Recent content by wheelman55

Interesting situation. If you can plan ahead as to when you’ll use power in the barn, you can let the batteries sit at 60% SOC. Then let the batteries come to full charge the day before you use the barn. Otherwise just use the power as you wish, when you wish, and don’t sweat it. FYI...

PS. Once you get your off grid solar up and running, don’t do any firmware updates, unless you are having issues. Pretty much all fw updates are for grid tie issues. In more than a few cases these updates have caused off grid gear to be bricked. Research to see which firmware version works...

A couple of things. Shed size, internet and AC in the vault. Make the shed /vault large enough to accommodate future expansion of solar gear. For instance a 15 ft or 20 ft wall will allow much more room for “what if”. A wise man who specializes in off grid solar told that there are two kinds...

OP. Still getting headaches 😀 Please break your posts into much smaller paragraphs. You’ll get more help if you do. It seems like you’ll need to get a basic understanding of solar, wiring, batteries, etc. before you begin your journey. Also do your best to keep your posts concise ie asking...

Barring bad crimps and loose connections, keeping the batts at 77F degrees should increase their life. Also won’t loose as much efficiency. We put a mini split in our electronics shed and keep the temp set at 77. We’re in the hot desert. I figure that energy wise the split runs for free...

Their stuff is crazy good. If you need just a few cables, Tony (owns ceautoelectric) will do the crimping for you. Pick your cable size and length and they crimp with their 12 ton hydraulic press. Here's a link that has a good picture of one of their crimps cut in half...

If you stick with Growatts recommendation of 2 AWG copper wire, buy a less than 188 amp fuse, plus an extra and you should be good to go.

What wire size does Growatt recommend?

These are made for exactly this use. https://nsi-sales.com/sitg_series.htm

Seconding (thirding:)) what’s been said. I use a high quality Greenlee crimper. Used they are $300...

This is US based company. https://ceautoelectricsupply.com/product/mega-butt-connectors/

PS. Try to find tools that have a “soft start”. Much easier on your solar gear.

My advice is to do it once and do it right. The tools that you want to power require a stout system. If you do a small system you’ll discover its limitations pretty quickly. If you’ve got the financial resources to do it right and want to do it yourself, I recommend using a certain offgrid...

Ok. Lighting is simple. Adding outlets gets more complex and likely more expensive. If adding outlets you need to know what you want to power. Some items like laptop computers are happy with modified sine wave. Other items, like certain battery chargers for mobile tools require pure sine...

This doesn’t need to be complex. I’ve had ARB fridges (similar to Dometic) for 12 years now. The fridges are on their own battery. If I’m driving a lot this battery gets charged by the vehicle’s alternator. If I’m not driving, the battery gets charged by a ZAMP folding solar panel that has a...