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If you don't want private companies realizing that people who are "net zero" are in fact a net negative on the grid that they begrudgingly maintain in their service area, then it's time to nationalize the infrastructure. I 1000% support changing (not keeping the same kwh charge and adding a...

Long story short, Will (who pays out of pocket for the website and this forum) is dealing with a potentially braindead webhost that blocks this entire site when this site gets flagged as sending spam and/or to spam emails. Will is looking for a long term solution, but the only short term...

In terms of placement here is my 2c: All battery banks should have A T-class or similar placed as close to to the busbar or wherever positive is connected. Having an unfused positive wire going from a battery bank is risking a short due to a damaged cable and is a bit like putting a AC breaker...

At 290 bucks, I'd personally rather spend 400 on a charge-verter, or less on a smaller dedicated charger.

I have to disagree. Having something that tries to draw 5kW just hard start is bad, full stop. Now the cheaper route (less menu changes or whatever) would be setting a short ramp that no one is going to really notice but keeps you from having issues with generators (sort of the main *reason for...

I agree, really good info:noise ratio here. Some of the heated convos come from being passionate about things, or what people perceive as saving/helping others from making mistakes.

A non inverter generator generally IS pure sine wave, it's just not stable (frequency wise, unless you are talking the bigger units) and can't really compensate for all the harmonic distortion of all of the crappy non PF 1.0 devices in your home, including inductive motors, AC-DC power supplies...

Dumb question, could you make do with a vacuum and gauge meant for cars and just add fitting adaptors? Lots of auto places will rent them

Wow, if FETs are as bad as you say your computer should burst into flames any minute now... Regardless, contactors of good quality don't eat up 30W 24/7. I'd also bet money FETs react faster. You know what the MOST likely thing to fail in these electronics is? The tiny SMD caps which so often...

It's probably in one of the 300 page TOS you "signed" for like itunes or something :ROFLMAO:

Honestly since the shorter sections I could easily add heatshrink to double insulate, and the long run between battery bank and main bus I keep isolated in "smurf tube" (hot and negative in a tube each) anyways, it should be fine. This insulation is 2x as thick as other high quality cable, it...

I think when my system hits a larger size this makes sense. Currently I'm at the single AIO, "oversized" battery bank for the system, and using it mostly as a UPS for critical loads while getting some power from solar. I expect my current AIO will *become* my emergency spare in the future and I...

Scope of this question/use is needing to use a generator with an existing system to supplement on dark days, bad weather, etc. (largely when the grid is down in my case). LifePo4 batteries. Topics covered in other threads here: - Efficiency/cost of running generators - running at "ideal" load...

That's not what OP said. They claimed the batteries alone are drawing 45-100W. Regardless, OPs first step needs to be properly identifying these loads and accounting for them. And if needed fixing them. Trying to evaluate system efficiency with unknown loads is silly.

Right, thats half of my goal. That and saving money by using what I already have. Between not resisting the battery sales at the end of last year and the price of copper making cables silly, I have not much budget left to allocate to any of this for the time being :) I'm actually working on...

Most time I see a battery BANK being built, people don't fuse each battery *at all*. Signature Solar was (is?) selling "ready to go" rack + batteries with a busbar, and no fusing per battery besides the breaker. And I'm fairly sure I've seen similar offering elsewhere. Now, I'm not saying I...

I 100 agree with Keeping Fuses as close to battery/bank as possible. Seeing someone have a rack of batteries connected to a busbar and unfused wires going multiple feet before the first fuse makes me.... itchy. I don't actually know if you need Class T per battery (since each fuse only break...

Looking to do something like this. I would assume mounting to an existing fence should be fine? wind load should be darn close to identical I imagine

I wouldn't call this a cheaper unit, it's a 2U rackmount with an external battery plug. Maybe I should connect to the nic and see if the web management has any tweaks

Theres a few variations, blue, purple, purple+nearUV (it's possible theres ones that are fully into UV but I doubt it due to safety concerns and lower efficiency of photons per watt). It's easy and cheapish to bump photons "down" (blue to green or red, green to red, and many shades inbetween)...

For anything beyond token use of solar, panel voltage is above (often significantly) system voltage, and a Solar Charge Controller (of PWM or MPPT type) is used between the solar panel(s) and the system. Often solar panels are in series, which reduces the Amps and therefor wiresize and power...

Oh looks like it is auto ranging up to 240v, I was wrong. Darn good find! assuming that pinout is correct (since the document is marked as a draft). Looks like they number "bottom" to "top" and right to left: Viewed from the switch or psu side. Retaining clip at top. BROCADE'S numbers...

Right, just comparing this threads idea to the commercial product which is basically a high capacity CC-CV "single stage" charger (you set the limits "once" and it doesn't have behavior except staying within those limits). Now it largely looks like a great option, despite a few possible issues...

Already have a generator, only looking at the AC-DC part :) also line losses at sub 60v would be a killer IMHO. Also, are there reasonable to find alternators at the right voltage? You'd need to limit the current as well to keep the generator at peak efficiency.

Sorry to hijack thread, BUT it is about this off grid inverter so it's related :) It's not 100% clear to me from the manual: When running off a generator (or AC power) will it (or can it) limit input or is the limit only for charging? In other words, let's say I have a 3KW generator and there...

Ah. My brain is very confused after trying to read tax code stuff, sorry! :D

Sickness, layoffs, issues with the person who was selling the used panels, issues with the EG4 inverter... Won't bore you with the details right now lol. Long story short at the moment I simply am letting it cycle from 90% SOC to 50% SOC and recharge. I don't have everything set up how I want...

The ground on the case SHOULD be 100% tied to ground on AC in internally, regardless of ground BONDing screw, or the position of the relay. I believe this is placed to ground the inverter when AC in is not used so that the case is grounded.

Thats from late late year, and I don't *think* it has the update that the big brothers of this unit do.

That's a lot of good info there. I think my concern trying to replicate is that LifePo4 has such low resistance that without CC many power supplies will go over their rated Amps (or shutdown). One of the "hacks" I saw suggested is to add resistance (say a 0.05 Ohm power resistor) tuned to...

I have not tried loading output + charger that much. However I have verified that as far as I can tell the charger is "dumb", there is no place to add an input limit for the total system (you can change the max charge AMPs). Manual testing showed that when the charger is on, total AC input =...

Yes, I've seem the pictures and the mod. I love the money saving idea. It doesn't mean its safe or smart to fuse batteries there. I would 100% pick a "home made" battery bank busbar with the batteries fused as close to the positive terminal as possible, over putting fuses in the power in and...

Not sure if that's really economical. AC busbars from breaker panels Nice! I need to get a good micro ohm meter to really check all my crimps and such beyond "run system at max and check if things get hot" lol Related, it bugs me that "buss bars" refers to both "what is used to connect 2...

I think I started a reply, changed my mind, came back to reply to someone else and it got remembered. Sorry about that! Edited my reply to remove since I had re-read your comment (and thats why I changed mind about replying realizing I missed what you said lol) Anyways, for the usecase I'm...

So in theory the unit could need full charging current from AC and full passthrough current to loads (worst case scenario), which would mean a 70 AMP breaker on AC input? (Includes NEC 80%) But from the manual I see this: "Recommended spec of AC breaker is 30A on the input" which seems a lot...

Another potential item if you are 120v only would be a EPS1500 (ICX6400-EPS1500). The put out 12v and 54v. I picked one up to test with the rackmount switches I have ,they run ~30bucks on ebay and should in theory do up to 20A of 54V which could make a nice budget DIY option for smaller gensets...

One other thing to think about is the PF, when running from an inverter worse PF = more battery/solar used for the "same" output. Trying to find anyone who also lists PF is annoying :(

This thread is like "this is why we can't have nice things" and "tragedy of the commons" and "why most preppers wouldn't make it through actual SHTF" all rolled into one. I get the confusion, frustration, and possibly even anger before being informed what's going on. But the absolute, dare I...

I see this more for the floor and window units, the mini splits tend to claim lower limits.

I'd be willing to be everything I own that 99.9% of the users of this forum do not own or make enough to be the on winning side (as in have it be a better end result for you) of flat vs graduated taxes all other things being equal (same total tax income, etc). Besides, the real pro move is to...

I've got a partial pinout. I have NOT tried putting the 3 outputs of a single unit in parallel (but since they are isolated it feels like it should work). I still don't have a way to enable output without the switch it powers, but I also have not opened up a unit. Whichever of us finds answers...

I think of it as choosing wisely where to spend money. People have budgets, often far smaller than they would like. And there's a whole list of reasons why someone might end up with a system that isn't fused sanely. Such as a rackmount battery rack where the batteries have questionably rated...

If you, or anyone, does test that. IMHO Welder's mask and protective clothing and trigger it from a distance, juuuuuust in case theres an arc flash. Personally I'm between the "T class per server rack battery" (esp the "only" 100AH ones) and "the BMS is enough". Regarding your T-class per...

I can confirm I have the same breakers on My V2s. I think the manual still says they are not OCP, but I'll double check My V1s have a 4kA DC rated breaker. So are per bat fuses over-kill in my case and just wasted voltage drop? I'm keeping the class-t from the rack either way.

As written the manual reads (at least the PDF version linked elsewhere in this thead) as unambiguously saying that OCP MUST be provided outside of the battery. Now, perhaps I'm dumb but thats how I understood it from months ago. Here's my terrible non lawyer approved rewording attempt: "Note...

Hmmmm, only heats down to 41F? Unfortunate and with the price maybe not the right buy for me, I fear it would not be able to run enough in winter.

If you are storing and consuming energy you have to actually track the energy flow to and from the battery (with a shunt, or a good clamp meter, etc), if you are simply calculating the whole round trip in one go you're double hitting. Also when using an inverter (or generator) power factor...

Thanks for the mini review! :) Now I need to go check what sizes of midi fuses there are, and then (as usual) over think it ?

IMHO no inverter or battery "belongs" in a living space. Closest I would be comfortable with is a garage or other similar space that does NOT have shared ventilation. Noise is a factor, but more importantly IF there is a fire of any kind of smoldering I'd rather have that somewhat separated...

So fun fact, the online manual, paper manual, and SS customer service have managed to give me FOUR different answers on AC breaker size. For my own use case I went with a 30A breaker, and I've just set my charging current fairly low. In the case of needing to charge via a generator bypass input...

Someone should convince Electroboom or styropyro to do an experiment and see the actual volts and amps required to sustain an arc for various fuses

Appreciate the far more on topic reply! Questions for you, what specific voltage are you running? 48V exactly? Are you charging the batteries while doing this? Have you had issues with the DC supplies supplying more amps than they can handle steady state (or are your supplies also CC so they...

I disagree on over thinking, I think some of the replies are overthinking! :D Sizing a backup generator to run all potential loads AND charge is a terrible waste size (cost) wise and fuel wise for me, and IMHO anyone who still has grid and is purely looking at generator power to cover grid down...

Ok that aligns with my thinking, and how I've already designed my system. I do think I'm going to replace certain fuses with higher AIC for a bit of "belt and suspenders" but if 2000-4000AIC works for the non T-class fuses that does lower the cost. Re: Path resistance; Very god point! It's...

I would bet money you're comparing Watts with VA, even if it's non obvious. Unless all loads are purely resistive, you simply can't do that. Let me put this another way, JUST running 120V led lights from the inverter my VA and consumption is roughly DOUBLE what you'd expect from looking at...

Considering that the 3KW units seem to also be shipping with the grounding screw removed, is there going to be a software update for them? Failing that; given that the grounding screw is removed as shipped, any harm in just bonding N In and Out at the inverter?

I have thought about modding/using PC supplies. I have a small stack of them. This is a 48V system however so I'd need like 3-4 identical PSUs (I don't trust track spacing to push them beyond double, plus if you go too much above 12V you're replacing caps etc. I've also though about using DC-DC...

Considering I've got control over when the generator runs (and that it wouldn't be all that hard to do a microcontroller as well) I think that's what I would aim for. It looks like that beefy 100A chargeverter targets ~57V. But my needs are not "get to 100% SOC", hitting 80-90% would be fine

Not sure what you mean here. Only thing I can think of is if you don't add enough capacitance/inductance on the DC side causing the MPPT to draw enough amps that as the voltage rises faster than it can respond it goes over total wattage capacity. Unlike solar DC there's no risk here of a AC-DC...

It's not at all nonsensical, read what I laid out and the reasoning. Running a 10Kw generator at 3-4Kw most of the time (Since most AIO, or atleast mine, can't modify charge depending on load, some of the Victrons CAN do that) so that there's enough overhead for all potential loads + some surge...

Can I borrow your laser welder? :D

I guess, but it's an expensive (for what it is) round hole and there's lots of multishaped pegs out there. In other words it's yet another thing to design *around*, and personally for 48V it puts way to much exposed + and - too close :-/ . I see lots of systems where the Victron power doesn't...

Something like this could be really good for people who rent or simply have terrible roof options (or not enough viable roof). There's actually been a few successful "real world" tests mixing similar ideas with farming of plants that prefer some shade, iirc. As someone whos renting currently...

Any thoughts/suggestions?

I lowkey don't like wirenuts (since you often have to shorten the wire to make changes later) but I think you're right. Now, do I have a wirenut big enough for 4 10AWG wires... (or do I do 2 joined together for 3 each which I DO have that size)

Thanks for the info!

I think the "best case" for skipping DC-AC is anything close enough to the batteries that is already running DC. The farther away the more line losses (and/or the expense of cable) become an issue. Another thing to keep in mind is how shockingly bad a lot of common power supplies are, when you...

So at 7-15C, a rack of 6 100AH batteries is 4,500-9,000A. I'd personally even double that expectation for the bank fuse.

Yup, the poor power factor can also create extra "noise" (especially on smaller HF inverters) due to the uneven loading. This is exactly why I'm looking for lights with good PF. There's a handful of common designs, but it's hard to know without buying and cracking them open; and while some...

Personally lumans per watt (and possibly more importantly per VA) is what I'm chasing. not over-driving the LEDs makes them more efficient AND last longer, a win-win in my book! Wish I had a good setup to test lumen output to find the right spot on the curve however.

Based on the specs thats a non inverter (I guess "traditional"?) generator? If so I'm curious how well it is working for you. I've previously been led to believe you needed and inverter generator for "clean enough" power for most AIO/battery chargers to work

I don't see that in the rules? It seems it's just a flat cutoff of at least 3KW hours now for batteries.

This is sort of what I'm looking to do, just not at $400. Also, at a $400 pricepoint for just a charger I would also expect good efficiency, good adjustability (resolution of Amps) and ability to adjust "supply side" (set it by watts in). When I looked earlier no one had yet done a...

Not on the wire itself. I think it might have said on the original boxes but I only have the inner spools lol. It's audiobahn super flow but I can't find any actual specs online, and I don't think they even sell that brand/kind anymore lol

If the panels are used (offgrid system) but the other things are new, can we qualify on the new items? Used panels are cheap, but I don't trust used batteries or inverters (outside of being sold somewhere like here maybe).

Oh nice that someone knows the internals! :D Any idea as to just how adjustable it is? Basically, does it have 1A step in the lower ranges?

Good question. My current plan relies on building up a system over time. I've read the official wording but its not 100% clear to me. Others have claimed they did addons and it was OK. I do wonder if I did addons over 3-4 years if I'd trigger an audit lol. If I had to guess so long as you are...

I never said it was. I said based on my reading and interpretation of the current IRS draft, that a given system doesn't need to be 100% new in any sense of the word. So from what I can tell both adding to an existing system and a system with mixed new and used parts would be fine so long as you...

Cool, time to rewire some things for a better layout. I feel way better about relying on the house's N-G. I can see how in this context using "bonding" could be confusing, however bonding is not strictly N-G bonding but any electrical bonding (such as bonding a metal conduit and/or box to...

Goodness gracious. I never said I built my own lol. It's more about it is a very specific product that offers very specific shapes that DO NOT ALWAYS MAKE SENSE. This is really no different than saying the same Inverter/AIO doesn't work for everyone. This is a DIY forum for crying out loud. As...

Hey all. I've pulled the trigger on an EG4 3000EHV-48 and some EG4 batteries during the sale, currently waiting on freight shipment. Sourcing some used panels elsewhere, but rooftop is not an option right now, so it's more of a "getting started". My usecase is going to be mainly as a UPS right...

On that inverter does it simply stop accepting power below 120V input or is it more of a "it's less efficient"?

Just a thought: In any scenario with parallel inverters where a Dynamic G-N bond would be OK/Desired it's likely this should actually be an *external* G-N bond via a compliant device. Why? You've got 2 options; "N" number of inverters in parallel where there is only a single G-N bonding...

Even with DIY we buy parts. The question is "if we only care about AC-DC at the right voltage, can we reasonable beat off the shelf chargers at cost, features, or both?" And bigger picture, and I wrong on some aspect and there's more control need for charging than just CV with a cutoff...

Have you tested the quality of the copper? Amazon has a lot of faked items (and due to how they do inventory even things "sold by Samsung" (for example) get mixed in with fakes/low quality. I've has ROMEX sold by a name brand from amazon be counterfeit (CCA, rather than solid coper). Also does...

In most? of those cases the connection FROM the batteries already has proper OCP/fusing however. So if you suffer insulation failure (abrasion or what have you) a + to - fault is protected. In the case of building a battery bank, if you're running your + and - that close *before* anything with a...

Even my suggestion that possibly even another branded solution would be better for OP was jumped on like crazy. Given the current price of copper, it's possible custom doesn't make sense cost wise IF theres a ready made solution that fits the "shape" op is looking for. But the cost of the busbar...

Thanks for the links, more reading! :)

My current key question really boils down to this: Given a CV power supply where the maximum AMPs is less then 0.5C of any single lifepo4 battery and the ability to set the voltage to tenths of a volt; can you safely charge to around 80-90% SOC? Based on what I have read this should be "yes"...

Thats a whole lot of "no fuses" for how close those positive and negatives get :(

Fused *inside* the lynx? Seems risky to me. IMHO the reason the power in doesn't normally take fuses is that those fuses belong at the current source. I love the hack of turning a power in into a distributor (minus the fancy lights as people put it), but I wouldn't fuse batteries there...

Hey man, I wasn't intending any attitude, so sorry it seemed that way. Generally speaking fakes on Amazon are mainly in 2 categories: The "obvious to anyone with some knowhow in that product category" (things like "2TB" microSD cards for 90 bucks that will fool the unaware and even LOOK like...

Ok, so now onto a perhaps spicier part... For a 16s LifePo4 if I am shopping for a AC-DC supply to be used as discussed, what should I look for as a voltage? Basically "I should have a Maximum at least X volts or it will never charge" and "it should have a minumum of no more then Y volts or you...

Ok, so I've never installed a mini split before, closest experience is fixing the AC in a car (new condenser, vacuum down the system etc). These ~$500-700 mini split heatpump systems don't look all that hard to do, if the lines are not pre charged you need to have/rent a vacuum pump and may...

I honestly don't think that the expense of getting the transfer time lower in cheaper AIO makes sense. For me UPS units on critical units are "defense in depth" (and good UPS provide more than just switching to their inverter fast). I don't think even with the most expensive most awesome fully...

Someone in another thread says removing it doesn't void warranty. Also, in the USA warranty void stickers are largely not legally enforceable. I am not a lawyer, etc

Me, all my opinions are wrong :ROFLMAO:

No these are not fine, and a 250A test for under 2 hours on a system that could have 600A capacity of battery without tripping BMS is not super convincing. Also, I've put in rivnuts in metal before, if you can pull them out with a normal handtool they were not installed correctly. If someone is...

[Removed because people got mad]