Most reacted threads

Every small size, DIN mountable breaker review on Amazon says "doesn't retain the wire". I bought one that had mostly good reviews, and guess what? The wires pull out. Doesn't matter how tight I make the screw, or if I use 10ga wire with a lot of strands, or 6ga wire with 7 strands. If I...

When I was looking at DIY solar 10-15 years ago, racking was inexpensive. Doesn't seem that way anymore. What do folks recommend for an inexpensive rack mount for 6-10 REC Solar 250W panels on a composite roof?

Picked up a Weize 6AH LiFePO4 12V battery to use with my QRP ham transceiver. Charged it with a bench supply set to 14.6V with the current set at 2A max. Noticed the current draw is dropping to zero when the battery loaded supply was about 14.06V. To me this means one of the cells internally...

When I was reading up whether to get the 4215BN or not, one of the downsides is that it didn't support lithium batteries so folks had to use the 'other' setting. The unit I got though does have lithium choices, both LFP and NCM types. I can confirm that indeed my 4215BN has these as I used the...

Encouraged with my 24V DIY setup and its daily production, it looks like I can level 1 charge my 2019 VW eGolf and replace at least my local distance driving (8 miles/day, or 2 KWh/day need). Level1 would be ~2 hours of continuous charging. Anyone have experience level 1 charging their EV with...

For testing I have my PV cable running down to my SCC out in the open, but after I've proven it works, I'll need to put the run into conduit. Likely will use 10ga THHN wire in the conduit. Question for the group - how is the transition made from solar panel MC4 connectors and PV wire to metal...

I have a 16 qty bank of CALB 180 cells arranged in a 2p8s configuration and want to add the JK b2a8s20p BMS. JK BMS is aluminum skinned and came with short 7ga silicone insulated wires for connections, 2 in parallel for in and out. I can’t rest the BMS on top of the cells else short stuff out...

I'm starting to put my off grid setup together finally. Looking to peel off ~ 200W of 24/7 power consumption, and have a power source if we have any planned or unplanned power shutdowns. My system will be 24V with LiFePO4 batteries that total up to about 400AH of storage. I'm going to feed...

My 2019 eGolf can be set to charge no higher than 5A. This setting even works when level 1 charging. 10 hours of charging of level 1 at 5A would be about 5KWH of capacity, or better than 20 miles of range. I only use 8 miles/day. Figure when it's not charging my EV, in an emergency it can...

Given my less than ideal panel mounting situation (flat roof, shadows from power line, neighbor's hedges, etc), seeing what I produce throughout the day is going to be important so I can optimize what I have. I have an Epever 4215BN, and also bought a Victron 500A smart shunt but have yet to...

I'm thinking of getting a LiFePO4 12V 100AH battery for ham radio use, and also to offload some of my house's power to solar (SCE charges me $0.33/KWh all in - ridiculous!). Been scouring all the info in this forum and I'm seeing that BMS's in these things typically don't balance the pack, just...

I already have a Victron Smart shunt inline with my batteries to see AH in/out, max amps in/out. What I don’t have is a meter that measures total solar production from my 3 separate SCCs. I am missing the PV production that goes straight to the inverter. Are any of the non-Victron smart shunts...

I've been playing with solar for about 30 years, but never made anything permanent. Looking for a recommendation for an electrically quiet 24V to 120VAC, ~ 500W inverter to power stuff that runs 24/7 (cable modem, router, access points, ubiquiti air links, PC running Blue Iris, security...

My batteries, charge controllers, inverters are all outdoors, on a concrete pad but under a large awning. It's up against the house and sunroom, sheltered very well from the rain, so so for wind. I have not seen any condensation buildup on any of it. Charge controllers are mounted on the...

Just bought one of these as the AH rating is good for the price. Considering diesel is $6+/gallon, I decided the $23 shipping was worth it also. https://jag35.com/products/slm12-lifepo4-12v-50a-4s-battery This does not come with a BMS. My use case is for ham radio comms and my HF rig will...

I keep waiting for batteries to get cheaper, and they do seem to have dropped a bit this past week. I need to add more storage so I can put more into my EV at night when I get home and to lower the peak current I'm pushing back into the batteries when charging. Of these 24V 100AH batteries...

I am looking to shed some of my continuous house loads to a DIY solar inverter setup. I'll be running a Samlex 600W 24V input inverter from a pair of LiFePO4 budget 100AH 12V batteries and my two choices are LiTime and Power Queen. Both appear to be identical in capacity, current rating, and...

I need to add more panels as my flat mounting and neighbors privacy shrubs creating early afternoon shading really limit my production. I can get these Phono Solar panels locally. Any known issues with these? PHONO SOLAR PS315P/24T

TLDR: Should I get a 24V premade LFP now (in the 100-300AH range) or wait for the prices to fall? Background: Pretty happy with my solar setup. Have ~ 4 KW of panels in various series/parallel arrangement going into 3 MPPT SCCs and then into a 24V LFP pack made from used CALB 180AH cells...