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I'm very grateful for this forum and for all the smart people on here who have helped me along the way. I'm happy with the way that my solar system turned out, and this website was a huge resource for me when learning enought to pull of the installation myself. Another recent example is with my...

If I get the resolution I'm looking for, I will delete this post. Currently the Victron sales rep for our region and our distributor are gaslighting us. My Victron MPPT stopped working properly about one year ago. This reflected as a battery bank that could not charge to 100%. I didn't know...

TL,DR: Where I live, grid electricity based on our usage would cost us about S/1000 PEN (~$285 USD) per year. A decent solar system, on the other hand, is an investment of S/35,000 PEN – S/50,000 PEN. So we’re looking at anywhere from 35-50 years to recuperate the investment on solar. Solar...

I'm trying to figure out how to put a system together, so the first thing I check is the manual, and here's what I see: As if spending thousands of bucks for your components wasn't enough! Now I need to fork over some more to have a "victron-approved" person connect their laptop to my...

Most days I top out my 14kwh battery bank before 11am. I thought about doing crypto mining, but my internet is abysmal. Any other ideas?

Last night about 2am, my wife and I woke up, and then heard our dog howling like a wolf. He does that sometimes in response to something that might be going on with our neighbor's dogs. A moment later a loud bang! Something hard hit our corrugated metal roof. And/or our solar panels! The sound...

I'm going to post this ongoing solar diary. Please feel free to interrupt at any time to point something out if I'm doing something wrong. It feels like a gauntlet just to get this point. I haven't even started the installation yet, and I have absolutely zero background in electronics. I first...

Why would you prefer to order from Alibaba over Globalsources? Alibaba has improved their platform lately, so you can see who the more serious sellers are, but Globalsources tells you which sellers are the actual manufacturers, and whether they have been vetted at trade shows, by gov't...

I just want to double check with you pros here. It looks like the footnotes on my spec sheet basically give me the answer...but I want to be 100% sure: What happens if I connect a 6,400W PV array to this charge controller? Will it destroy my charge controller? I'm considering 4s4p with the...

We have a mesh filter at the downspout, which keeps out most of the bigger stuff, but we still get very fine debris/muck that passes through and our first-flush system doesn't resolve this 100% either. We have a filter between the rainwater tanks and the house/water pump so the house's water...

I thought this would be a good one for the beginners corner. Normally, I would think this would be an obvious NO. But, I'm looking at purchasing two identical 450w panels, each one with a VOC of 49.57 The short circuit current (Isc) is 11.49A Current at Pmax (Imp): 11.07A So, just had this...

Hello, How do you attach the ground wires to the panel array? Do you need to attach a separate wire for each support rail? or just attach a ground wire to one of the two support rails for each row of panels? Let me ask with a picture. Here are the accesories I have to attach ground wires to...

I can't get my Multiplus to be recognized in VEConfigure. I've got an MK3-USB, dowloaded the drivers, restarted the computer, reinstalled VEconfigure. My USB drivers are working OK, computer is fine, but for whatever reason I can't get my Multiplus recognized on VEConfigure3. It also won't show...

Is this ok? What's the correct order of the installation? Only thing I'm really sure is that I hook up to the mppt first with the batteries, and at some later point to the PV array. my PV array is already wired and so is my string box...ready to plug in to the mppt. Oh and the batteries have...

Long before starting our off-grid solar power installation, we had an electrician wire the house for outlets, lights, switches, breakers, etc. He left a couple loose wires sticking out of the floor to attach to my inverter to feed the house. How do I know which cable is positive vs negative...

I'm designing some systems in my head based on either a growatt 5000ES or one of the victron Easysolar 48/5000 Each have an MPPT amperage rating of 100. So, I'm looking at using 12 400 watt panels of course....I'm not sure what the full operating voltage MPPT range is for the victron, but the...

I might post some photos of their printed warranty policy that comes with the US3000 battery. Under "Exclusions of Warranty" it actually says, "normal wear and tear" I knew the outlook was abysmal when the only two options in this country for LiFePo4 were Chinese and only one of them had a...

I found it extremely difficult to pay attention to what these guys were saying in this podcast. How long until this stuff is mainstream? I want to power my house for 80 years with some copper pipes and other knick-knacks from the hardware store...

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Can you use a multi-tester rated for 5000v to test the voltage pulse of electric wire livestock fencing that outputs more than 5000V? Say 8000v? Or does anything more than 5000V destroy the multi-tester?

Note: Options are very limited down here in South America. I’ m curious how to setup the batteries. I’d like to have 2 of them. Each unit is 48V and I read that connecting batteries Parallel is a very bad idea due to differences in internal resistance even among batteries of the same age, brand...

Is this a huge issue. The panels are the same brand and model, but my distributor doesn't have any left of the 400W version. They have the 410W version. I've already got 12 panels I was planning to put in 4s3p, but I want to go with 16 panels in 4s4p. Here's the specs of the two panels: I...

Is that the number that @Will Prowse suggests in this lesson at the 12:20 minute mark? When I calculate based on my projected 3,600W panel array and 48v battery bank I get 75A. Buuuuuuut...I want to wire the panels in series parallel (2s4p). Based on the panels' specs that array would then...

In the other thread talking about off-grid internet, it sounded like everything involved wireless, which is understandable for obvious reasons. Which setups would expose you to the least amount of EMF radiation?

This is the first time I've noticed this on a solar panel spec sheet. Does this mean you're limited to only two panels per series?

I posted this on the victron forums, but I'm still not sure if I can just use my smartphone to do what I need to do... I have a solar kit I bought recently with a Multiplus 48/5000/70 and a SmartSolar 250/100. The system has a CerboGX and Touch 50. The battery bank is 4 Pylontech US3000. I was...

Let's say I want to wire Panel A to Panel B to Panel C to Panel D in series and the middle of each panel is a distance of 4 meters apart, Panel A has a negative (female) MC4 integrated, but it will not reach all the way to the positive (male) MC4 of Panel B. What is the proper order of...

Hello again forum, I'm about to move off-grid, and trying to figure out how to put all my components together. I bought a custom kit from Novum Solar here in Peru based on my wants/needs. I think they sent about 90% of everything I need to put the system together (they told me that I had...

I'm thinking about getting a Victron 150/100 charge controller and hooking it to either one of the multiplus units in the title. My expected electric usage is around 9kwh per day. I'm planning a PV array anywhere in the ballpark of 3800-4500W. I'll probably end up doing something like a 3s4p...

I want to design a system around a 48v 9.6kwh battery bank. The solar output rating for my location is 4 hours on average. So 9.6kwh/4hours = 2.4kwh This indicates I would need a 2.4kwh array. What if I put 4000watts of panels? What about 4500? 45,000? The reason I ask is because I'm...