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  • Post in thread: Live Ground Shocked 5 Year Old

    The first thing to understand is that wiring something to a ground rod is not the key part of safety. The key part is wiring all metal objects together. The first (1) point that matters is that all metal chassis must have wires connecting them together (including between multiple trailers...
  • Post in thread: Very strange comment re AGM v Lifepo4

    Of course lithium can be properly charged by an off-grid PV system. Lithium needs to be kept within temperature range where it can charge without damage. AGM can be charged well below freezing. Charge voltage needs to be temperature compensated. It is highly freeze resistant when charged, but...
  • Post in thread: EG4 LifePower4 no UL Label - Failed Inspection

    No sweat! All you have to do is expedite ship replacement equipment with UL sticker to your customers, and provide free return shipping for the non-compliant equipment you previously sold them as UL Listed. Customer Service means making it right for the customer, every time. Especially when...
  • Post in thread: Socially negative impacts of solar

    ICE users, more like owners of film cameras, where film and developing got expensive or unavailable. DIY stills or home pressed vegetable oil? Syn fuels fed with energy from PV? PV required on new homes in California, but that costs 3x what utility scale PV does. Liberals would say, "But it is...
  • Post in thread: Socially negative impacts of solar

    You are correct I've never been poor. My mother was a school teacher who lived within her means supporting the family, and we also learned to be frugal. My comments about the poor are simply quoting the arguments presented in California about changing net-metering rules. The utility company...
  • Post in thread: ⚡Shock⚡ through the heart,

    And you're to blame, You give solar a bad name! Meant to be safer than a cheater cord, power cord with shrouded banana plugs + Similar wire and banana connected to equipment under test. Now it's easy to stack banana plugs and plug in HV scope probe. It's just as easy to mix up Line and...
  • Post in thread: Has anybody used the Rosie inverter yet for prime time?

    If Midnight says "made in USA", it probably is. They've discussed buying cardboard boxes and packing foam (maybe for Classic?) out of China because it was so much cheaper, and regarding their re-branded DIY line, mentioned that duty on individual components was greater than duty on assembled...
  • Post in thread: Unintended consequences of Solar that we see

  • Post in thread: Why is solar so damn difficult?

    It's something like building a car from components Engine, Transmission, Differential, and Wheels. Without understanding RPM, Foot-Pounds, Horsepower, gear ratio, limited slip, diameter, or miles per hour. But once you know what the terms mean, and how to calculate conversions, most of it...
  • Post in thread: Thinking about wind?

    Hey Off Grid, I just saw you in the news! https://www.foxnews.com/us/florida-man-arrested-light-pole-car-roof-highway-theft
  • Post in thread: Is this a bad joke? Signature Solar creating specs requirements to avoid defective inverter costs?

    I think your mistake was in not reading the threads they participated in ;) There was a countdown to one thread reaching 1000 posts.
  • Post in thread: DC fuse caught fire! Help ?

    Worst case scenario is you get electrocuted. That is very possible with high voltage DC from PV panels, and with AC from inverter or grid. You need to understand how to use the meter, and what the readings mean. Especially using the meter to test live circuits without coming into contact with...
  • Post in thread: Conflicting two ways of measure Fuse

    If fuse is too low for inverter, fuse blows. If fuse is too high for wire, insulation melts, then wire shorts. So size the fuse at least big enough for inverter, and size wire at least big enough for fuse. Use efficiency of your inverter at full load (0.85?) Use lowest battery voltage (48V...
  • Post in thread: In-ground Cooling for LFP

  • Post in thread: EG4 18k caused massive voltage spike

    If the complaint was getting a shock from chassis, lack of grounding could certainly explain it. You have not explained to me like I'm an engineer how lack of a ground wire to EG4 inverter caused "fried my furnace board, 2 garage door motors, and other insignificant items such as power strips."...
  • Post in thread: 120V on the PV line?? Discussion of Will's video

  • Post in thread: I really like the new powerpro battery..

    If 100 Ah server rack costs $1500 (not including the rack), 280 Ah for $4000 sounds similar. Better without having to buy a rack. I also like outdoor, away from the house. Even if inverter is in house. 200A max continuous (~ 10kW), 160A recommended is OK for moderate size system, although 1C...
  • Post in thread: Rant: EG4 48v 100ah battery has faulty BMS. Signature solar customer service is TERRIBLE

    Doesn't matter at all if it was spoken about. (because it was published.) Doesn't matter what inverter manual recommends. Doesn't matter what else this particular battery can power. If battery spec sheet says 200A (or 250A) for 1 second, and customer's load applied less than that and battery...
  • Post in thread: Testing automotive fuses

    After watching a video (sorry can’t find it now) showing resistance testing of cheap fuses and name-brand ones, I decided I’d better test the ones I’ve put in our cars. In the video, it was said that previously Harbor Freight sold fuses, but later recalled them and didn’t carry anymore. Fuses...
  • Post in thread: Tesla, the gift that keeps on giving.

    "Statistics compiled by AutoInsuranceEZ found that for every 100,000 EVs, there are about 25 fires each year. That compares to 1,530 car fires in the same number of gas-powered vehicles annually. Gas-powered cars typically catch fire due to fuel leaks or crashes." What if corrected for age of...
  • Post in thread: Using non-UL insulation

    A while back I bragged about creative use of heater hose as tough, large size insulation for electrical terminals: https://diysolarforum.com/threads/fire-never-cover-lifepo4-with-wood.19373/page-12#post-238207 It seemed like a good idea at the time. More recently, I was wiring up...
  • Post in thread: PowerPro Battery Died Suddenly

    Hey, I've got an idea! SS doesn't ship pallets. They ship PowerPro batteries on pallets! Since they're going to replace your PowerPro, they can ship you the replacement on a pallet. After you unload the new working PowerPro, you can load the old failed on on the pallet and SS can have it...
  • Post in thread: LFP for EV's projected to be less than $56 per kWh within 6 months

    Anybody who complains about cost of living ought to try wearing their threads until threadbare, saving leftovers for next meal, driving their cars into the ground. If only our government was frugal, it wouldn't consume nearly so much of the GDP. You're actually spot-on about my personal...
  • Post in thread: Be wary of SOK

  • Post in thread: Auto-transformer L1/N/L2 current

    Transformers aren't well understood by most people who use them. It is well known that centertap "Neutral" connection carries the difference between L1 and L2, but that is not at all true for autotransformers. It is only true for the case of an isolation transformer where all power is delivered...
  • Post in thread: Safety hazard w/ Growatt 5000ES (European version) when connected to American grid

    For things like house wiring, and cars, we consider not just how it behaves when things go right, but also when they go wrong. Your car may have features like air bags that deploy in a crash, and a fuel pump that shuts off in a crash. The car will run just fine if those features aren't...
  • Post in thread: Unintended consequences of Solar that we see

    Check tuition at a trade school, you may reevaluate whether this cost you too much. And what you learned was very hands-on and practical. Also compare cost to turnkey. You likely saved a lot of money over the labor component. You can now build a big system, making fewer mistakes than you would...
  • Post in thread: Pre-charge resistor seems crazy

    The dinky little batteries used in those things don't deliver the estimated 20,000A that DIY LiFePO4 batteries do during inrush to inverter capacitors when first connected. And they don't get connected hot to such a large capacitor bank, nor through such low-resistance cables. Still, some...
  • Post in thread: Feast or Famine, The off grid solar dilemma.

    It does seem that carbon sequestration as a method to store solar power from summer, to be used in the winter, is the way to go.
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