Recent content by Bvillebob

Go to Ebay, you can pick up a suitable VFD for $100-$150, it will work great. I use a bunch of them around the shop as 3-phase motors can be had dirt cheap compared to standard motors, most people don't want them. For applications using variable speed and a ton of low speed torque, you can't...

You're not in the US are you? That inverter says 230v AC, which often means a single phase 230v such as is used in other parts of the world, not 240v/split phase as we use here.

Before you make decisions look at an annual solar irradiance chart for your location. You are so far north that you're going to get very little solar input in the winter compared to the rest of the year and you'll need to size your panels and batteries to allow for that. I'm a lot further...

Not sure where you got your definition of "sponsored", but in the rest of the world if someone gives you a free battery and you put up a big post telling what a good battery it is, that is a "sponsored review".

I've had a Truckfridge in my van for years, it's a 12v Danfoss compressor fridge, does a fantastic job. My original solar setup was 200w of panels and a 150ah lead / acid battery, it ran the fridge and lights just fine. I spent 2-3 months a year on the road living in the van, camping around...

Sounds like he has a pretty effective leakage tester already, it's called his finger...

Santan Solar has an outlet in Georgia, you can get 250 watt panels for less than $50. I've got 40 of them, they're working great. Look them up.

To answer the OP's original question, what's the difference? Ask anyone who has had anything manufactured in China. You work out the contract, agree to terms, take delivery, all is good. Next shipment you notice that the capacitors you specify have been substituted for cheaper ones, contract...

Sounds like time for a call to the credit card company for a chargeback based on not receiving what you ordered.

My solar power system lives in my shop. The solar is in a small room, 8' x 16' with two inverters, four 16 kWh batteries and three solar charge controllers. The room is well insulated and the waste heat from the equipment is enough to keep the room in the 50's even when it's well below...

My most recent load of 40 panels from Santan looked perfect coming off the truck but when opened the bottom panel was very broken. I sent them a picture and an explanation, they credited a refund to me that afternoon. No hassles, excellent people to do business with.

Just one comment. I see you're in the Portland area, I'm just a bit south of you. Have you looked at the solar irradiance numbers for the area in December-February? I have almost 20kw of panels and 60 kWh of lithium batteries. They run my freezers and shop just fine in the winter, but that's...

I've got 5 of the Overkill BMS units, the new app doesn't detect any of them, the XiaoXing works great.

Just keep in mind that for the next few months you're not going to be seeing much sun, your system will be doing well to generate 1-2 kWh per day until Spring weather rolls around. I have close to 20kw of panels in a similar climate and average about 2-4 kWh per day in December and January.

That's assuming it's not cloudy. Where I live the winters are cloudy, I average about 10 per cent production compared to the rest of the year.