IoT (cell) uplink for GroWatt SPF 5000ES

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OK
So Basic Hack Electrical

You need L1, L2, Neutral, and Ground
On older houses things like your Dryer or Stove may not have Neutral. They should... Especially the stove.

When I want to get something like this ONLINE, NOW!
I just plug it in to the Dryer or Stove outlet

I have all sorts of Y cables, Extension cables, etc. You build these as you need them out of SO. Something like 6AWG, just make sure you can handle more current than the breaker on the other end.


Dont say I said to do it... but you can "Y" this right into your stove, right now. Loike... RIGHT NOW... and... if there is no solar coming in then it certainly is not going to spin your PG&E meter backward so fast that the dials break!

Lol
Dont break your PG&E meter! Those little wheels are sensitive. If you spin them backwards faster than 88MPH then time will stop, a large hole in the sky will develop, ... stuff like that.

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A Funny

* You can buy absolutely hazardous garbage from China off of Amazon and Plug it in. Nobody batts an eye.
* You try to plug in something DIY, people are like "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH"

I ASSURE YOU
That anything you and I are plugging in... is going to be safer than any crap you can buy at Harbor Freight. Lol... like one of those big ol' pieces of cast iron material>??

Well... Ok
This one has the ability to back-energize, so we will be a little careful. We are only going to energize it with a 600V power supply that can put out no more than 1.8A - so - 1KW. I will be DRAINING power on the house thru heaters and such, so no chance I can back-energize.

I am an Engineer
I am working on R&D
We do this all the time. . . you just dont know it.

WE MAKE THE THINGS THAT GO IN THE BOXES YOU BUY
LOL

YES
TURNS OUT WE KNOW HOW TO PLUG STUFF INTO THE ELECTRICAL GRID WITHOUT CAUSING HARM IN ANY WAY.

Ok
Onward

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DO NOT
DO WHAT I AM DOING

I am just demonstrating "How it is Done" in an environment where folks are basically criminalized for trying to offset their fossil fuel use. You have to be able to pony like $16k up front to "do it right" and every shifty-ass solar installer, contractor, electrician, etc... is just waiting... hand out... to empty your already empty pockets.

Right?

Yea
So that is what I am doing. I am showing what things will be like in the Future.

Projecting
None of this is real. OF COURSE I dont hook up a grid tie inverter! Please!

This is only an exercise.

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I dont know man... pretty complicated.

* Turn it off
* Look at the DC input
* Look at the AC input
* ...
* Turn it on

yea, I think I can do that.

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PROPER LAB SETUP

I have in front of me a Lab Grade "Grid Emulator" produced by NH Research. To this Grid Tie inverter it looks just like your electrical box. OF COURSE I am not going to tie right into the house (eh hem)

I AM TYING INTO A LAB GRADE, 240V, AC Emulator

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(strip the wire)
(poke one in there)
(Wire nut those together inside of a NEMA box)
....



Almost there

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Ok - so...
Looks like we have to head out into the bush to collect more solar panels. This thing is rated to work down to only 240VDC, with an ABS-MIN operable at 235V.

The 4 solar panels on my roof put out 200V open circuit and more like 160V loaded.

* 42V
* 84V
* 126V
* 168V
* 210V
* 252V

Yea, so 6 of my modules MINIMUM. After I go sleep for a while I will grab a couple more cells. Until then we will just work with the Power Supply to get the show on the road. I should be able to convert 420VDC @ 1.8A into about 1hp of AC

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* Fire Extinguisher, CO2, 15lb
* Way to drag everything outside, or better yet do it outside

... ok
Check



Ok, bugger will run into 20A breakers no problem. Cant blow a 30A breaker.



12AWG - 4AWG for the ground



We always wire to the breakers... but with regen machines you have to be a bit more careful. NOTE that I regularly attach 100KW regenerative loads to three phase mains. It is not like I am figuring out electricity right now*

So we need to wire for 21A. That is conveniently just over 20A, so 10AWG will suffice. Even at the fault current, 10AWG will suffice.

* 30A Double Pole Breaker
* 10AWG wire

Yep, check

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OK
I will be back with some test results. Off to 5S

* Sh*t
* Shave
* Shower
* ...
* ...

SSDD man
Just another day living the California Dream

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... On the boating forums we always provide "EMERGENCY RESPONSE" solutions.

BUSHCRAFT SOLUTION

If you are in the bush right now you can get this inverter running in the following manner.

Suicide Cable
* Get two extension cords
* Cut them
* Wire the Neutrals and Grounds together
* Pull off both Hot wires, keep them separate

By now you better know how to ring out a cable, identify hot vs neutral, all that. I am not going over it here

* Green is ground, yellow with green stripe on overseas stuff
* Black is hot (brown for overseas)
* White is neutral (blue for overseas)

On a NEMA 5-15 or NEMA 5-20 (standard wall outlet) the small hole is HOT and the large hole is Neutral. You figure this as...

* Neutral CAN NOT plug into hot!
* Therefore, small hole is the hot hole

Ok, that is about all you have to know. I ONLY BUY 12AWG extension cords, so... if you have a 16AWG, just go home. You are not going to survive out in the bush

Now...
Your house or cabin is broken up into two legs. One is on L1, the other is on L2. You plug this Suicide Cable (eh hem, called that for a reason) into two different outlets in the house.

* If they are the same leg, you will read close to 0V across your two blacks
* If they are on different leg, you will read close to 240V across your two blacks

Now you have a 15A, 240V setup with neutral in 12AWG that WILL NOT smoke off. All of it is breaker protected back at the box by a 15A or 20A... this is how all of us tap generators into the house.

HONDA EU2000i or EU2200i
* Build 2pcs suicide cable
* Plug into two different outlets
* Power everything in the house that is 120 (all but the stove and dryer basically)

I do it all the time. We do it all the time. Go learn about it. It is all breaker protected, you have to be smart about it...

But...

You following me?
In an emergency, you can do this sort of thing. DO NOT back energize the grid... so ... if you do this sort of thing you have to throw your 100A or 200A breaker.

I have all sorts of stuff set up for this - big throw-switches that automatically open when the grid goes down. Same thing you see on an Auto-Start generator.

ok
Onward

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(NOT YET CONFIRMED, CONFIRMING THAT EMERGENCY BUSH SOLUTION)

 

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See?
Somebody has to make sure that these little solutions work.

This is only a TEST

This is a TEST of the EMERGENCY BROADCAST NETWORK

Remember when that used to play on the TV in the middle of the night> ?? I do. You can contact me offline someplace if you need a little help. I can not offer a LOT of help - you gotta help yourself - but I will look over your shoulder for a minute if you are in some sort of Bush-Need.

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We are now in a Simulation of a GRID DOWN, bush situation.



You squared all your gear away ahead of time right?

* Extension Cords
* Spare bits
* Strippers
* Tape and wire nuts

Right?
Good



When I need to back-energize my hut, I use a short bit of cable like this. You DONT need a long one! Just add an extension cord to it.

* Throw the main breaker OFF
* Plug an extension cord into any outlet in your kitchen
* Plug this super scary cable into the end
* Plug that into your EU2000i Honda Generator
* Start the generator
* Watch half your house turn on

If you have two cables like shown above... You can use a single, 120V generator to power every single outlet and light in your house. EVERYTHING WILL WORK except for the 240 heavy appliances.

Eh HEM!

Do it all the time in emergencies. NEVER... EVER... EVER... forget to throw the main breaker.

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Now...
If you are out in a hut it is not like you have 5 extension cords you want to hack up. I can do it (get this Grid Tie inverter running) with nothing but this



I picked that crap up off the garage floor. BEWARE, it does not have grounds... but... my hut (house) is not 3 prong anyway, it was built in the 1940's before anyone even knew what "Ground" was.

GROUND
Is a redundant to your Neutral wire... so in the event that you lose your neutral tie-back, you dont end up with a "hot leg" - long story - but ... The ground in your house is directly tied to neutral

You know this right>??

Just go open your main panel. Not a sub panel, the main panel. Right there in all its glory is the bare copper ground wire bundle tied to the white neutral bundle.

YES...

Yes....

Go look.

Now
My hut does not have neutral and nobody is going to touch this but me and I am going to tear this apart and soon as I have PROOF OF CONCEPT.

...
The romex is 3 wires
Black, White, Bare

If I run Black to hot
If I run White to hot
If I run bare to Neutral

That is sufficient wiring to light off (no pun intended) the Inverter for this test. DO NOT DO IT LIKE THIS... I am only demonstrating what you CAN DO in an emergency in the bush to make a box like this take energy from the sun to create AC power for whatever you may need.

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FOR BUSH DEMONSTRATION ONLY

I am going to get a quick video of how to pull
* L1
* L2
* NEUTRAL

To make 240V + Neutral

Off of a house at any arbitrary point good for about 15A or 20A depending on how your outlets are breakered.

(after I go sit on the toilet for a while. I am old, my bowels are irritable)

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Importance of Polarity for Bush-Hacks

If you use an unpolarized plug with a Bush Hack you will short L1 to Neutral and blow sparks. Sparks consist of molten copper, copper gas, chunks of solid copper. It is called a Flame Spray, Ark Flash, etc.

Do not create Flame Spray
Do not create Ark Flash

... Wear safety glasses, meter off, do not do this at home, consult an Electrician, follow your local codes.

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Ok
While videos upload, I have sufficient wiring to test the inverter. This will NOT be a power test, just a basic 1hp sanity check.

* 600V Power Supply
* Quick tap to 240 + Neutral
* Do we Operate?

Right?
This is a Minimal Function Test to say a piece of gear like this works in any way. While I run this test (off of my Lab Grade AC Grid Simulators) I am of course loading down with AT LEAST 1hp... so as to have absolutely no chance of any back-powering of the grid.

Remember those little gears in your meter... if you spin them backwards... they are sure to create a time vortex. Some kind of black hole WILL OPEN and ... god himself will thunder down and likely strike you dead, on the spot.

NOW
I go thru my Checklist

* High Voltage than can kill me instantly?
CHECK

* High Power that can blind, maim, or start a wicked fire?
CHECK

* What kind of power are we talking about in an Ark Flash or Short Circuit etc?
240V * 20A = 4.8KW
4.8KW ~= 6.8HP

SO ->
If you like getting kicked in the face by 6 or 7 horses, being blinded, dying of 100mA thru the heart, starting a wicked fire, etc... Proceed.

That is the AC
Now how about the DC?

* High Voltage that can kill me instantly?
CHECK

* Sufficient DC current to stop the heart?
CHECK

5-10mA is the absolute limit for DC current thru the heart. 100mA WILL kill you and this rig WILL go to 600V and it WILL push 1.8A so if you touch the wires it WILL kill you. The 240 mains could, might, probably wont. This CAN, WILL, SO DO NOT SCREW AROUND.

! ! !

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... That is called a SAFETY CHECK

Anybody who claims to be qualified for this sort of work (like explosive work) goes thru their safety check hell or high water. Alone or in a group. Temporary or Permanent. You always go thru your checks and double-checks.

Or you fail the big fail - got it?

65% uploaded
I am going to go wire the inverter up while we wait.

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Building a BUsh SPec cable under simulated conditions.

Again
This is BUSH SPEC, simulated emergency wiring.

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