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Definitely “as soon as you can afford to”. My wife is all in on doing whatever it takes to reduce or remove reliance on the grid (“fight the power”) so we’re starting our first small install this year and going heavier in batteries than solar due to the TOU rates coming to our utility. Won’t...

Same as above...I'd be interested if I could get ssh access but I think I'm too late to that party. I'm probably better off grabbing a pi, wiring up a rs-485 adapter, and using taptap (https://github.com/willglynn/taptap) to pull data directly from the wire and piping it out through MQTT to HA.

It's been some months...did you ever test this plan? :)

…and down the rabbit hole I go for these products! Those look really clean and impressive!

Lots of folks use a small mppt as a trickle charger for their starting battery. I don’t think you’d have any problems there. Just make sure your load output doesn’t exceed the 15A rating of the controller.

If your state/county/AHJ is particularly strict, they may require UL9540 (full, not the UL9540A version that only covers batteries). That means the inverter and battery combo has to be an approved combo to get your permit and inspection passed.

This is where folks got it working I believe. https://github.com/emporia-vue-local/esphome There’s a link on there that goes to the page showing what to solder and it seems simple enough but my soldering skills are…barely good enough for an electric guitar cavity, much less tiny circuitry.

I mean…their enclosures are usually only 3-4 batteries which sort of puts them in that range, no? (Or could be argued potentially)

For mobile stuff, Victron has really done a lot with boating and RV and is why they're so trusted. They're not flawless by far, but they've definitely withstood a lot of testing in the mobile and boating community and come out on top for a reason. Needing more than 3kva ongoing is going to...

Documenting partly for myself and partly in case someone tells me I missed something crucial... Some changes to the earlier plan (much thanks to the suggestions here for a lot of this): Accidentally ended up with an Orion Smart 24/12-30a Isolated Charger for $55 (I think I got confused when I...

This took me an embarasingly long time to wrap my head around... When I went digging, I found the link below, which appears to indicate that the whole UL9540 setup is pending (effective 10/29/23 unless delayed again). Link: https://app.leg.wa.gov/wac/default.aspx?cite=51-51-0329 (51-51-0328...

Isn't the 15k only 200A pass through? With that, I'd assume you'd need two at that point (one for each of the 200A panels) or else only have it protecting one panel.

That's a good point...I'll have to add that into the future plans if I find I need extra power (though finding space for it might be the hardest part) I...don't know why I didn't think of this! I knew about the capability but didn't think to apply it to the gen/"12v buffer" battery. My...

Only way to go more dense is the little standoffs for stacking the batteries (no enclosure then). There’s also a limit to how many power pros you can connect together for closed comms. If you don’t run into any of that as an issue, the power pros are really cool!

Hi All! I'm trying to plan out a victron-based grid-tie (ish) inverter setup for my home in WA, USA and I'd love you veterans' thoughts on the plan and the design (including if the whole design is dumb and I should consider a different direction or vendor). Being in the USA (and in a city...

An example of how tight the space is...the inverter *just* fits (just a small gap on either side...might stuff some foam in there later if it ends up rattling but it's mounted pretty solidly). I have a vent to install on the rear of the dinette to exhaust heat and a pair of quiet fans to mount...

Yeah, I went back and forth between this or the Quattro 5kva model (for over $1k more) but realized my usage is under 2000w for ac usage most of the time (microwave will surge me over just slightly depending on what else is running but that’s only for short periods) and will be even lower when I...

First time planning for a big power upgrade and we're pretty power hungry campers (smart phones, laptops, ipad, etc) even when boondocking (rare right now but planning on more next year and beyond). I figured I'd see what the rest of you folks saw in case I'm missing anything in the diagram...

Hey thanks for the feedback! I do plan on a cerbo (full version for the tank monitoring) but haven’t done a drawing for the data lines yet. Visio is simultaneously awesome and frustrating haha. Roger on the power in! Seems like a good use since I don’t think I’ll be able to easily find a 24v...

I’m going through the same thing, also in eastern WA. Generally I’m seeing CSA, Tüv, or UL for the gear. I’m also going to go with the Schneider.

I believe it has to do with whether or not you have a common ground connection between the two battery systems (which I believe acts as a sort of common negative terminal of sorts...a path back to the batteries). Examples: For a Truck camper and it's truck (or a truck and trailer), they are...

I was worried about that with so few of their items being UL listed, but was hoping I'd be able to make do with one of the few that are. Am I just better off going the dual Sol-Ark 15k route then? I love having component systems so that it's easy to expand one specific aspect of a system...

So I got an emporia vue a bit ago as I planned my solar and battery install (happening later this year!) and I love the numbers I get from it, especially since I get it feeding into my home assistant vm. However, I’d love less reliance on the internet and found the Iotawatt but before I...

UL pending :(

Sweet, that’s good to know! I’m hesitant with soldering anything that small is the reason I haven’t gone down the route of modifying the vue board…but maybe I can find someone local who has more steady hands than me. Hmm

Yeah, I'm working on reducing energy usage too where I can. I'd love to be able to do a 12k-sized system instead since it would be a lot cheaper and easier to do...hoping this winter gives me a clearer view of why my draws are so high and if I can fix that, it might help trim the sizing. As...

You’ll run into it sometimes with generators or campgrounds with poor quality connectors, where voltage may not be consistent or not be consistent. It can happen with a faulty alternator on DC as well but I don’t think it’s super common.

True...I find the larger MPPTs often cost more than a couple of smaller ones is why I looked at that. Maybe it's worth the simplified wiring to just have one large one though. :) Hm, you have a good point. It's not far to run a quick wire over to the stud I have everything connected to on the...

Does anyone make a combo water heater tank unit that can switch between natural gas and electricity via heat pump? I’d love something where I could switch modes based on how much power I have left in my batteries but I can’t really find anything that combines the two fuels into a single unit.