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My geothermal, solar PV, solar hot water journey: 2200sf (heated), well insulated, single story home. I installed my own geothermal system 13 years ago - a 2 ton ClimateMaster two stage compressor, ECM blower motor, with a hot water generator, heating an 80 SS gal tank, which preheated our 80...

Installed my first solar system in 2011 - Grid Tied Schneider XW6048 w/ Midnite Solar E-Panel, roof monted 5.6kw LG panels, 2-Schneider MPPT60-150 solar charge controllers, 256ah Concorde AGM batteries, 14KW Genset backup power - absolutely no problems in all of that time! Will be adding a 4kw...

Eleven years ago I installed a 2 array, 5.6kw grid tied system on my home. Since my home was not ideally situated, I ended up with SE and SW roof mounted arrays. The original system was close to net zero at the time, but as the years went by, my usage increased. Looking at either a ground...

I did my research & ended up purchasing batteries from trophybattery.com. Will had done a video review a while back, and some others have commented positively on their purchases as well. I found that my 48v 220ah batteries actually came in at 230ah, as Dan (the owner) had told me. If, after...

I have had an XW6048 for 12 years now with not a single issue. It had worked continuously, without being turned off, until a few months ago when I added another array/charge controller and swapped out the original AGM's to Trophy lithium batteries. I want reliability, and the EG4, from reading...

Regarding comments above about lightning rods (and associated grounding cables) on structures, it is my understanding that their purpose is to 'drain' the surrounding static electricity into the ground to prevent the large potential that can otherwise result in a large discharge of differential...

Take a look at Trophy batteries. They have had some good reports. The owner, Dan, is very responsive and answered all my questions when I was trying to decide which lithiums to go with. I purchased two of the 48V 220ah ones back in February of this year, and they have been troublefree. Take...

It works just fine, but in an open loop. The older XW does not support closed communication with batteries. I can't say enough good about the Schneider - no issues at all. I am also very happy with my two Trophy batteries as well. I set up the charging parameters for the SCC's with input...

Maybe it is just me, but looking at 20 microinverters, over a 20 year span, how many will fail? I have no experience with these, but I damn sure know I would not want to get up on my roof, somehow pull out a panel located in the middle of my array, and change out the microinverter. My 12 year...

Nice, but I sure would reinforce that cross 'beam'. Gravity is relentless!

I have a like new solar water heater for sale. It is an AET Thermomiser unit complete with a built in stainless heat exchanger coil and back up 4500 watt electric element. This unit has been used for storage only - the electric element has never even been wired up, and the HX heat exchanger...

I have two of the Victron 200ah batteries. They have performed just fine for the last several years, and the bluetooth connection has also worked perfectly everytime I have used it to check on the batteries.

I don't think I want to be anywhere near you in a storm!

If you plan to stay in your home for a while, or pass it down to your kids, I think using a metal roof is a great decision. If your son and his buddy are up to it, have the ability, and if they use one of the residential 'snap together' standing seam roofs that are available, they could do it...

I recently changed out my 12 year old Concorde AGM's for lithium, in my home system. The battery bank was located in an inside, partially conditioned space. Against my past experiences, at the time of original connections, I did not apply any type of protectant to the battery terminals. When I...

My grid connected XW6048 has been very reliable. Twelve years old, with never having been turned off - no issues. Swapped out original AGM's with Lithium this year. Had to turn off unit for that, restarted after, and no problems. Would buy another in a heartbeat. Seems like the Schneider...

One suggestion I would also add, is to not go with a dark metal roof. The darker the colors (red especially), the quicker they will fade, and to a greater extent. I do think the green panels shown above, match my wooded surroundings, but if I could do it over again, I would go with simply the...

No, my XW will not support closed loop with the Trophy batteries. The older, original XW's were not designed to be controlled externally (except from the SCP), as far as I know. I've got to say that the XW has been bulletproof so far. Once I commissioned the system in 2011, it was not...

If you can get free, or nearly free firewood, definitely go with one of the newer wood heaters. We purchased a Silent Flame woodheater, with catalytic secondary re-heat back in 1985. The newest heaters don't use the catalytic system any more, and are just as efficient with their re-burn...

My 10 year old 2 1/2 ton geothermal unit, pulls right at 2300 watts (on stage 1). Very hard to imagine a 4T unit pulling only 2K watts, even on stage 1 (if it is a 2 speed compressor). Does the data include the outside condenser unit draw as well? Something doesn't look right.

Hello Bud, and welcome to the forum! There is so much info & good advice here, and with your background, you should not have any problem installing your own system. I installed mine 12 years ago, and without the wealth of info that is presented here. As far as your desire to plug & play...

Just an FYI, I have an older XW6048 (grid tied), and after 11 years, I changed out my 4 Concorde 12v 256ah AGM's to 2 - 48v 230ah Trophy batteries. It was a simple plug & play, just some different settings on the SCP. It has been about 4 months now, and all is great.

Maybe they need to install a lightning protection system with aerials and proper grounding techniques.

I don't disagree with anything posted above, but I have seen, with scattered clouds, a large jump in solar production when the sun is partially obscured by clouds. This is called "edge of cloud effect". "Cloud edge effect is a common phenomenon in PV power generation. This effect is caused by...

Yep, they really are - and you should know, you bought a bunch! Just finished the roof metal today - yay! But still need some other work done before mounting the 3rd array panels.

@markpj23, I think you are off on your expected kwh per day calculations. I live in north Louisiana which does not have the sunshine potential you do, and I get considerably better production than you are estimating. I have 10.4 kw of solar, in three arrays, facing SE, SW & South. I can get...

@YurtSolar, that 75/15 Victron is for 12 or 24 volt only. You would need a 48v MPPT. Good news is you would only need one. You could wire the 3 panels together in series (as long as the voltage of the panels did not exceed the MPPT rating). The wattage of the three panels really would not...

Maybe some lightning wise person can comment on something I read years ago. That the lightning protection aerials and the system in general is not to get hit by lightning to protect the house, but rather to 'drain' off the electrical potential in the air surrounding a structure so that...

Yep, you are on your way to quite a journey. Good Luck!

Doing a little more research, it seems that lightning (energy transfer from sky to ground), is not as well understood as I had thought. This is from Wikipedia: "The charge transfer theory states that a lightning strike to a protected structure can be prevented by reducing the electrical...

My older (original), grid tied XW6048 has always done this. There are times during good PV production, and with a full charge, the batteries will show a few amps in and out. I always thought this was 'normal'.

Yeah, I know what you mean. Before starting on my home grid tied system back 12 years ago, or so, I had no forums to help (at least that I knew of), and no 'kits' as such, as far as I knew as well. So, it was just study, research and study some more. I had done a solar/inverter-charger...

@barthold, This is a very well organized, and super clean installation. This year I plan to add another array to my grid connected set up, as well as replacing the 11 year old, 48v 256ah Concorde battery bank. Have not yet decided upon which Lithium batteries to replace them with, but like the...

With my utility, the sell back metering agreement gives me a 1:1 net 'buy back' from the utility. They have since changed that to 1:.6 for new solar installs. I am grandfathered into the original agreement, but ANY 'Substantial' changes to that original agreement causes me to be under the NEW...

I looked at it again, and forgot to remove another load. It pulls right at 2K watts, and that includes the air handler blower - like most geo units, everything is in one 'box' inside the house. And yes, I have the desuperheater running, providing hot water support to a separate pre tank for my...

What @Brucey said above.

Maybe start with a new split phase, more efficient heat pump? That would ditch your 3 phase service & would probably make installing a residential solar system a bit easier. That 3 phase service may cause more problems than it's worth. Disclaimer: I am not an electrician

Thanks @n2aws for your information & the Schneider enhanced GSV publication. I have an older XW and used the enhanced GSV on my original Concorde AGM's for eleven years. They were beginning to show their age, and I recently replaced them with two 230ah Trophy lithiums, when I added another PV...

Thanks @AlyGreen, that is a very comprehensive write up on your new Geo system. The costs do blow me away, but you are in PA, and you had it professionally done. The information given will undoubtedly help many folks. Twelve years ago I did a renovation on a 22 year old lake house camp. We...

Hello Anthony, my best suggestion would be to spend many hours reading this forum, and focus on those manufacturers that you DON'T see mentioned very often, meaning they do not have as many problems. Don't cheap out on buying components for a solar system. This system will be powered up...

@Horsefly, agree with you on the Victron stuff. A couple years ago I installed an all Victron component system in my Sprinter, including 2 of their 200ah batteries. Although I have not used the van extensively, all has performed very well.

Hey Zapper, I am not an astronomer by any means, just going by what the local media folks were saying. I believe they said the next one was 2046 - probably referring to the next one visible in our area.

I am hoping to get 20 years out of my newly purchased Trophy batteries. I am still running my 11 year old Concorde Lifeline AGM batteries, but they are showing signs of age. I am grid tied and don't abuse the batteries. Hoping to get my new batteries installed soon - have some remodeling to...

You might call Dan (the owner), at the phone number given on the site. You'll most likely get a quicker response by calling, rather than an email. I have found him to be easy to reach, knowledable and helpful, with suggestions on setting up my inverter to work well with his batteries. I...

Go for it! It will keep you busy and motivated, for a least a while. I 'retired' 23 years ago, and never had a boring/unproductive day.

It seems this was the OP's last post on this forum, in 2022.

@kennyb, thanks for the info above. I have an older XW6048, and had never heard that it could be updated to a 6848. I looked up your link above, and while the main info page says it is possible, under the referenced tech bulletin, they say: 'We do not support upgrading Conext XW firmware to...

Thanks dude, yep, I think you just told me what I needed to know! There is no way that my old XW would take a current firmware update to fit the newer SCC.