Recent content by orangezero

A few years back I purchased a dmppt450 from Electrodacus but did not have enough solar panels to use it. Now I have some more panels and ten 16 gallon plastic barrels with 18awg wire for some tests. It should be rather automatic which was the selling point for me. There wasn't any technique I...

Am I not wrong in thinking "when conditions get worse" almost nothing you can do will get you much heat? Doesn't that account for a very small percentage of total heat production? It sounds to me like most of the time 1000w of panels will give 600-900w of solar. Those bad times you are talking...

Watched your video, thank you for sharing. I like the idea of using your sand to get water out of wood or to make quick lime. Cleaning out the garage today, and found two bags of sand. At the very least I should do an "experiment" where I heat the sand enough to dry it out... :) I know this is...

Any projects that have progressed with the sand batteries? In the US there has been a recurring joke about retailers selling 8 hot dogs in a pack vs 10 hot dog buns. This happens with solar panels and heating elements; both come in fixed and often incompatible combinations. I like the idea of...

I found attaching busbars and bolts and nuts to be neither time consuming nor much of a PITA, which is how many bare cells are combined. It was way easier than the mental energy needed to design a system. Someone who finds these things difficult would not typically want to diy a solar system in...

I don't know why so many continue to encourage fellow DIYers to buy costly, premade 12v packs and then link them all together in some way that is or isn't recommended by the manufacturer. Sidestep most of the issues discussed above by purchasing your own bms for whatever voltage you decide...

I've used LTO pouch cells in relatively low power applications with no bms at all. If you avoid a bms for whatever reason, I think it would be nice to have a small screen that displays the voltage of each cell in series so you could self-monitor. At the very least a single total voltage...

I had a longwinded explanation typed out, but the short answer typically is, "get one more panel." I am aware this is often not available or affordable on other solar setups which have panels in series to get higher voltages. This flexibility is another advantage for the Electrodacus system...

What types of numbers are you getting from these four panels? I have ten 250w panels hooked to my sbms120 and it can produce over 1850w in full sun.

Check electrodacus's site as he just posted some info comparing 3 x 255w and 3 x 260w panels on a sbms0+dssr50 vs 6 x 260w panels on a sbms+Victron 50a mppt charger. It looks like on a sunny day the mppt was around 5-6% more efficient. It will be interesting to see his results on overcast days...

I should also point out the cost. I can occasionally find the Ushaped Midea units on facebook marketplace for $100-150 used. I picked one up on clearance at walmart for $200 a few years ago at the end of summer. And not only is it more powerful and energy efficient, it sounds somewhere around...

I have a somewhat similar system. I use a U shaped Midea window AC that is 8000btu. My much older traditional 6000btu AC window unit would occasionally trip up my inverter when it started and other things were being used in the house. My newer midea has never caused an issue. The difference is...

I saw my purchase as directly economically supporting someone I hope will be around in a few years to build other products (or maybe help me troubleshoot). I could have easily spent a lot more money on Aliexpress or Amazon and received various black boxes that I wired together with no...

One person's primitive is another person's simplicity and elegant design. What type of system were you attempting to set up that couldn't be done with the Electrodacus system? I have a 4000w cheap inverter using 200ah 8s 24v lifepo4 battery. The sbms120 keeps my cells voltages very close and I...

I just noticed on his forum Dacian purchased a Victron mppt unit and is currently testing it with a similar dssr50 and sbms0 setup side-by-side. I look forward to his results in the next few weeks. I'm happy enough with my sbms120 that in 2.5yrs I haven't considered switching but just added more...