Most reacted threads

Just received 6-48v 110ah server batteries from Trophy. Bit of a risk buying from a new vendor, but several things sold me on them: The owner, Dan, seems like to stand-up guy (but I’m a pushover) The batteries have heaters! My cabin is at elevation and gets pretty cold and unattended They had...

This is sort of a joke at this point, but as more people adopt EV’s how knows: I have a very large (too large for my actual usage, (but I overbuild everything) solar array at my off grid location that is far from gas stations and recharging locations. I recently helped a hiker recharge his Tesla...

I have 5 acres and an excavator and decided it would fun to try a low-tech geothermal heating and cooling system by burying 600 feet of plastic water pipe down 8 feet and connecting to radiator/pump/fan in my shed that has my lifepo/inverters. I'm in a cold region and I figure I can stabilize...

I got these 48 volt strip lights connected directly to my server rack batteries. It works great. I’m using a remote control 48 volt switch I got off amazon. This is in my power house with the inverter and battery bank. These lights draw almost nothing in current, and are extremely bright. It was...

I’m sure this is obvious to most folks, ( at least those who still feel it’s okay to publicly discuss Christmas), but now that I have solar/batteries i pay a lot more attention to these things., I measured my old Christmas tree lights and discovered that the string was using over 175 watts for...

I have an off grid cabin in Northern NH in the mountains that i visit a lot, but leave unheated. I redesigned the plumbing several years ago to plumb a drain back valve and a small compressor to blow out the lines when I left in winter months, Although this ok, small amount residual water...

I just came into a small windfall of cash, and rather than spend it on hookers and booze, I think I may expand my battery bank. I have a pretty small bank (30kwh) currently and want to significantly expand it because I have huge solar array and I am basically crazy. With the recent posts on...

I was all set to install my own, but when I realized that I could pay someone to do it... I hired a firm that only does ground mounts. It was a bit expensive, because of my location, but definitely worth it. I'm glad I didn't do it myself. I could of, but these guys did in 4 hours.. It would...

I've been curious how State of Health (SOH) is calculated in LiFePO4 batteries by BMS's. Is this just a fancy count of charge cycles, or is measuring some other electrical/physical characteristic of the battery? Have these SOH values been empirically validated by any independent group? Sounds...

One of Sol Ark’s much touted features is the ability use small, dirty voltage, generators (albeit 240 volt only). Ive been charging my batteries with it happily at 5500 watts with a small honda gas generator. Some folks might want to consider this feature, if it’s useful to them..

After two full, cold winters (heading into a third) my renogy heated 12v battery has been working like a champ as starter for my Honda 7000is generator. Previous to this, the starter battery on the generator would drain and not recharge when the generator ran. Now I have a 100 watt panel...

These new server batteries and big inverters are heavy, and since I take the 'Y" in DIY seriously, I thought I'd better spend my money on some mechanical advantage, rather than an orthopedic surgeon. I bought this cabinet lifter and it was way better than I expected at lifting batteries/inverters.

Looking for advice (preferably from someone who has actually done this) used an inverter to power my cabin. My primary draw is a 240 volt 1hp well pump @ 500 feet depth. I have been running it for years with a 6500 watt Honda generator, but even with that the generator pulls pretty hard when the...

Has anyone bought/used one of these? Are these a new thing? https://www.electricgeneratorsdirect.com/Kohler-6VSG-QS18-Standby-Generator/p121124.html

I have been toying with the idea of using a 240Volt water heater powered with the excess PV from my inverter dump load to store and release heat(more slowly than a resistive heater) in my workshed/power house. My idea is to fill the system with propylene glycol and heat and pump that through a...

Does anyone have an opinion (preferably based on experience or first hand knowledge) about the practicality/safety of using an underground septic tank as an accessible vault (root cellar) to store a large battery bank to provide a temperature stabilized environment rather than trying to...

Does anyone have any experience with the Sol Ark 12K and using a small generator to supplement the PV? I have my Honda 65000 240v generator connected to the Sol Ark's Grid terminals and the configured to use Gen to Grid setting. Using the latest firmware from SA. The generator charges the...

There seems to be a national (US) panel shortage now. Have others seen this? I was fortunate I bought my panels early this year, but I tried to order a few more to fill out my ground mount and the distributors are rationing them....

I was curious if anyone has firsthand experience with an ocpd actually protecting your inverter/home from a lightning strike? I've had lightning strike a tree near me once and I can't believe a little electronic gizmo could dissipate and shunt that amount of energy.... I just installed them on...

I've seen some posts here that make we wonder. I'm always very suspicious of overly negative or positive posts anyway, unless from Will that is ;)

I've been eyeing these.. https://steffes.com/ets/room-unit/ I have a lot of periodic excess solar, and this seemed like a painless way to harness them for my power shack to keep my equipment/batteries warm and give me a warmer place to work..

The Unique brand of off-grid propane refrigerators have an options to use them with 120volt AC. Does anyone run one of these this way? How much power do they consume? The manual says 300 watts… is that continuous ??

I'm dreaming here (assuming current chemistry tech): Built-in wifi/web server, management software that can communicate with all batteries in bank and expose a REST API for remote monitoring Remotely programmable heaters (allow to self-preheat even if not recieving PV) Configurable terminal...

I noticed in the Sol Ark App (I have a 12K) there is a setting named "LowPowerMode" I don't recall seeing this before, or documented. Maybe something relevant to another model?

(non-electrician asking naively..) I'm planning an off-grid system around a Sol-Ark 12k which I would normally plan to have connected to the Sol-Ark 'grid' breaker to my generator (240v split phase) with autostart. What kind of bypass switch should I get to bypass the inverter and feed my cabin...

I have my Bluetti AC200p connected to the dump load on my Sol Ark 12K. The Bluetti runs my Starlink and routers. With my size system, the bluetti is pretty much always fully charge (90-100). It’s this bad for the bluetti to always have the chargers plugged in (i have two bluetti AC chargers)?

Does anyone have any experience/advice/cautions about using a secondary charge controller on the same battery bank as the Sol-Ark? I was hoping that it would be possible to connect something like a Schneider 100A mppt to the same bus bar as the Sol Ark. I know they would need to both be...

I have an off grid cabin built in 1900 and probably wired in the 80’s (generator, now solar) and I think the chipmunks have gnawed wires in wall behind pine tongue and groove paneling. I know approximately where the short is. Are there any inexpensive tracers that will locate a shorted wire...

My server rack manufacturer told me that their batteries do not measure power (SOC) if it is below .5A. What this means, is if you have large battery bank and extended periods of low energy usage, the SOC will never update off 100%. Is this a common thing with all BMSs? What good is closed loop...

My off grid cabin has a 1000 gallon propane tank (buried) that I fill up in the fall to use during the winter. I don't heat it when I'm not there, but I would like to use it to heat a planned battery box. My first concern is always safety. I plan on eventually setting up a 48volt system with an...