Roast my solar install.

[Sipma02]

My most recent setup that I took some pics of along the way. I didn't really take pics of the panels, because they were installed by someone else. Built a box out of plywood (and paid like $60 something for a sheet, ugh...) to house everything in and allow room for future battery expansion if desired. I'm learning so much more about solar! I really enjoy it. Such a cool concept, and technology is getting so much better. (and cheaper!)

I had a really fun time with this, it was done over a weekend outside, weather was perfect, and it was nice to be outdoors. I'm sure I made a mistake here and there, but the system tested fine and is working well. Solar is dope.

 

[Sipma02]

More pics:







The final install:

 

[Boondock Saint]

Oh yeah me likely. Very clean and spartan looking. Thanks for sharing.

Would love to see the parts list and where you bought your stuff from too :D

 

[Steve_S]

Clean, Tidy and sweetly simple, I LOVE IT ! Well done sir. The only thing that unerves me, is those breakers, some folks have had horrible times with some of those (cheapo knock offs) but I'm a bit more ol'school when it comes to those I guess.

BTW: You have (+) & (-) coming off the same battery ? Hmmmmm

 

[Boondock Saint]

BTW: You have (+) & (-) coming off the same battery ? Hmmmmm

You mean same battery and side as apposed to daig acorss the two batteries, right? (just clarifying for my own understanding)

 

[Steve_S]

The one battery will be the input & output point and unbalance. Best to split the leads across the batts, so Neg or Pos off teh other so each is charged/discharged more evenly.

 

[Sipma02]

The one battery will be the input & output point and unbalance. Best to split the leads across the batts, so Neg or Pos off teh other so each is charged/discharged more evenly.

Very true. For this install, the inverter won't be used too often. Most of the loads are pretty small, so hopefully imbalance won't be too much of an issue. And if it is, there is a bit of extra length on the positive wire behind the battery—I could change it pretty easily. Good eye Steve and thank ya.

 

[Steve_S]

Better to solve a potential problem before it actually becomes a problem. Extra eyes always help catch the little things that we can miss when "on a focussed mission" to get done. I use sanity checks all the time for a lot of stuff.

 

[Sipma02]

Sanity checks are always helpful!

 

[JoeHam]

Looks great.

One nit, I would shrink wrap the big conductors also like the leftmost breaker positive connection for instance. And I would carry the wrap down towards the lugs as far as possible. Especially on the outboard battery.

Make it as difficult as possible for dropped tools to create massive sparks. ?

 

[Sipma02]

Looks great.

One nit, I would shrink wrap the big conductors also like the leftmost breaker positive connection for instance. And I would carry the wrap down towards the lugs as far as possible. Especially on the outboard battery.

Make it as difficult as possible for dropped tools to create massive sparks. ?

I thought of that as well (after the fact, of course)—good call, thank you!

 

[Sky-HHI]

Great to see a well thought out set up, you can be proud of your work. Could you move the inverter and the 2 Victrons up a few inches to relieve the tight turns of the cables below them? Besides that you did a great job.

 

[Zwy]

I'd prefer running battery cables from each battery to a busbar with equal lengths of cable. Then pull power/ground off the busbars. This prevents problems down the road of having one battery discharging/charging faster than the other.

It's those little resistances over time that lead to bigger imbalances.

 

[Sipma02]

Great to see a well thought out set up, you can be proud of your work. Could you move the inverter and the 2 Victrons up a few inches to relieve the tight turns of the cables below them? Besides that you did a great job.

Actually yes, but this person wanted a few inches of room above the components for underneath her cabinet. For next time—for sure.

I'd prefer running battery cables from each battery to a busbar with equal lengths of cable. Then pull power/ground off the busbars. This prevents problems down the road of having one battery discharging/charging faster than the other.

It's those little resistances over time that lead to bigger imbalances.

Actually, I think I'll be doing this next time, and have the positive bus bar feed a 3rd bus bar with all the loads tied to it. If I am understanding you correctly, you mean 3 bus bars total, and 4 wires from the battery (1 from each positive, and 1 from each negative?) An additional reason I like that is because then you can have a single cutoff switch between the 2 positive bus bars to disconnect the entire system. It could be nice to disconnect the entire system for storage, emergencies, etc.

 

[Sanwizard]

More pics:
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The final install:
View attachment 48554

There have been multiple posts on how bad those 4 chinese breakers are. I would look into that. Dont go cheap on breakers or fuses. I bought a Blue Sea systems battery switch for my 48V system, and found out that they are only rated TO 48V, and are not supported over that.
I had to swap it out for a 60V rated switch.

 

[Zwy]

Actually yes, but this person wanted a few inches of room above the components for underneath her cabinet. For next time—for sure.



Actually, I think I'll be doing this next time, and have the positive bus bar feed a 3rd bus bar with all the loads tied to it. If I am understanding you correctly, you mean 3 bus bars total, and 4 wires from the battery (1 from each positive, and 1 from each negative?) An additional reason I like that is because then you can have a single cutoff switch between the 2 positive bus bars to disconnect the entire system. It could be nice to disconnect the entire system for storage, emergencies, etc.

Yes, both batteries are connected to the busbars by 4 cables. The 3rd busbar would be optional, just would be determined by how many circuits and wire size. Actually, if you did it that way, you would need a 4th for the negative side.

I bought one these https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000K2K6L6/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o05_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1 for splitting off power and negative along with the jumpers. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000K2IL1I/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o05_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[tanoshimini]

The final install:
View attachment 48554

For the love of all that is holy, please apply heat shrink to those lugs. It only takes a few minutes to do, and you'd go from a 9 to a 10. It makes my eye twitch.

 

[chrisski]

The breakers you have seem to be rated for 48 VDC, so is your solar input less than that? Also for those breakers, they look like audio breakers to me, so might not be built for something like main power disconnect. They tend not to blow as quick as fuses, and I’m not sure of their AIC rating. Lithium batteries can have significant amounts of power and risk arcing if the circuit breaker is not designed for it.

I used a ABYC rated ANL fuse for batteries, probably should have used a Class T fuse. For my Solar panels I used 150 VDC and 250 VDC breakers from midnite solar.

 

[1 watt]

Looks nice! Maybe reroute the 14/2 “fusible link” so it doesn’t make magic smoke later ?

 

[Sipma02]

Looks nice! Maybe reroute the 14/2 “fusible link” so it doesn’t make magic smoke later ?

Ha! Killer eye. Replaced last week actually, all is well!