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  • Post in thread: What makes the tier 1 stuff “better”?

    Yes, a lot has gone to India. Schneider and OutBack Power, too. They do OK, mostly. I'm sure they use a lot of Chinese parts. We all have to. We are all dependent on China for a lot of parts but there are other problems with building products here in the US... Mainly, the 25% tariffs...
  • Post in thread: What makes the tier 1 stuff “better”?

    China is getting very good at building this stuff ! There are still some concepts that they just don't "get" yet. They may eventually pick up on all that. HandyBob... I remember him and the main issue that was happening back then. That was Classic's going into EQ seemingly on their own...
  • Post in thread: NEWS: New Midnite Solar DIY Series - SCC's & Inverters (great $ too)

    I was going to let this go but I need to mention something about manufacturing electronics in America. The US is not very electronic manufacturer friendly these days. Tariffs that are imposed on us and the cost of manufacturing in the US make it impossible to be as inexpensive as something...
  • Post in thread: Idle 'no load' Consumption: Specs vs Your Personal Observation

    Merry New Year ! The term "high frequency" can be confusing. 99.999% of sinewave power inverters these days switch at high frequency. HF Sinewave inverters that use the big heavy 50/60 Hz transformers are usually referred to as LF inverters. Inverters like Victron, Magnum, OutBack...
  • Post in thread: Sol-Ark/China

    Here is what I replied with on the MidNite forum.... You are correct in that everything except those couple of DIY units are all made in Arlington, WA USA However, parts come from all over. Raw PCBs come from China or Taiwan. Aluminum castings come from China and Thailand. FETs come from...
  • Post in thread: Has Richard from Signature Solar Left The Company?

    At Xantrex (Schneider), when someone was fired or was laid off, the president would say "he/she went to spend more time with their family" Always got a chuckle out of that till this day. boB
  • Post in thread: Back feed for snow melting?

    It can work but not guaranteed to work if too far below freezing and too much snow piled up on the array. It does take a lot of power and energy unless a light dusting. As for how much current, just do not exceed the series fuse rating of the panel, typically 15A or 20A. Here is an animated...
  • Post in thread: Is this a bad joke? Signature Solar creating specs requirements to avoid defective inverter costs?

    I would just like to re-iterate that this whole industry does not have enough technical people ! boB
  • Post in thread: NEWS: New Midnite Solar DIY Series - SCC's & Inverters (great $ too)

    Maybe we can open one of those up and take pictures ? I will see. boB
  • Post in thread: Midnite Solar Rosie on sale

    We don't give away our IP. China makes these inverters themselves now. We guide certain manufacturers is all. We still design and make our own products strictly in the US. With the help of parts that come from all over the world. Custom and off the shelf. boB
  • Post in thread: Will an SPD protect my charge controller?

    Hi guys. Sometimes there is a misconception about how regular lightning protection with SPDs (MOVs) work. An SPD does NOT protect the voltage across the PV+ and PV- lines (differential). This CAN be done but not with a lightning arrestor/SPD. Most electronic devices have what's known as a...
  • Post in thread: High End Audio powered by Solar vs Grid

    There can definitely be a difference in sound depending on if the 60 Hz line has sharp edges that might get into the audio signal. In my experience, the worst offender is a modified-square-wave inverter. These have sharp edges that you might hear through your system. In the early 1990s when I...
  • Post in thread: Midnite Solar Rosie on sale

    We are working on this kind of stuff in more than one way. The ULTIMATE MN Solar AIO will be the B17, if we'd finish it. Had to take a little detour on that unit :) boB
  • Post in thread: NEWS: New Midnite Solar DIY Series - SCC's & Inverters (great $ too)

    Well, we didn't exactly START Trace... BUT Robin's and my relationship with companies, as well as Magnum Energy, OutBack Power, Heart Interface and some other PNW companies go back to the early 1970s when Bob Carver and Steve Johnston started Phase Linear making high power stereo amplifiers...
  • Post in thread: Midnite Solar?

    We are WAY slower than the bigger and off shore companies. Mostly because there is so little engineering and electronic manufacturing talent in the US. When they are found, we try to get them and a lot of them are very pricey. The ones that we do have are very appreciated Merry Christmas and...
  • Post in thread: EG4 18k caused massive voltage spike

    That particular SPD will not help at all. They are 3 wires put into some sand, basically. Here is a comparison of a MOV based SPD lightning arrestor and a Delta. boB
  • Post in thread: Midnite Solar Rosie HF Inverter 27kW Surge Test

    Yeah, Midnite BT is just one our biggest fans and does well with his own business, selling generator parts. Six years ago he helped me BIG time when my wife of 30 years passed away suddenly. He had not even met Penny, my wife. Just a super nice guy with an interest in this stuff and a big...
  • Post in thread: spd means the dc core floats until a surge hits?

    Are you referring to this drawing ? (below, hopefully) The green SPD wire is GND and is connected to the GND bus bar. The DC negative is connected to the battery and PV negative but is not connected to GND at all in this drawing. The PV negative and PV positive are connected to the two...
  • Post in thread: Stacked Rosies

    wsaharem what a NICE job of wiring ! Especially without the E-panels. We try to always have decent support. We know that support is a big thing. boB
  • Post in thread: DIY MPPT SCC?

    Yes, here is a very quick history... I started at Trace in 1994 after working in pro and consumer audio and a few years in medical electronics.... Electronics part of those. Brother Robin started at Trace in 1990 after designing audio gear and then military flight power supply system stuff for...
  • Post in thread: Midnite Solar Rosie on sale

    For the B17-5 (5 modules), the first two (2) modules can be either inverter/charger or a 600V input charge controller module. Each inverter/charger module is at least 3kW (maybe 3.5kW ?) 120/240 VAC inverter and also charger. It is sort of a large Rosie in that the underlying power circuitry...
  • Post in thread: Reverse protection diode on PV input to MPPT

    A typical buck converter MPPT controller will automatically and intrinsically have reverse polarity protection due to the topology of a buck converter. The top FET has an internal diode with its cathode pointing to the PV+ input. And the bottom FET or diode will have its cathode pointing...
  • Post in thread: Midnite Solar Rosie on sale

    Remember also that the typical all in one PV connected to inverter DC HV rail does not normally give you full power output from battery. That must be done during the day with the addition of solar/PV input, such as the Sol-Ark and I think, most of the other AIO's. They also only usually allow...
  • Post in thread: Clipping

    Clipping = output current limiting OR Clipping = maxed out The term I'm pretty sure comes from the audio/hi-fi industry which means the amplifier is putting out all of the voltage it can supply. That's all it is. boB
  • Post in thread: RFI issue

    Sounds like you have done well here ! Remember that adding a LOT of turns through the toroid can increase the capacitance from one side of that filter to the other side and possibly have diminishing returns. From S8 to S1 is significant I would say ! Maybe we need to have a DIY ham net some...
  • Post in thread: Melting snow

    You know.... If you are careful, a PV panel can be turned into a space heater and melt snow on it *IF* it is not too cold and/or if the snow is not TOO thick... Here is the first time I ever tried this somewhere around 2005. One module is powered. The other is not. This one took about 3...
  • Post in thread: States/Cities Attempting To Limit You Self Produced Power...

    As Home Power Magazine used to say, Gorilla Solar. Don't ask don't tell... Just press SELL !! That was in the 1990s
  • Post in thread: New Tariffs in the States

    And now Biden is adding to it and never did help US manufacturers by changing the original Trump tariff lists. It's bipartisan now. It might have been a nice idea with good intent originally but was not thought through by either party. The presidents do not understand how American...
  • Post in thread: Idle 'no load' Consumption: Specs vs Your Personal Observation

    A lot of times the idle/tare will depend on the present battery voltage... Usually a higher Vbatt = higher idle but not necessarily.
  • Post in thread: Has anybody used the Rosie inverter yet for prime time?

    Rosie does actually do grid support (gen support coming) as well as AC coupling with frequency-shift for micro-inverters
  • Post in thread: Has anybody used the Rosie inverter yet for prime time?

    The Rosie is rated at 7kW but can put out slightly more indefinitely. Anything more or at high ambient temperatures will eventually bring Rosie's temperatures too high and it will shut down then. Rosie can handle higher output powers for quite a while as it is. Yes, the CTs are for the main...
  • Post in thread: Has anybody used the Rosie inverter yet for prime time?

    We discuss HV batteries once in a while but not a lot in regard to Rosie. Her topology would have to be changed some to tap into the HV link rail to do that. It would be easier to tap her HV rail for something like an all in one though. We have a Rosie breaker box. That can also come that...
  • Post in thread: Idle 'no load' Consumption: Specs vs Your Personal Observation

    Heart Interface is probably who you were thinking of. Heart Ackerman and Steve Johnston started Heart. Then about a year later, Steve started Trace Engineering with a few others. Those others also worked at Phase Linear (Bob Carver) in the very early 1970s which was the "seed" basically for...
  • Post in thread: Is Sol-Ark still sending data to China?

    "...making it impossible for the US to be a leader in producing anything here! They are regulating everything so much we can’t make batteries here, solar panels here. " So much truth to this ! And also excessive tariffs on parts from China that can not be bought here or anywhere else, so we...
  • Post in thread: New Tariffs in the States

    I agree about not having politics here. Just remember, and I think you know, Aridom82, that the tariffs we have today are nothing new. 25%+ tariffs on Chinese goods started a few years ago. It really effects our production costs because so many components come from China. Gee, MidNite paid...
  • Post in thread: NEWS: New Midnite Solar DIY Series - SCC's & Inverters (great $ too)

    The DIY inverter/charger is no different than whatever SRNE makes and sells for this unit except for the name on the front so I would imagine you were going to find the same thing here. Only difference is what we add externally to make it communicate with the outside world better and the...
  • Post in thread: Midnight polarized breaker direction

    That video, although still relevant is a bit old now as there are many more breakers available. Polarized breakers are fine for use in a PV combiner box with 3 or more strings in parallel for their intended operation. In this case, the intended use is so that when one or more panels are...
  • Post in thread: NEWS: New Midnite Solar DIY Series - SCC's & Inverters (great $ too)

    Yes, by finishing, we mean the balancing. That is where it would be done.... Where the current is less and time can be longer I think is the reason. I understand what you mean by the CC drawing power when the charging is done. That is because the idle power comes from the battery side and...
  • Post in thread: 120V on the PV line?? Discussion of Will's video

    This is not all that surprising to me since the inverter and PV MPPT sections are not galvanically isolated in most of these AIO units. Just have to be extra careful. Ungrounded PV systems ground-fault have required both positive and negative lines to be disconnected for a while now (pretty...
  • Post in thread: Has anybody used the Rosie inverter yet for prime time?

    Schneider and Victron are made in India. I'm sure parts are from worldwide sources including China. MidNite uses some parts from China too but we definitely try and do use parts locally such as sheet metal and bus bars, connectors, etc. We also build a lot of parts in house. Most inductors...
  • Post in thread: Has anybody used the Rosie inverter yet for prime time?

    Stacking works on Rosie now. That was just software. But comparably easy software.

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