Have not had to deal with the utilities in your neck of the woods, but out here the PoCo needs to approve all systems if they are grid tied. In speaking to several installers, it seems that it almost always takes 2 or 3 rounds with the PoCo to get approved; usually just reminding them of their...
Pulse could come in via the ground wire. And even with a switch/CB off, a lightning spike could jump the gap in the device; that is less likely if you have various over voltage protection devices but in theory possible.
While I would agree with the OP, that 3 phase AC pumps are a better solution than 120 or 240VAC single phase, I think that DC submersibles are an even better solution. There are a few out there but the worm pump mechanism ones with controller at the surface seem to offer much more efficiency...
Agreed on dealing with the power co. Am in the process of getting some more definitive numbers before I contact them.
I have not cranked the numbers on the financial side, but have no illusions about savings. I would guess the break even period would be ~5 years, doing my own install and if I...
Does The One have a setting to limit max sell back power to some value? That can come in handy here where the local PoCo has several tiers of grid-tied.
I'd agree with the previous comments regarding keeping your grid tie. While not as "pure" setup as being totally self sufficient, I think you will find it great;y reduces your costs (mostly by reducing the size of battery bank you'll need). You can still setup many inverters to use your...
Placed a couple of orders with them over the last few years. A Midnite Solar Classic CC and some batteries. No complaints, good prices and got everything I ordered. Would order from them again.
Well you probably still can, at least thermal storage in the winter. Not sure what part of PA you are in, but it is probably cold enough that some extra heat would be appreciated most of the time in that season. If your basement walls have insulation outside and bare concrete inside it would...
I am not sure that for FilterGuy's examples above, where the voltage spike from the lightning is coming into the equipment over the ground wire, SPDs would help. MOVs are bi-directional devices, so if your SPD just has MOVs between your various lines and ground, the MOV is happy to "save" the...
Thanks. Both look like possible solutions. The Amazon one does not seem to have a cover or the like to seal the connector when it is not plugged into its other half, but if they do then it would be fine. The Anderson ones say they have a cover for when not in use so should be a go.
Thanks again.
Are you sure the glow bar is on all the time the oven is on? Reason I ask is our oven also has glow bars (one for each burner) but they only come on while heat is call for in the oven. After it is up to temp, the gas and the glow bars shut off until more heat is needed later. Still not ideal...
Thanks Robin. Looking forward to using The One.
I am curious what the status of the various certifications are, especially 1741SAx for grid selling. Does it have the certs now so we can include them for a building permit application or the like? And is the installation manual available (or an...
Finally had a mostly sunny day to get some temps from my systems. Here's what I measured today roughly at noon:
PV panels temp - 48F
SHW panel temp - 121F (actually water exiting at the top of the panels, panel probably higher)
PVs production - 70% of rated power
Outside conditions 36F with...
You might look into a standard AC hot water tank thermostat set. They typically have two elements and two thermostats; the top one heats first (shutting down the lower one) then when the top is hot the bottom element gets power and will come on if its thermostat is calling for heat. Nothing...
Very much agree with Robin on this. 200A passthru to your main panel is not a good setup for real life long outages. Not only for the code requirements Robin mentions, but the hard reality of an extended grid outage brings in new problems which many who choose this route have not considered. If...
Before going with used panels, you should check out some of the better new prices online. If you can use a full pallet of panels, they often come in around that same price level, 0.25 -0.30 per watt. What appears to be the case is used panels are at a discounted price to the original price of...
That $6200 price is about $1k more than the one other place which is taking pre-orders for it (TheSolarBiz). Still will be interesting to see what the official pricing is when Midnite finally releases it.
Folks responding with their pump situation might want to say how deep their pump is. The load is much greater starting with a few 100 feet of water column than without...
Very possible to do yourself. I also have to deal with Chinook winds on the front range and my mounts have worked well for 23+ years. I started with top of pole mounts (Two Seas, who is no longer around) and found their mount a bit lacking. So it was reinforced with some additional 2" pipe set...
Well, it's been another week or so, and wanted to update my experience with this GVDA GD166B meter and purchasing thru AliExpress.
After trying to use this meter in actual field conditions, I would have to caution folks against buying it. The meter does sort of work, sometimes, maybe. However...
Wrote to RuiXu to ask about the timing on the certs. They responded: (for those that might be waiting)
So sounds like they are not planning on getting a stand alone 9540 cert, but rather one tied to their inverter.
Since I am not planning a system which requires it, I can't say for sure, did not pay that much attention to them. But I seem to recall one meter was measuring AC pushed back on the grid, and the other was for PV output; but don't quote me on that. The AC one I suspect was for credit purposes so...
Just curious about the max altitude rating on inverters. I am at 8000'+ elevation (about 2500m), and it seems several of the popular AIO inverters are rated up to 2000m, a few for 3000m. The only thing which it seems might be effected by altitude is cooling efficiency with the thinner air, which...
That sounds about right. Have not gotten a sunny day yet to check numbers here. And you are right, if you were running water behind the panels to extract the heat, the water would likely run ~100F. Which would mean the solar hot water tank could not be heated much above that (typically ~10F less...
Just a guess. I have a single SW4024. The green blinking light on a grid or genny source means the inverter is trying to "sync" with that source. If it never stops blinking then that source is not of sufficient "quality" as far as the inverter is concerned. It can still draw power from that...
After the fire here where our house and meter burned, we put a new power meter and CB box in roughly the same location. After inspection, the local PCO came out and did an underground splice to their wires to the meter (with a short length of new wire up to the meter). Granted it was their wire...
Just another thing to consider, it may not make sense now to get a net meter and pay higher rates, BUT the way elec cos usually go it will likely be more restrictive/expensive to get a net meter setup approved in the future (if you even can). Not saying that necessarily will happen in your area...
If (and it's a big if) the installer was planning on painting the roof white, and if the panels were going to be mounted angled up such that they could get reflected light off the roof to their back early and late in the day, then perhaps bifacials might be of some use. But if it is a typical...
To me it is unclear why you'd want a manual xfer switch between the inverters' outputs (and maybe inputs too) and the grid. Most inverters have a built in transfer switch functionality and additionally can supplement your PV output with grid input when necessary (but the details on this will...