Recent content by Madco

On the 14AWG wire rated at 105C: The wire may be rated at 105C but I can guarantee you the terminals are not. The terminals will overheat and fail if not eventually catch fire. A lot of people on the forum miss that ultimately, the termination temperature rating determines the legal ampacity...

I wouldn't worry so much about a hydrogen buildup as I would corrosive gasses , mainly sulfuric and sulfurous acids dissolved in the air's humidity being in close proximity to your inverter and charge controller. Also, if I understand your description, small parts/tools/etc can be dropped from...

QO breakers are listed for 48VDC service, homeline are not.

If familiar with PVWatts or SAM Advisor, you can just model your situation and get a reasonable estimate.

LiPO4 cells have an internal resistance on the order of 500uOhm, so Ohm's law would predict a fault current on the order of 48/.5 kA or about 96kA. That is really large, so large in fact, that there isn't a lot of equipment out there with that high of a SCC rating. Another issue is that it is...

How heavily is the unit loaded? Also are your fans small HP or part of a large ventilation system?

I have one providing full off grid power to my house. It replaced two 6500s. I guess I'm still enjoying the honeymoon because the 18k's performance is such an incredible improvement over the 6500s! I don't notice any flickering but do notice my fireplace insert blower motor slows slightly when...

First a disclaimer: I am not familiar with Bluetti's inverters. SO looking at the specs and your description, It looks like each inverter can accommodate a maximum of 2.4kW of PV power with the PV voltage running anywhere between 12-150VDC with a maximum current of 12A. Your system description...

I don't know of any documentation, just my personal experience in using them. I don't know of anything in the NEC prohibiting use of a listed DIN terminal block either. Don't think I don't like DIN rail terminals - I use at least 10000 of them a year. I just don't use them on DC PV...

I have 12 batteries, arranged in 2 rows of six. I typically see a 8 degree F difference in battery temperature between the 2 rows with the upper being warmer.

Sounds like you are splicing AC since you mention the two branches. If so, DIN rail terminals are OK, but I would prefer insulated compression butt splices. Those that are insulated with heat shrink are my preference. Morris and Apollo make some nice insulated splices with multiple conductor...

Wire sizes are a little small given that NEC requires a 1.25% adjustment - but if you don't care about code compliance and or won't be inspected, the 2/0 "should" be OK. I'm assuming wire in conduit, not free air. All but 1 installation I've seen in the last 20 years or so wouldn't be...

It is really more of a utilization figure of merit that it is efficiency.

No, it is more of an efficiency calculation. Say you have a grid-tied system with no storage, a 10kW inverter, and 10kW of panels. The inverter would generate 87600 kWh if it ran 24/7/365. However, after a year, the system generated 20150 kWh. The capacity factor would be 20150/87600 = 0.23...

I wouldn't chance it on the 150V max input voltage. Your Voc will increase well above that with cold weather! Something tells me Renogy will just say your exceeded the voltage specification (if and when the charge controller smokes!). I'll bet they won't mention any safety factor then. BTW...