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I think the trend both with lower and lower cell cost/Wh as well as the arrival of more and more finished LiFePO4 batteries at lower and lower cost means it’s just a matter of time before building your own DIY LuFePO4 batteries from cells is not going to make any sense. Today, you can purchase...

I think this is correct. That’s why I said earlier that we’re heading to a world where import-only is going to be the only sensible architecture for residential solar. -generate your own power and store what you are not instantly consuming for overnight power. -on short winter days or during...

My DIY 4kW grid-tied array cost me less than $5000 (plus my time) and broke-even in under 5 years…

I wonder what this will end up meaning for legacy ‘non-smart’ solar installations that reach the end of their (reduced) grandfathering period and get transitioned to NEM 3.0… It seems as though the only sensible home solar architecture in California is going to end up being one where the grid...

Part of it is driven by increased power outage concerns (for example PSPS shut offs for fire-prevention here in California). Part of it is motivated by the ever-worsening rules governing NEM agreements making them less and less attractive. And part of it is driven by the dual trends of...

Throttling-back export is fair game and has been part of the rules for a while now. With a sophisticated-enough system, you can always capture energy the grid decides it does not want when you have it available into a battery. Of course, if the grid causes your power generation to...

I on the cusp of assembling my second LFP battery (8S 280Ah) after bungling the assembly of my first ‘learner’ 8S 90Ah LFP battery before I knew about this Forum. From the incredible amount of information and knowledgeable DIYers with experience, I am feeling much more confident of this second...

I’m a manufacturer, he’s a manufacturer, wouldn’t you like to be a manufacturer too?

Reading back through various places it seems like setting the baudrate to 125000 is an important configuration detail I missed. So here is my full cangaroo startup sequence in case there are any other configuration / initiation variables I am missing: Startup cangaroo Measurement / Start...

Thanks for the catch! Would have been nice if there was a ‘global replace’ on this Forum, but that’s probably asking too much. I painstakingly slogged through and corrected all the mistakes… I hear ‘ya. Back in ‘pioneer days’, achieving anything under $0.25/Wh with LiFePO4 was an achievement...

if you are new to this domain and planning to purchase some new 280Ah LiFePO4 cells, my advice to you is purchase 20mm SS grub-screws and Loctite before your cells arrive, install them into your virginal terminal threads first thing when they come out of the box, and only ever exercise those...

Seems like this should not impact legacy NEM 1/2 customers, but since I just found some information on the new E-ELEC rate plan PG&E is planning to move all NEM 3.0 customers to by yearend, I thought I would share: https://www.solar.com/learn/pge-electric-rates/#rates 10kWh of export...

The added cost for the headroom to 150V is so low, I’d suggest you consider future-proofing. Newer panels now regularly exceed 50V worst-cast Voc, so unless you are certain that you will never need to charge with a 2S array, I’d suggest you consider investing in a 150V SCC…

You obviously believe what Solar Assistant has to say is the final word on the matter. I’d be a lot more focused on what my utility defines as ‘zero export.’ The new rules in California allow the utility to accumulate instantaneous export distinctly from instantaneous import (‘dual-channel’...

Please don’t fear monger. A PWM SCC cannot ‘cook’ a LiFePO4 battery. It will not be as efficient as an MPPT SCC but when Vmp of the solar panels is close to Vbat, the loss in is minor. Will has done great videos comparing PWM and MPPT SCC charging LiFePO4 batteries and the results shocked...

That is a good idea. I’ll do that for all remaining MC4 connections I establish. The only caveat is that, after 7 years, the plastic is pretty degraded, so almost every cap I unscrewed brought small teeth from the rubber toothed gasket with it. So I’d only recommend this ‘remove the cap and...

True, but in general, if the increased cost is reasonable, it’s ‘safer’ to allow as much headroom as you can afford. I would not spend twice as much on 200?A BMSs over 100A BMSs, but for 10% more it would be a no-brainer (at least for me) to purchase BMSs that are designed to handle higher...

I went the route of using a laptop - the app is free and the RS485-to-USB cable cost a tiny fraction of what they charge for the MT50. Can’t comment as I don’t use WiFi, but the app connected through an RS485 to USB cable provides full monitoring on a laptop. For remote monitoring I think you...

So what is the quick recap here? Single BMS for poorly-balanced 4P ‘cells’ resulted in? Removed piece of plywood left terminals exposed and? I’m not understanding the theory for what caused this fire.

I would interpret EVEs spec as the maximum torque that can be applied to the terminal before the terminal begins to rotate within the cell housing. I believe EVE sells unthreaded cells (look at the pictures in the data sheet), so their spec has nothing to do with what torque will or will not...

300 kgf = 660 pounds of force. That force should be presented to the full flat sides of the pack, measuring 200mm x 173.6mm = 35720mm^2 or 53.8”^2 (for EVE’s 280Ah cells). 660 pounds of force distributed over 53.8”^2 = 12.264psi. The ends should be constructed from something rigid, but...

Just to clarify / correct? There is only one manufacturer of MC4 (MultiContact) connectors and that is Staubli, who bought MultiContact, the original inventor of the connector style). Every ‘MC4’ you purchase from another manufacturer than Staubli or MultiCovtact (if such a thing is even...

“At this time” turned out to be a hint after all… Just saw the latest manual for the EG4 6000XP (V1.3.2) and support for AC-Coupling has now been added (see section 5.11 and 6.4) https://eg4electronics.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/EG4-6000XP-Manual.pdf ‘AC coupling allows the user to add...

My biggest problem with what you are describing is if clamping were only needed ‘during the initial charge cycles’, why wouldn’t that be done by the manufacturer / EVE before shipping (as the final step of manufacturing)? It’s a huge PITA for customers and far easier for the manufacturer to...

Did a bit of poking around and found this: https://uwspace.uwaterloo.ca/bitstream/handle/10012/12177/Catton_John.pdf Figure 15 shows that LFP cells stored at 100% SOC @ 35C will lose ~13% of their capacity (13% capacity fade) after 28 months (note that we are talking about loss of actual...

I’ve read that LFePO4 cells are typically shipped at ~50% SOC. You state 500Ah for a 16S 48V (51.2V) battery, so 50% SOC translates to ~12.8kWh to charge the cells near 100% 3 hours @ 25A being supplied at 51.2V translates to 3.84kWh or ~30% of your batteries full capacity. So yeah, it’s a...

I just started a thread on Chinese cell manufacturers asking for exactly this sort of information - wish I had found this thread first. The other thing I believe would be useful would be to link the cell manufacturers to the ‘Trading Companies’ like Xuba and Haomi that are reselling these cells...

These days, PV power is cheaper than copper, so your better off to get another few % of PV generation and accept a few more % of losses in your cabling, in my opinion. So it really comes down to the current limits of your cabling (and importance of respecting those limits). I’ve got ~1kW of PV...

Pretty much confirmed that SRNE is the manufacturer of the 10kW Split-Phase inverter they sell (and probably also any and all inverters they sell). Pretty much confirmed that Y&H is a rebadger and manufactures no actual inverters themselves (no specifies Y&H-specific customizations). Pretty...

Appreciate the response. You’ve helped solve one mystery for me - I saw the EVE LF280 price on Alibaba and it was over $200. For low-volume sales I could understand - to discourage sales to end-users. But the price for MOQ of 500 was also over $200 - 2.5 to 3x the price from these ‘Grey...

The first grubscrew I JB Welded-in into a (non-stripped) terminal has now cured for 48 hours (double the recommended cure time). I went ahead and torqued down a busbar, first to 35 inch-lbs, then all the way to 45-inch pounds and everything seems to have held just fine. I also realized that a...

That is a global factor and immaterial to my argument. Inflation will hit Lead Acid batteries as well. The point is that building your own LuFePO4 batteries from cells is rapidly becoming a fool’s errand…

$1400 for 14.8kWh = $94.70/kWh for me (same as you ;). A ready-made battery would cost at least double if not triple and if you opt for a finished battery from one of the ‘Big Guys’ like Tesla or BYD, you can easily double again… So for the population at large (meaning those not crazy enough...

Subsection completely blocked (no current output) or partially-blocked enough to reduce current for the entire string enough such that bypassing that entire partially-blocked subsection (meaning reducing string voltage by 1/3Vmp + 0.6V) translates to higher power output (at least assuming you’ve...

Welcome to the club. I’m not sure which approach you are planning to use to get battery power into your m250s, but there a 3 different approaches being discussed here: -direct connect - max current well in excess of any Iscmax spec is the risk but kundip has run for over two years now without...

Amy of Xuba confirmed to me that the 280Ah LFB Xuba sells are from EVE and stated that they are Grade-A as well as in continuous supply under a long-term supply agreement with EVE...

Yes. Your cells are probably fine. Spend the time to get them properly top-balanced and you will almost-certainly have a much better experience the first time you series charge (after series-discharging). Some member spend literally months top-balancing their new cells.

If the cells are matched in terms of capacity it doesn’t matter whether you top-balanced or bottom-balanced - either will provide you the capacity of your lowest-capacity cell (boosted by however much your BMS can balance while charging). And if your cells are not capacity-matched, your going...

You raise a good point. Many municipalities have stated that spurious export of under 25ms is allowed and ideally, it would be great if California issued such guidelines as well. Without that, any boundaries on the amount / length of spurious export that can be generated by UPS or inductive...

I just found this: http://www.ginverter.com/Export-Limitation-Solution.html It suggests that Growatt MIC and MIN Series inverters can be controlled for zero export using a remote CT-sensor-based ‘Growatt Meter’ I’m curious whether we have any members out there successfully using Growatt...

Purchasing a battery from an unknown vendor in China is a risky proposition, Being one of the first to buy into a brand-new bleeding-edge battery chemistry is a risky proposition. Purchasing a battery based on a brand-new bleeding-edge chemistry from an unknown vendor in China is downright...

Ahhh, so you just getting impacted in 2023 by the shift to new TOU window that began affecting most of us NEM1 customers in 2021. In 2020 my peak window was 12-6pm over summer months weekdays. In 2021 it shifted to 3-8pm over summer month weekdays. This year it shifted to 4-9pm over summer...

Why don’t you have a look at the frequencies typically involved and get back to us once you have educated yourself. Oh, and you cannot ‘pulse’ voltage into a battery. What you can do is ‘pulse’ current into a battery (or more correctly in the case of PWM SCCs, discharge charge into a battery...

I’m actually not looking for a battery. I’m happy with my 560Ah / 14.3kWh DIY build. My interest in OTS LiFePO4 is more associated with friends and family members who want to copy my small self-consumption GTIL solar system. No way I’d recommend any of them put a DIY battery in their...

This is a very serious matter and insults in any direction are really uncalled for (and I know it’s not you that threw the first insult). I appreciate your bringing this failure to the Forum and would like to see us all focused on what could have caused this fire. Seeing your photos brings...

The big difference is that the 10 / 5+5kW model has UL1741 and I don’t see anything to that effect for the 5kW single-phase model. With a pair of 5kW models you get a pair of dry contacts while the 10 / 5+5kW model gives you only one. Other than that, they seem very similar.

Yeah, I’ve been looking at the XW-Pro and it seems like a pretty solid solution, but I have a question: The XW-Pro is a low-frequency inverter using an internal transformer to generate split-phase output, is it not? If so, how are these concerns regarding circulating currents when a...

You are ahead of me because I have not yet hooked up my charger for the first time (but am planning to). Do you have a balancer (other than your BMS)? From what I’ve read: 1/ voltage is a very, very poor inficator of SOC, especially with LiFePO4 which has a very flat curve. 2/ Because of the...

The shutdown is not the issue. That’s been the case in California almost from day 1. The biggest issue is being able to suck the power out of your battery when the utility decides it wants it (serve peak demand on the grid). It’s also unclear from the way that this is written whether the...

Sounds like he has 48 280Ah cells for 1000Ah, so 36V (6S8P) battery? The discharge rate was apparently 500-750W which would translate to 15 to 21A or 0.007C to 0.01C. Also, sounds like the battery was nowhere near the knees. The impact of insulating the top of the battery pack during this...

Well that makes it easy :). There is a lot of loose talk on the Forum about this or that inexpensive Chinese inverter being a Voltronic rebadge but I suspect many of those claims would not stand up to this level of sleuthing. I’m not interested in ‘Voltronic-like’, I’m interested in the...

In addition to Solartex flyer, here is more evidence that the SUN-1000/2000G2 inverters are manufactured by Deye: https://www.google.com/amp/s/m.made-in-china.com/amp/product/1kw-Pure-Sine-Wave-Inverter-Grid-Tie-Inverter-Inverter-SUN-1000G2-LCD-777088335.html I purchased mine from the Y&H store...

Correct. Assuming all cells apply equally-increased pressure, the increased pressure applied within a rigid fixture will be increased but independent of the number of cells. If only a single cell applies increased pressure of +P within a set on N cells in a line within a rigid fixture, the...

I got into this after extensively reading that the risk of fire caused by LiFePO4 batteries is vanishingly small. Assuming that to be the case, I’m not concerned about a fire caused by my LiFePO4 battery but rather about the insurance company finding an out on the policy after a fire caused by...

I saw a much more significant drop than 10Ah when testing my 280Ah EVE cells. Was just under 50F here in the Bay Area and I was getting ready to make a claim for replacement when I checked the data sheet and saw the same 25C test condition. Rigged up a simple temperature-controlled test...

I don’t have any photos but will eventually post some once the dust has cleared. All of Microinverter male MC4 connectors seem fine with no melted plastic and no signs of corrosion. So the solar panel female MC4 connnectors did a good job keeping moisture and/or corrosion out of the contact...

They last longer in terms of cycle life, are much smaller, and are cheaper (at least in high volume)…

I’m much less tweaked by the minimum monthly charge than I am by the proposed per-kW-of-solar-per-month solar ‘tax’ being proposed. A minimum monthly charge applies to all customers equally and having the grid available for when needed represents a value, whether you end up needing it or not...

It feeds electricity into only one leg. If you only want to offset the consumption of one leg (L1 or L2), you connect one of these to an outlet on that same leg and locate the clamp sensor on the corresponding mains wire. If you want to offset consumption on both Legs, you need two of these...

Many people confuse dual-channel with split-phase / dual-leg but that is not it at all. Smart meters only meter 240VAC and the switch from single-channel to dual-channel does not change that. The smart meters themselves are capable of instantaneously measuring consumption and can detect...

Megarevo has had various performance and quality issues, so I staying away from any inverters made by them until enough happy owners report here to give me the all-clear. The SRNE inverters do not support export-to-CT functionality, but other than that, early owners have all seemed happy with...

i think all of these are secondary to the biggest advantage: bi-directional charging will require a hybrid inverter that can operate off of DC power delivered straight from an EV. If you want the ability to use an EV as an extension of a house battery, you will either need an HV hybrid that can...

That’s a great idea - so the Chargeverter essentially ‘floats at a voltage far below fully-charged voltage / usual float voltage and prevents the battery from discharging further. Charge power essentially responds to loads being powered rather than average power as it would be setting charge...

Ahhh, but did they in fact buy it? For different products, one brand inverter versus another brand inverter, absolutely. But it’s Victron’s product to price wherever they want. If they have a network of resellers who agree contractually to not undercut their MAP pricing terms, how is that...

For those considering to use DCDC boosters to power their Microinverters from battery, these are not identical to the cheapo DCDC boosters from China, but they are similar: https://www.elecrow.com/1032v-to-1235v-150w-dcdc-booster-p-672.html They include a pretty complete specification including...

Price drop to $1667 on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Inverter-Split-Phase-Single-phase-Connection-Activation/dp/B0BMWVNKXK/ref=mp_s_a_1_5?keywords=10kw+inverter&qid=1689224935&sr=8-5&ufe=app_do%3Aamzn1.fos.17f26c18-b61b-4ce9-8a28-de351f41cffb And Y&H is selling the same inverter for $1590 OBO...

Firstly, my comment was driven primarily by annual net cost, not installation cost. Secondly, the entire post was directed to claims the solar installation industry in California will be decimated by this new NMB / NEM 3.0 prorgram. I’ve yet to meet any installation companies that specialize...

This is really a key point… Spurious export is a reality for any hybrid inverter and yet no specifications are ever provided. At best, we get a ‘switching time’ which is supposedly the lag between grid failing and bypass relay opening with inverter starting to power critical loads. For those...

Cool, thanks. Sounds like a much better deal than Lee Springs (because of the $20 ‘handling fee’ fit orders under $40$. If 30% compression translates to 1.4” at solid that also means 348 lbs at solid. With 4 rods, that translates to 1392 lbs or 25.5psi (too much). So you only want to...

This s incorrect. AC coupling implies support for frequency-shift which can only be utilized on grid-tied PV connected to EPS Output or Generator Input… ‘Retrofit’ (or whatever name we settle on for battery inverter connected in parallel with grid-tied PV) does not need to support...

No, the smart meter only measures consumption or export through it (from/to the grid). If your self-consumption involves an inverter disconnected from the grid, you’ve got nothing to worry about. But if you are using an inverter for self-consumption while connected to grid, by utilizing a...

I’d say it a little bit differently; “Voltage is a reasonably good indicator of charge at the very top (above 3.4V) and very the bottom (below 2,9V) of the curve.”

the_colorist, I just saw a new 24V Hybrid show up on Deye’s website (SUN-3K-SG04LP1-24-EU): https://www.deyeinverter.com/deyeinverter/2021/09/08/【b】hybridinvertersun-3-6k-sg04lp1.pdf Any chance you can get ahold of some of these? There seems to not even be a manual released yet, so I suspect...

This is the thread I started on the new Y&H 10kW HF Split-phase hybrid before I figured out is was a rebadged SRNE inverter: https://diysolarforum.com/threads/new-y-h-split-phase-10kw-hybrid-inverter.63913/ All I figured out is that every specific I could nail down between SRNE and Y&H matched...

I was more focused on whether you can mount it outdoors where it will be hit by direct rain during a storm and direct sunlight during a hot part of the day…

I’m sorry, did I miss something? What exactly ‘happened here’? Are you referring to the unsubstantiated hysteria about rooftop solar systems in Lebanon busting into flames? There are also internet reports of the same thing happening to kitchen appliances…

That’s why this is the ‘DIY’ Solar Forum :).

I have found it very easy to drill into this soft aluminum by hand in the drill press (no motor used). And as far as drilling too deep, I measure out the depth I want to reach and place a ring of masking tape on my drill bit at that point. By hand, it is very easy to ease the drill bit down to...

I believe I finally found proof that these small blue SUN 1000W and 2000W GTIL inverters are actually manufactured by Deye: https://www.solartex.co/tienda/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/FICHA-TECNICA-INVERSOR-CON-LIMITADOR.pdf I’ve had mine up and running for over a month now and so far I am very...

For sure. I picked up three of the 400W units from China for $3 each but just might have to upgrade :). Seriously, though, while efficiency is not the highest-priority, low efficiency does translate to additional heat generation and accelerated deterioration. I’m going to characterize my...

These battery cell resellers/trading companies test cells for Internal Resistance and voltage and ‘match’ them on that basis (at most). None of them (directly) test and match cell capacity, let alone characterize and match full charge & discharge curves. In sufficient quantities, the...

I just posted that my Microinverters have 8x 2700uF = 21,600uF of capacitance on their dual inputs. And TI’s chip seems to claim 2% max ripple on output of it’s DC-DC booster (no idea what chip is being used by the cheapo DCDC boosters). So if your PWM were feeding my Microinverters, the...

We’re all living through a market in a period of phenomenal transition. It’s a different world today than it was 15 months ago when I bought my cells. Absolutely nothing to feel remorse about - I knew I was diving into a waterfall and have no regrets. I paid $1400 for a 16 280Ah cells that...

Not at att. Attracting members such as yourself to take this thread to new levels was exactly my intent when I started it ;). Who knows, maybe we’ll eventually get a dedicated subforum on the subject of DIY HV batteries (could take a while though!). For now, The Danger Zone seems to be the...

Frequency shift reduces export / production, it does not increase it. If the utility only has the ability to reduce solar production, not a big deal. But the wording makes it sound as though they also want the ability to increase power production from ESS systems. Whether they are doing that...

Oh, is was pretty clear - 15 years from PTO. What they were proposing in the Preliminary Decision was very clear. Now that the Governor has stepped in, who knows what the final outcome may be. Changing the rules on and pissing-off 1.4 million Green-leaning voters right before he next election...

Here is the manual: https://cdn.shopifycdn.net/s/files/1/0323/4090/2025/files/SPH_split_phase_solar_charger_inverter_user_manual_20230727.pdf I don’t see anything to suggest more than one of these can be used in parallel…

So SRNE is a manufacturer, probably with some relationship to Voltronic but independent of them that manufactures some of the inverters being rebadged by PowerMr, Easun, Y&H, Sunpal, and no doubt others probably including Midnight Solar DIY inverters. I got an email from Sunpal announcing their...

Good to know I’m not alone (as I knew I would’t be ;). Swelled cells and an undulating row which was originally straight are my recent experience. One of those threads included a message from EVE so it’s good to understand that ‘overseelling’ causing delaminaton and/or electrolyte leakage is...

Did the same. They told me they planned to get their battery listed this year, so we’ll see what unfolds…

https://www.srnesolar.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/SRNE_ASF-series_48V_8-10kW_split-phase_solar-charger-inverter_usermanual_1.4.pdf

Negligible loss when there is no shading. No gain when there is full shading of one or more panels. Optimizers only make a difference when you have partial-width shading of one or more 1/3 panel subsegments (enough shading to reduce current through the partially-shaded subsegment without...

If you are Bay Area based, I strongly suggest you check out Renvu: https://www.renvu.com/ Create an account to see pricing but both times I have built systems, they offered pricing I could not get elsewhere. Warehouse is in Mountain View. The one warning I have with Renvu is that they rotate...

Oh, he has a pair of straight-as-an-arrow busbars on the rightmost-terminals, 3 segments each. Then the next row over uses a ‘snake’ design where a total of 7 busbars are snaked between two columns of cells (twice, each for 1/2 of the rows). Instead of that, he could have again used 3 busbars...

14.6V is 3.65V per cell @ 4S, certainly the highest you’d wan’t charge. 13.6V is 3.4V per cell @ 4S, a normal settling voltage after charging has stopped. Settling to 13.4V after only an hour seems a bit high, so I might suggest letting the battery sit for 12 or 24 hours to assure that...

He didn’t say it clearly. It’s10A at low voltage to calibrate current and 30V at low/no current to calibrate voltage. The calibration for current and voltage don’t happen together, they are two separate calibration steps...

OK, I just took the plunge and glued in my first grubscrew with JB Weld. Approach and impressions (so far): 1/ Used Allen wrench to measure/calibrate how many turns to bottom (5-3/8 turns in this case). 2/ used Q-tip to clean aluminum threads and stainless threads with Acetone and let dry...

When you purchase direct from the manufacturer, you are almost certain to get better technical support than purchasing from a rebadger. Warranty coverage should be better as well though a rebadged can elect to replace a faulty unit as easily as the manufacturer… If the inverter supports any...