My DIY Build Thread

[eod1991]

I will continue to update this thread until I get the system complete (yea right).

In preparation for solar I have been upgrading my 113 year old farm house with solar in mind. We changed out both A/C systems for LG Red heat pump systems
All new Gerkin Windows
And all new insulation in the upstairs.
I am in the process of redoing the siding and I am adding 3/4” of foam board to the exterior.


This started as a way to have backup power if the grid goes down. By the time I started ordering stuff I had convinced myself to do it all at once and get it over with.



Site: Central Kansas

System type: Full off-grid solar power

Mount: Custom built steel ground mount

Distance: PV array is roughly 150’ from batteries and inverters

Inverter/Bat Location: Inverter and battery are located inside 40x60 shop

Backup Power Source: PDG 15kw 3600 rpm diesel generator hooked to a 250 gal diesel tank.

Inspections: N/A


Equipment:

40x blue sun 460W bifacial panels
2x EG4 18Kpv inverters in parallel
4x EG4 48v 14.4Kw power pro batteries
1x 600V EMP Sheild
1x15kw Diesel Generator


Panels: Each array has 20 panels on it. 10 are wired in series for a max VOC of 508V. Both of those series strings are paralleled with Staubli MC4 connections. This makes for 1 string from each array going back the the inverter with 510V at 23 Amps.

New 460W: VOC 50.8

I used UL 4703 10AWG direct burial rated PV cable.

Grounding/Earthing:

I connected all of the aluminum PV frames to the steel ground mount and ran that to an 8’ grounding rod located at the PV array.


Everything else that needed grounding at the shop (18kPV, batteries, etc) will be connected to the grounding rods at the shop.



A/C side


From the main panel at the house to the disconnect at the back of my shop I ran aluminum 4/0 mains, 2/0 neutral and #6 copper ground direct buried it a 24” deep trench.



I have ordered 2 additional power pro batteries and I am currently waiting for those to come in. We were running out of battery halfway through the night and I don’t want to have to rely on running the generator multiple nights a week.

I designed and built the racking for the panels in sketchup. I didn’t even realize I could have bought a similar pre designed system. This would have saved me time and money but it was fun building everything.

I’ll add some photos for now and keep updating and adding information as I have time.

 

[eod1991]

More pictures

 

[E. Cho]

Wow? Was that all DIY or contractors?

Would be helpful if your pictures were not so huge, averaging 6 MB each, or about 150? MB to view them all. Do we need to see snapshots of boxes at 8.4 MBs? Not easy for those of us poor people without high speed or unlimited data. Resize to 1024 px on the long side, add a touch of contrast and sharpening and that would be more than good enough for most of us.

 

[eod1991]

Wow? Was that all DIY or contractors?

Would be helpful if your pictures were not so huge, averaging 5MB each, or about 65 MB to view them all. Not easy for those of us poor people without high speed or unlimited data. Resize to 1024 px on the long side, add a touch of contrast and sharpening and that would be more than good enough for most of us.

Ok I’ll try that, lol I did everything you see in the photos but I’m not sure I can resize these photos ?

 

[Adeon]

Nice build. I’m curious & wondering; How many KW do you get per day with that build?

 

[Plum Crazy Rob]

I thought those pictures sure looked like someplace in KS. Clicked your profile, howdy neighbor!!! Wow is right, great build. Congrats! We got 8" of snow lol, I recognize that scene ?
Thank you easily accessible ground mounts, had it off in 15 minutes.

 

[eod1991]

Nice build. I’m curious & wondering; How many KW do you get per day with that build?

Thank you! If I was able to produce all day I would get about 120kw. Since I only have 4 of the 6 batteries installed currently I am getting about 70kw. Usually the batteries are fully charged by noon and it’s just sipping solar to run the house.

 

[G00SE]

Ok I’ll try that, lol I did everything you see in the photos but I’m not sure I can resize these photos ?

Please don’t shrink the photos, the ability to see detail is second to none vs potato pics ?

How do you like the kubota compact loader? Can it lift those pallets?

 

[eod1991]

Please don’t shrink the photos, the ability to see detail is second to none vs potato pics ?

How do you like the kubota compact loader? Can it lift those pallets?

I love that thing, I bought it for my construction company and we use it way more then initially thought we would. It can lift 2000 pounds pretty easily but starts to tip forward after that. It’s not a hydraulic issue it’s all about counter weight.

 

[G00SE]

I love that thing, I bought it for my construction company and we use it way more then initially thought we would. It can lift 2000 pounds pretty easily but starts to tip forward after that. It’s not a hydraulic issue it’s all about counter weight.

That’s awesome. The specs always show roc on skids which is often far less than practical use, wasn’t sure if the stand ons were similar. 1000lbs was disappointing but if it’s able to do close to a ton I can justify
Really like you set up man! Thanks for sharing. Do you think that the 2 additional batteries will provide enough overhead to get y’all thru the night? What’s causing most of your overnight demand?

 

[400bird]

Good looking set up!
I remember having piles of conduit fittings on the floor, just showing how far I was from complete.

What's the plan for the go pro?

 

[eod1991]

Yes I think it will, we have been making it through the night for the last week but when the temps start to drop below 30 is when it starts to struggle. The demand is coming from the downstairs hvac system. Since the house is so old it’s just not sealed up as tight as I would like. That will get addressed with the siding plans though.

That’s awesome. The specs always show roc on skids which is often far less than practical use, wasn’t sure if the stand ons were similar. 1000lbs was disappointing but if it’s able to do close to a ton I can justify
Really like you set up man! Thanks for sharing. Do you think that the 2 additional batteries will provide enough overhead to get y’all thru the night? What’s causing most of your overnight dema

Good looking set up!
I remember having piles of conduit fittings on the floor, just showing how far I was from complete.

What's the plan for the go pro?

Haha it’s like 30 miles to the nearest store, I bought so many different configurations lol!

I videoed the entire build. I am working on editing am the footage and posting a YouTube build series.

 

[AntronX]

Please don’t shrink the photos, the ability to see detail is second to none vs potato pics ?

Here is 50% resized photo came out to 1.2 MB vs 9.1 MB original. No potatoes. Edit: Looks like it got blown up to 2.6MB after adding diysolarforum logo. Inefficient image re-compression forum settings?

 

[G00SE]

Here is 50% resized photo came out to 1.2 MB vs 9.1 MB original. No potatoes.

From his picture I can see the sticker that advertises his Facebook page, can see what welder is sitting on the ground, and that the generator is a power mate.
I cannot decipher that from your downsized image.

In these examples it’s not exactly relevant, but there’s been many times when I’ve struggled to make out the text of a panel label, a spec sheet, or simple wiring details due to downsizing an already small data file. I guess maybe it’s just a different perspective, I’m used to working with 50-70MB image files and 5+ gig video files (and I only have starlink)

 

[hwy17]

Grounding/Earthing:

I connected all of the aluminum PV frames to the steel ground mount and ran that to an 8’ grounding rod located at the PV array.


Everything else that needed grounding at the shop (18kPV, batteries, etc) will be connected to the grounding rods at the shop.

Supposed to be ground wire from array to system.

 

[AntronX]

It took me about 10 seconds to open each image in built in viewer. I got 100Mbit/s internet. Downscaled image takes under 1 sec. I think it looks good enough. Edit: cleared cache, restarted browser. Now it also takes around 1 sec for original pics. Edit2: Now it takes ~5 sec per image. Probably forum is still having server issues.

 

[eod1991]

Supposed to be ground wire from array to system.

Signature Solar specifically recommended me not to do that.

 

[AntronX]

Signature Solar specifically recommended me not to do that.

Sounds like bad advice. In that case at least install surge protector at the solar panels and ground it to array ground. You don't want lightning surge to jump across cell - frame gap and fry your solar panels. Do the same at the inverter PV input.

 

[timselectric]

Signature Solar specifically recommended me not to do that.

100% bad advice

 

[eod1991]

100% bad advice

I do have an extra set of 10awg lines in the ground I could easily run a ground from the aray to the inverters of that’s recommended. I do have a emp shield installed on the pv lines at the inverter.

I may have miss interpreted what they were saying, they said

“ I noticed that you may have the PV array grounded to the PE bus on the inverter. I suggest running the PV array ground to a dedicated grounding rod in the earth. . ”

I guess I interpreted this as not to the inverters at all.

 

[timselectric]

I do have an extra set of 10awg lines in the ground I could easily run a grou
nd from the aray to the inverters of that’s recommended.

Definitely
Electrical grounding is for personal safety.
Connecting to earth is just earthing. Not grounding.
Your systems protection devices can't protect you. If you don't give them a way to do so. This is the purpose of the grounding system.

 

[OpenNRG]

Resize to 1024 px on the long side

There should be a setting in the forum software to automatically resize image uploads. Maybe Will could look into that.

 

[eod1991]

Definitely
Electrical grounding is for personal safety.
Connecting to earth is just earthing. Not grounding.
Your systems protection devices can't protect you. If you don't give them a way to do so. This is the purpose of the grounding system.

Ok I linked the ground at the aray to the ground at my disconnect that my inverters are tied into. I used 2x 10awg lines for giggles.

 

[timselectric]

Ok I linked the ground at the aray to the ground at my disconnect that my inverters are tied into. I used 2x 10awg lines for giggles.

Better

 

[eod1991]

Better

Thanks for the advice.