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  1. AlaskanNoob

    Anybody implemented the "Projects by Everyday Dave" bifacial ground mount?

    If so, how far down did you put the I-beams, did you use concrete, and how has it been in the wind? I'm thinking about doing five arrays of seven doing the same thing Dave did with the same beams and same Renogy brackets, but with a couple differences. Some differences in my setup (other than...
  2. AlaskanNoob

    Custom Wood Battery Rack for 16 x Pylontech US5000 Off Grid

    So the 8 x Pylontech US5000 we currently have stored in our uninsulated solar shed are not braving Alaska winters well. I wasn't sure how much they would heat up with charging and discharging, turns out not much. So when they get below freezing, it throws a wrench into the system...
  3. AlaskanNoob

    Do I care if my generator is bonded neutral when powering an EG4 Chargeverter?

    I know there are some issues with whether a generator is bonded neutral or floating neutral when its connected to the inverter, but in my case I am having my generator power an EG4 chargeverter that is connected straight to the DC bus bar. So should I care if the generator is bonded neutral or...
  4. AlaskanNoob

    Making an elevated wood shelf to hold up 1400 pounds of batteries...

    So we've got our 8 Pylontech batteries in our solar shed which is located above a root cellar. Turns out the Alaska winters laugh at my attempt to insulate the batteries. So I'm going to move them down into the root cellar with room to double them, into a super insulated wood shelf. The shelf...
  5. AlaskanNoob

    Grounding Quattro, MPPT RS, and AutoTransformer

    I am completely off grid with no generator hooked up to the inverter. I have a Quattro 15K and an MPPT RS 450/200 in my solar shed, and the Quattro AC output goes to an AutoTransformer and from there to the AC distribution panel. The AC side of things is grounded (the electrician did it). But...
  6. AlaskanNoob

    What is powering my AC/DC loads in this Victron Remote Console view?

    Batteries just charged up to full and the MPPT went from throttling from 6KW coming in to just a few watts as the batteries requested less, and then it stopped charging and started showing -16W for some reason. If we turn on a bigger AC load the MPPT then starts supplying power. But I'm trying...
  7. AlaskanNoob

    Pylontech US5000 batteries just stopped communicating with Victron BMS.CAN

    Off grid with 8 x Pylontech US5000 batteries connected to our Cerbo GX through the BMS.CAN. Haven't had any issues in the months since we set it up until today. Today a couple of strange things happened. Battery temps were between 40-50F or so. Light loads. While monitoring the Victron MPPT...
  8. AlaskanNoob

    Think I'm gonna buy this Perkins 8.5KW diesel generator

    Pour a little slab, build a little shed over it, and plumb a 500 gallon diesel tank into it. Maybe have the big diesel tank gravity feed into a smaller buried tank so that the earth warms it up or something. Probably won't do that initially and we'll see how it goes. Only gets to about -10F...
  9. AlaskanNoob

    DC generator tied into DC bus...will batteries demand more current than the generator can deliver?

    Right now I have an AC generator powering an EG4 chargeverter which is wired into the DC bus. The chargeverter allows setting the voltage and amperage. I'm thinking about replacing this with a DC generator tied directly into the DC bus. The load on it (outside the inverter demand) will be 8 x...
  10. AlaskanNoob

    Making a Faraday Cage Room out of 12'D Steel Culvert

    Would this work to protect (fingers crossed) against solar flares and EMPs? I know it's not guaranteed and lots of variables, but the increased sun activity and the chance of solar flares knocking everything out has me a bit concerned given that we off grid solar types are so dependent on our...
  11. AlaskanNoob

    Any rabbit/chicken owners want to QC my novel design plan?

    The last time I posted on this forum about a design plan, I also had no idea and no experience with the subject matter. Of course that was my plan for solar. After years of getting educated, the solar we finally installed this last summer looked absolutely nothing like my original plan...
  12. AlaskanNoob

    All Electric Tractor

    After our heavy lifting projects are done on the homestead, would be great to sell the excavator and track loader and get one of these in our goal to be self sufficient. For relatively small tasks, a tractor would be a jack of all trades and in the summer when we do such tasks we'd have...
  13. AlaskanNoob

    Anybody own a diesel PHEV in the USA?

    Would love to get one but they seem to be like unicorns. I would rather not buy a Mercedes, but they have the GLE 350de (diesel motor, small battery with about 40 miles of EV only range) but for whatever reason they don't seem to sell the diesel version in the U.S.A. and I don't want to try to...
  14. AlaskanNoob

    Electric tracked ATV

    Anybody got one? I've seen some electric ATVs that have been put on the market, but I'm not sure any can handle tracks and we need tracks where we're at. Argo (which is our daily driver) has an electric model but it's super expensive and unfortunately they didn't use individual motors on each...
  15. AlaskanNoob

    Odd claims, some electricians warning about using DC isolators with PV

    Apparently, at least in the UK, there is some concern about using DC isolators with solar panels as a fire risk despite isolators being required. Haven't looked much into this new development. I guess there has been a rash of fires lately and this is one of the new recommendations, to not have...
  16. AlaskanNoob

    Fire risk if I leave these lithium batteries discharging in super cold weather?

    About to leave the homestead for a bit and I'm going to shut down the system because I haven't yet insulated the shed where my batteries are in. But I had the bright idea of connecting my Cerbo (everything else off) to this string of 4 x 12V lithium wired up in series for a 48V bank, just so I...
  17. AlaskanNoob

    Okay to change cable thickness in a battery run?

    I've got a short cable from each battery to a fuse holder, and then the cable continues from the fuse holder to the bus. I may need to extend my cable lengths though and instead of having long smaller gauge cable for that longer run, I'm wondering if I can keep the smaller gauge short wire to...
  18. AlaskanNoob

    Raspberry Pi between Cerbo Auto-Start relay and Generator...

    Unless there is an easier way, I plan to connect a Raspberry Pi to the Cerbo GX Relay #1 and hopefully provide the 5V of power it needs. The intent is: a) when Cerbo sees battery bank at 40% it will energize the generator auto start relay b) that relay will then power the Pi c) the Pi will...
  19. AlaskanNoob

    Any issue supplying DC bus bar with two different voltages for Inverter?

    Got a welder coming to use a 50amp 240V outlet for a job on our off grid homestead. Got 38KW of lithium supplying the inverter. His welder is going to take the full 240V and 50A to work. If his job takes longer than I think it will, and so the bank gets depleted more than I think it will...
  20. AlaskanNoob

    Charging Batteries with Chargeverter - Am I Doing it Right?

    So I've got my Honda 7000 powering an EG4 Chargeverter which is wired into my 48V bus bar. I have it set to charge my 8 x Pylontech US5000 batteries at 52V and 100A. I started off with my bank showing 91% SOC and I started screen capping at around 50.7V. AC loads were about 300W. The battery...
  21. AlaskanNoob

    Just had the world's greatest assassin visit me

    Saw a big shadow of a bird fly right by us a few minutes ago and looked out a side window and saw him in a deadwood tree next to our cabin. I made a call and to my utter surprise he flew over and down from the side of the cabin and landed on our deck right in front of us. Maybe ten feet away...
  22. AlaskanNoob

    Feasible to wire inverter AC out myself into a breaker box?

    I have no electrical skills and I'm not particularly bright, but I did manage to get the bus bar set up the MPPT, PV, Quattro and the batteries without blowing anything up. And I trenched the solar shed to the cabin 600 feet away and the fiber optic works so I assume the huge power cable will...
  23. AlaskanNoob

    How to avoid Victron capacitors from rushing the batteries on setup? Nothing I'm trying is working...

    How to avoid Victron capacitors from rushing batteries when setting up???? I thought I had got everything set up to avoid the Victron MPPT RS capacitors and the Victron Quattro capacitors from demanding a massive in rush from my "battery bank." I bought a light bulb to use as a resistor and used...
  24. AlaskanNoob

    PV connection torque for Victron MPPT RS 450/200 not specified?

    About to hook my PV up into my MPPT RS but the manual only provides torque settings for the battery connections, not the PV connections. Weird given how they require super stranded PV wire (we're using 84 strand 10 AWG) for those plastic terminal connections and that's a big deal for a safe...
  25. AlaskanNoob

    Blue Seas 125A t-fuse....stud torque really 3/8" pounds? Finger tight only?

    I'm trying to put my t-fuses in the t-fuse holder and if I'm reading this spec sheet correctly, I'm supposed to only torque the t-fuse to .34NM? My torque wrench min torque is 60 inch pounds, so if this is really the number I'm going to have to figure something out. That number seems so low...
  26. AlaskanNoob

    EG4 Chargeverter display, does it show current drop as BMS throttles charge?

    I see the chargeverter shows battery voltage and that increases as the battery is being charged and it shows current (you set what current you want to go to the battery). My question is...if I'm charging a battery with a BMS that starts to limit the current as it gets full, will that be...
  27. AlaskanNoob

    DB Fiber optic buried next to DB triplex power cables in a trench - problem?

    Got a 600 foot long trench I'm digging, and first thing going in is a fat 250/250/4/0 triplex power cable. I'm hoping to put a fiber optic cable right next to it in the trench, but some things say the steel jacket of the fiber optic might somehow interfere with the power. Haven't seen anything...
  28. AlaskanNoob

    Pylontech US5000s first turn on & first charge - what current to use?

    I have had these things for about a year, never turned them on until today. Weather last summer delayed our build. No connections, no networking cables, just turned them on to see if I could get some idea of their SOC. I flipped the switch to ON. Then hit the SW button. All light...
  29. AlaskanNoob

    Cables should be same length....but one is a half inch off (problem or no?)

    Guy who made my negative cables for our MPPT that will deliver 200A at 48V to the bus ended up a little short on one of them. Half inch shorter than the other. He said it wouldn't be a big deal. I'm going to end up taking one back and getting it replaced because he put the lugs 180 out on the...
  30. AlaskanNoob

    Finally Installing our System (What Have I Done Wrong So Far?)

    Thought about putting this in Beginner's Corner, but I suppose it's more appropriate here. After years, we're finally putting things up on walls. Got our solar shed built this summer, put the 160 pound Quattro 15K on the wall along with one of our MPPTs. Since we could only afford the metal...
  31. AlaskanNoob

    Any issue connecting 4AWG cable to bus like this?

    The lugs for the Pylontech 4AWG cables won't fit on the large bus bar terminals. But the Blue Sea Power Bar 1000 has these smaller terminals. I would be connecting 8 of these 4AWG cables to the bus bar, only one shown here. Each Pylontech cable will carry a max of 100A in this 48V system...
  32. AlaskanNoob

    Bout to Break My Back Trying to Wall Mount Victron Quattro 15K, But Will Plywood Hold It?

    Finally putting these blue boxes on the wall. Precious little info on mounting this super heavy Quattro 15K though. It comes with some screws for the bracket (though we're missing one) and it has side bolts that bolt through side part of the bracket into the Quattro. I'm just wondering, with...
  33. AlaskanNoob

    Got our first DIY 3.5KW Rotating Bi-facial 7-Panel Ground Mount in the ground (only six more to go)

    It has been years of posting on this forum, realizing I'm an idiot, learning something, then doing something else for a bit and forgetting everything I thought I previously learned, only to be an idiot again and have to re-learn what I thought I knew. Years, and all before we had actually built...
  34. AlaskanNoob

    Anybody use a hitch receiver on their excavator to haul a trailer?

    Saw a couple videos of people welding receivers on the blades of their mini-ex to haul trailers. Anybody done something like this? If so, how did you calculate trailer size for your excavator?
  35. AlaskanNoob

    12V flooded battery - what voltage to not go below?

    Got a couple of these batteries running some fuel pumps recently set up: https://www.interstatebatteries.com/products/mtp-75dt I think since they're flooded batteries, I shouldn't be taking them down below 50% SOC. But all I have is a voltmeter to throw on them. What voltage should I use to...
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