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Here is a section of the forum related to combiner boxes and similar in case that is helpful. https://diysolarforum.com/forums/wire-connectors-junction-boxes.59/

This is why people are starting to move their solar panels to face the sun during peak demand instead of the 1980s concept of max total production. In this area, peak demand / highest pricing is roughly August 2 pm - 8pm. The later in the day, the better. Go outside and look at how the...

If your concern is that a Li battery lifespan is reduced slightly from being kept absolutely full, 100% of the time, then the solution is easy. Just keep a small load on all of the time. Example, LED light, refrigerator, fan, inverter, etc. The solar might fully charge the battery, but it...

So would you also endorse the idea that if you go over 55 mph, the drivers around you should also turn you in and the city will just send you a fine for $100? Or perhaps a more similar version - your car is parked with the tires 7 inches away from the curb instead of 6 inches. Instead of...

There are surface mount raceways for wire management sold in many hardware stores and on line. They come in plastic and metallic versions. An example brand is legrand but there are others as well. Pretty easy to assemble and mount at various height levels on the wall. There are also surface...

Solar can work for you to wake it up if you have the right solar controller. For instance, a Bogart engineering PWM solar charge controller will do it. If you don't want to use a solar charge controller, try just attaching a small solar panel directly to the system ( through a fuse ). The...

As far as your air conditioners, they become massively inefficient when the sun is shining on them because modern refrigerants cannot condense when it is not, compared to less ozone friendly refrigerants used in the past. Refrigerants that can do this include R290 although it is not widely...

Sooner or later, your region will have power rates that look more or less like: - fixed price per month to be attached to the grid even with zero usage - Premium price for kW-hrs consumed during peak usage times of day - often ~ 2 - 8 pm. Many solar installs produce the most power from ~ 11 -...

I can assure you from personal experience - if a wire can be accessed by a rodent - they will find it and chew through it. No matter what anyone wants to believe, rodents can and do get literally anywhere and have a passion for chewing through wires. They also love to chew on roofing materials...

Perfect - I would also like one if you get that far. :)

Moving power between the tow vehicle and the trailer in significant amounts of low voltage DC can be tricky. One of the better ways to do it IMHO is to buy mid size inverter and feed it from the starter battery of your tow vehicle. Run 120 vac from the vehicle to the trailer and just charge...

Maybe the solution is to buy a navigator or Transit so that there is room for solar panels. :)

I can see it for large, stationary systems. I mostly work on mobile systems with 2 - 5 kW-hrs of storage, occasionally 10 kw-hrs and significant potential for vibration. For me, I have no interest in the liability that comes from a DIY battery pack or trying to re-purpose a battery designed...

I don't remember the exact number but IIRC ~ $1 - 2K. Basically a solar contractor doing a job on another roof turned him in and the city just sent out a fine. Would not give a discount for trying to fix it and be compliant. And this is in a state that is spending money on subsidizing solar...

Quick start guide https://outbackpower.com/downloads/documents/safety_compliance/flexmax100_rsd/flexmax100_rsd_qsg.pdf

Main Manual https://outbackpower.com/downloads/documents/safety_compliance/flexmax100_rsd/flexmax100_rsd_manual.pdf

Data sheet https://outbackpower.com/downloads/documents/safety_compliance/flexmax100_rsd/FLEXmax100RSD_datasheet.pdf

Just adding some info on the outback brand of rapid shut down to make it easy to find in the future. https://outbackpower.com/products/safety-compliance/rapid-shutdown-kits/item/flexmax-100-rapid-shutdown-kit

Perhaps this can be helpful ? https://outbackpower.com/products/safety-compliance/rapid-shutdown-kits/item/flexmax-100-rapid-shutdown-kit

I think this is for larger arrays. https://downloads.imopc.com/fireraptorsinglepointmulti-arrayrsd.pdf

Data sheet https://downloads.imopc.com/fireraptor-brochure.pdf

Installation guide. https://downloads.imopc.com/fireraptorfrs-01_02installationguidesep2020.pdf

I am just adding in some data sheets to this thread to make it easier for me to look things up in the future. IMO Fireraptor DC rapid shutdown https://imoautomation.com/imo_us_usd_view/fireraptor-rapid-shutdown-unit-6249df4992282.html

I have been studying these fire raptor units, but no experience with them. I like the wired control vs wireless concept. https://imoautomation.com/imo_us_usd_view/fireraptor-rapid-shutdown-unit-6249df4992282.html

There is some aircraft wire that is silver plated aluminum. I assume that it is used because the Al portion is light and the frequency is often 400 hz, so the silver might be doing most of the load carrying. No personal experience with it.

I am not personally capable of making a crimp that can pass 300 amps and stay cool, but I can make pro quality 10 awg wire crimps all day. That would require a hydraulic crimper and that is outside of my budget.

In the short term, put the wires on one side of the battery terminals, so the power does not "pass through" the terminal. Have the connections on just one side of it, even though it is natural to want to do it the way that you did it. The battery terminal I think is a type of bronze, so fairly...

I should but I don't have one handy: Here is a starting point - in the text I posted - use a breaker like this one: https://www.bluesea.com/products/7142/187-Series_Circuit_Breaker_-_Surface_Mount_80A for a bus bar, use something similar to this one...

Thanks for the photos - yes your battery terminals will over heat wired like that with the power passing through each terminal. Are you sure that those are 4/0 wire ? It looks like a number of the connections are getting hot.

It is pretty, but it doesn't really provide a good way to disconnect the batteries to re-set the BMS or working on the system without using tools on a hot system. That is why I don't like them.

It is almost certain that you have tripped at least one of the internal BMS in the BB batteries. I have been down this road before myself. Most likely this happened when you turn it on and the input caps charged up the inverter in a split second. If you do it this way, it will work. ( neg...

This thread is a good example of the variety of experiences that people have with approaches to batteries. There is more than 100 years of industrial use of batteries made up of various size cells in a variety of chemistries to make voltages from ~ 1 volt to 100s of volts - perhaps more. There...

If the power system in general is kept in an always on state, then the inverter input caps will also stay pre-charged. Then you can just use the switch on the inverter or the remote to turn it on. The main reason to turn an inverter off is the 20 - 30 watt standby power when it is on. Once...

Here is a section of the forum for the batteries that might be interesting for you. https://diysolarforum.com/forums/lead-acid-batteries.20/ and Cold weather systems https://diysolarforum.com/forums/cold-temperature-systems.12/

Step one is to go outside tomorrow at ~ 8 - 9 am and 3 - 4 pm. Look at where the sun is hitting the barn at those two times of day - that is where you should put the panels. There is a reasonable chance that it won't be where people normally put panels. For AGM battery installations, the...