look / act / feel like Windoze 7.
My family has had two laptops die in the last month or so, one right before x-mas and one two weeks ago. I replaced them both with good deals, but both had Windoze 8. It is a horrible OS for laptops, but I installed a free program call Classic Shell Setup that makes them look / feel like Windoze 7 for the most part and the wife and son are happy.
Hi,
I tried K9 and NetNanny and they caused as many problems as they cured with Windoze errors, etc. I currently use OpenDNS and as they get older allow more and more content through. It has a very nice side effect of blocking all of the nasty virus sites and has pretty much ended the drive by PC infections. If (more like when) your kids get smart enough to learn how to change their DNS manually a simple firewall rule in your router can block DNS traffic to anything other than OpenDNS, just make sure you have a very secure password to your router (I initially did not and the my oldest figured out how to unblock things:) )
If you want to really lock things down you could try something like Untangle - it has a free version for your own hardware. It is a bit more work, but will get you very solid network control and security.
All the talk about parenting is of course valid, just not the one stop solution some people think it is. Good luck.
Just about every grid-tied inverter manufacturer offers a version similar to this where it can charge batteries and then run off of them when the grid goes down. The main difference with these is that this packages the inverter, cut-over-switch, and battery in one unit instead of separate ones. It is less flexible, but maybe more convenient for a home brewer.
The real need is for an inverter to be able to run off of the panels without a battery when the grid dies. Managing load is the problem here, how to make the best use of the limited electricity being delivered by your panels to a power hungry house.
The post on Home Power is spot on. A low cost inverter commonly used is the Sunny Boy line. They are still not "cheap" but you can get one for around $1,000 if you shop around. You also might be able to find a used or refurbed one for even less.
As many others have said, an even cheaper way is to get a deep cycle 12 volt battery, a charge controller (can be home brewed - look once again @ Home Power) and an inexpensive non-grid-tied inverter to power specific loads sized for your setup. You can then build upon this and move other loads over time as you grow your system.
Good luck, and as they say at HP, keep the spark!
I worked as a tech years ago and when we moved the owner had three custom benches made. They were about 10' long and about 3' deep on either side so that you could have a tech working on each side. In the center there was a shelf about 2.5' up for monitors, and then up from that was another shelf for stuff. The riser in the middle had surge strips mounted on either side just above the main bench every foot or so. There were many points to attach a ground strap. These were excellent workspaces that made a great deal of difference.
As far as stuff, a soldering iron, multimeter, lots of spare parts (boards, cables, screws, drives). We each supplied our own tools. Coffee pot near by, mini fridge, bottled water dispenser, tunes, small wharehouse nearby for all of the new equipment, equip. waiting to be repaired, and the stuff that was fixed.
Computer for each tech with net access, etc. to write up tickets, look for symptoms on KB's, etc.
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I am sorry, that is a poor analogy - car would be more like airplane. An hobby RC airplane or helicopter is not required to be registered with the FAA, why should a hobby RC drone? My hobby go cart, or RC car / truck do not require registration then why the hobby drones? They are really no more capable, just popular.
You did not specify where you were building the home - North with heating concerns or South with cooling concerns.
In the North I have found one of the best heating methods that is very comfortable and economical is radiant in floor heating with PEX tubing in concrete floors so you get a nice thermal battery and very good heating characteristics.
In the south some of the posts on ground loop heat pumps are very good advice.
Lots of insulation in either case. Radiant barrier in the roof. Living roofs can be very beneficial as well.
Metal roofs can be very long lived, but can be very noisy during storms.
Maintenance free exteriors are also a godsend.
The comment on the higher basement ceilings is also very good, I wish it was an option when I did mine.
Conduit to at least 2 places in each room is also good to a central wiring / electrical room.
Conduit between basement and attic also is something I wish I had done as we added spotlights out back and security cameras, would have made it much easier.
Home automation systems are a nice to have, control-4 seems to be a very good high end system with good support.
Lots of closet space, more than you think you need, bedrooms, bathrooms, attic floors, etc. people tend to collect tons of stuff.
Over sized garage - wider than the cars you tend to put in and deeper - lawn mower, bikes, patio furniture in the winter, kids stuff, and on and on.
The indoor wall sound proofing is also a great idea - we did a little for the master bedroom and bath, but not enough.
Just get the laptop with the specs / price you want and if it has Windoze 8 on it install one of the many programs, many free, that make it look / act / feel like Windoze 7. My family has had two laptops die in the last month or so, one right before x-mas and one two weeks ago. I replaced them both with good deals, but both had Windoze 8. It is a horrible OS for laptops, but I installed a free program call Classic Shell Setup that makes them look / feel like Windoze 7 for the most part and the wife and son are happy.
Hi, I tried K9 and NetNanny and they caused as many problems as they cured with Windoze errors, etc. I currently use OpenDNS and as they get older allow more and more content through. It has a very nice side effect of blocking all of the nasty virus sites and has pretty much ended the drive by PC infections. If (more like when) your kids get smart enough to learn how to change their DNS manually a simple firewall rule in your router can block DNS traffic to anything other than OpenDNS, just make sure you have a very secure password to your router (I initially did not and the my oldest figured out how to unblock things :) )
If you want to really lock things down you could try something like Untangle - it has a free version for your own hardware. It is a bit more work, but will get you very solid network control and security.
All the talk about parenting is of course valid, just not the one stop solution some people think it is. Good luck.
Just about every grid-tied inverter manufacturer offers a version similar to this where it can charge batteries and then run off of them when the grid goes down. The main difference with these is that this packages the inverter, cut-over-switch, and battery in one unit instead of separate ones. It is less flexible, but maybe more convenient for a home brewer. The real need is for an inverter to be able to run off of the panels without a battery when the grid dies. Managing load is the problem here, how to make the best use of the limited electricity being delivered by your panels to a power hungry house.
The post on Home Power is spot on. A low cost inverter commonly used is the Sunny Boy line. They are still not "cheap" but you can get one for around $1,000 if you shop around. You also might be able to find a used or refurbed one for even less. As many others have said, an even cheaper way is to get a deep cycle 12 volt battery, a charge controller (can be home brewed - look once again @ Home Power) and an inexpensive non-grid-tied inverter to power specific loads sized for your setup. You can then build upon this and move other loads over time as you grow your system. Good luck, and as they say at HP, keep the spark!
I've always used I/O error - ignorant operator.
I worked as a tech years ago and when we moved the owner had three custom benches made. They were about 10' long and about 3' deep on either side so that you could have a tech working on each side. In the center there was a shelf about 2.5' up for monitors, and then up from that was another shelf for stuff. The riser in the middle had surge strips mounted on either side just above the main bench every foot or so. There were many points to attach a ground strap. These were excellent workspaces that made a great deal of difference. As far as stuff, a soldering iron, multimeter, lots of spare parts (boards, cables, screws, drives). We each supplied our own tools. Coffee pot near by, mini fridge, bottled water dispenser, tunes, small wharehouse nearby for all of the new equipment, equip. waiting to be repaired, and the stuff that was fixed. Computer for each tech with net access, etc. to write up tickets, look for symptoms on KB's, etc.