diy solar

diy solar

What was your worse DIY solar mistake ever?

Have leaned on cells while making battery and sweating. That’s was entertaining.
Tightening nuts cells and shorted them with the wrench. Nothing permanent just some slagged terminals.

Biggest mistake I made was probably not researching enough before buying or setup.

Take your time.
Identify your needs.
Identify whats available to fill your needs.
Try to ascertain even though the equipment might fit your needs can you get support/ replacement parts, etc.
Do a very extensive BOM.
Plan your work and work your plan.
 
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NCislander said:
Miswiring/Bypassing my battery bank and BMS. Hence allowing over charging cells to point of failure. Luckily no fire, only lost (2) cells in my 16s bank.
I posted all about it.

View attachment 202629
Click to expand...
I forgot about that but did the same thing.
Built battery and even put in the BMS but grandkids or something were arguing playing fighting and I put charger on the battery terminal instead of through the BMS.

Could still see the cell values so thought everything ok.
Go back in couple of hours and like Shit! What happened??
Cells were just at 3.7 but yup done that too.
 
Nobodybusiness said:
I forgot about that but did the same thing.
Built battery and even put in the BMS but grandkids or something were arguing playing fighting and I put charger on the battery terminal instead of through the BMS.

Could still see the cell values so thought everything ok.
Go back in couple of hours and like Shit! What happened??
Cells were just at 3.7 but yup done that too.
Click to expand...
I had nobody to blame but myself.
Took an overnight and into following day, full sun charging.
Smell was really bad from cell relief valves blowing out and lithium gook all over.
Took awhile to figure out what happened.
Same battery bank in full service with replaced cells.
 
NCislander said:
I had nobody to blame but myself.
Took an overnight and into following day, full sun charging.
Smell was really bad from cell relief valves blowing out and lithium gook all over.
Took awhile to figure out what happened.
Same battery bank in full service with replaced cells.
Click to expand...
Dang..
Haven’t had the pleasure of smelling vented battery yet.
Sure it’s foul.

Still using mine also.
Those cells are pretty resilient unless they vent I guess.
 
Supervstech said:
Ok, now we need another forum for THIS endeavor…

I can see the title cards now.

I built my own power system… now to find partner to use it right!
Click to expand...
"Male blue addict seeking female blue addict, let's snort some blue together..."
 
It’s not impossible. I met my wife of 34 years (and counting) as a direct result of a project into simulated lunar teleoperations!
 
My OCD kicked in on my “starter” solar lit and I removed the data stickers from my first two supposed high wattage flex panels. I figured using the controller they came with, it wouldn’t matter. Now I’ve learned about the performance specs and their use in configuring a system. I now have and use other panels and controllers.
 
millsan1 said:
Two so far, neither catastrophic.

Doing my ground mounts, I had 36 on center in my head, instead of 51. Ended up with 7 instead of 9 panels in each string.

Wiring all my PV in the garage in PVC conduit. Nice, neat, hours of time and whump whump, had to rip it all out for metal conduit and boxes.
Click to expand...
Not really my greatest DIY solar error but it is a classic problem I have with measurements. The old saw about measure twice, cut once does not help. For instance I measure something to be cut as 40 and 1/2 inches. When I lay out the material to be cut I proceed to find 40 inches on the tape measure and go to the 1/2 inch designation. However this is the 1/2 inch designation to the left of 40 inches. Which makes it 39-1/2 inches. My mental process will repeat this over and over unless I make a special effort to allow for this fact.

Bit like the fact I repeatedly type "teh" when I want "the". Makes for fun crafting posts when you type words with the letters out of sequence all the time. Mental processing errors.
 
Mattb4 said:
When I lay out the material to be cut I proceed to find 40 inches on the tape measure and go to the 1/2 inch designation. However this is the 1/2 inch designation to the left of 40 inches. Which makes it 39-1/2 inches. My mental process will repeat this over and over unless I make a special effort to allow for this fact.
Click to expand...
switch to metric? 1016mm :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO: Actually, I often measure in both units as a double check!
 
I had one a few months ago that I was pretty embarrassed about...

I was replacing my SolArk 12k, and I had unhooked the battery cables from the inverter, and they were hanging down. I made sure all the breakers were shut off, and assumed it was safe because of that. My stupid brain didn't realize that I only disconnected the positive lead with the breakers, so i thought it was safe, but the negative cable could still touch the positive terminals of the batteries (oops). Well I didn't realize it until my leg pressed the negative cable against the positive terminal and burnt the hell out of my leg from the short circuit. It barely affected the 4/0 terminal of the cable, or the battery terminal, as it was such a small short, but damn did it hurt!
 
Supervstech said:
My biggest mistake was using uninsulated tools while assembling bussbars in a 48V stud cell pack… it is CRAZY how fast a misaligned ratchet will vaporize a 6mm stainless stud…
Click to expand...
Shit, I thought me welding and then vaporizing one fo the BMS wires was bad. I got more batteries to build. Honestly I hate the assembly part. Feel like I’m trying to diffuse a bomb.
 
Lt.Dan said:
I had one a few months ago that I was pretty embarrassed about...

I was replacing my SolArk 12k, and I had unhooked the battery cables from the inverter, and they were hanging down. I made sure all the breakers were shut off, and assumed it was safe because of that. My stupid brain didn't realize that I only disconnected the positive lead with the breakers, so i thought it was safe, but the negative cable could still touch the positive terminals of the batteries (oops). Well I didn't realize it until my leg pressed the negative cable against the positive terminal and burnt the hell out of my leg from the short circuit. It barely affected the 4/0 terminal of the cable, or the battery terminal, as it was such a small short, but damn did it hurt!
Click to expand...
Is it time for a scar thread? 😭
 
SilverbackMP said:
Shit, I thought me welding and then vaporizing one fo the BMS wires was bad. I got more batteries to build. Honestly I hate the assembly part. Feel like I’m trying to diffuse a bomb.
Click to expand...
Heh... when im in the house assembling bms and cells, i routinely get asked what kind of bomb im building now...

I currently... sorry... have four 4s packs, three 8s packs, and a 48v 16S pack in what SHOULD be my dining room...
Long ago i emptied the dining area of foodie accouterments and setup two desks, a storage table, and three cabinets for my various indoor projects...

I have an understanding family...
 
there were a few, but this one I can't understand. I disabled overvoltage electronic breaker ... and that happend:
1710713642338.png

so in next 5 seconds the generator blew off my inverter...
 
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