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https://www.theverge.com/2024/5/14/24156249/us-biden-china-tariffs-ev-solar-battery-semiconductor-critical-minerals There it is, yall. Not great, not terrible.

This is just one that's been in my mind for a while. I have seen posts of people who have had m6 studs fail despite what they believed to be reasonable torque application. The stud material itself could be substandard, and as far as I can see these studs are only held down by a maybe 4-5mm deep...

Prompted by recent discussion I am looking at installing a smoke alarm and I'm thinking I could have the smoke alarm shut down the battery power. I saw a smoke alarm in an outbuilding wired to a siren once, to alert the main house. It was from the 80's and I can't remember the power source. I...

I'm not happy to arrive at this conclusion, especially after building almost my entire system out of their wire. But I've cut into an reterminated two different wires of theirs recently and unfortunately both times I don't like the color. I don't like it enough that I will gradually be replacing...

I'm a semi meticulous operator, when I need to make my own MC4 connectors I go and order Staubli name brand from a seller I trust not to have counterfeits. But I'm also kind of cheap so I don't order the $10 plastic wrenches. When it comes time to terminate, I see that I need an appropriate...

I am creating a new thread for the further discussion of this concept I have been working on. I am putting it into daily use now on a solar cycled open loop 48v whole house Lifepo4 battery bank so I'll start sharing the results here, if I find anything interesting. What is the 55v method? This...

I am making some PV wires with Staubli MC4's and 12awg PV wire. How tight do you wrench the gland cap on? I did it as hard as I could hand tight and then like a quarter or half turn more with a wrench.

I have looked at Nassau many times before as they carry some rare wire types. I placed my first order with them for some Southwire Royal Excelene Welding Cable, because I love finding an extra pricey brand name version of a normally commodity product. I ordered 6ft of it for my CC to battery...

Schneider has a new model of home "generator" panels which are basically split bus. But, the new models have an interlocked breaker with a switched neutral. This breaks my brain a bit, all my DIY training has focused me on keeping the one true house neutral and ground bond system intact at all...

I am playing around with the concept of conductor over paneling that I just recently picked up from other discussions around here. I was aware of charge controller over paneling, but it had not previously occurred to me that overpaneling could potentially also achieve an economy on conductor...

My PV run needs some splices and there's nothing I can do about it. It needs PV wire to THHN splices, and I'd rather not keep dancing around making more splices in the THHN run. There should not be a need to be nervous about a splice of under 30 amps. 1. Wagos - I trust them for AC splices of...

I am thinking about overpanel designs and conductor sizing, whether intermediate conductors could be sized for max power draw, rather than max power supply, and then fused appropriately to protect the wires if max draw was ever exceeded. One of the hurdles of that design would be if the MPPT...

100% real frosted glass bulb 2700k LED filament Weight like incandescent Filament gently shakes while handling Suitable for wet locations Suitable for enclosed fixtures Title 20 Compliant (legal in California) Dimming with certain compatible dimmers "Flicker Free" - To be confirmed by off grid...

Posting in ground mount forum because I'd like one with an 8" auger attachment to speed up my process. Anyone looked into it or purchased one? I don't know if it's accessible to order one straight from china or if it's more like importers are handling the paperwork for a container full and you...

I'm just surprised by this. It's a bifacial array facing 270 degrees due west. Comparing tilts of 25 and 35 degrees, the hourly data is showing higher production for the 35 degree tilt in 8-10am for the same days. Do you think it's like a bifacial gain thing? I was expecting higher tilts to...

I used to imagine when it came time to get the PV DC inside that I was gonna do it the cool way, with EMT. But I actually faced the project this weekend and happy that I chickened out and went with FMC. That was enough time in the crawlspace already for me. It's a more satisfying material...

My system currently lacks any means for the Orion BMS to communicate a shutdown request to the Schneider XW+. The Orion can call for 2.2kW grid input when it reaches a set low SOC, but it's possible our load could inadvertently outpace the 2.2kW and keep draining the battery bank. Long term I...

I am looking at a BMS with generic programmable shunt compatibility. The pack would have a 150A Class T on it so no more than 150 continuous amps but it could surge to 250 sometimes during inrush currents and excursions. Should I use a 200A shunt or 500A shunt?

I don't understand what's holding large bifacial panels stubbornly above $.40 in the US. Bifacial panels are tariff exempt right? 400w's are available for $.25 Do the larger format panels not fit will in a shipping container or something? Is there large volume demand for them coming from...

I am building an 8s string of Q Cells 480w this year. I have already purchased those panels. Later, I will probably want to expand. And I would like to double up to 2x 8s parallel. Do you think the q cells 580w would parallel well with the 480w if both are 156 cell? Voltages are within 1v of...

My favorite part of a technical hobby is the persistent controversial and dogmatic topics of debate. The nature of a good persistent topic will center around a ubiquitous performance frustration, and on one side will be a practical alleviating measure, opposed by a purist faction who argue that...

I am doing no permits but I want my array to look legit. Are inspectors requiring separate 6 awg bare or other ground wire ran from panel to panel, or does your ground mount system count as inherently bonded by the clamps and you run one ground wire to the frame of it?

Just want to share my excitement that I've picked my new toy. I ran into a case recently where I doubted the accuracy of my Fluke 101 down to the .01VDC granularity so I finally had justification to get a new multimeter. Of course the clamp meters are tempting, but I didn't want to spend $450...

I considered posting this in chit chat. It might need to be moved there if we can't keep ourselves under control, but let's try. We in the US already live in a tariffed solar panel world, we more or less can't order straight from China, and the panels available to us on the US market come at a...

I am hung up on some specific wording in the Orion Jr2 BMS operating manual. On one hand, we have a quote somewhere else on this forum from Orion, stating that for ESS applications, it is common to supply power to the BMS only by it's Charge Power connector, so that balancing is always enabled...

I've been waiting my entire adult life for this.

What do you guys think? I'm going back and forth. The bulk of the info seems to lean towards it being ok, with all the actual educated input stating there should not be a negative effect on the leech field absorption, or could in theory be positive. My other concern though is our concrete tank...

I need to get a blue sea bus bar stood off the back of the box about 1 19/32" in order to level it with a contactor so I can use a bus bar link between the two. What kind of material would you use for this? I thought it would look pretty dumb to have wood inside my electrical box. I've...

I am enthusiastic about the expanded use of aluminum conductors as we face increasing copper scarcity. Copper's superior conductivity and flexibility is great, but I believe we should and will begin saving those benefits for where they are necessary, in mobile applications. We currently co-opt...

I'm trying to get down to some charging basics here and interested in any resources or comments that explain the basis of 2 and 3 stage charging. Why would we want to use a higher voltage than our end goal saturation voltage? Why would we not just constant current / constant voltage all the...

I'm trying to better grasp the passive balancing concept. I think I've got that it occurs by placing tiny resistive loads on individual cells. I know that passive balancing is only advisable above a certain voltage level, where it can accurately reflect differences in cell SOC's. What I'm...

Rather than keep spamming new threads out as thoughts come up I'm starting a build thread now to share as I go. 16x EVE 304 from Ezeal Orion JR2 BMS Planning work in progress (polarity not detailed yet):

And now I'm considering using an auxiliary 12v lead acid battery to power the BMS controls. When I first read this was an option I dismissed it as a car configuration, but when I saw it again recently I realized it actually eliminates all the headache of how hard it is to effectively fuse the...

I'm missing the cell sensor harness for my Orion JR2 BMS so I'm going to make my own. What wire size do you think is ideal for the cell leads? As I understand it these should be unfused so the wire should be sized small enough to melt itself as the fuse in a short, and that voltage sensing...

I'm planning to build my 16x304 bank in a tool box, side opening. The bank will be like 23"x14"x9"H in a half length config. Without the compression gear. I'm looking at two toolboxes: 24x16x14H 24x18x18H My gut is telling me get the roomier box, but it would be nice to have a tighter...