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The cells aren't junk and are from a manufacturer with a good reputation, so there is that. The power side of it looks all very well done. No spaghetti wiring, nice beefy copper pads etc. The battery will do what it says on the box and Victron will be around in 5 years time if it doesn't...

Geez, you guys just have no clue. Down here the panels emit light instead of absorbing it.

The topic of DC breaker wiring polarity (ie, which side of the breaker is the source and which is the sink) has been raised a few times on the forum. I'm not sure if this clip has been posted before, but if not this is a must for everyone to watch.

48V is safe unless you go to extraordinary lengths to get it into your body, such as literally sticking the wires into your fingers or taking a dip on the sea and then immediately grabbing a 48v supply in both hands. Your skin is simply too high a resistance for sufficient current to flow in...

The physical size should be more than sufficient indicator. It won't do 20kW even if it was on fire. Maybe if you directed a jet of pure oxygen at it while it was on fire. ?

Agree completely. Solar+battery for me isn't an economic proposal. From a purely monetary point of view I'd be better off just paying the electricity bill, but then I'd have to find something else to tinker with.

Bloody hell. We get it. There's no need to make 50000 double spaced posts about it. It's his decision if he wants to blow the thing up or not.

.... and with that he was never seen again. The secret society has silenced another.

OK, Since you don't really appear to be the slightest bit interested in doing things properly or even making an attempt at understanding your loads: 20 x Panasonic 330 watt Module 96 Cell HIT – Black – 40mm Frame solar panels 8 x 100Ah 12V Battleborn LiFePO4 batteries Totally stupid...

If it's a decent bus bar and all the fittings etc are done up properly and all else being equal there won't be a lot of difference between the current from the closest and furtherest bank but there will be a difference. If that worries you you could compensate with different length wires on...

There's fear, but there's a lack of desire too. I'd guess that the majority of people that buy batteries are the later. They just want a device they can plonk down and say done. There is always going to be people chasing the bottom shelf lowest possible price, and paying the price of low...

Nowhere usually, apart from the ones that use it to make smoke. Decent controllers simply current limit either on their input or output and as a consequence the voltage on the array rises towards Voc. Current beyond their limiting doesn't flow, no energy to dissipate, no heat. Think of it in...

24v cuts the amps to produce a given wattage in half, it doesn't reduce your power. 3kW at 12 volts = 250 amps, 3kW at 24 volts = 125 amps. You would use a 24v battery, a charger capable of charging a 24v battery and inverter capable of accepting 24v. Out the end comes '3000 watts' of AC...

Most panels just get dusty and a few shots of bird crap. A hose and a foam brush / squeege combination thing and your done. I don't see the need for any cleaning chemicals in most situations. A chainsaw will take care of sap problems.

I've been downloading the internet and saving it on hard disks for years in case it goes away. You can never be too prepared.

Yes, with conditions. You must be able to disable or at the very least hobble (set time to minimum, and voltage to float) equalisation charging. You must be able to set absorption stage charging to complete once your battery is charged, either via battery current detection or via time...

I haven't been around at all for some time but this looks like the best place to say it. What I see going on around the world at the moment with corona fills me with sadness. Keep yourselves safe, regardless of what your government tells you. Keep your distance from everyone that doesn't...

Never, ever, exceed the rated maximum voltage on a PV charge controller. This is why you ruined your Victron charger. Panel voltage is related to cell temperature. The specs you see on the label on the back of the panel are with the cells at 25c. Typical mono cells have a voltage derate...

Sad that your system is down, but on the bright side things didn't get out of control and burn your house down.

Just watched the final in the series of YT clips on the battery debacle and IMO the only way to see what they really do is to purchase one anonymously. Anything sent specifically to say 'look what we are doing now' would have to be treated with suspicion.

Example calculations for when wiring panels long distances (e.g., 100') to the house I have a 10 kW array and an Outback FLEXmax 100 that can take upto 64 amps and 300V, so I've wired my panels in series to minimize the current and am at 250V and 40 amps. But, to support marital bliss, the...

Well it's the 22nd here. WHERE THE HELL IS MY BATTERY?! ;) I WANT ONE NOW. I CAN'T WAIT.

Looks like the sort of breaker that is all over ebay. Wouldn't trust it to break an egg let alone 170amps. Buy a decent breaker. Just my opinion :)

Using aliexpress stuff probably isn't the best start. You spin the wheel on quality and with covid19 delivery times are unknown. That's not to say using ali* is bad, it's just that it's probably a bit of an unnecessary risk. @upnorthandpersonal seems to have done well, at least he's still...

Agreed, it does seem like there are more posts in that vein, but probably just related to the number of people building their own batteries, lack of experience doing it leading to failed cells and not forgetting that the community is becoming more confident purchasing direct from China and being...

Someone went on a rampage in a nearby street a few weeks ago smashing a car into power poles. They managed to break one, knock another at an angle and ended up on their side against another. Power was off for 12 hours from about 3am. I didn't even notice the mains was off, solar installation...

That will certainly do the pre-charge. Use a meter to watch the voltage rise the first time to gauge how long the button should be pressed. If the inverter is off, most of them are soft off these days, the charge on the capacitors won't be depleted significantly over a few seconds between you...

He seems to be quite happy to ignore all the advice about the breaker problem so far, honestly sounds like another thread where the person has already made up their mind. See other thead where he's asking about inverters. :(

You can't damage a panel by shorting the leads. There is an almost 100% chance that you just blew the fuse in the meter.

We often talk about power losses / voltage drops / etc in cabling for PV systems and youtube spat out the latest John Ward clip at me today. Some people may find this useful.