diy solar

diy solar

What Mini-Split did you use, and Why?

I think with mr cool being aimed at diy I imagine there are the only ones to choose from if you want a warranty and are self installing.

This from mr cool's site :

*State certified or licensed HVAC contractor not required for warranty on
the DIY series units. (Always check your local laws.)
I know someone who has a Mr cool. Doesn't maintain set point. You set it to 70 degrees and it will just keep cooling till well below that. I wouldn't buy one
 
I know someone who has a Mr cool. Doesn't maintain set point. You set it to 70 degrees and it will just keep cooling till well below that. I wouldn't buy one
Well technically every mini split I have does that. What you set it to and what the room is are rarely related.

The wall temperature throws them off depending on how warm the wall gets.

The only unit I have that is dead accurate are the ones with remote thermostats like a traditional hvac home system or the roll around unit I have which the remote is the units actual thermometer.
 
Well technically every mini split I have does that. What you set it to and what the room is are rarely related.

The wall temperature throws them off depending on how warm the wall gets.

The only unit I have that is dead accurate are the ones with remote thermostats like a traditional hvac home system or the roll around unit I have which the remote is the units actual thermometer.
Ok that might be true I don't know. My mini splits are ducted and can either use the temperature sensor in the air handler or the one in the thermostat. They maintain temperature pretty well
 
Ok that might be true I don't know. My mini splits are ducted and can either use the temperature sensor in the air handler or the one in the thermostat. They maintain temperature pretty well
The traditional mini split ductless ones I have seen have a sensor in the air handler on the wall and that's it. I've got more than 9 of them and I have to tinker with the temp settings depending on time of day. My office for example which falls into the extreme category with no insulation (its an poorly enclosed porch :) ) ranges from 70 to 75 with the unit set at 77. Coolest part of the night will be around 75 and during the day it sits around 70.

Now bricked part of the house with good insulation I keep set around 74 and they range from 72 to 74 depending on the time of day.

The ones with sensors in the remotes and the roll around which has the sensor in the remote are pretty accurate within 2 to 4 degree variance from whatever you set them to no matter the time of day.
 
The traditional mini split ductless ones I have seen have a sensor in the air handler on the wall and that's it. I've got more than 9 of them and I have to tinker with the temp settings depending on time of day. My office for example which falls into the extreme category with no insulation (its an poorly enclosed porch :) ) ranges from 70 to 75 with the unit set at 77. Coolest part of the night will be around 75 and during the day it sits around 70.

Now bricked part of the house with good insulation I keep set around 74 and they range from 72 to 74 depending on the time of day.

The ones with sensors in the remotes and the roll around which has the sensor in the remote are pretty accurate within 2 to 4 degree variance from whatever you set them to no matter the time of day.
Ok yours seen to be working well. The Mr cool I know of works more like off/on. It will keep cooling until you turn it off.

Do you have any Mr. Cools?
 
Ok yours seen to be working well. The Mr cool I know of works more like off/on. It will keep cooling until you turn it off.

Do you have any Mr. Cools?
Not yet. I have ramsond brand for my mini splits and DeLonghi Portable Air Conditioner 14,000 BTU as the roll around.

I'm planning on going with the mr cool for my central air swap over from a gas furnace because they support diy and ramsond used to but got ugly about it recently. Had to pay a licensed ac place $60 for a receipt saying the compressor was bad to get ramsond to send me the replacement under warranty.

So I'm going mr cool for the central air swap.
 
How's the mini split doing? And the inverters?
Funny I actually just got on the forum to come to this thread and update. My buddy finally got the time to come over and help me run the wiring from the panel to the AC Disconnect and to the outdoor unit. Got it up and running and it is on and maintaining 80* right now.
So from here on, I will finally be able to start monitoring if it makes a difference or not.
The only unit I have that is dead accurate are the ones with remote thermostats like a traditional hvac home system or the roll around unit I have which the remote is the units actual thermometer.
I will add this Della unit does have the option to use the temp sensor in the remote. I set it over on the other side of the room near the inverters, but not in path of where heat from the inverter would affect it.
 
So it seems everything other than MrCool DIY loses warranty if self installed. Because of the location fees to get out to my cabin for service, I’d rather DIY but buy a well built unit(s).

So, Mitsubishi seems to get top honors if I can get my hands on one and install kit. Daikin seems to be in second place, Della third and others are a mix below that. Need low ambient heating and obviously low power consumption inverter style. Time to rethink this.
 
So it seems everything other than MrCool DIY loses warranty if self installed. Because of the location fees to get out to my cabin for service, I’d rather DIY but buy a well built unit(s).

So, Mitsubishi seems to get top honors if I can get my hands on one and install kit. Daikin seems to be in second place, Della third and others are a mix below that. Need low ambient heating and obviously low power consumption inverter style. Time to rethink this.
Find a local independent HVAC man, get him to sign off for $50, a remote visit inspection via your phone.....easiest $50 he ever made.
 
Find a local independent HVAC man, get him to sign off for $50, a remote visit inspection via your phone.....easiest $50 he ever made.
Ha $50 would be awesome. The local travel expense for any visit is $200 each time and unsure if licensed.
 
So it seems everything other than MrCool DIY loses warranty if self installed. Because of the location fees to get out to my cabin for service, I’d rather DIY but buy a well built unit(s).

So, Mitsubishi seems to get top honors if I can get my hands on one and install kit. Daikin seems to be in second place, Della third and others are a mix below that. Need low ambient heating and obviously low power consumption inverter style. Time to rethink this.
You're overthinking this
 
Ha $50 would be awesome. The local travel expense for any visit is $200 each time and unsure if licensed.
I said find a guy who wants to make $50 by inspecting your work over the phone.....all you need is his license number and sign off on the install.
 
Late to the party.
I chose the Hotspot 48vdc 12k btu.
It made the most sense for me. Because I already have a system and batteries. I didn't need to increase any part of my system to accommodate the mini split. Just connect it to the battery bank and go.
I will be installing more of the same units, later in the build.
 
So it seems everything other than MrCool DIY loses warranty if self installed.
New entrant in pricey Mr Cool DIY category, DEYE / EG4 / SS ...though SS and "warranty fulfillment " are terms that appear daunting to be used together. Just putting info out here. Couldn't go wrong with Mitsubishi warranty or no IMHO.

 
Late to the party.
I chose the Hotspot 48vdc 12k btu.
It made the most sense for me. Because I already have a system and batteries. I didn't need to increase any part of my system to accommodate the mini split. Just connect it to the battery bank and go.
I will be installing more of the same units, later in the build.
If I had it to do over I might go this route on the garage. I love the Mitsubishi but they aren't cheap. Definitely something to consider, especially for the area where the batteries live. Are you looking at 48v units for other areas of the house? I'm wondering what the wiring for those would look like. I don't have any place that doesn't already have a new unit but I'm just curious. Would you set up a separate breaker panel with DC breakers for those units?
 
If I had it to do over I might go this route on the garage. I love the Mitsubishi but they aren't cheap. Definitely something to consider, especially for the area where the batteries live. Are you looking at 48v units for other areas of the house? I'm wondering what the wiring for those would look like. I don't have any place that doesn't already have a new unit but I'm just curious. Would you set up a separate breaker panel with DC breakers for those units?
Yes
48vdc breaker panel, near the units.
 
Hey Y'all, I'm doing my due diligence, and trying to research the Mini-Split to use in my garage. There's as many choices for mini-splits as there are different brands/makes/models of Solar Panels!

My question to those of you who have a mini-split, specifically if you installed it yourself, is what Make/Model did you purchase and Why? Are you happy with you purchase, or would you pick a different one if you had to do it over again?

The why part is mostly going to help me in case I'm not noticing a feature or flaw that I don't know about until I get the unit, especially with me not being a certified HVAC guy or anything.
I selected 3, 9,000 btu units with 3 solar panels each from Hotspot Energy because of the solar and ability to use dc andbthe very high SEER. That was 5 years ago. The indoor units were ceiling ones, not wall units. The first two failed about 6 months ago and the 3rd one failed last month. I replaced them all with locally available Gree and power them with my 12kw system. The Gree work well. Local provider has all of the parts and can service them. The only 'extra' I have done (because I am in a beach location that is incredibly corrosive) is to spray the external unit with an anti corrosive treatment called Markee. I hose the units down about every 6 months and spray the Markee product in everywhere I can reach. So far, I have little to no corrosion.
 
This is the second person (or maybe the same person). to have a problem with the Hotspot and direct solar . So glad to have not gone that route.
Hopefully we don't see this with the Deye and EG4 models. Or maybe it was just the corrosive environment.
 
One thing to put out here is if you are not interested in the diy warranty stuff which is why my next ones will be mr cool the ramsond units I have rock and are pretty cheap. The oldest one I have is over 10 years old now I think with no problems. I had one with a bad compressor and they replaced it and one was damaged in shipping and they replaced it. So ramsond is a good unit and uses very little electricity and is reliable.

They were all diy friendly back in the day but not now. I think they did this because of warranty claims caused by people not knowing what they were doing from talking to them.
 
One thing to put out here is if you are not interested in the diy warranty stuff which is why my next ones will be mr cool the ramsond units I have rock and are pretty cheap. The oldest one I have is over 10 years old now I think with no problems. I had one with a bad compressor and they replaced it and one was damaged in shipping and they replaced it. So ramsond is a good unit and uses very little electricity and is reliable.

They were all diy friendly back in the day but not now. I think they did this because of warranty claims caused by people not knowing what they were doing from talking to them.
I looked into those as well at Home Depot. All the non-DIY ones are about $1700-1800 for > 20 seer 24k btu. Next jump is Mr Cool DIY at $2500. Then you have the Mitsubishi.
 
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