Recent content by Johncfii

I do not have a SmartThings Hub. I only have smart light switches, and smart outlets from KASA TPLink. Those I bought from Amazon,com. I do also have the Emerson “Sensi” Thermostat. I’m happy will all of those devices. I think they don’t work if my internet connection is down, but I’m not...

Your objective is worthwhile and do-able. This is also a fairly common desire that solar equipment manufacturers are not recognizing. At least not yet. But using battery voltage as a surrogate for state-of-charge is far from ideal. This is because battery voltage can vary widely relative to...

This can be cost-effective with DIY labor, IF you want to devote your own labor to the project and count that as free labor. Fabricating some of your own parts can also increase cost-effectiveness; especially building up your own Lithium batteries out of raw prismatic cells. There are MANY...

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Svetz: Lots of good information you’ve given. However, one small thing: The arithmetic isn’t quite as simple as 6.7 x 100w. The 6.7 figure for Denver is in units of kWh of solar irradiance, per square meter of surface, per day. The typical 100w panel is a bit less than 0.6 square meters...

i can understand your confusion. Whoever, from Windy Nation, wrote that note is not the best advisor. To reference “100Ah of charge” is poor practice. The meaning of 100Ah is only useful in the context of the system voltage. Far better would be to reference watt-hours, or kilowatt-hours, of...

I agree with BvilleBob, your idea will never be cost-effective unless you have some other valuable use for the solar power. Running cable from the house is going to be very small cost compared to getting the Sauna up and running on solar. If you are determined to use solar, look into the...

Correct

Cutting off the charger using the BMV relay is certainly a way to stop charging at your desired SOC, at least if your SCC has remote ON/OFF terminals (which my Outback SCC do not have). However, the disadvantage of the solution is that your system immediately starts drawing 100% of any load out...

Do you have a Victron Battery Monitor (BMV 702, or 712)? There is an external RTD temperature sensor available from Victron that connects to the 702, or 712. As I read it (but I might be wrong) it can be set up to monitor and communicate your battery temperature to the charge controller over...

Hi maddy …. Good question. There is tons of contention and discussion on this forum about this whole matter of how to maximize the life of lithium batteries, if this less-than-full charge/discharge is effective, and whether it is worth the effort. The nice thing about our DIY systems is we...

It is very difficult to consistently charge lithium batteries to less-than-full charge by carefully choosing Absorption/Float voltages and tail currents, if your loads and solar radiation are not constant. And those are not constant for most of us. For months I tried to find a satisfactory set...

I see nobody replied to your post. Maybe you already selected your solution, but . . . Fuses are only voltage sensitive with respect to maximum voltage. A 58-volt rated fuse is appropriate for 12, 24, or 48 volts, anything up to 58 volts, and probably quite a bit over 58 volts. The potential...

I looked into those braided copper straps a couple years ago as a possible solution. My conclusion was that they are significantly over-rated by Galco. For example 16.4 mm^2 is about the same cross sectional area as 5 AWG copper wire at about 33,000 circular mils. So, the current capacity is...

My cell interconnect “cables” are very easily flexible enough to accommodate any movement of the cells in response to expansion or contraction during charge or discharge, which is small movement, if any at all. (I have the battery cells clamped under spring tension). I was just not comfortable...