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I Can't Afford So-Called "Tier 1" Equipment. What's Good at Tier 2?

10kW is a big inverter for less than a grand, very nice!
I find with solar, the next stage is always some type of expansion, and being able to parallel/connect multiple inverters can keep the load side simpler.
 
forbin said:
I live about 2 hours from SS and could easily drive there for sales and support, but the horror stories I'm reading in these forum threads have given me serious pause. What else is out there that people tend to consider relatively reliable and affordable?
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Don’t spend as much money on unneeded everyday life stuff …SAVE UP….stick to Victron/ Schneider/ BB/ MS/ Blue Seas .……and other top tier stuff ..
It just works.
Let discount buyers fuss and fight with China and /or consult forums for resolution on operation and fixes.
in 50 years of buying different gear of many types , I have had two top tier products not work right…TWO… they were promptly replaced and life moved on…
but , maybe that’s just luck on my part.
 
EastTexCowboy said:
That's what I used to install batteries in the rack. Apollolift but same thing. Works great. I highly recommend.
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and those are just the 100Ah rack batteries - try lifting the 280Ah racks ! (about 225 lbs each)
(yeah we have a forklift in the shop for those, so glad we decided early on to put all the solar stuff in there, concrete floors, 11000 lb fork lift 12 foot ceilings, who cares if the inverter fans make any noise - what noise? can't hear it over the air compressor! lol.)
 
Jim H said:
.stick to Victron/ Schneider/ BB/ MS/ Blue Seas .……and other top tier stuff ..
It just works.
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But Jim,
The OP specifically said they can't afford Tier One stuff, can't we give our best advice on mid-level stuff, and let them join the party? The potential to learn is so much higher when you have stuff that needs more attention after all!
 
OffGridForGood said:
But Jim,
The OP specifically said they can't afford Tier One stuff, can't we give our best advice on mid-level stuff, and let them join the party? The potential to learn is so much higher when you have stuff that needs more attention after all!
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I understand , but people can normally afford what they Really Want.. it make take some discipline and forethought as to how to adress spending on other stuff…. Life ain’t fair sometimes ..mostly we can’t all have all we wish.. we have to make choices….it took me a while to save to buy top tier stuff and lesser grade pizza and spend less on less important things..
can we have no discipline in life anymore..?
I aggree it would be nice to afford anything… BUT………..ya know…
 
OffGridForGood said:
But Jim,
The OP specifically said they can't afford Tier One stuff, can't we give our best advice on mid-level stuff, and let them join the party? The potential to learn is so much higher when you have stuff that needs more attention after all!
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I envy Musk… lucky rascal…
 
Jim H said:
I understand , but people can normally afford what they Really Want.. it make take some discipline and forethought as to how to adress spending on other stuff…. Life ain’t fair sometimes ..mostly we can’t all have all we wish.. we have to make choices….it took me a while to save to buy top tier stuff and lesser grade pizza and spend less on less important things..
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It usually takes a while to wear down my resistance and get me to loosen my purse strings.
(metaphorically speaking, of course.)

1688615976762.png

I've been feeling tempted to get a Baldwin mortised lock set, just because I have an old mortised door, and want it to take the same Schlage key as the others instead of a skeleton key (or more properly called "warded?".)
Not sure you've seen what these go for!


1688616126772.png1688616142275.png
 
Hedges said:
It usually takes a while to wear down my resistance and get me to loosen my purse strings.
(metaphorically speaking, of course.)

View attachment 155991

I've been feeling tempted to get a Baldwin mortised lock set, just because I have an old mortised door, and want it to take the same Schlage key as the others instead of a skeleton key (or more properly called "warded?".)
Not sure you've seen what these go for!


View attachment 155992View attachment 155993
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You can buy a decent guitar for 400.00 maybe 600.00
you can buy a really good guitar for 1000.00
you can buy a great guitar for 2000.00
you can buy a beast of a guitar for 3- 5000…….

you have to decide what you need for the job and what makes you feel satisfied…

after a life time of owning Les Paul Customs and Ricks , I went cheaper last year…a SG Standard…only 2000.00 … I’m getting older and chicks dont care anymore what I play……
bummer..
 

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The Sungold Power sp6548, after briefly looking at them the other day, seem to have gotten an upgrade in terms of their MPPT controllers, as they are now listed as featuring a 390voc limit with a
Wide mppt ranging 90-350v. So given the extra 100v usable range over MPPs LV6548 what's the catch here?
Lv6548 getting upgrade soon too or what?
Are these the same 6548s mentioned in this thread?
 
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BuffaloTrace said:
The Sungold Power sp6548, after briefly looking at them the other day, seem to have gotten an upgrade in terms of their MPPT controllers, as they are now listed as featuring a 390voc limit with a
Wide mppt ranging 90-350v. So given the extra 100v usable range over MPPs LV6548 what's the catch here?
Lv6548 getting upgrade soon too or what?
Are these the same 6548s mentioned in this thread?
Click to expand...
Same upgrade. A month or two ago as I recall.
 
Jim H said:
I understand , but people can normally afford what they Really Want.. it make take some discipline and forethought as to how to adress spending on other stuff…. Life ain’t fair sometimes ..mostly we can’t all have all we wish.. we have to make choices….it took me a while to save to buy top tier stuff and lesser grade pizza and spend less on less important things..
can we have no discipline in life anymore..?
I aggree it would be nice to afford anything… BUT………..ya know…
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...yea Pizza's in today's world. Picked up (2) 3 topping Domino's pizza last night, $45.00. OMFG! Time to shift to frozen pizza & cook it in my own oven. Save up more for DIY batteries. ?
 
OffGridForGood said:
The key to running motors is be sure they are running on 240v (some motors can be changed from 120 to 240 inside the terminal case on the motor by moving a jumper cable) going with 240 will ensure you have equal load on each leg (L1 L2) for your inverter and it will be half the amperage of running on 120.
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I'd love to run the 5 hp compressor on 240V. Back when I had a generator in the back of the truck, I made a suicide cord to run 240V on normal heavy drop cord and rewired the compressor motor for 240V.

Now that I have the big gas powered, I use it instead of a generator. It would be great to be able to plug into 240V at every jobsite.
 
BuffaloTrace said:
The Sungold Power sp6548, after briefly looking at them the other day, seem to have gotten an upgrade in terms of their MPPT controllers, as they are now listed as featuring a 390voc limit with a
Wide mppt ranging 90-350v. So given the extra 100v usable range over MPPs LV6548 what's the catch here?
Lv6548 getting upgrade soon too or what?
Are these the same 6548s mentioned in this thread?
Click to expand...
Lithium Solar did a video on the 390V units and Ian mentions the 390V units in his description for the 250V units on his website.

The MPPT was changed but the 390V units seem to have a higher idle consumption than the 250V units.
 
Part of my experimentation with the 250V LV6548's and comparison to the 500V EG4 SCC to see if it really is worth the higher VOC limit.

I forgot one thing I noticed yesterday morning, the LV6548 with lower VOC was inputting more Kw early in the day per panel compared to the EG4 SCC. The LV6548 was inputting about 500 watts using 4S and one would expect the 8S string to be 1000 watts or more but it would only show 800 watts.

MPPT sweep or is it from higher VOC string that hasn't hit good sun? Neither string has any shade at any time during the day compared to the other.
 
Jim H said:
Don’t spend as much money on unneeded everyday life stuff …SAVE UP….stick to Victron/ Schneider/ BB/ MS/ Blue Seas .……and other top tier stuff ..
It just works.
Let discount buyers fuss and fight with China and /or consult forums for resolution on operation and fixes.
in 50 years of buying different gear of many types , I have had two top tier products not work right…TWO… they were promptly replaced and life moved on…
but , maybe that’s just luck on my part.
Click to expand...
I can well afford Tier 1 but where is the fun in that?

Part of this adventure is learning and one can certainly learn many things when experimenting with other than Tier 1. Safety is another matter, for many things such as fuse holders, fuse panels I use Tier 1 such as Blue Sea.

Part of the reason I have what I purchased is the Tier 1 didn't always manufacture a product that fit what I wanted.
 
Hedges said:
I'm same age as you and do everything (technical) solo. My wife around 90 something pounds would only be in danger.
Engine hoist works. You may be able to use it as-is, but I added an extension pipe to get 18" beyond the front wheels, and put ballast on the back.

diysolarforum.com

How does a 140 pound weakling hang a 140 pound inverter?

When I hung my original 2.5 kW SWR-2500U inverters 17 years ago, I was probably stronger and they were only 75 lbs. I was able to carry them up a stepladder and hang them head high. Taking them down to upgrade was doable, but difficult When I hung 75 lb transformerless 10000TLUS under the deck...
diysolarforum.com diysolarforum.com
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Thanks for that info. I've been pondering the engine lift and as luck would have it, Andy had a new video last night using one to lift a battery. A trip to Harbor Freight is on my itinerary for the weekend.
 
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