Tesla Solar Roof vs Solar Panels: Which is Worth It? - TinkerTry's home featured in Matt Ferrell's video and podcast

This set of two videos followed by a detailed, technical article is the first-hand information that I had hoped to find when I was trying to find out if it was even possible to go all-electric with solar back here in Connecticut back in 2021. It had become clear we needed to downsize to a one-level…

Mar 19 2024

Getting to know Matt Ferrell

I think this interview video will help you get to know Matt better, gaining a better appreciation for just how much dedication and focus he has poured into his content creation business, and the training and experience it took him to get where he is today. Please feel free to leave comments below…

Feb 1 2024

Tesla Solar Roof - 33 yr. old Connecticut home successfully renovated & electrified. No more gas!

My video below and this article are not sponsored. In 2022, my wife and I decided to downsize to a nearby house that was built by the same La Cava Construction that crafted over a thousand simple, sturdy homes in Connecticut. We had set a goal to find an efficient "forever home" with…

Oct 29 2023

NEEVS Full Presentation Replay - Connecticut's vehicle & home electrification incentives - windows, insulation, heat pumps and solar

Full Presentation Deck (PDF format) Click/tap the image above to view the entire presentation in PDF format for full screen mode, click/tap images and QR codes to jump to related web pages. Full Presentation Deck (Google Slides) Here's the Google Doc version of the presentation, complete with…

Sep 16 2023

Featured on "Home Gadget Geeks" Episode #584 "Paul Braren and Lots of Stuff to Catch Up on! – HGG584"

Thank you again Jim, for you being you, and for inviting me again! Including "The Home Tech Podcast" episodes, it's my 18th time on the air with you, with all of them listed below! It's always fun to catch up. I've got a few notes below, just in case you'd like to explore any of these…

Sep 16 2023

(First Annual) Northeast Electric Vehicle Symposium - New Haven Connecticut, Sep. 9, 2023

Live near Connecticut? Come join us, but you need to register here to attend -> bit.ly/NEEVS23 Description Northeast Electric Vehicle Symposium (NEEVS) Join us for an exciting in-person event, the Northeast Electric Vehicle Symposium (NEEVS), held at the Hotel Marcel New Haven, Tapestry…

Aug 16 2023

Featured on Gigacast 48 | TinkerHeldstab with Paul Braren and Matt Heldstab

This podcast was recorded on August 2 2023, using Zoom to join the crew. This is my 1st appearance on this podcast! It's always fun to try something new, especially with these super smart IT folks that I've had the honor of meeting at various IT user groups over the years. You can easily subscribe…

Aug 10 2023

Tesla at Mohegan Sun casino soon - tribal land where Connecticut's protectionist car dealership laws don't apply

TinkerTry YouTube Channel, July 26 2023 - Thoughts on Mohegan Sun [Tribal Land] opening soon for Tesla direct-sales deliveries in Connecticut NEW! Dec 20 2023 - TinkerTry YouTube Channel - Tesla Electric Vehicle Showroom at Mohegan Sun - Speeches at Grand Opening, Dec. 20 2023 Photo by Paul Braren,…

Jul 26 2023

Westport & Wethersfield have first Police EVs in Connecticut! Tesla Model Y & Ford Mach-E Tech Tour. [Video]

On Saturday, May 6 the EV Club of Connecticut held an EV meetup in conjunction with Tesla Owners - Connecticut. An open house of the amazing Hotel Marcel was also held that same day, with quite the array of EVs on display for the public to see, including Westport's new Tesla Model Y. It was…

Jun 23 2023

Today is my first day at Pure Storage as a Systems Engineer!

Dear TinkerTry Readers: Today May 8 2023 is my very first day at Pure Storage! As a "Systems Engineer - Commercial", it's a return to a role that's more similar to what I was doing at VMware than at Dell, but with an even greater focus on customers right here in Connecticut and the rest…

May 8 2023

Seriously, Sandy Munro and Cory Steuben Q&A with EV Club of Connecticut on March 21 2023 (Video Replay)

I met Sandy and Cory in late 2021, and to my surprise reaching out to their team actually worked out, after a bit of back-and-forth negotiating the details. It's a Zoom event, and if this sounds like it's something you'd enjoy, please pre-register, read onward for all the details! Enjoy learning…

Mar 18 2023

When rates doubled, I took 5 minutes to cut my electric bill nearly in half in Connecticut, one of 30 states where you can choose your rate

Feel free to share this article TinkerTry.com/lowerbill with your friends and family. Disclosure: This is not a sponsored post or video. I do not have any financial affiliation with utility companies, and I don't make any commissions from you using the electric rate shopping link featured in this…

Mar 12 2023

Future of Fast Charging Sparks Joy in US's Non-Tesla EV Road Trippers - Supercharged Magic Docks!

Disclosure: I hold no stock and never held stock in any of the companies mentioned on the podcast or in this article. It sure didn't take long for Tesla to deploy this Magic Dock retrofit solution after the Biden administration's recent announcement: Biden-⁠Harris Administration Announces New S…

Mar 6 2023

Featured on Tech Breakfast Podcast 284 | Tesla - Quantum Energy - AI | Aaron, Russ, Tyler, Paul

This podcast was recorded on Thursday February 23 2023, using Telegram for Windows to join the TBP crew Show notes below. This is my 11th appearance on this fun and informative podcast! You can easily subscribe to Tech Breakfast here. You can play this fresh episode in the embedded player: …

Mar 1 2023

EV Club of CT's smart electrical panel discussion featuring SPAN, electrician, & homeowner

Disclosure: This is not a sponsored post or video. Both are intended to highlight the benefits of SPAN by featuring a SPAN representative's technical presentation, two of Connecticut's SPAN customers, and an electrician who installed them. Presentation (PDF) Tap the image above to open up the full…

Jan 9 2023

Featured on Tech Breakfast Podcast 277 | Paul Braren of TinkerTry.com talks EV planes and energy efficient housing | Aaron, Russ, Tyler, Paul

This podcast was recorded on Tuesday November 15 2022, using Telegram for Windows to join the TBP crew Show notes below. This is my 10th appearance on this fun and informative podcast! You can easily subscribe to Tech Breakfast here. You can play this fresh episode in the embedded player: …

Nov 15 2022

VMware vSphere 8 is now GA (General Availability), here's how to download it any which way!

This article has replaced my previous IA article, now that the same exact IA bits to download have been deemed worthy of the GA designation, as VMware proudly announced that vSphere 8 is now GA on Nov 8 2022, updating the same release notes accordingly. Ad Advertising Disclosure - This VMware ad…

Nov 9 2022

Hotel Marcel in New Haven Connecticut, the world's biggest Passive House? Our tech tour featured on Undecided with Matt Ferrell!

Official Passive House certification takes at least full year of operation and monitoring to become official, but it's a pretty safe bet that Hotel Marcel will meet that goal. Read onward and watch the video to learn how! Photo courtesy of beckerandbecker.com. Notice the large solar canopies…

Nov 1 2022

VMware vSphere 8 is now IA (Initial Availability), here's how to download it any which way!

This article has been replaced with this one, now that the same exact IA bits to download have been deemed worthy of the GA designation, as VMware proudly announced that vSphere 8 is now GA on Nov 8 2022 and updated the release notes. Ad Advertising Disclosure - This VMware ad earns the vExpert…

Oct 12 2022

TinkerTry'd Synology DiskStation DS1522+ NAS featuring AMD Ryzen, 10GbE, 5 8TB HDDs and 2 NVMe SSDs!

Earlier this summer, Synology reached out to me to discuss the possibly of turning in some long term evaluation NAS equipment in return for some hands-on time with the very new Synology 1522+ featuring AMD Ryzen and ECC memory capability. Naturally, I said yes, especially since they were offering…

Aug 16 2022

vExperts are now able to place ads on their virtualization blogs for 18% commissions on VMware purchases!

Advertising Disclosure - This VMware ad earns the vExpert author a commission when used for purchases at vmware.com. It's a free way to demonstrate that you value his decade+ of technical content creation. What a nice surprise email from VMware Community Manager Corey Romero @vCommunityGuy today, a…

Jun 22 2022

Rheem heat pump water heater 3-year ownership summary, as featured on Undecided with Matt Ferrell

Here's Matt's popular new video with over half a million views in its first week alone. It features a wonderful set of animations that really drive his points home in a powerful way, in a small amount of your valuable time. Feel free to leave your comments below this article or his video. Enjoy!…

Jun 15 2022

My experience as a first-time Delegate at AI Field Day 3

Yeah that's me, October of 1991, with an IR-based head-mounted eye-tracker. Today, near-IR is used as a DMS [Driver Monitoring System]. A few weeks ago, Keiran Shelden @Keiran_shelden of the Tech Breakfast Podcast introduced me to Stephen Foskett from Gestalt IT. Stephen has been running Tech…

May 26 2022

Rivian R1T EV pickup truck overview at Northeast Rivian Club event in Bridgeport Connecticut, owner Jazzy Jeff has 5,300 miles already!

If you're just here for the photos or video, no worries! It's great to see a variety of new EVs hitting the roads of Connecticut lately, spying my first Kia EV6 just last week. Even better when a whole new category of EVs arrive for the very first time, the all electric pickup truck! The vaguely…

May 15 2022