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Send me an old one to take apart. I've taken AC models apart and it is shameful what they use inside. One 40A unit used the same triac that is in my kitchen stand mixer, and that was one of the better ones. Really, do you think those terminals can take 100A. I use a simple relay to open the...

You can change out the heater elements to lower wattage ones. You don't need that much wattage if you can heat for a longer time. I heat water with diverted PV efficiently. No need for inverter or battery capacity. Amazing that nobody else here can do it.

Actually, techluck makes a PV voltage limiter. It is a variation of the water heater board. It is still absolute crap like their water heater board. It is prone to totally destroying itself with a voltage spike.

That pictured inverter is not well suited for DC operation. It has a voltage doubler and will not work on DC unless switched to 220V due to the two input capacitors. Transformer ratio is designed to work with very high voltages well over 200V. As a simple rule, do not use a power supply rated...

This one is well suited for batteryless operation. Well built and nice auto reset. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CQG38GCD

SMPS generally work down to 60V or less. Below that they will bump unless the startup resistor is changed. I have one that works down to 17V. Best to oversize a little because of higher input current. With fan demands of less than a watt, they will be working before and after anything else.

I use switching power supplies to power 12V fans. I think it is elegant. You get full isolation and if the supply shorts it won't destroy the fan or anything else. I am very leary of many buck converters.

There is the next generation of cheap 12V inverters that will shutdown with low voltage and start up again when voltage returns. These will work with a buck converter set to 12V. Be sure to add extra caps on input and output or you will be sorry.

More internet garbage. The diode is backwards. And just what is he running? Solar panel voltage will be ok for many switching regulators. I run a washing machine without batteries, but it needs an inverter to create AC for the motors and solenoids. I run a house with only a car battery...

Looking at pictures of the lamp, why are the probes connected? Current is thru the clamp. Connect brown and blue together and also connected to one leg of power. That would determine if there is leakage to concrete. Reversing brown and blue would also be an interesting test for leakage.

Not likely at all.

Are these bulbs really cheap. Your inverter is putting out some HF noise and the capacitance of the cable is enough to supply power to the LED. A LED will light with a couple nano amps of current. The lamp has to have some external load to drain off this leakage. A 100K resistor or .022...

Unfortunately, these are not a thing. I do it by looking at PV array voltage and proportionately diverting enough power directly from the array just enough to drop array voltage back to power point. Array voltage is the best predictor of excess power if you don't have a goofy location. Pretty...

Try putting it on a 100 foot extension cord.

I use an OP101 to look at pulses from LED lighting to determine how much flicker there is.

Try this, put a voltmeter between the 48V power source and the light and measure the voltage. Depending on the constant current circuit in the light you might see less than 20V across the switch. So what if the switch arcs and shorts. Failure mode is only turning on the light.

Many SAE connectors are reversed depending on use. I assume yours are backwards.

It is a very simple solution. About impossible for anyone here.

Those diode videos are of the wouldn't it be nice variety and are in no way practical. I do wish they would get across the idea that going into a pure resistance in direct connect is very inefficient for solar panels. 12V panels going into a PWM charge controller isn't that bad for loss of...

Schottky diodes typically have low forward voltages up to about 40V rated inverse voltage. Forward voltage is also lower when they run a bit toasty.

Why would you want to use a Schottky diode.

have one of these and it is probably just what you want...

One will take over and the others will think they are in float. There are controllers designed to be in parallel with one decision maker.

I use resistance heating with my HPWH. That and other modifications are just too exotic for most here.

I have extreme shade and run multiple strings in parallel. I used to run three controllers because I had strings of multiple voltages. Multiple controllers work well when batteries are really dead and the controllers all are working in bulk charge. Otherwise, I would have two which would two...

HPWH aren't the best dump load because you can only dump about 100W. With a voltage relay you need to add a few smarts. You don't want to have hot starts locking the compressor or running the compressor for just 3 minutes. A timed on period started by a voltage trigger is a must. I run a...

I tested a 32A PV disconnect that didn't open at 90A. I found some breakers had a better arc interrupt when connected backwards. Put a beraker outside n crappy box with wires entering top is asking for disaster.

Yup, its a screamer that will drive radios nuts. I totally discounted that idea as having no real advantage. Sourcing inductors for people around the world is a pain. I got a ton of oil caps I'd like to do something with. But, big electrolytics are much more available. Operating at 50Hz max...

It is easier than that. Eliminate the inductor and capacitor in the output. Just simple PWM duty cycle with lagger C1. Preset a minimum off time every 10ms and you can use standard mechanical thermostats on the output DC. It is curious that the Polish are one of the main sources of this...

7 some years of python coding experience. Any electronics experience? Everyone needs some hot water. It is nice to have some available. You can easily operate off the same panels and make hot water efficiently in a standard 2.5 to 5 gallon water tank. Uses no battery or inverter capacity...

There are no DC thermostats. Those at MW&S will burn up. You need to keep panel voltage at power point to be efficient. Doing it electronically is so cheap and easy. I can't see why this isn't more popular here. Out of tens of thousands of people around the world it would seem there ought to...

The buck converter will take a higher panel voltage (16-21V) a convert that to higher current at 12V. That works fine till the pump is asking for more power than the panels can produce. At that point the panel voltage takes a nose dive. I believe the pump can take this situation as long as it...

Actually, this pump was totally submerged when it would stop working.

I did find the little pump was very prone to cavitation and stopping if there were small air bubbles in the water. Head is only about a third of what they say.

Don't forget the third option for even lower wattage, the two heater elements in series. I have one of these I used as a dump heater with solar. At 400W it wasn't touch safe. I think they can only take continuous full power if the room is very cold.