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  • Post in thread: Does anyone on here repair faulty inverter boards - shorted fets on Sunny Island

    I repair inverters for a living and I would say that's repairable but the key is whether the signals are OK. When we repair this kind of board we remove all of the FETs and then check all of the gates for proper signal. Use a Scope and make sure there is no DC component. If it's all OK then map...
  • Post in thread: Modified Sine Inverter Uses

    I've still got a Sunbeam toaster on my kitchen counter. Anyone born before 1980 may remember these, no levers you just dropped bread into the slots and they slowley lowered themselves down and when toasted they slowly rose back up for you. Incredible design based on the fact that the tungsten...
  • Post in thread: What was your most interesting recent non solar project?

    In the last year I, with the help of youtube and some manuals, taught myself how to rebuild automatic transmissions. One of the only things on a car I hadn't done, I've rebuilt engines, brakes, steering etc. I started with the GM 4L60E transmission which is common as all get out. Used in all...
  • Post in thread: EG4 18K - Air Conditioning won’t run without grid

    Do you know what Power Factor is? Maybe your unit is recognizing bad power factor as the compressor starts and it's refusing to run. Wattage is based on a power factor of 1. As soon as you power a heavy motor like a compressor the power factor goes off and you start to draw inductive power...
  • Post in thread: Three AC units in one house - How to stop them from turning on all at once

    Look at the diagram again. Two can run at the same time. If any two are running the third will not start. If two are running and third calls for action nothing happens until one of the others stops. Eg, If the livingroom and the kitchen are both running and the bedroom gets warm the bedroom...
  • Post in thread: Modified Sine Inverter Uses

    That's an important fact. Modern electronics power supplies use a three stage process to make the low voltage DC required by the TV/computer. The first stage is just a bridge rectifier. In order to save money all power supplies are now built to work anywhere in the world so this first input...
  • Post in thread: Feast or Famine, The off grid solar dilemma.

    I've wondered if summer excess could be dumped into small scale carbon capture facilities and the credits could be sold to the energy companies.
  • Post in thread: Off grid new house build.

    BTW.. The results of only one day of audit pointed me directly to where all my power is being used. The business JRElectronics has a shop where we repair industrial circuit boards and the business also has a server rack full of old HP Proliant servers that run the phones, serve the finance...
  • Post in thread: Renogy 2000W Inverter Internal Fuse Question

    That's not how electronics work. If the fuses are all in parallel and they are all the same rating then they all, nominally, blow together. If you want them to cascade they need to be different values, eg: .8A, .9A, 1A, 1.1A etc. Remember that the fuses are not there to protect the inverter...
  • Post in thread: Co-worker says Im wrong. Maybe you can tell me if I'm crazy.....

    Consider also that the amount you earn per hour is nowhere near the amount of money the company has to pay to keep you employed. An employee paid $40 per hour could easily be costing the company $80-$100/hour. With that in mind do as the boss says, if you waste several hours hauling batteries...
  • Post in thread: Off grid new house build.

    TBH, the "separate building for fire safety" really turns me off. I'm old and old school I guess, FLA is a technology I've been working with for a lot of years. I know how to work a hydrometer and I'm familiar with equalizing processes. I also know how to empty a battery, recondition the plates...
  • Post in thread: Off grid new house build.

    There will definitely be a wood stove in the living room to heat the common area. I've probably got a season or three just from downed trees that I'll clean up the first years. After that I'll have to decide if I want to drop my own trees or buy firewood pre-cut. That doesn't affect electricity...
  • Post in thread: Inverter Neutral to Ground Bonding

    That's the thing, there is no way to properly do the bonding. Bonding occurs at the source, not the load. Your house, for example, had the neutral and ground bonded at the main fuse box and then subsequent sub panels are not bonded (by code). Outlet boxes do not bond N and G and...
  • Post in thread: Modified Sine Inverter Uses

    It's also possible that the MSW inverters that have given people problems were cheap Chinese trash and now all MSW inverters are getting tarred with the same brush. The trouble may not be the MSW it may be the cheap Chinese design and manufacturing. I owned a brown Ford Pinto hatchback once...
  • Post in thread: Off grid new house build.

    I'll look but keep in mind I'm 59 years old so I don't want to pay extra for anything to last longer than 10-15 years. A great deal on batteries that will last 20-25 years is lost on me. I'll be designing with a 15 year lifespan. The 50% rule is good to consider because it changes the math.
  • Post in thread: Easement removal?

    Read what the easement actually says. Mine says something along the lines of "I will not build a permanent structure on, over or under the easment a structure that may interfere with or endanger the distribution line". If that's what yours says then you can build anywhere because there are no...
  • Post in thread: Off grid new house build.

    Here is what I purchased from Amazon to monitor my current house. https://www.amazon.ca/3-Phase-Emporia-Electricity-Metering-Conserve/dp/B08CJ3VC79/ref=sr_1_3?crid=XGL8LLMFQ3BM&keywords=emporia&qid=1679876247&sprefix=emporia%2Caps%2C187&sr=8-3
  • Post in thread: Three AC units in one house - How to stop them from turning on all at once

    Just use relays on the signal lines from the thermostats to the compressors. You will need Qty:3, three pole, double throw relays. Each relay will require at least one other relay to be off before it can close and start it's respective compressor. If 2 and 3 are on 1 can't start. If 1 and 3...
  • Post in thread: Inverter Neutral to Ground Bonding

    Good UL listed inverter/chargers switch the ground when they change from utility power to inverter power. There is an extra set of contacts in the relay to do this. When on utility power the ground for the load is connected to the ground wire of the utility feed and not internally to the...
  • Post in thread: Off grid new house build.

    I am going to kick myself even more if I pay a premium price for lithium batteries and they only last ten years and the company is gone in the wind. I can't afford Battle Born or Trojan in a lithium just now, still too expensive. Are there other lithium battery manufacturers that actually own...
  • Post in thread: Off grid new house build.

    So if I bought two of the SOK server racks at 25kWh each I could run my house for a day and a half. Price is $24700Cdn. 50kWh would be plenty of storage for my needs for a day or so. Surrette will sell me 12 of their 371Ah batteries for $18312 configured in three strings of 4 I'll also get...
  • Post in thread: Off grid new house build.

    Can you be more specific Blue Dog? Is it having to monitor and fill the water or is it more than that? Remember I'll be retired and I'm an electronics tech so checking water levels once a week won't bother me too much but if there is more I'd like to hear. I'm in Canada Ampster so I need heat...
  • Post in thread: Off grid new house build.

    Hi All I've been off for the past couple of weeks doing an audit of my power requirements and trying to reduce my consumption by changing old servers for new. I'm now convinced I can survive on 35kWh per day. My next step was to use the numbers from the PVWatts site to create a spreadsheet and...
  • Post in thread: Off grid new house build.

    I've got other amounts for the inverters, I want the charge controllers separate so they charge the batteries directly. Here are my rough numbers for now: I'm building this house new from scratch so I've got every opportunity to run the wires at the rough in stage rather than trying to...
  • Post in thread: Off grid new house build.

    I want to stick with FLA. Reasons explained earlier in thread. I would like Schneider inverters if I can afford them, I'm very familiar with repairing Trace and Xantrex so Schneider seems like the natural choice. I could get away with a smaller Genny and I'll buy that used from Craigslist or...
  • Post in thread: Off grid new house build.

    Thanks Matt, yes we're trading a view from our living room window of Mount Baker in Washington state for four acres and a view of St Mary's bay. Totally different. Interesting Video Danke, I think I understand that the charge controllers are AC linked to the inverter generators but he doesn't...
  • Post in thread: Off grid new house build.

    It's sort of based on $15000 budget for panels and covering the whole 2600 sqft roof. It's a very rough estimate based on used panels. When I looked at new the prices soared for the amount of KW I need in the array. I'd prefer to climb my roof twice a year to having a huge solar panel array on...
  • Post in thread: Question about DC to DC charging

    It wouldn't matter if everything was 100% efficient but since it's not this arrangement will eventually drain your batteries
  • Post in thread: Three AC units in one house - How to stop them from turning on all at once

    Yes. In actual life the chances of two of them starting at the very same instant are ridiculously long odds. Even so, if they have soft start caps it shouldn't be a problem. I don't know where this idea that the compressors continue to run came from. I've been servicing my own AC systems for...
  • Post in thread: Off grid new house build.

    Hmmm. Maybe I had better take another look. If Hedges numbers are real without buying no name batteries off Amazon. Any brand suggestions anyone? Keep in mind I'll be using about 35kWh per day and I'll have a genny to run each day if needed. I only plan on enough battery for one day.
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