diy solar

diy solar

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Ampster said:
Good to know. My information is from a service panel thirty five years ago that controlled the lights in a store. Using the breakers as switches also caused arcing on the bus bar because of the movement when turning them off every night.
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Been there replaced many of those.
 
I've been called more than a few times to trouble shoot a "surge". What I find is that the new homeowner or the widow (ex-wife etc.) of the original person that did it unknowingly damaged a lot of equipment because they had no idea how to safely operate Frankenstein's lab that they inherited. Thankfully no one got hurt.

IMHO it's not a matter of "if" but "when" doing stuff like this will go wrong. Several times the guy that installed it "did solar back in California but isn't answering his phone anymore". :unsure:
 
OzSolar said:
IMHO it's not a matter of "if" but "when" doing stuff like this will go wrong. Several times the guy that installed it "did solar back in California but isn't answering his phone anymore". :unsure:
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He probably licked the prongs of that suicide cord like a 9v battery to test if it had juice or not.
 
Dam, if you're going to do it ..do it correctly by back feeding the dryer outlet. lol Seriously..using the dryer outlet to back feed in a pinch, turn off the mains first, works just fine. You just have to follow some steps to not electrocute yourself and make sure the mains are off so you don't kill a lineman. Correct way..get a panel lockout and dedicated breaker with gen input outlet on outside of house.
 
775 said:
What are the chances you die plugging this into your inverter? LOL
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More likely to kill a lineman. If done correctly by someone who REALLY knows exactly what they're doing, (which they wouldn't be if they knew what they were doing) then it could probably work for a little while. The unfortunate truth however, is that there are too many people that have become experts watching YouTube videos. As was mentioned earlier, it's not a matter of if but when something goes wrong. The NEC is in place for a reason. The problem I've seen from time to time is when someone creates a loop in their system this way. Shortly following that is normally a pop then the code for a blown board.
 
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BenFromSignatureSolar said:
More likely to kill a lineman. If done correctly by someone who REALLY knows exactly what they're doing, (which they wouldn't be if they knew what they were doing) then it could probably work for a little while. The unfortunate truth however, is that there are too many people that have become experts watching YouTube videos. As was mentioned earlier, it's not a matter of if but when something goes wrong. The NEC is in place for a reason. The problem I've seen from time to time is when someone creates a loop in their system this way. Shortly following that is normally a pop then the code for a blown board.
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Is this advise coming from the same signature solar that sold, encouraged and made youtube videos on how to wire in auto transformers so EU inverters could be used on US electrical systems?
 
timselectric said:
Nothing wrong with that. It's working great for many people, including myself.
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Not saying it doesn't work just not the best way to approach it especially if you're not entirely off grid. A isolation transformer would be the best way to approach this..we have a thread here we're it's debated.
 
realpinochet said:
Not saying it doesn't work just not the best way to approach it especially if you're not entirely off grid. A isolation transformer would be the best way to approach this..we have a thread here we're it's debated.
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I've been a part of every debate. lol
If you know what you are doing, there's nothing to fear.
 
BenFromSignatureSolar said:
Please just check out video. First few min should clear this up.
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How many people installed it the first way it was shown and now have a potential neutral interference with the grid neutral or on a breaker that might pop and take the artificial neutral out? Not trying to get into a argument ..just saying your post seemed somewhat hypocritical especially when mentioning the "NEC"
 
timselectric said:
I've been a part of every debate. lol
If you know what you are doing, there's nothing to fear.
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Yes, but you know what you're doing. I believe you're an electrican and or sell electrical equipment if my recollection servers correct. I believe I started that thread on why people were doing it cause I saw david poz doing it and didn't know anything about the potential "loosing a neutral" or having the grid neutral and auto transformer neutral interfere with each other. I happened by chance to find a electrician that is on grid and also using the EU models they sell but went with a isolation transformer. After he explained why it's clear that's the best approach. IMHO
 
realpinochet said:
How many people installed it the first way it was shown and now have a potential neutral interference with the grid neutral or on a breaker that might pop and take the artificial neutral out? Not trying to get into a argument ..just saying your post seemed somewhat hypocritical especially when mentioning the "NEC"
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I feel like you still haven't seen the video.

Maybe there is another video that I didn't know about, but SS doesn't offer an EU version.
 
An isolation transformer is the best way to go.
No extra thinking required.
 
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