Most reacted threads

Hey Tim, While there are many helpful people here, you seem to go out of your way to respond to all the questions from folks who are new to electrical stuff. Myself included. I wanted to say thanks. It makes this forum a better place. And happy new year! Tom Edit-fixed weird typo.

This is a welcome sight. No smoke; no fire. It’s been a long road. Thank you all. And happy new year!

Haven’t seen this for years.

I put this up here instead of chit chat on the theory that it relates to the nature of this place. This forum is all about solar power and this post is all about this forum. That is, where this forum fits in the grand scheme of the internet. I’m happy to move it if needed. I’ve often thought...

Finally got around to some shop lighting. Off grid. One day I’ll get my grown up system but this is a big step up. Now I can work in the evenings. 200 amp hour 12 volt SOK marine from current connected. 15 socket bistro light string with 100 watt equivalent 12 volt led edison lights. 90...

Around 100 eff today. Sunny and way too humid. Sitting in the conex cleaning up the workbench. Lights, fan, air conditioner running full tilt. A nice cool 72 inside. Now I need to get some internet in the box.

Geting some things done. Jeeze it’s a lot of work. Not getting any younger. Faced a little more south-southeasterly than I wanted but nothing to do about it now. All craigslist hot dipped except for the tamarac post tops. Rigid conduit and double strut. I had a half idea that I was going...

I farted around too long and now I’ve got my entire system set up except for the solar panels. If I leave my batteries in the conex all summer, they’re going to cook. Got so close. But tonight and tomorrow morning I’ve got it deploy about 4000 W of panels. That will give me enough energy to...

Used my iPhone 13 compass to line up my first array due south. Well done. 😂

Every piece of Victron kit I get is top notch. Why aren’t they “UL Listed” so I can put them in my house? Shirley they can afford it.

I’ve been working on getting this done for a long long time. I insulated the heck out of my conex. And then installed all my solar stuff. There’s enough room left to right for insulation, a rack of SOK batteries nestled inside one of those big industrial storage shelves from Costco, plus a...

I’ve been looking into Enphase micro inverters for a while now. I’ve contacted Enphase, enrolled in the Enphase training, and corresponded to Midnite about how to design a system. And thanks to everyone who helped with my newbie questions. As indicated in other threads, I think micros are an...

Must resist.

Some of you remember the 70s. Such hope and promise of a brighter future. This old site deserves some love. It’s got a bunch of projects from the old Mother Earth days involving solar. Very cool stuff. Not many of these resources survive on today’s internet and I thought you guys would...

Mostly for fun. And with a modern backup fuse If needed. I’m curious whether there is a busman type fuse that is DC rated? This would be the master cutoff for my 12 volt (5 amp) lighting circuit.

It’s a big day up at the place. I moved my camping trailer next to my conex and ran my camper window unit air conditioner off the Quattro. Worked great. This opens up a whole new world of staying up here. The only problem I encountered is my trailer LED lightbulb flickers. I eliminated all...

I’m thinking of counting this as a win. 67 panels. 25-30 are mission solar, 10 or so LG, a couple of huge Trinas, a bunch of sunivas, some Jinkos and a big pile of LGs. All in the 300 watt neighborhood. And 6-7 other brands with 1-3 panels each. 3 casualties. All roughly the same physical...

Renogy gets no love. This little guy is 7 years old. 100 watts. Mounted vertically on a south west facing wall. Not too shabby.

Well, here we go. I have only dipped my toe into the solar hot water world. Enough to know that solar electric hot water is too much trouble and too inefficient for me. So I’m building a direct solar water heater. Trying to to this on the cheap as possible and with a little mad max style...

This is my solar panel. There are many like it, but this one is mine. My solar panel is my best friend. It is my life. I must master it as I must master my life. Without me, my solar panel is useless. Without my solar panel, I am useless. I must mount my solar panel true. I must point it...

Got this installed yesterday. Pretty happy with it. 10’ diameter. Only draws 94 watts on high. 24 watts for the light. I can run all the shop lights I can stand, plus the fan on high for 20 hours on my 200 ah SOK 12 volt with a little inverter.

Maybe we can get a break on copper. Will take a while for retail prices to follow as inventory is sold.

As per the title, I got this air conditioner to keep my batteries and inverter cool. My system is set up in an insulated conex box. The positive. -The unit seems to cool well. I’ve only tried it in the mid 80s so far. I did run it in my house for a year to see if it was a dud. It did fine...

A new one-trip shipping container. They are nice. Sad how fast I’ll fill it with carp. ? I’m gathering materials to do one of these. It just occurred to me today that a conex, used as a racking system, with mppt, inverter, batteries inside, may qualify for a solar discount. [edit-tax break]

I’ve been putting dielectric grease on every connection I make. I put in wire before crimping on lugs, I put it on busbars before landing the lugs, I put it inside my solar panel connectors, no put it on my battery terminal, I put it on the electrical plugs on my jeep when I’m replacing a...

It’s already November but there’s still time install or upgrade your system. Without getting into politics, if one of the parties wins, there may be a reduction green energy subsidies. E.g.: John Paulson as Treasury Secretary. “All of these tax subsidies for solar, for wind, inefficient...

I went ahead and got them both. They one on the left is fuse-able, good for 30 amps, and 250 volts DC. Conductive enclosure. It has a solid snap and is built like a tank. Costs $43 delivered from eBay. The one on the right is not fuse-able, good for 32 amps, and 600 volts. Non-conductive...

Do you electrical guys think this box will make a good cable tray? It’s only $20. Thanks

This was shown in the show us your batteries inverter thread. I tried to reach out to this member via private message last night, but have not heard back. I think this is the wrong way to set up for these batteries. The negative should be coming off the bottom battery. Though strangely I...

I happen to have three different brands of ceiling tile on hand. So I tested them to see if they were fire resistant. Armstrong, Certainteed, and USG. They all glow red hot. None of them sustained a fire. Though the USG flame persisted for one to two seconds before it went out. This...

Interesting article with possible application to solar cooling. Light (not heat) significantly increases evaporation. An efficient solar cooling system would be a big deal. https://news.mit.edu/2023/surprising-finding-light-makes-water-evaporate-without-heat-1031

It’s gotten to the point where I simply think of something I need and it shows up at Restore. Not that I believe in that stuff but it keeps happening.😁 This morning I went by and the manager pulled me aside and said we’ve got some used solar panels and a bunch of this metal stuff. Do you want...

I’m surprised to write this. The harbor fright wire terminals seem decent. I recall from years ago that they were so bad I threw them out. Not worth using. Bought these yesterday. They claim to be tinned copper and they feel substantial compared to the Wirefy I got off amazon. I’d still...

Clearly, there is a need for a battery lottery. I’ll go $10 a ticket. Is it legal if the house doesn’t take a cut?

I’ve got analysts paralysis. I’d sure appreciate any thoughts. Let’s say I’ve got a lot of panels like 60 or 70. Off grid. And I need to maintain a couple of thousand watt load 24/7 during the really hot summer months. 100 days over 100F not that long ago. 95F at sunrise. Texas y’all...

I’m confused. I thought the SOK batteries had a precharge mechanism built in for inverters up to 10,000 watts. See quote from SOK manual below. But @HighTechLab put out a video on precharging the Quattro capacitors and they don’t mention this precharge circuit. What am I missing? Thanks

It looks like there might be good components in here. Bus bars? What do you think? I can make an offer. Thanks

Good morning, I was having a conversation with Amy about the possibility of her company developing and selling a 48 volt rack battery. She seemed interested and was going to have some prototypes developed. I was typing up a response to show her Will’s review of the EG4 so they could learn...

I like the idea of direct drive direct current motors. Particularly fans. Getting past the thick layer of carp on the interwebs, I find stuff like this. Seemingly high quality solar direct fans. I think they are geared towards wacky weed growers (chuckle). Not cheap. But a quality battery...

I understand the difficulty/danger of using 120 volt AC common household (US) switches and other equipment for DC. Is there any reason not to use a plug and socket for DC? This will be for a hanging light fixture I may want to move around on occassion. I can power it down at the fuse box...

Bigger is better. I’m looking into fan efficiency. Learned some good stuff. I thought some might find this useful. This is great because I’d like a stupid big ceiling fan for the shop. Big Ass preferred but way out of budget. Fortunately, there are some copy cat giant fans. Any recs...

This guys solution seems to work. Solar panel, micro inverter, load. I would do this to supplement the Quattro output to the air conditioner. I really want to try this out. Seems to address the panel level shutdown concerns I have for roof top. It avoids the whole enphase “ecosystem” that...

Saw this mentioned in the comments to Will’s server rack battery review video. Also mentioned was a Canadian assembly company. Volthium. Looks like cheaper Ali rack batteries may be starting to pop up.

Ok. I’m about to place my order. Thought I’d check in to avoid mistakes. 34 cells from Jenny Wu (two 48v packs with two extra cells). 280 ah. It looks like the 304 are out of stock. Threaded male stud terminals. No Houston stock so placing an Alibaba order with link Jenny provided. 2...

What is the quick, easy, safe way to get 12 volts out of my 48 volt rack battery? I may want to load one up in the travel trailer for occasional use with 12 volt stuff. Is this the way to go? I’ll have no engine hookup. Thanks

Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair! Nothing beside remains. Round the decay Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare The lone and level sands stretch far away. pbs

Has anyone gotten one in hand yet? I’ve been looking forward to some first hand accounts. Particularly off grid usage.

I need to air condition my conex before the summer heat to keep the batteries cool. I’ve already insulated it pretty well. I thought I was going to run my dual hose Midea portable air conditioner hoses out the floor. But it turns out the hose will not reach. Darn it. I’m going to look into...

Not complaining but wonder why it’s showing this way.