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Since I'm teleworking (cough, cough) I decided to build a Raspberry Pi 3 with the Victron CCGX software following the directions from here: https://github.com/victronenergy/venus/wiki/raspberrypi-install-venus-image Works like a champ. Have it hooked to my BMV-712 Battery Monitor only...

Makes for a nice touch.

And was supposed to stay that way. But it didn't. Just added my 3rd Battleborn. And a Samlex 2000 watt inverter just before that. It has a 12v to 5v converter feeding a Raspberry Pi with Victron VRM firmware which was the mod before the inverter swap out. Am I done? Probably not.

This sickness started about a month ago when I decided to add a super simple solar system to my camper so I can boon dock camp instead of hitting the campgrounds all the time. Got a Renogy 100 watt suitcase with a charge controller. That exposed that my RV camper battery wasn't that great so...

Made a quick blog that is a bit more descriptive. https://www.hagensieker.com/wordpress/2020/03/19/raspberry-pis-and-solar-and-stuff/

Put the cells and BMS in a Group 31 box, installed the plastic divider and used the free space on the left for a Battery Disconnect switch. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00445KFZ2/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Turned out nice. Easy to move around and having a...

Messing around trying to clean up the build.

Got my last two panels. Four Renogy 100 watt panels. I briefly considered getting larger panels but for what I'm doing heck, this may be overkill. Anyway I'm kind of proud of this. Pushed the wires into the master bedroom closet where the panel is. Sorry I didn't clean up the mess first :)

Built the Minimalist and mounted it on a board that was slightly too wide to fit where I wanted it to. I got a smaller board and somewhere along the line I thought - "I'll get a new charge controller with bluetooth" - "I'll get a battery monitor" - "I'll get a six position fuse block instead...

I have the Samlex PST-2000-12 inverter and the remote panel does not come with the inverter. Separate purchase. $40 or so. The "problem" I have is that the inverter is close to the floor and I have to bend my 57 year old body around and contort it to turn the inverter on or off. The Samlex...

Built a small system up based on the Minimalist. Currently waiting for my Battleborn 100 aH LiFePO4 battery. Did a dry run on my camper. Going to put this in the Master Bedroom closet and push an outlet (but probably first an extension cord) into the bedroom and power a portable refrigerator...

I can confirm the GoalZero connectors Bob142 posted above work. Just got a couple in the mail and they work perfectly.

Took my spare parts and made a "Minimalist". This may not make sense to some but makes perfect sense to me. Here goes. I have a Rockwood A122 A Frame Pop Up Camper. It's also very much a minimalist :) It has a distribution system that I think is not very great and will not fully charge a...

Took two months to get the cells (kind of expected that). They came with a couple dings in them but work fine. Shipper forgot to pack the busbars so I had to make my own. Other than that I was pleasantly surprised to see the data from the BMS on bluetooth. (Thank goodness I still had an old...

I have 2 Battelborn batteries wired in parallel and run a few items off of the system, most notably a TV and a 12v portable refrigerator (Alpicool C20). We had a stretch of almost no sunshine for 3 days and I was still around 68% SOC going into last night. Weatherman said we were going to get...

I use a raspberry pi program called HomeAssistant with a variety of devices, lots of switches and wifi outlets controlled by MQQT. One glance at the web page and I can see what's on and what's not on. Also I can Alexa "Do this or do that" everything.

Got a 2nd VE.Direct USB cable. One hooked to BMV-712 Battery Monitor and the other hooked to the MPPT 100/50 SCC

Solution costs a few bucks but interesting reading. https://www.rtl-sdr.com/demonstrating-solar-inverter-noise-cancelling-with-a-timewave-anc-4-and-airspy-hf/

Additional DIY measures taken! :) Every DIY person should own a vinyl cutting machine!

Not for the 12v stuff but there is a ground on the inverter. I have a couple 8' copper rods pounded in the backyard for my generator and some of my ham radio antennas. I can tie my inverter into one of them.

The machine is a K-Sun 2001XLB. I bet I've had it for sure more than 10 years. They still make consumables for them but they are expensive. Pretty sure Epson bought out K-Sun but the cartridges are backwards compatible.

Added a shunt that I got from eBay. It was one of those 50A in the title, 100A stated everywhere else. Took a chance. Lost. At some point I'll get a 100amp one.

Put my DIY battery in a Group 31 box and will add a disconnect switch later. Kind of a rip off of Will's video with same terminals and such. Works great. I did add a 200amp fuse to the battery after I made the video for all you eagle eyed guys out there. Clip starts with Cocoa, the World's...

Upgraded to Giandel 2200 watt inverter.

Found a 350 amp shunt and slapped it on. Calling the mini-board complete. This will go with a DIY 200ah battery as soon as I get the cells from China. This will probably just attach to a 100 watt flexible panel that I will lay on my A frame camper. All this stuff should fit under one of my...

One more of the CrackPipe

Input Output

Dug my true RMS meter out today and noticed it was a tiny bit off of what the Victron was saying. Did the calibration procedure which was easy but after I did it I thought I'd throw together a quick video to explain the steps. Heck it's really 3 steps. Remove load. Calibrate by pushing a...

Got a Samlex PST-2000-12v inverter to reduce EMI on ham radio. It isn't really much better than the 2000 watt inverter I had before although it doesn't spray higher up the band. The spray stops about 5-6 MHz and the Giandel sprayed pretty much everything. Stupid me just ordered the remote...

New Bern. Wilmington is about 2 hours or just less from here.