diy solar

diy solar

Live Ground Shocked 5 Year Old

Its a system installed in a north american territory.

Off grid..

with no ahj,

no inspections

..ill be staying out of threads and lurking.
Does the forum have an obituary section i can keep an eye on?
I cant believe this all came from one color selection...get real.
Can yall point out what the colors are the schematic provided on the auto transformer? Oh wait there both black...matter of fact the whole damn drawing is black. There is a certain level off assumptions when working with drawings. One of those assumes your not a mindless idiot and have some sort of experience with schematics.
 
finite said:
Its a system installed in a north american territory.

Off grid..

with no ahj,

no inspections

..ill be staying out of threads and lurking.
Does the forum have an obituary section i can keep an eye on?
I cant believe this all came from one color selection...get real.
Can yall point out what the colors are the schematic provided on the auto transformer? Oh wait there both black...matter of fact the whole damn drawing is black. There is a certain level off assumptions when working with drawings. One of those assumes your not a mindless idiot and have some sort of experience with schematics.
Click to expand...
Blue is a neutral in Europe. And a hot in North America.
Correct regional color coding is very important.
I'm sorry, if you don't understand this.
 
timselectric said:
Please don't take my corrections personally.
It's done for the thousands of people who will read this later.
Click to expand...
Id call them critiques more than corrections. As stated previously ive got no experience with the inverters or auto transformer,never seen inside there manuals to see how they were wired up,not my system,not my job. My main moivation for joining this forum was to learn something and repay that knowledge with the knowledge i have from being a residential/commercial and service electrician, ive installed exactly 1 off grid system with grid tie and alternater charger(van build out).

The only thing i have learned is that this forum like many others is full of people...i fuckin hate people. Now ill just take whatever free knowledge i can scrape up and watch the others burn.
 
timselectric said:
Industry standard would be black and red.
For reference.
Up to 250v is L1-black, L2-red, L3-blue, N-white
250v to 600v is L1-brown, L2-orange, L3-yellow, N-grey
In both cases G-green or bare

There are other cases for a high leg or bonded leg delta system.
Click to expand...

So what about this Romex wire rated 600V but colors Black, Red, White, bare?

www.southwire.com

10-3 CU NM-B WITH GROUND 100 FT | Southwire

Upgrade your electrical system with 10-3 wire from Southwire, with 100 ft of superior quality wire. Get yours today.
www.southwire.com www.southwire.com

What if I used that for two legs of 277/480V?
 
finite said:
Id call them critiques more than corrections. As stated previously ive got no experience with the inverters or auto transformer,never seen inside there manuals to see how they were wired up,not my system,not my job. My main moivation for joining this forum was to learn something and repay that knowledge with the knowledge i have from being a residential/commercial and service electrician, ive installed exactly 1 off grid system with grid tie and alternater charger(van build out).

The only thing i have learned is that this forum like many others is full of people...i fuckin hate people. Now ill just take whatever free knowledge i can scrape up and watch the others burn.
Click to expand...
I think if you take your efforts of trying to help, along with Tim’s efforts of trying to help….others will have a much cleaner diagram to refer to, and then can ensure their wiring is correct as well.
yall can both contribute to the success of others
 
G00SE said:
I think if you take your efforts of trying to help, along with Tim’s efforts of trying to help….others will have a much cleaner diagram to refer to, and then can ensure their wiring is correct as well.
yall can both contribute to the success of others
Click to expand...
Cleaner diagram is not my problem. I know how to wire this stuff. All there equipment should come with diagrams. If not there found online. I only came in this thread to help a little girl from her fathers ignorance. But theres no shortage of that knowledge. DiY solar forums doe not need another on call electrician. Tims got this.
 
Hedges said:
So what about this Romex wire rated 600V but colors Black, Red, White, bare?

www.southwire.com

10-3 CU NM-B WITH GROUND 100 FT | Southwire

Upgrade your electrical system with 10-3 wire from Southwire, with 100 ft of superior quality wire. Get yours today.
www.southwire.com www.southwire.com

What if I used that for two legs of 277/480V?
Click to expand...
Those are standard colors for cords and cable assemblies.
Based on the number of conductors in the cord or cable assembly.
They are generally accepted as is. Sometimes we re identify at the termination points. If there might be any confusion. (In control panels with mixed voltages)
You can order them with requested colors. But there's additional costs, and sometimes additional lead times. Most of the time it's not required or worth the trouble.
 
finite said:
Id call them critiques more than corrections. As stated previously ive got no experience with the inverters or auto transformer,never seen inside there manuals to see how they were wired up,not my system,not my job. My main moivation for joining this forum was to learn something and repay that knowledge with the knowledge i have from being a residential/commercial and service electrician, ive installed exactly 1 off grid system with grid tie and alternater charger(van build out).

The only thing i have learned is that this forum like many others is full of people...i fuckin hate people. Now ill just take whatever free knowledge i can scrape up and watch the others burn.
Click to expand...

Now, now, try not to be an ass-hat, we are all here to learn, exchange ideas, get help and give it.

The OP ended up with EU inverters so the have 240 output between neutral and L1. So connected to an auto-transformer to get 240 split phase as the output he can use. The major issue seems to have been a N-ground bond screw putting power to the shell by putting 120 on the N of the 120 outlet.

And of course the other problems are why you hate people, to many cooks in the kitchen and a useless warning to call an electrician, useless because no electrician is going to take on this sort of thing and even had one they wouldn't have caught the N-G bond screw.

And unless I am reading it wrong there is a question on the sizing of the breaker out of the auto xfrmer and if that is correctly sized.

And of course the other major issue is a lack of tying all of the metal boxes, shipping container, solar panels together and attaching that with a ground rod. Had that been done in the first place nothing would have happened but tripping breakers.
 
robbob2112 said:
Now, now, try not to be an ass-hat, we are all here to learn, exchange ideas, get help and give it
Click to expand...
No worries, wont get anymore ass hattery out of me.
Breaker for growatt should be (device rating in watts)÷ 240v rounded down to the next available breaker size.
 
Last edited:
Reading this thread has made me realize that i've already forgotten some of the things i did to make my Growatt+autotransmformer setup work, and that makes me nervous. Since im now out of the 'proof of concept' phase i think i need to go through my system again and make sure everything is proper this time around. Mostly in terms of safety and being able to identify wire functions without tracing them back. :ROFLMAO:
 
I dont know why i do this to my self, but here goes. 1000000673.jpg
This is the issue that occurs when you start start using single phase and mixing split phase/auto transformers. A neutral is basically a reference point. As you can see in each diag, each leg on the transformer that is grounded is labeled neutral. The ground bond is there to give your system a reference. We have to be on the same potential as 1 side of the transformer or the other. When you start mixing these systems now you have multiple referance points or neutrals to choose to bond. I hope that makes sense.
 
finite said:
When you start mixing these systems now you have multiple referance points or neutrals to choose to bond.
Click to expand...
Absolutely correct.
It would be fine, with an isolation transformer.
But not with an autotransformer.

Clarification for others:
The above diagrams should be labeled, from left to right.
North American / European / North American

North American 240v single phase is the same as the split-phase diagram. Just without a neutral. (Center tap is bonded)
 
ksmithaz1 said:
Some units are outdoor rated. When under consideration, I was going to pour a small pad and put it outside. If your stuff is "in the barn" in a rural setting, and you are committed to a 220v system and the space is not an issue, I'd poke around where people are remodeling/demoing commercial buildings. The one I found a while back, was literally sitting in a pile to go to the scrap yard. I didn't have any way to lift it on my truck, or it would probably be sitting in my back yard rusting :rolleyes:
Click to expand...
so all you really needed was some friends, a BBQ grill and some beer, and you could have gotten it for free? you need better friends :LOL::LOL::LOL:
 
finite said:
Id call them critiques more than corrections. As stated previously ive got no experience with the inverters or auto transformer,never seen inside there manuals to see how they were wired up,not my system,not my job. My main moivation for joining this forum was to learn something and repay that knowledge with the knowledge i have from being a residential/commercial and service electrician, ive installed exactly 1 off grid system with grid tie and alternater charger(van build out).

The only thing i have learned is that this forum like many others is full of people...i fuckin hate people. Now ill just take whatever free knowledge i can scrape up and watch the others burn.
Click to expand...
and this is how you get yourself put on ignore by other members....
 
i am glad i came across this entire post, glad to see it worked out for OP and hopefully a couple of our stalwarts can come to an agreement on the needed breaker size.

I have a spare 5kw signeer 240 single phase that I bought due to poor description of unit (probably on purpose) from amazon, by the time i opened box and found out it was eurotrash it was too late.
I actually ran it trough an autotransformer just to play with it and put it back on the shelf as future material to harm myself or wallet with.

I decided to use it to put power through two 240 volt heating elements it will power nothing else. other than proper grounding and breakers any advice? things to watch out for?
 
Daddy Tanuki said:
I decided to use it to put power through two 240 volt heating elements it will power nothing else. other than proper grounding and breakers any advice? things to watch out for?
Click to expand...
Nope,
Other than confusing anyone else who might put a meter on it.
A heating element doesn't care what type of power source feeds it.
 
Breaker - be aware that if N is bonded to ground, L is 240V and many breakers aren't rated for that. e.g. 120/240V QO breakers are for the most part only 120V per pole. Only select ones are 240V or 277V rated. I think the Midnight CBI and Carling breakers, at least some, are 240V rated (even if not advertised that way; look up manufacturer's model number.)

If you want an auto-transformer for split-phase, you can use primary 240/480V windings of a typical transformer at 120/240V and be able to get 100% of inverter rating on either L1/L2.
 
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