diy solar

diy solar

Search results

  1. S

    Best bang for your buck dc to dc 12v to 48v charger

    Hey guys, Whats the best bang for your buck 12v dc to 48v dc charger. I need to go from a 12v battery to a 48v battery Thanks!
  2. S

    Quick question 12v to 48v

    Can I use my spare epever charge controller to take 12v panel input and send it to my 48v battery? Or does it have to be 12v to 12v or 48v to 48v? Its a Tracer 100a model
  3. S

    Pellet stoves

    We want a pellet stove and I was wondering if there are some pellet gurus out there. The gravity feeds seem to need a lot of maintenance as in scrape the drop hole daily, add a bag of pellets daily, and gum up with creosote, (probably due to low temps/design) I've read 100w up to 500w for...
  4. S

    Cells on Will's site

    Does anyone have some long term usage and praise for their lifepo cells? A dozen of mine sucked from Bashen and the rep disappeared and wouldn't reply to warranty requests. I was thinking those industrial overkill/ fortune cells. I need a legit supplier and cell. Its a good thing I bought a...
  5. S

    Newb to wind

    So I'm looking at the 1600w $1200-ish kits from missouri wind and solar that a friend has. They have a 600w divert load looks like a heater coil. I assume it just produces heat. What happens to the other 1000w if my batteries are full but its 20mph outside? Is it as easy as solar? Just put it...
  6. S

    Mini split - multizone vs individual sets???

    Whats more effecient a 2-5 multi zone outside 18k btu w two or three 9k btu wall units or 2 or 3 individual 9k units you can turn off and on individually. I worry 9k wont be enough on really hot days for the living room/kitchen and I may want two wall units down the road, one on each end of the...
  7. S

    Effecient automatic Hot tub

    I saw this post by DThames and thought it would be good to get more info, hopefully he will chime in. https://diysolarforum.com/threads/solar-heating-hottub-assisting-heating.11404/post-126122 I could use a way to automatically regulate my black pipe/water solar system. I had good success with...
  8. S

    Bashen disappeared when I tried to get the warranty honored

    FYI for future buyers doing research I bought 40 cells last year. I had 7 die that had bulging/warping and I'm watching a couple others for issues. I'm seeing fluctuations on the monitor of my batrium BMS that does not look good. Well, I guess they don't honor their warranty. They gave me the...
  9. S

    Generator only charge controller / charger for cloudy days or night time???

    Its been really cloudy in our desert lately with this crazy snow storm. I need to charge up the batteries. Updated list with good brands details below so gar none can be adjusted with an app. Adjusting would be good based on your needs higher for top balancing like 57 to 58v and lower for...
  10. S

    Batrium with second set of leads for active balancer

    Pardon my voice to text grammar Wills video says 1 hr vs 12 hrs to balance a 4s. I saw in a video that was suggested for me to watch by Batrium for setup. I remember the gentleman had a second set of leads that he could hook up to an active cell balancer. I have not done any research in that...
  11. S

    Batrium with second set of leads for active balancer

    Pardon my voice to text grammar I saw in a video that was suggested for me to watch by Batrium the gentleman had a second set of leads that he could hook up to an active cell balancer. I have not done any research in that area at all. I was hoping I could find a guru that could point me in the...
  12. S

    Why is one cell charging and the other lowering at the same time?

    Why is this happening. Everything looked good this week after I replaced some failing cells in our two 48v batteries. At times cells 24 and 25 yo yo taking cell 24 lower and 25 higher and for half of the day they have stayed at the more narrow differentiation. Batrium seems to be bleeding off...
  13. S

    Help with MPP LV 6048

    In the 5048 you jump L1 and L2 to get AC input charging. There is no L2 on the LV6548 if you are just using one inverter. I'm trying to get my generator to charge the batteries. It is running the load, but not charging. This seems like a common problem, but I can't find a solution in the...
  14. S

    SOC vs resistance vs solar hrs in the day

    I would like to top balance my cells and I'm 100% off grid. Based on charging algorithms if I set the bulk charge to 14.4 or 57.6 for my 48v batteries then it will take a long time to get that last 5% to 10% as the resistance increases and the amps decrease. Then there is the lack of power...
  15. S

    Why unblanced cells then balanced the next day? Is it the Soc ?

    Besides SOC why would there be such a large difference from day to day cell variation? Yesterday = .59v cell variation Today = .04v Yesterday after I saw the cell variation I set the base SOC level to set a level before the Batrium learns the SOC. I moved it to 90% soc down from 100.5%. I set...
  16. S

    Batrium K9/Core BMS for 16s2p Basen eve/lichen 32 cell review

    Batrium is great for 16s+, 32 cell+ systems. For our large property high voltage gets you further distances with less voltage drop. 48v was my goal from day one for our ground mount system. We are fully off grid which meant we needed a lot of kwh. But how do you manage 32 cells, or even more in...
  17. S

    MPP watchpower wifi app issue solved!!!!

    It's a mobile data glitch. Note: When I refer to cycling the mobile data I mean swipe down the notifications menu and tap the mobile data icon. Basics: With mobile data turned off I then followed the LV6548 manuals' directions. Again I got stuck at the " please wait " screen before step 3...
  18. S

    Theory? - How does BMS/ batrium vs high SOC play out

    I guess my question is while the battery is at a 80 to 90%ish+ SOC do the cells start to have larger resistance variations as they meet their limits and some cells have more capacity and lesss resistance. Wouldn't the amps draw down like a normal charger and have even more time for the cells to...
  19. S

    What do I have wrong?

    Its my understanding that 48v is actually 58v. The max I have been able to get on my meter is 53.4v I have 6000 watts of panels 16s2p of the eve/Lichen 280ah cells can't remember which brand it was. The system has been running for about a week. We just got back from camping for 3 days and...
  20. S

    Connecting battery bus bar

    I did a lot of searching and everything was for cell bus bars. I would like to connect two 16s batteries with thick copper bus bars. What size copper flat stock would I need: My 16s battery boxes are about 4 inches apart and I was thinking make 1/8th inch x 1 inch bus bars across each battery...
  21. S

    16s 48v wiring, whats up with his layout?

    Am I missing something for the layout of 16s 48v? I did a Google search for 48 volt wiring and came across this lithium solar video and I'm kind of confused why he has the bus bars making a square at 14:59 in the video and why the bus bars are jumping all over the place. Why not just snake it...
  22. S

    Silfab? A cousin is wondering and I have never heard of them

    Does anyone know about these guys? Are they Chinese cells assembled in the US? https://silfabsolar.com/silfabelite/
  23. S

    Wire size is different per site, why

    The southwire voltage drop calculator is different from the Alte store chart For a 6000w inverter that is 48v = 125 amps. https://www.rapidtables.com/calc/electric/Watt_to_Amp_Calculator.html Southwire says 2/0 awg for 4 ft at 125 amps - https://www.southwire.com/calculator-vdrop Also says...
  24. S

    How to hook up a generator?

    I'm off grid. Do I need an automatic transfer switch if ao what one did you like? What about an anti reverse zener diode like my combiner box has? Lets say solar is doing a poor job at charging on a cloudy day, it would be nice for the genny to be able to charge the batteries at the same time...
  25. S

    Sourcing

    You guys are smart, lots of times smart, thrifty, but safe go hand in hand. I'm going to spend quite a bit on wire, etc connection gear. What brands and websites do you guys look at mostly, hopefully without expensive shipping, and maybe free shipping esp with large purchases. I just dont want...
  26. S

    Noob question - real world voltages

    Dumb question. There's a lot of info on how to calculate wiring sizes, controllers, etc based on the 2 different voltages, but I can't find info about what real world numbers will be on a sunny day. Is there a way you think about them to keep the differences in your head. Is this how I should...
  27. S

    RV has two types of led acid...whats the ah for my CC?

    I have four 6 volt golf cart batteries set up for a 12 volt RV system 2s2p. I have two Costco batteries in series w/ 210ah (@ 20 hrs) each. Then I have two batteries that I got at a small shop on the road w/ 225ah (@ 20 hrs) each I'm using the smaller battery 210ah, for all the batteries. I'm...
  28. S

    Anderson connectors

    My RV will have a solar controller mounted in it to charge the batteries. I will not have an inverter, just 12v stuff. The solar panels are going to be on a separate trailer. Eventually the RV will be connected to a different ground Mount system at our property. I'd like to be able to just leave...
  29. S

    Heat sink - wall mount vs offset for better heat dissipation

    So I have a new 100 amp solar charge controller and it's the epever with a huge heat sink on the back. if I use the mounting holes then the heat sink will be about a half inch off the wood board. I'm just wondering if I offset that and say put a 2x4 in there between the wall and the mounting...
  30. S

    What disconnect did you guys use?

    I'm leaning towards a few of these so my wife or any visitors can easily see how to turn off the power. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000MMC824/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_fabc_6ZSH6ENZFQH6XBDAWNYV?psc=1 I like this style though, but it's $846...
  31. S

    3s with 2s panels into one charge controller?

    Can I Parallel 3s panels with 2s panels into my charge controller? 3s = 3 Panels 38v x 3 =114 x 1.2 for cold coefecient = 136.8v 2s= 2 panels at 38v x 2 =76v x 1.2 cold = 91.2v Will they average out going into then CC? Are my calculations correct for MPPT, doesn't its raise above the panel...
  32. S

    How to jack up a solar rack, help you wonderful geniuses

    Disclaimer - This doesn't need to move on our property. It won't drive. I just needed the height to get over the shade of a small tree. This is a question how to raise the panels/structure, not pick apart my build like I would be driving down the road. Thanks for understanding and your help for...
  33. S

    Morning Star PWM vs EPever, Renogy, Rich solar, Make Sky Blue

    I already have six 250w/30v (38v max) panels and this Morning Star controller looks like it would work well. I can go down to 5 panels to stay under 120a. I have always heard good things about morning Star. I also know you can buy a screen to go with it and it has a port to hook up your...
  34. S

    Cost saving controller brands. Best bang for buck

    I'm looking for a cheap solar controller and it's just to run some stuff at camp. I'm looking for the quality of something similar to MPP. There's guys in Australia that have been using MPP all-in-one inverters to run houses for 10+ years. I feel like that quality is good enough for the small...
  35. S

    15s vs 16s

    I know that the nominal voltage 48v is not necessarily 48 volts, but rather like 51 or 52 volts, I can't remember. However I'm wondering why not do 15s versus 16s with my lichen 3.2 volt 280ah lifepo4 cells. If I do 15s then I will be saving about $400 on my two BMSs.
Back
Top