Quattrohead
Solar Wizard
Because that is what regulations are leading the industry towards, simple as that. Plug and play install for the professional licensed dum dum.
EP Cube Review
- Thread starter Will Prowse
- Start date
The issue I see in a lot of off-grid 'communities' is a bunch of gate-keeping: if you don't run a 12V system with 100W panels and live in a cabin with an outhouse, you're not doing 'true off grid'.
timselectric
If I can do it, you can do it.
- Joined
- Feb 5, 2022
- Messages
- 18,638
Don't forget that you have to fish, drink, and bathe at the nearby creek, to qualify.
timselectric
If I can do it, you can do it.
- Joined
- Feb 5, 2022
- Messages
- 18,638
I've never actually talked to or seen a truly "off grid" person. Because Noone should ever see or hear from them. lol
Hedges
I See Electromagnetic Fields!
- Joined
- Mar 28, 2020
- Messages
- 20,695
I want a system no one reaches out to and stuffs with updates. But I can see why a lithium battery manufacturer would want to obtain field data, and update firmware.
As the cells age, their behavior will change to something the manufacturer has never tested BMS with. Can't be sure their algorithms will balance and leave headroom as needed. Just as we benefit from information and parameters other people set in their BMS and inverters, customers with these power walls will benefit from the company tuning to deal with what earlier or heavier use customers encounter.
As for installation, if not doing backup, these should be as easy to install as zero-export PV. Connect to breaker in panel obeying 120% rule, put CT on grid connection. The 120% rule could be maxed out by PV inverter already. Split that breaker's output to feed both GT PV an AC battery, with another CT so battery knows not to exceed max current combined with PV.
As the cells age, their behavior will change to something the manufacturer has never tested BMS with. Can't be sure their algorithms will balance and leave headroom as needed. Just as we benefit from information and parameters other people set in their BMS and inverters, customers with these power walls will benefit from the company tuning to deal with what earlier or heavier use customers encounter.
As for installation, if not doing backup, these should be as easy to install as zero-export PV. Connect to breaker in panel obeying 120% rule, put CT on grid connection. The 120% rule could be maxed out by PV inverter already. Split that breaker's output to feed both GT PV an AC battery, with another CT so battery knows not to exceed max current combined with PV.
I think with these systems it would be nice to review it from a non-technical home users perspective and the scenarios they will come across..
- how easy is it to see what is going on with the system? i.e. do you have to install an app, go to specific website, create an account or what?
- does it require internet connection to see what is going on with the system?
- does end user have ability to change any settings or does the "installer" have to? Since this is basically plug and play system wonder about certain areas where end user may want to change such as time of use changes.
- what if the grid goes out and it isn't large enough to handle the loads you have on it? Is there easy way for end user to know that's what the issue is?
- when the grid goes down does the end-user have ability to know how long their system will continue to support the loads it has on battery power so they know if they should reduce their loads?
- since they show it installed outside in pics how well will it handle 110°F ambient temps or for that matter below freezing temps?
- how easy is it to see what is going on with the system? i.e. do you have to install an app, go to specific website, create an account or what?
- does it require internet connection to see what is going on with the system?
- does end user have ability to change any settings or does the "installer" have to? Since this is basically plug and play system wonder about certain areas where end user may want to change such as time of use changes.
- what if the grid goes out and it isn't large enough to handle the loads you have on it? Is there easy way for end user to know that's what the issue is?
- when the grid goes down does the end-user have ability to know how long their system will continue to support the loads it has on battery power so they know if they should reduce their loads?
- since they show it installed outside in pics how well will it handle 110°F ambient temps or for that matter below freezing temps?
Steve_S
Offgrid Cabineer, N.E. Ontario, Canada
Previously mentioned, Generac and their standby generators & being offgrid not warrantied especially if not "dealer installed". Sadly, same applies to the ones from Champion as well. Completely idiotic as they are trying to keep people Grid Connected for some reason...
I do tink One Big Subject to cover is the different Types of Solar Panels, which are better in various conditions: IE which are better in pure sun or in a first with shade & shadows. Where ar Bi-Facials more optimal and how to optimize relative to the region located in...
Far too many people buy Solar Panels based on Price per Watt without realizing that they may be buying panels that are not suitable for them. There are many panels out there that do handle Shade/Shadows much better than others while some perform better in hot clear sky country...
A thread or series on "How to select the best panels for My Installation".
I do tink One Big Subject to cover is the different Types of Solar Panels, which are better in various conditions: IE which are better in pure sun or in a first with shade & shadows. Where ar Bi-Facials more optimal and how to optimize relative to the region located in...
Far too many people buy Solar Panels based on Price per Watt without realizing that they may be buying panels that are not suitable for them. There are many panels out there that do handle Shade/Shadows much better than others while some perform better in hot clear sky country...
A thread or series on "How to select the best panels for My Installation".
Good stuff!! Thank you. Saving in my notes when I do video
Hedges
I See Electromagnetic Fields!
- Joined
- Mar 28, 2020
- Messages
- 20,695
"Half Cut" PV panels are the silliest idea I have seen.
Conventional panels say 72 cell are three groups of 24 cells with bypass diode. Internally 24s + 24s + 24s. Call that 3s1p in a single panel.
Connect 10s of those and you've got 30s1p.
Half-cut is 144 cells organized internally as 24s2p + 24s2p + 24s2p. Call that 2p3s in a single panel.
Connect 10s of those and you've got 2p30s
If you have several brands of inverters, you could test them with a single string of half-cut panels and try shading experiments.
Report what fraction of available power each delivers. It will depend on the MPPT algorithm.
There have been other field reports on these, but you've got your following. And half-cut panels seem quite prevalent today.
Conventional panels say 72 cell are three groups of 24 cells with bypass diode. Internally 24s + 24s + 24s. Call that 3s1p in a single panel.
Connect 10s of those and you've got 30s1p.
Half-cut is 144 cells organized internally as 24s2p + 24s2p + 24s2p. Call that 2p3s in a single panel.
Connect 10s of those and you've got 2p30s
If you have several brands of inverters, you could test them with a single string of half-cut panels and try shading experiments.
Report what fraction of available power each delivers. It will depend on the MPPT algorithm.
There have been other field reports on these, but you've got your following. And half-cut panels seem quite prevalent today.
At the same time!
Personally, I would love to see you review these new "whole house" systems. I'm currently in the market for something along these lines and it's hard to find detailed information about them. Specifically, I have a 240v 1.5HP deep well pump set down 500' and would love to know in advance what can run it and what can't
Steve_S
Offgrid Cabineer, N.E. Ontario, Canada
Gee, maybe you ought to watch Andy's Garage where he showed how well they work with shade. In particular he covered one & two sub-strings on his new Trina Vertex Panels that showing how the panels continued to produce without that one or two strings being exposed. When compared to stock standard old 60/72 cells modules where even one small section an cause the entire panel to stop producing... His Vids are June 2023 ish... AND there are many others showing how these types of panels do perform well in shade.
I started installing Hanwah Q-Cell Panels for that reason, I have another array of those going up for my home and that makes 4 array's with them installed in shady places and they work great.
This.
To some people DIY, is 3 panels, a car battery and a $500 inverter/mppt running a fridge.
Others spend tens of thousands on full on systems, that run their whole homes.
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Tulex
Solar Wizard
There may not be a 100% cap you can put on DIY, but one of the main reasons people do DIY is to cut costs. You could argue another main reason is that people just like to do things themselves, but these people probably aren't looking for the simplest plug and play. This is a very small market in DIY.
DIY can range anywhere from simply installing professionally manufactured parts yourself (I DIY brake replacements on my cars, but I don't build the brake components), all the way to designing and building something from scratch (such as some of these homebrew inverters I've seen mentioned on occasion).
Subdood
Photon Wrangler
Go for it. The only people I've seen do an install of the Cube is AveRage Joe and Country View Acres, the latter is a licensed electrician or contractor, and did a really nice job on his.What would you guys like to see in a video covering the ep cube system? What would you guys like to see tested?
EP Cube - Residential Energy Storage System
The leading residential energy storage system that is more flexible and more Intelligentwww.epcube.com
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I will say this doesn't look all that DIY to me compared to some of the other systems you've reviewed. I'm an electronic technician and it looks kind of intimidating to me even. But maybe some folks who would rather have it installed by someone else would be interested.
Personally I like my inverter to have some kind of display to tell me what's going on. I don't want to have to access an app just to find out what's going on with my system.
I'm not going to tell you what to do, but please don't do a review of the latest Ecoflow Delta Omega Extreme Pro Ultra Awesome Super Duper II generator. It seems like everyone and their dog is doing a review of EF's latest and greatest offering. Don't get me wrong, I have a EF River Pro, but enough already!
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exactly. I know one guy like this near my place. I have starlink - he looks at the clouds, sky color and the vegetation and tell me what the weather will be. I deliver him food. I worry what will happen to him if I am no longer able to do this.
ImAnIdiotPleaseBePatient
Solar Enthusiast
- Joined
- Dec 10, 2022
- Messages
- 423
Is it because they don’t work as well in heat?
ksmithaz1
Solar / EV Junkie
Is that the same as "split-cell"? I can tell you my SolarEver split cells are way better handing shading and lower light than the use CS250's. I looked at the various techs before I bought mine, went mono instead of poly for size/density reasons only. On the flip side, does it really matter that much? Panels pig up a lot of real estate, but +-10% is not really going to matter that much in the grand scheme I don't think.
