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I built my system from components ... not knowing anything, other than I couldn't have and didn't want a grid connection where I was. I did a bunch of research. Started out with a Magnum 4024 (tier-1, LF), and RTFM'd more than a few manuals, but we got it done. The complete system...

Not quite apples to apples, but ... Magnum & affiliates have (always had) a 4024 "pre-wired unit" consisting of: ms4024pae, midnite solar 150, and pre-wired base, all connected together. This is what I put up on the wall of my utility shed almost 10 years ago now, when we built off-grid. It was...

As you are currently grid-connected, totally agree with the above "reduce existing loads by all conservation measures". With that done, next might be to determine your electricity costs/times ... does your utility charge more for peak hours, and less in off-peak hours? If so ... If you are...

This thread indicates that someone did attempt a battery replacement (individual battery cells, internal fuse), and supposedly had good luck with the process: diysolarforum.com/threads/jackery-explorer-500-bms-identify-replace.56091/ Some encouragement, there ...

Yes, LiTime confirms his timeline of service interactions, in the sense that they have posted their (quite impressive capture of service events ... that's good CRM) side of events, asking for pics to get through problem resolution and/or chase things down with shipper, and OP can't provide them...

All SoGens (good acro, btw) have "sex appeal", and adding wheels is even sexier ... however, these are what I consider to be the numerous "strikes" against this particular unit, at this time: 1. AGM instead of LFP ... that sounds like the product was rushed to market, and at the very least...

Generators (fuel gens) are a method of producing electricity where there is no grid connection. They are also a backup to other methods (solar panels, mppt), where the other methods aren't producing for various reasons (night-time, cloudy, system temporarily broken, etc.) In all these...

There are still a few islands of "do your own thing", wrt building codes ... except for individual reports like yours in a few spots across the states, these appear to be reducing down. I still contend that you have to "do your own thing" correctly, as in, if you mistakenly backfed the grid...

Operationally, I have heartburn over the current AIO's ... still seems like I'll need at least two on the wall, either running, or one in standby. If running, they'd have to support taking over if other dies. As I place a high priority on being up and running (actually, wife & daughters enforce...

I had purchased an AmpereTime battery that was bought in the US and shipped to me by UPS. It's a *sealed* battery (no visible seams), and had a bad BMS; AT gen'd the shipping label for me, and UPS picked it up and shipped it back to the vendor in the US ... nobody had any concerns. This is not...

I am impressed that others are reading all 50+ pages of that thread ... I managed 30 or 40, lost my way a few times, got derailed a whole bunch more by sidebar conversations. I remain wary of all "auth'd installer" screens, passwords, etc ... if it could be used by installers/vendors to limit...

I had to buy an HF inverter for a project, and I skipped SS because I saw zero website self-support mechanisms. I don't need to call in (I dislike waiting on the phone, and detest 1st-level phone support), and a "form submission" for support is a black hole, but a few basics (SS product forums...

I'm a little late to this party, but on our rural homestead, we use open-frame gennys for backup power, when weather or extended usage precludes solar. With a magnum 4024 inverter/charger, we pump the open-frame genny power into the inverter, and it charges the batteries just fine; it also...

For folks that are on grid ... a "backup" system seems of high(er) importance. No matter where I lived in TX, CO ... outages happened, and for the strangest reasons. These range from brownouts & other fluctuations to full blackouts. A small parallel inverter/battery-bank/panel-less system w/...

From your requirements, it would seem that a phased approach fits most of them: 1. Inverter (aio or component system, sized appropriately) and battery bank (LiFePO4, LiTime or any server rack batteries sized to your daily usage). With just these pieces in place, you can store all the needed...

The devil is in the details, so really ... buyer-beware. You'll have to spend hours poring through the specs for the battery from a vendor plus review tear-downs to check for construction and components and their BMS choice, all of which goes into how you'll use them (configuration rules from...

We utilize Westinghouse wgen9500df (propane) open-frame gens ... their main purpose is to recharge battery bank when solar isn't cooperating. This is pretty much their only function, so it is a nice, smooth load for the gen. At most, 4 hours per day. This model line-up typically has electric...

Some reasons for building a 24v or 48v "battery-bank" out of 12vXXXah batteries, especially where the battery vendor supports such configurations: 1. quick reconfiguration if a single battery gives grief (even temporary). the more batteries in the battery bank, the better the chance to...

Excellent! Nice system, design, and ongoing construction! This is, by far, the cleanest construction site I've ever seen. Love the "shed"! I was in same situation in Colorado ... $30k for 10 poles to bring power to house location, so we just went off-grid ... built an 8 x 16 enclosed (heated)...

I would learn from my mistake (not inspecting right away, not taking pics of box, not saving box, etc.) and move on ... do it better the next time. When we deal with companies, we expect them to package the product well enough to get to you, but then they have to hand off to a shipper, and then...

There are some number of folks on this and other forums who have or want to get a bunch of solar gear into a trailer-mounted scenario, myself included. Anytime anything gets onto a trailer, and if used for any terrain scenario other than highway and perfect asphalt (no potholes), I'd expect a...

Power strip = test/project work, not production. At some reasonable point in time, turn your test/project *into* production work. Integrate (the world's smallest/cheapest) circuit-breaker panel in the mix. Run real wiring, suitably sized, to outlets. Ground the system correctly. From that...

To meet OP requirements of rural, hands-off, retirement ... implement off-grid as primary; grid connection as secondary. Everything else is a sliding scale of values for hands-on, money, complexity, monitoring, automation, etc. You can push one up or down, but the others will vary in opposite...

Don't know your timeframes for everything, but I'd invest in the design process now, before buying more components. The 12v230ah battery can be standalone for now (a single battery), or part of a 12v system design (one or more batteries in parallel for a battery bank) or a 24v design (2 batts in...

Usually, this scenario is solved with the typical "whole-house" generator ... the Generac or similar. Fully automated gen (your duromax is not fully automated) plus compatible transfer switch = no messing with the system, and it goes on/off with the grid's up/down, all automatically. This is...

We love being off-grid, and would never go back! No more utility bills with endless "fees" for this and that. No more "we're coming on your property, and there isn't really anything you can do about it", and so on. The whole thing *IS* transparent to my family, other than the fact that my...

Without intending to discourage you, your current learning approach is perhaps leading you astray in many ways ... you're purchasing (unnecessary) items, without really understanding the item's role in a reasonable or modern solar gear setup. I would hold off buying piecemeal any further, as...

I'm off-grid, but I often like to suggest this to my on-grid brethren ... a parallel system. Separate sub-panel, AIO-inverter/battery-bank driving only critical loads *all the time*. Recharge from grid when grid is up. Possibly recharge from small inverter-gen when grid is down for extended...

IMHO ... It may have a 5-yr warranty, per the user manual ... that doc points to their separate "standard warranty & registration" doc, which you'd have to read pretty thorougly to understand. You'd then have to couple that info with how they work, wrt support processes and such. This could be...

Major failures for standby/portable gens seem to be "engine" and "stator/rotor"; close seconds to these would be incredibly high-priced "control boards" and such. 2000 hours was what I got out of an initial Generac, and when that fell by the wayside (parts to fix the failure were sky-high, info...

In doing some research, I'm finding different results with the various battery types (Lithium-Ion, Lithium-Polymer, and LiFePO4) ... so it could be that "storage facts" for small form-factor Li-Ion batteries (18650) might not be as relevant for our storage batteries of large LiFePO4 cells (what...

Interesting ... I do keep the boxes on new product arrivals, for at least a couple of months, until I'm sure the item won't need returning/exchanging. After a month or two of successful operation of the device, the box can finally get tossed. I modify this for how expensive the thing is ... if...

Correct me if wrong, but I believe the "internet tax-free" stuff is going away (various lawsuits have gone the states way), or is already gone? Starting with big companies now charging everybody sales tax per their residence state's rate? Amazon now charges me sales tax for Colorado, even if I...

I'm off-grid, and I use westinghouse propane gens ... these are auto-start/auto-choke, and have an ATS smart port built in. Couple that gen (various models) with the westinghouse ATS box (sold separately), and you have automatic ATS power when the monitored power source goes offline. As we are...

I'd build a portable (hand-truck) solar generator ... an AIO, LiFePO4 battery, and a solar panel or two of your choice. This is the project you use to garner all knowledge about your future system, and it is usable now, for camping, site work, etc. If you spec right, all components transfer over...

We are rural and off-grid, and adding to our self-sufficiency every day (becoming more self-sufficient in all areas of homesteading). So, yes, keep working towards getting some land (as unrestricted as possible), even though that might be harder for you in the UK vs. us in the USA. Yes, you can...

I believe OP is thrashing EMF (EMI?), not other power problems like THD or surge protection ... IDK enough about EMF (sickness?), and until I research it thoroughly, it seems more like smoke and mirrors at this point ... I've heard that some people suffer greatly from it, but I haven't...

I see OP's argument as more of a location-based issue. If you are in the city (or highly populated area), and exploring solar, you are causing grief to the local grid, because you're going off-grid or hybrid. Thus, in the city, grid/regulatory folks are doing all they can to keep you "tied in"...

I found v1.0 of the user manual for it ... still has some amount of phrases in it implying it was written by China language speakers trying to write in english ("if user want to sell back to grid", and such). Hopefully, Midnite Solar will clean it up. What's with the "installer" vs "user" login...

I would address the big issues first, such as: - surge protection devices (in your load panel, and in front of critical devices) - site fuel (propane) and generator (auto-start) Electrician friend should be able to address both of these with you. With just these two things out of the way, it...

I've used AmpereTime (now LiTime) LiFePO4 batteries ... while origin is china, delivery/support is local to USA (from 3 sites across the US, no less). They specifically state "up to 4 in series" with their 12v. Also, every model has different BMS sized for load, but you can get models w/ up to...

You'll want to: - read all the LiTime materials on storing and charging their batteries (this is how you know what was supposed to be done) - use an appropriate battery charger with true LiFePO4 charging technology (LiTime's, or someone else); don't use any old (FLA) battery charger - leave...

Not being an EE, which is what I think you need, and furthermore, one who specializes in power plant design, I'd pursue the following: 1. implement large (diesel, propane) generators, of the class needed to meet power requirements - this gets you going right now - gens in this class are super...

Solar generators (bluetti, etc) are nice-looking little boxes ... some are even very expandable. The trade-off seems to be capacity. Personally, I couldn't spend that kind of money for the little amount of capacity inside them. It is just too easy to build your own "solar generator", with way...

It sounds like the current system is (still) working? If so, it will be more problematic to upgrade than to clean-sheet a new system, which you can install in parallel to the old, and then one day, retire the old system. This is the time to not integrate new stuff into the old system (with all...

Because you have an inverter/charger, I'd recommend an open-frame propane genny. standby genny = generac-like (high initial cost, high repairs, dealer/service lock-in, auto-start & auto-choke) open-frame genny = duromax-like (low initial cost, easy to work on, elec-start but no auto-choke or...

Once a grid connection is in place (they've sunk in their claws), the service to your home is now "permanent" as in you'll always pay a minimal fee each month, whether kw's are used or not. You should verify this for your power company ... very few of these guys ever let you totally disconnect...

"So what happens when you do try to do everything is you start to work with neighbours and others as it’s more efficient to share knowledge, experience, equipment etc. next thing you know you’re building your own local grid." I think we're missing the definition of homesteading here ...

Interesting question(s) There seems to be a good amount of research data out there, on just about any particular interest you have. For example, if we are worried about cycles *or* calendar aging, some studies/thesis, etc. suggest that both are something to consider (worry about): "Over time...

I just finished a build of a "hand truck" solar generator, consisting of a core of 24v MPP Solar AIO and 24v battery bank (two 12v100Ah SOK batteries). The hardest part was a bit of scrap 2x4 wood frame to mount components onto a handtruck. I also beefed up the wheels to be knobby, solid-core...