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I needed to power a pump at a remote pond for a few minutes an hour and was surprised to find that the load switch on Renogy charge controllers didn't have any auto modes that could be used in the day. Here's a screenshot from the manual showing the available modes of the load switch: I needed...

Here in America I've had great luck with Craigslist. Also try calling around to the various solar installers in your area, they often have panels they pulled from old jobs or replaced for one reason or another. They need to use all the same panel for a given job, so they often have odd panels...

Are you married to those panels? If not, I've had much better luck with house style (~300 watt panels) than those little guys, especially flexible ones. For one thing they're higher voltage, more like 36 volts instead of 19 volts. They're also dirt cheap if you get older ones. I just picked up a...

I always go flat, especially if tilted requires me to do anything. Flat mounted panels are about 15% less efficient than those mounted at the right angle for your lattitude (or so I've been told, maybe someone here can correct), but I'm way more than 15% more likely to have them in place, ha. I...

Thank you! And @Northernchateau, that 8ga wire and is temporary, we ran out of wire lugs so couldn't trim that or make another. There will be two 8ga wires in final form that are a bit shorter than that. I hope 8ga is beefy enough. As far as fuses, he made that box (the 2x4's) without leaving...

Just a quick followup: I bought these cells: https://www.gobelpower.com/eve-32v-280ah-rechargeable-lifepo4-battery-cell_p6.html They delivered them quickly, packaged well. Great cells. Couldn't have been a better experience. And I got this BMS...

I'm helping a friend wire up some LFP batteries, I"m really loving these 280ah cells. (Coming soon: lots of tidying of the wires, ha. And he insisted on mounting the batteries there above the water tank, I hope it's ok longterm. He says he's never had any moisture there.) I donated my old...

Thanks for that! Reading about Giandel, there's some great reviews. I can't decide between the 1200 watt and the 2000 watt. I gather the standby load of the 2000 watt is 6 or 7 watts, which is about double the standby load of the 1200 watt. I guess it is nice to have a bit of extra power in...

I'm looking for a 1000-ish watt 12v inverter for a friend's installation. I've always used Xantrex inverters, but I havnt looked for alternatives in probably 5 years and guessing a lot has changed. The most complicated thing he's planning to use it for is a TV, which I *think* is 400 watts...

I'm working on a project that uses the load pins on a cheapie Renogy 10 amp PWM charge controller to power a bilge pump for a minute an hour whenever the battery has sufficient power, but I can't find the rating of those load pins anywhere. I'm using this charge controller if it matters (Renogy...

Would be nice if they'd drop ship them to SFO or wherever. I don't need them delivered the final 10 miles, glad to pick it up to save $100 or so.

I put 4 of the 280ah cells into my cart yesterday and had their site calculate shipping to San Franisico. The cells are $420, slow shipping to San Francisco was $127 and fast shipping, which I think was 10 days, was $295.

Thanks for that, super good recommendation. I think he already ordered (from Docan) but I have some old Trojan T105s that need replacing and I think I'm going to go with globalpower.com. I really like how they explain the battery issues/politics/shinanigans.

Is that what typically happens with grade b cells, they have less load potential? Guessing there's also a chance of lower capacity? If so does anyone have any theories about how great the risk is to capacity? My friend is trying to keep things as cheap as possible, but on the other hand if he...

Interesting. How has your experience been with the B cells? Any issues? And do you know off hand how much they cost? And thanks everyone for the tips.

I'm helping a friend build a 12v LFP battery that's something in the 3000 watt hour range, ideally a bit more. When I last looked at this, before he pressed snooze on the project, I was planning to use 4 280ah Grade A Eve cells. It's been a little while though, is that still a good way to go for...

It's a fairly heavy 24v load though (a boat trolling motor).

I'm helping a friend who has a battery bank with two 12v batteries wired in parallel. He needs to run an occasional 24v load from them. Is there any danger to adding a wire to series them, and using the battery bank as both a 12v and 24v bank simultaneously (with different connecion points...

Great idea to use that in an RV, I should install one in mine. Now that I've used lithium batteries a bit I really miss having something protect the battery when I go back to lead acid. And I see a lot of pwm charge controllers on Amazon with "load" terminals, but they give oddly little info...

I'm helping a friend build a solar system to power a pump at a lake. He doesn't know the pump voltage unfortunately but let's assume it's 160 watts? I'd like to find a charge controller with built in low voltage cutoff for that pump, so the pump can't damage the battery. If I can't find a...

I'm talking about the Pacific ocean just north of la paz. Super fun on south swells too, but it picks up everything else too.

Yeah we go there every year. Just north of la paz is one of my favorite surf spots on the planet.

And on a sidenote yesterday I had someone parked next to me, in full sun, running his generator all day. A little Honda EU that was quiet by generator standards but completely masked out the sound of all the birds. White noise for everyone around him all day because he's too lazy to install a...

I love solar generators, but they're pretty pricey at about $1/watt hour: https://www.bluettipower.com/products/ac200max-power-station Building it yourself is less than half that including the inverter and everything else, and is easier to expand.

Good point. I set up a system for him using two 36v lithium ion electric scooter batteries I had from an old project, each about 300 watt hours. They have XT60 connectors, and he uses one at a time (they both connect to the same plug). They're connected to a step down adaptor to make 12v. And as...

Definitely. And conejo and pescadero etc.

I'm a realist too, and this project is easily doable with solar. Hell, a generator would be *harder* since he'd have to lug around gas even when away from filling stations, and be subject to generator breakdowns. He's way more likely to run out of gas or have an issue with the generator than run...

Even a Honda eu1000 is horribly stinky and noisy and requires hauling gas. This is a solar forum, right? Anyway all good, but I very very strongly disagree with your advice here. This is easy peezy for solar.

Surf spots between la paz and Cabo. I don't think he knows exactly yet.

I respectfully strongly disagree. Which I bother to mention because I hate generators with a passion and hate to see them promoted on a forum like this, especially for a use case that's so easily accommodated with solar. There's no way in which a noisy and stinky generator and hauling around...

Ha! Beers will be served! And cocktails with solar ice!

I'm helping a friend install a solar system on his mobile bar, and I'm wondering if people have any tips. Here's his rig, The Sandbar: He's bringing it down to Baja California (Mexico) in a few months and wants to run off solar with as little fuss as possible. His needs are pretty simple: -...

Thank you!

I'm testing these 260 watt panels: Doing the usual test of connecting to an amp meter set on 10 amps. Getting 8 amps and 35.5 volts, which is 284 watts... I'm guessing short circuiting the panel like ths isn't a good measure of the actual expected watt output of the panel? If not, is there a...

I'm building my first LiFePO4 battery bank, and considering these cells: https://www.evcomponents.com/eve-3-2v-280ah-prismatic-lifepo4-cell.html (280 ah eve cells for $118 each). Any thoughts on those cells? And any thoughts on that supplier? Anything else I should consider with similar or...