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Here we go, just snapped them for ya! :) like o said i appreciate the feedback but im pretty set on DC solar heating, just trying to make it reliable and safe. This is nothing new for livestock tanks. Im no visionary Im doing what other people have already done with my own twist. David Poz...

That would be the ultimate in efficiency but ultimately not the most efficient use of my dollars. Solar is about 15 cents a watt used where i live. I have acreage so space is no concern. My pool is not near my freezer, my air conditioner is not near my pool. I can just keep up the solar sprawl...

I actually do this for a living. LTS or Hikvision would be your best bet for cheapest option. For line of sight i would recommend ubiquiti 5ghz bridges (Customer end points work great and cheap). If you are outside the city limits 2.4ghz might get yoy a little more bang for your buck depending...

E-rate just reminds me of WAN and wifi deployments in schools and libraries. All tongue in cheek references aside it seems that saying something is discharging at 1C or at 1E has no actual difference in meaning. I suppose if you said the battery was loaded at 1E or 1C then E would be discharging...

I figure a 100 gal water heater is a really inexpensive battery that can be charged during non peak hours and can be used during peak hours. Right now we have 6 people and a single 40 gallon water heater. Having more capacity and a faster tank reheat time is almost the most important part...

Sorry For the Delay in getting this completed Photo up here. I have been running this for over a month. It has averaged 8Kwh each day last month. Now that its just sunny all day production is at 10Kwh or a little over each day. I monitor the system with a wireless baby monitor that sits in my...

I like that battery isolator/relay. I plan to use the native panel voltage (whatever it ends up being) I'm not a fan of making heat to convert something when I am trying to make heat. As for the dual 600 watt elements not being able to overheat a tank you are probably correct under normal usage...

"Bunn not Bitter" The Bunn brand coffee pots make a full 10-12 cups in less than 3 minutes. They also continuously keep the water hot at all times. Used one for years and was the first person in the office every morning. Turn off the alarm, grounds, water its going. Walk into the office turn on...

I read the terms of Square Trade and realized that the warranty is pretty much worthless. They will make you pay for diagnosis of the issue but will gladly pay for repair or replacement. Sometimes they will randomly replace your item with one that is not the same item. You will have amazingly...

Ok plans evolve over time. I am leaning towards the boost converter seen in another thread since i cant seem to easily match panels to elements. As this evolves i will update. Looking to add approx 2750 watts of used solar. This will heat water during daylight hours and then i will have a timer...

So I have worked with all types of APC brand by Schneider Electric. Most are square wave that run on 12 volts, 24/48 volt systems some are good sin wave. That being said I have seen these power loads in cabinets when the temp was well in excess of 110 degrees outside. Internal temps through the...

So my brother picked up an aftermarket hard top for his 1953 Willys jeep that has no top at all. The jeep is solid but the top was very cheap and very rusty. It included doors and windows. I was discussing Electrolysis with him to remove the rust with baking soda and dc voltage. We are thinking...

Not very many people are even using LTO batteries at this point. Almost everything would have to be made custom which means tha answer would be... "it depends" You can buy LTO batteries 2nd hand though, sometimes. You can also buy LTO batteries that are second hand when you purchased thrm new.

Ok I am back at it. Picked up 10(ten) 4 year old never used panels from an installer for very little money. 30 volts 9 amps 255ish watts. I picked up a 36v heating element and plan to hook up directly while i work on a plan to get my panel voltage to a steady 12ish volts for the 600 watt...

yeah awesome to see that other people are doing the same thing. you know what they say. Smart people think alike but i always joke "Smart people think like me" :cool:

Ok so i spoke with an HVAC engineer and he was loving the idea. I can use what is called a snap disk thermostat. i would need a temperature rise open snap disk thermostat ($6) that is normally closed to control a 40 amp relay($12). The snap disk thermostats are AC powered. I found an AC powered...

Lithium will last quite a lot longer if you leave them at 70-80% SOC. If you aren't needing the capacity keep them in the middle between 40-70% soc for daily usage. Tesla has realized this some time ago and recommends daily charging to be done to a percentage of battery for longevity. If you...

This system has had zero downtime since installed. I expanded it last summer adding 2500 watts of panels and maxed my inverters to 14 on the string. I regularly produce 2.8-3 kw for 6 hours a day. Panels aren't facing any specific direction so outpul is lower but everything is used and so cheap...

I understand what you are saying but i will address the reasons in order that you stated. Low power from solar can be used over time to heat the same as high power heating but with more duration. example: 4,000 watt heats 40 gal in 30 min. 2000 watt in 1 hour. 1,000 watt in 2 hour and finally...

Heaven Forbid people try to do things themselves... I fear mandated integrated batteries at some point, cell phones have literally done that for lots of reasons, many of them are not consumer oriented. I guess I just wont buy LG products...

Im using new inverters from a company that went out of business. I dont really want to give away the brand at the moment because id hate for them to go out of stock. As soon as they're gone they're gone and im buying them as i can afford them at very low cost vs. New.

To be fair My quored price was for someone else installing everything. In my state and county permitting is expensive, and everything is highly regulated. (Even solar racking has to be specifically approved) i priced just getting the smallest system then adding on with my own and it was still...

Good Morning power producers, I am new here but have done quite a bit in the past when it comes to power related projects. I worked in a large network of 12,000 users and around 20,000-30,000 devices per day and was a lead tech. Lots of experience with APC backup units, solar, low voltage wire...

Good Afternoon friends, I posted an introduction post kind of describing my background and power usage issues I am currently experiencing, you can find it here: New to the Forum, Project on the way The project is in its infancy and it will be more of a fun thing to do that hopefully saves me...

awesome! thank you for the info! I feel like I knew that at one point because I was thinking of using a battery to power an inverter at night. Don't know why 2 and 2 didnt click but it makes super sense now! THANK YOU

I would use my multimeter to see what your adjustments are doing on the battery side of things. mainly I think you are just looking for voltage cutoffs. Im guessing its adjustable as to what the charge voltage is and what the charge voltage cutoff is. Find out what your battery is supposed to...

Another issue is your free Battery may have slowly sulphated to death. I mean at this point we have spoken on more solar, solar charge controllers, Diodes (including LED diode) and checking the actual current. Just to add something else to the mix I think you should upgrade the battery to LTO...

Well I ordered one Grid tie inverter to test and make sure I wasn't throwing money away before I bought a bunch of them. It came in the mail yesterday and I spent the night reading through the manual. It seems that I will be able to use either my old sharp panels (140 watt from 2004) or my...

...And rewire solar into series? Its better for mppt. ?

So this is where it gets to be a little bit tricky. Remember you could always just buy another panel to get more power. With that being said Real life net gains are usually up to 30% more power for MPPT vs PWM in the Winter and up to 20% more power in the summer. This is with matched panels...