Poll: How was your experience with signature solar?

[vriosiii]

SS received my 6500 on Monday, sent out new replacement on Wednesday. Pretty good service so far.

 

[DIYPV]

can you give me your info.

I found Ben’s email on this forum and forwarded him my email thread already. He replied to me within an hour.

 

[Hydrosolar]

I have a micro hydro system, SS tec help had no advice or suggestions about connecting this power source to eg4 batts/eg4 charger controller. They acted like they had never heard this question before.

 

[Markus_EG4]

I have a micro hydro system, SS tec help had no advice or suggestions about connecting this power source to eg4 batts/eg4 charger controller. They acted like they had never heard this question before.

We have never sold one or had our hands on one.

 

[Hydrosolar]

The question simply was, what is the safest way to add a micro hydro power source (300w) to eg4 batteries or eg4 inverter charger? It would be the same as adding wind power to a system.
thanks Marcus for replying

 

[Markus_EG4]

The question simply was, what is the safest way to add a micro hydro power source (300w) to eg4 batteries or eg4 inverter charger? It would be the same as adding wind power to a system.
thanks Marcus for replying

We are frankly focusing on solar only, motors need a different charge management approach than MPPT, back in the PWM days it was more universal. Our guys could entertain the thought experiment but don't have the capacity to speak from actual test data on wind or hydro. This would require R&D also probably a different firmware. I don’t know.

 

[FilterGuy]

The question simply was, what is the safest way to add a micro hydro power source (300w) to eg4 batteries or eg4 inverter charger? It would be the same as adding wind power to a system.
thanks Marcus for replying

Any turbine/generator-based power source that does not have self-governing speed control requires some form of dump load. This is well beyond the capability of most (not all) solar equipment.

I believe the Midnight classic equipment has the ability to work with a dump load, but not many other solar controllers do. The market is just too small.

I once used a Victron MPPT controller with a very small hydro turbine, but I had to set up an external system to create a dump load when the batteries were full, otherwise, the turbine would free-spin and wear out the bearings. (Some turbines will tear themselves apart if they are left to free spin) It turned out the voltage I got during free-spin was low enough that I did not have to worry about over-volting the MPPT... but that was only because my water pressure was not high enough. With a bit more pressure, free-spin would have burnt out the controller. I had the dump-load to stop free-spin but it was only needed to reduce wear on the bearings. (I wish I would have had enough pressure to worry about the voltage....that would mean I got more power out of it)

If you are interested, the tiny little turbine was called a Watter-buddy and it is still in use powering a small hunting cabin in the mountains of Montana.

Now back to our regularly scheduled thread topic....

 

[Hydrosolar]

This is a Harris permanent magnet hydro generator 48 v system. It produces about 5 amps at 54.1v. I currently have it connected through a Morningstar TS 45 controller and to a switched 3 element diversion load. The diversion load is connected diagonally to two eg4 100 ah 48 v batteries connected in parallel, to prevent them from overcharging. The hydro also connects diagonally to the same terminals.
I also supply 1920 w of solar. This power source connects to the 3000w inverter/charger/controller at the solar input terminals. My concern is that this is the correct configuration for the hydro source.

 

[FilterGuy]

My concern is that this is the correct configuration for the hydro source.

This is going way off-topic. Could you start a new thread with a diagram of your setup and then PM me with a link to the thread? It sounds interesting.

 

[Hydrosolar]

Any turbine/generator-based power source that does not have self-governing speed control requires some form of dump load. This is well beyond the capability of most (not all) solar equipment.

I believe the Midnight classic equipment has the ability to work with a dump load, but not many other solar controllers do. The market is just too small.

I once used a Victron MPPT controller with a very small hydro turbine, but I had to set up an external system to create a dump load when the batteries were full, otherwise, the turbine would free-spin and wear out the bearings. (Some turbines will tear themselves apart if they are left to free spin) It turned out the voltage I got during free-spin was low enough that I did not have to worry about over-volting the MPPT... but that was only because my water pressure was not high enough. With a bit more pressure, free-spin would have burnt out the controller. I had the dump-load to stop free-spin but it was only needed to reduce wear on the bearings. (I wish I would have had enough pressure to worry about the voltage....that would mean I got more power out of it)

If you are interested, the tiny little turbine was called a Watter-buddy and it is still in use powering a small hunting cabin in the mountains of Montana.

Now back to our regularly scheduled thread topic....

I do use a diversion load controlled by a Morningstar TS 45. It senses the batt voltage and diverts the load when the battery reaches 54 volts. This prevents over spinning the hydro. This is a Harris micro hydro permanent magnet generator. The Harris hydro patent is now owned by Alternative Power and Machine in Grants Pass Oregon. They also manufacture their own hydro generators, but supplied me with the diversion load. It is very well built and handles the excess power from the hydro, prevents overspin, until I turn the hydro off by shutting a valve. This system is in Sonoma county in California. do you have your watter-buddy connected to lipo4 batts?

 

[Hydrosolar]

This is going way off-topic. Could you start a new thread with a diagram of your setup and then PM me with a link to the thread? It sounds interesting.

Yes I’ll PM with details if I can figure out how to do that

 

[FilterGuy]

Yes I’ll PM with details if I can figure out how to do that

Just hover over the 'filterguy' on one of my posts. My details will pop up and click on "Start Conversation"

 

[stienman]

Forum results:
222 respondents, only half of which have purchased from SS. Of those who have purchased from them 14% would not purchase from them again.

Youtube results:
3.6k respondents, only 22% of which have purchased from SS. Of those who have purchased from them 3% would not purchase from them again.

This is interesting - it suggests that people who are so into solar that they frequent forums like this one have more problems with SS than Will's youtube community. I suspect some of that has to do with seeking out forums like these because we want to do "interesting" things with the solar systems, so we push their limits. I doubt that's the whole story, though.

The solark youtube results are strikingly worse - around 14% wouldn't purchase again.

 

[cs1234]

The solark youtube results are strikingly worse - around 14% wouldn't purchase again.

Historically, the Sol-Ark equipment is significantly more expensive. You might expect more from them because of it and be disappointed more easily. It also had more features involving the grid and exporting, which adds complication and permit requirements.

 

[EJansen]

Jabuds, if you could send me over your email address I will make sure that someone reaches out to you.

Hi Travis - just an FYSA - my issue is still unresolved from this thread - https://diysolarforum.com/threads/eg4-lifepower4-battery-refuses-to-charge-beyond-64.48680/page-2 - Someone did reach out after you asked them to, but I've had no forward momentum. I just want to know how to re-calibrate the batteries (or any other feasible solution so that my batteries fully charge). I've sent the thread to two techs to show data, and one said he couldn't access it and the other stopped responding, so I copied / pasted the data that I posted to the latest tech. Hopefully its a simple fix, but time to resolution has been quite high. Not bashing, just being honest.

 

[Solar Guy Richard]

Richard was the best guy they had and he jumped ship long ago.

Just finally getting around to logging in here again after a few months off - I always knew you liked me :D. In all honestly though, I met with some of the old team at RE+ SE this last week and it's been incredible watching them grow. I definitely miss that place, but am also happy where I'm at both professionally and personally!

 

[timselectric]

Still TheBestDIYGuy

 

[Solar Guy Richard]

Still TheBestDIYGuy

You know it! I've thought about showing off all the home renovations I've been doing on our new house in FL, and plan to definitely do so when we build our house in a few years (we are buying land and doing a full custom built home fully self sustained if possible). It's a few years out but I had to lock in the great name now!

 

[timselectric]

That's sounds awesome.

 

[timselectric]

I hope that the Florida weather is nice for the week after next. I'll be down there on vacation.
I'm actually more excited about the ride home. Because I am going to stop by the 18650batterystore and save on shipping. lol