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diy solar

Midnite Solar?

D

Dinky

New Member
Joined
Jun 14, 2021
Messages
50
Folks,
Midnite Solar is only 20 minutes or so from me. I don't hear much about their offerings on this forum. Is their stuff outdated? Expensive? Or? I see they have DIY MNMPPT60DIY DIY Charge Controller. Has anyone installed this unit with success?
Thank you kindly,
Steve
 
Their charge controllers (Classic) are said to be robust. They also offer a range of PV voltages.
For users of SMA Sunny Island, a communications interface lets them talk with the Classic.
I haven't used that, but I do use the MSTE Solar "Sunny Island Charger" which it emulates.

"Expensive" could be in comparison to the economy priced products out there. Not so bad in comparison to the other tier-1 names.
Midnight seems to be developing higher end systems, with hot-swappable modules. Plus they offer "DIY" line which is from a 3rd party manufacturer but with design modifications and testing by Midnight.

Forum members were suspicious of Midnight rebranding Chinese-made products for the DIY line, but the company has responded with posting to the forum explaining what they're doing and why these products are quality.

diysolarforum.com

NEWS: New Midnite Solar DIY Series - SCC's & Inverters (great $ too)

Good Day Folks, I thought I should pop in this update for anyone interested in Midnite Solar products. They have been working on Inverter/Chargers and other products and these new items are just coming available now and some of it is Game Changing for many applications. New DIY Series Solar...
diysolarforum.com diysolarforum.com
 
The mid nite 150 classic is one of the best units out there , along with out back , victron and a few more , I’m sure they can do anything needed for off grid and will be working 20 years from now
Unlike the Chinese counterpart that like to die 10 days out of warranty?
 
Many threads on the forum. Here is just one of them:

diysolarforum.com

NEWS: New Midnite Solar DIY Series - SCC's & Inverters (great $ too)

Good Day Folks, I thought I should pop in this update for anyone interested in Midnite Solar products. They have been working on Inverter/Chargers and other products and these new items are just coming available now and some of it is Game Changing for many applications. New DIY Series Solar...
diysolarforum.com diysolarforum.com
 
JoeHam said:
Many threads on the forum. Here is just one of them:

diysolarforum.com

NEWS: New Midnite Solar DIY Series - SCC's & Inverters (great $ too)

Good Day Folks, I thought I should pop in this update for anyone interested in Midnite Solar products. They have been working on Inverter/Chargers and other products and these new items are just coming available now and some of it is Game Changing for many applications. New DIY Series Solar...
diysolarforum.com diysolarforum.com
Click to expand...
Thanks JoeHam, that is the info that was needed and right under my nose!
 
Hi Dinky, please look at a preliminary brochure attached here. We have not published this as it is liable to change a little as these products make it into production. We have been working on most of these products for 4 to 7 years. Coming up with something that isn't just a "me too" product isn't easy. I'm not sure what was meant by "outdated", but we have been here in Arlington at MidNite for sixteen years. Some of our products were developed back then and as long as people want them, we will continue to manufacture them. The products in the preliminary brochures should be going into production starting in a couple months and all of them before the end of next year. We have 22 engineers and they keep very busy doing cool new stuff. It isn't so much fun just copying what others have done in the past. Bob and I as well as about a dozen other MidNite employees have been designing and building solar energy equipment in Arlington since 1990 at Trace, Xantrex, OutBack, Magnum Energy, Silicon Energy and OutBack. There are 90 of us now. Come on down like Bob said. That goes for anyone on this forum. We will be glad to buy lunch at one of Arlington's 1950's style cafe's. Those are our favorites.
 

Attachments

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RayfromTX said:
hi @SpongeboB Sinewave and @Robin Gudgel , In the video I posted above, if you don't mind taking a look you will see that in you big battery combiner box, I have relocated the grounding buss. It came mounted in a location that was behind the breaker locations so that once the breakers are installed, it would be inaccessible. Relocating it wasn't as easy as moving it over because in order for the connection to be electrically bonded with the housing, the mounting screw needed to be countersunk at the right size and angle for the conical star washer to make a positive connection. The paint also needed to be removed from the new location to aid in the bonding. Perhaps one of you might put in a word to the folks on the floor that are assembling these. I love the product and hope I find more of your stuff to use in the future.
Click to expand...

CooL video !

Yeah, you should not need to scrape any paint in a normal connection area.

Not sure about an alternate position ? I am not so wise in the ways of the battery boxes but we listen.

Robin will be the one to respond to this one.

BTW, yesterday we were testing a 2000 amp bus bar !

boB
 
2000A x 50V = 100kW

With multiple batteries and multiple inverters, I think cables can tap off in a way where the busbar carries less through any cross section.
I have 4 inverters and 1 battery string, so busbar carries 50% in each direction.
Whatever busbar and other components, reducing current through each is good.
 
I agree that the ground busbar should be moved. All it takes to ground those busbars is an internal tooth star washer. They bite through the powder coat very well. Been doing that for 30 years. I am about to begin making modifications to the Big Battery Combiner to accommodate a 2000 amp shunt. We don't exactly yet know how much larger the busbar needs to be though. The 1000 amp busbar we use at present meets the UL guidelines. That means it does not need to be tested for heat. The UL guideline means that a 1" x 1" copper bussbar of any length is good for 1000 amps. So, 1' square means 1000 amps. So, now if you have a 1" by 0.1" copper busbar, that would be good for 100 amps. It is interesting that some of our competitors use a .063" x 1" busbar (63 amps) and yet connect it up to a 250 amp breaker. They can get away with that with forced air cooling and testing by UL or ETL. I question if those things really get tested or not, but in reality, inverters never put out full power continuously other than UL testing. Then again when charging, that is a continuous operation.
The testing we have been doing is on one of our 1000 amp busbars. The engineers didn't take heed of my comments that asingle 2/0 cable (225 amps) wouldn't work too well on this test. Well, they ran it up to 1700 amps! You can guess what happened. It was pretty exciting. We are still scraping the melted insulation off the carpet in our Engineering lab. I think someone may be putting a video of it on the MidNite forum. It was pretty fun. Still don't know just what our 1000 amp busbar is good for. We used the UL guidelines. They are very conservative. I would guess 1400 amps. More testing to happen next week.
 
Robin Gudgel said:
The testing we have been doing is on one of our 1000 amp busbars. The engineers didn't take heed of my comments that asingle 2/0 cable (225 amps) wouldn't work too well on this test. Well, they ran it up to 1700 amps! You can guess what happened. It was pretty exciting. We are still scraping the melted insulation off the carpet in our Engineering lab. I think someone may be putting a video of it on the MidNite forum. It was pretty fun. Still don't know just what our 1000 amp busbar is good for. We used the UL guidelines. They are very conservative. I would guess 1400 amps. More testing to happen next week.
Click to expand...
Here are the videos Robin is referring to. It's my personal opinion the engineers were simply making a tool for removing the insulation so they could get a better price per lb when recycling copper! :)

Lets melt some 2/0 insulation at 1700 amps!

Lets melt some 2/0 insulation at 1700 amps!
midniteftp.com
 
Midnite Beta Tester said:
Here are the videos Robin is referring to. It's my personal opinion the engineers were simply making a tool for removing the insulation so they could get a better price per lb when recycling copper! :)

Lets melt some 2/0 insulation at 1700 amps!

Lets melt some 2/0 insulation at 1700 amps!
midniteftp.com
Click to expand...
Yes! I will come down there and join in the fun! I am glad that at least that insulation matched the carpet color! Laughter definitely has some redemptive qualities!
Kind Regards,
Steve
 
I agree yes midnite is slow in keeping up with other companies .
But i have used their teir 1 products ,the diy line and the cheaper producrts that are similar . I must say you get what you pay for .
i,hope they can improve on releases and upgrades as shown in the borchures and a bit more warranty on the diy lines
 
We are WAY slower than the bigger and off shore companies. Mostly because there is so little engineering and electronic manufacturing talent in the US. When they are found, we try to get them and a lot of them are very pricey. The ones that we do have are very appreciated
Merry Christmas and happiest of the holiday season everybody !

boB
 
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