Thanks for the reply. Do you have stats on how many watt hours you collect from the 100w panel in the Dec/Jan (assuming you’re in the northern hemisphere), and how those stats vary on overcast days vs sunny? I’m around 37°n and relatively sunny in the winter, except for a gloomy week here or there - an adequate battery buffer will be needed for those days, and the capacity can be shifted to ventilation fans in the summer.

While it does freeze here (occasionally down to 0° F) the battery will be inside the chicken coop where the temp has always remained above freezing. Initially my concern with lead acid was the risk of gassing into the birds’ airspace, which is why I’m drawn to the LiFePO4 chemistry. Victron does seem great for heavier(medium)-duty scenarios like sheds or RVs.

The pi is a zero, which pulls about 25-33% the current of a 3b, and I’ve been able to run it off a 10,000 mah battery bank for over 24 hours. It is beneficial to have it running continuously during daylight hours only, aside from logging weather lows, but I can’t think of a practical method to shut it down & bring it online automatically - at that point it’d probably make more sense to switch to an ESP32 device feeding data to a primary server inside the house.

BTW the adapter I use is Apple-branded but still has the same volume issue reported for generic variants - it must be a limitation of the USB-C spec. I will concede that wireless is nice for workouts, though… I use my wife’s when I am in a rare music-while-exercising mood. She’s gone through 4 pairs in the past 5 years, though, and the amount of E-waste is very problematic.

If they made nice wireless headphones where the battery lasted longer than 5 years, wasn’t at risk in a hot car or backpack, and was also reasonably priced I’d concede they’re better. Until then theyre not a better solution (unless during workouts) and contributes to e-waste. The adapter is apple-branded too… I guess something about the usb-c spec doesn’t allow loud audio signals to pass through.

My parents aren’t even old enough to be boomers. I’m just practical.

I don’t use headphones often, but when I do its’ via wired headphones. I had to buy a USB-C-to-3.5mm adapter, but the max volume is half of what my old phone with a 3.5mm jack could deliver.

Cheap wireless devices like headphones are way too finicky and prone to breakage, not to mention the battery lifespan is just a few years. I’ve had my nice wired headphones for 10 years.