Deliveries!  Solar panels, batteries and washing macines - oh my !

Today a bunch of pieces fell into place to realize my goal of Living a Renewable Electric Life.  I currently rent an office at the Hampton 757 Makerspace on historic Fort Monroe and it is bursting with equipment awaiting installation.

Why?  The holdup has been the house batteries.  There is a lot of conflicting information out there, making the decision of which brand and capacity of battery to use a difficult one.  I finally decided I would trust Will Prowse who does in-depth teardowns and technical evaluations of various Solar technologies (see: DIY Solar Power with Will Prowse on Youtube) and follow his recommendations. 

A week ago I ordered a pair of Dumfume 300Ah 12v batteries.  These will provide about the same amout of usable energy as 8 standard car batteries.  I intend to install four of them eventually.

One thing that I thought a lot about, was the pros and cons of a couple of high capacity batteries vs a bunch of lower capacity batteries.  I decided to go with fewer batteries to keep the wiring simple, and save significant $$$ on cables, fuses and whatnot.

Until now I have been running everything (albeit while connected to shore power) on a single 100Ah LiFePO4 battery.  This 100Ah battery will be repurposed to run the electric motor on my dinghy (also on order). 

Today, the first two 314Ah batteries arrived.  They are shipped with a partial charge, and should not be connected together until they are all fully charged.  I'm stuffing the first one full of electrons as I type this.

Other deliveries include the 12v Freezer, the Newport Trolling Motor, a battery box for the 100Ah battery, six 100Watt solar panels (also reviewed by Will Prowse), a set of Victron MPPT solar chargers, 100' of waterproof flexible electrical conduit, 50' of solar power cable, battery terminal lugs, 50 wago electrical connectors (love these) and a small clothes washing machine (I was looking for 12v, but the RV forums are full of people who swear by this manual machine).

The Dinghy is the only major component that I need before I can leave the marina. 

Well, not exactly.  I need to install everything, which includes building a completely redesigned salon.  Currently it is a huge wrap-around bench.  Perfect for a crew of eight to sit around and relive the day's race.  Not ideal for a cruiser.  But that is another post.  I also need to install the solar panels, and devise a dinghy lift.  All non-trivial projects that should take long enough to allow the ice-pack to melt.

Speaking of which, I snapped this photo a few minutes ago (Feb 10, 2026), the ice is starting to show signs of melting.