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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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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 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: -...

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...

I'm helping a friend set up a solar array of 3 260-watt panels. I think they're 36 volt open circuit but I haven't seen them yet. I'm going to wire them in parallel to give him the option of partial shading, and because his Tracer charge controller is 100 volts max. I'm planning on using this...

I've been reading old threads about heating pads on LFP batteries, and controlling them with controllers like this: That has a somewhat big flaw though: you'll still be heating your batteries even when they're not being charged (at night for example). And if you don't get sun for a week you...

I'm helping a friend put solar on his trailer, and he's got a limited budget. I found these "Rec" brand 260 watt solar panels for $65 each, any reason I should steer clear of them? We're looking to pick up 3 of them...

I was recently given two 36 volt lithium ion batteries that were previously powering electric bicycles, and I'm wondering if there's some clever way to use them to boost the batteries in my RV? My RV has 4 Trojan T-105 6 volt batteries wired for 12 volts. Currently I'm stepping the 36 volts...