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I’m in the market for 10 awg solar (outdoor rated) wire. Interestingly prices are pretty dramatically different at my usual vendors. I’ve never purchased from Windy Nation. Though I’m generally aware they’ve been around for a while. Any concerns? Thanks

In 100% convinced by those who say everything should be bonded together and run to a single earth ground consisting of two grid rods at least 6’ aside and bonded together. This includes the frames of solar panels and the racking system. But, what do I make of a racking system that is...

Good evening, I’m taking another run at figuring out a way to air condition my conex. Here’s what I know so far: 1. Current Connected programmed my Quattro to shut down at 48 V. This threshold can be changed. 2. When voltage rises, the Quattro will attempt to restart. I believe 3 times...

Here’s my expedient ground mount. I’ve got to get some power to cool the conex before summer. Expansion later. Plan as follows: 3 panels per string at 38.7 volts. 1.2 temperature safety factor. 139.2 volts on Victron 150/35. Check. 9.26 amps Isc per string. 3 strings. 27.78 amps...

The big picture is that I’d like to set up an air conditioner in my cabin. And I’d like it to auto restart if I ever run the batteries down to the recommended 48 volt disconnect. All off-grid. Until construction is complete, it’s going to be a window unit. I’d like it to run 10 hours a day...

I happen to have three different brands of ceiling tile on hand. So I tested them to see if they were fire resistant. Armstrong, Certainteed, and USG. They all glow red hot. None of them sustained a fire. Though the USG flame persisted for one to two seconds before it went out. This...

I’m wondering how one can ensure that bonded electrical components are functioning as intended. Specifically, I can imagine measuring continuity between two points, and low resistance, when, in fact, the two points are not sufficiently electrically conductive to provide the path of least...

Is anyone else having a problem with the forum freezing when typing a post? I’ve run a couple of tests on other forums and no issues. But here, in the middle of a moderately long post, like this one, the keyboard freezes. I’m on an iPad. The keyboard and screen both freeze. No inputs...

I’m noodling a sketch of my system to prepare for installing my grown up arrays. I don’t know how to size my equipment grounding conductor from the array to the power shed since there doesn’t seem to be a need for an overcurrent protection device in this part of the system. Any thoughts on...

I’m at the hooking up panels phase and I’ve managed to confuse myself. The 10 gauge wire I’m seeing for use with panels doesn’t appear to be the super fine wire needed for the Victron controller. See below. How are people handling this? Is it 10 gauge outdoor rated solar panel wire to a...

As per the title, I got this air conditioner to keep my batteries and inverter cool. My system is set up in an insulated conex box. The positive. -The unit seems to cool well. I’ve only tried it in the mid 80s so far. I did run it in my house for a year to see if it was a dud. It did fine...

Interesting

I got to thinking about putting high-voltage direct current lines inside a house and enclosing them with EMT or rigid conduit. My gut tells me that EMT could burn through at say 600 volts and 100 amps. But I don’t know that for a fact. My gut also tells me that the same might not make it...

Good morning, Is there a downside to putting a small solar panel trickle charger on an AGM battery in long term storage? I’d pick it to roughly match the discharge rate of the specific battery. E.g.: 20 watts directly to the battery terminals with no charge controller. And if I did use the...

Do you guys know what this nut is called? I’ve seen it on a couple of solar rack mounting systems. Looks a little like a strut nut. Thanks

It’s gotten to the point where I simply think of something I need and it shows up at Restore. Not that I believe in that stuff but it keeps happening.😁 This morning I went by and the manager pulled me aside and said we’ve got some used solar panels and a bunch of this metal stuff. Do you want...

Good morning, I need to put up some solar panels (finally). I’ll be running a few arrays at different locations. My question relates to finding the correct ampacity chart for the wire from the panels, through underground conduit, to the charge controller. I’m assuming I use the 10 awg (?)...

At restore. I need a sub panel for the cabin. 100 amps is my max with two quatros. What’s do you think these are worth? Thanks

What is the hands-down safest battery chemistry available to ordinary consumers currently? I’d like to have a small 48 V pack in an enclosed space in the house. I realize LiFePO4 are very, very safe. But I don’t want a possibility of venting a flammable gas. I think I can guard against the...

Does anyone have a cistern? I’m thinking of having one installed while the septic guy is doing his thing. I was thinking of concrete but maybe the newer plastic ones are better? Thinking of the neighborhood of 5000 gallons depending on the price. Any thoughts or tips appreciated.

I’ll admit I haven’t been paying attention to the prices of steel lately. But I hear they’re through the roof. 35 bucks a 10 foot stick of unistrut seems crazy. Normally I buy my stuff off craigslist, but everything seems to have dried up. I need some horizontal stuff to mount my panels. I...

Geting some things done. Jeeze it’s a lot of work. Not getting any younger. Faced a little more south-southeasterly than I wanted but nothing to do about it now. All craigslist hot dipped except for the tamarac post tops. Rigid conduit and double strut. I had a half idea that I was going...

Used my iPhone 13 compass to line up my first array due south. Well done. 😂

I’ve been working on getting this done for a long long time. I insulated the heck out of my conex. And then installed all my solar stuff. There’s enough room left to right for insulation, a rack of SOK batteries nestled inside one of those big industrial storage shelves from Costco, plus a...

Good evening everyone, I really need to get this right. Any help appreciated. I’ve got a conex with the inverter and batteries 200 feet from the cabin. Between the two, I have 2” schedule 80 pvc conduit buried at 30 inches. A gentle curve with two 90 degree turns-one at the conex and one at...

I’ve got 500 feet of 1 inch conduit buried above my waterline. I stubbed it up every 20 feet. My plan is to run some copper wire through there for some sort of low-voltage lighting system. I can split this distance in half at the cabin, resulting in approximately two, 250 foot runs. I’ll use...

What amp interrupt capacity do we need for a both a 12 volt LiFePO4 battery and a stack of 48 volt server rack batteries? I ask mostly for my 12 volt system. I see a class T gives us 20kAIC but an old fashioned plug fuse seems to give us 10kAIC. Though it’s entirely possible I’m comparing...

I’m thinking of putting a string of bistro lights in my 40 conex. I want lots of light. The 120 volt stuff seems to have more and brighter options than the 12 volt. I want to do this cheap in terms of buying more stuff. I’ve got an extra battle born, extra old panels, and can get a cheap...

I need to air condition my conex before the summer heat to keep the batteries cool. I’ve already insulated it pretty well. I thought I was going to run my dual hose Midea portable air conditioner hoses out the floor. But it turns out the hose will not reach. Darn it. I’m going to look into...

Good evening I’m running a string of 12 V LEDs directly off my SOK battery. It works great. I’m also running a Victron 12 1200 inverter. And using that to power a little FM radio. When I’m running the LEDs, I can’t get any reception on the radio. When I disconnect LEDs, the radio works fine...

As per title, will a little jump pack wake up a LFP 12 volt battery that’s gone into low voltage disconnect? E.g.: battle born. If so, I wonder how big the jump pack needs to be? And while on this topic, how does the battery know it’s hooked up to another battery? Seems like we ought to...

I’m going to have my main panel in the conex with the inverter and batteries. And a sub panel in the cabin. The conex part is decided. Even if not up to code. No inspections out in the country where I am located. What are the rules regarding clearance and access? And can I put the sub...

Not complaining but wonder why it’s showing this way.

Am I allowed to change my SOK bms settings? I’d like to change my low temperature protection from whatever it’s set at, I’m assuming 32 eff, to something like 38 or 40. I don’t want it charging and very cold temperatures. There’s always going to be a difference between what the battery...

My 200 amp hour SOK 12 volt is charged with a little vertical 100 watt panel. It generally stays full since I’m not up at the cabin much. Now that I‘ve got my big fan running and all my lights on the 12/1200 inverter, I can see running it down to 50% or lower and letting it recover over the...