ArtieKendall
New Member
I'm about ready to pull the trigger on a beginner solar/battery/inverter/charger system. I've done minor electrical stuff around the house like replacing outlets and light switches, but otherwise I'm a complete newbie.
Will's recent video on a beginner system has made me think I could pull this off, but I'm a bit unsure that the setup should be as minimal as he says (he basically just has a battery and an EG4 3000 AIO on a hand truck). I understand and appreciate that he is showing the very minimum, and I'm sure it would work, but from reading as much as I could over the past couple of weeks, it seems like I also would want a fuse for the battery-to-inverter connection, a cutoff switch to the solar connection, etc. Maybe a breaker as well as a fuse for the battery connection, to use as an emergency shutoff?
I live in a very small town with no solar supply shops around, so it's not like I can easily run out and pick something up if I forget it. I would like to get everything in one purchase, so if I have a problem with something small like a circuit breaker, tech support knows they are talking to a customer who spent $8K with them, rather than 30 bucks. I'm already getting ready to spend a crap ton of money, because Signature Solar (who sells the AIO and batteries I want) has the $200 shipping deal if you spend over $5K, compared with $800 shipping for a single battery, so I'll get three or four batteries and a rack. They also have a minimum order of ten solar panels, which is way more than I wanted to start with, but again the shipping costs make up for it, and since I'm 70 years old, there's not much point in putting off the purchase of stuff that lasts 20+ years. Since I'm spending so much already, throwing in some fuses, breakers, or ferrules won't make much difference.
So using Will's setup as a start, what else would you recommend buying so that the system doesn't just work, but will have all the safety and convenience features a turn-it-on-and-forget-it system should have? I don't want a bigger inverter right now, because I plan to really study this stuff for a year or so and then build a whole-house grid-tied system (probably either a Solark or Schneider ~15kw) and keep this beginner system for a backup, or maybe put in my sister's house.
Specific questions:
- Is it better to put ferrules on the ends of the wires that go into the EG4?
- Should I put a fuse, a breaker, or both on the battery input to the AIO if I'm using four EG4 LL batteries in parallel that have their own individual breakers?
- Do you have recommendations for the PV cutoff switch, wire, and connectors? Note: since the EG4 3000 has a 500V PV max, I plan to have all ten of the panels (~40 VOC each) in series.
- Would a Smart Shunt tell me anything that I can't get from the EG4 software?
Thanks for any help.
Will's recent video on a beginner system has made me think I could pull this off, but I'm a bit unsure that the setup should be as minimal as he says (he basically just has a battery and an EG4 3000 AIO on a hand truck). I understand and appreciate that he is showing the very minimum, and I'm sure it would work, but from reading as much as I could over the past couple of weeks, it seems like I also would want a fuse for the battery-to-inverter connection, a cutoff switch to the solar connection, etc. Maybe a breaker as well as a fuse for the battery connection, to use as an emergency shutoff?
I live in a very small town with no solar supply shops around, so it's not like I can easily run out and pick something up if I forget it. I would like to get everything in one purchase, so if I have a problem with something small like a circuit breaker, tech support knows they are talking to a customer who spent $8K with them, rather than 30 bucks. I'm already getting ready to spend a crap ton of money, because Signature Solar (who sells the AIO and batteries I want) has the $200 shipping deal if you spend over $5K, compared with $800 shipping for a single battery, so I'll get three or four batteries and a rack. They also have a minimum order of ten solar panels, which is way more than I wanted to start with, but again the shipping costs make up for it, and since I'm 70 years old, there's not much point in putting off the purchase of stuff that lasts 20+ years. Since I'm spending so much already, throwing in some fuses, breakers, or ferrules won't make much difference.
So using Will's setup as a start, what else would you recommend buying so that the system doesn't just work, but will have all the safety and convenience features a turn-it-on-and-forget-it system should have? I don't want a bigger inverter right now, because I plan to really study this stuff for a year or so and then build a whole-house grid-tied system (probably either a Solark or Schneider ~15kw) and keep this beginner system for a backup, or maybe put in my sister's house.
Specific questions:
- Is it better to put ferrules on the ends of the wires that go into the EG4?
- Should I put a fuse, a breaker, or both on the battery input to the AIO if I'm using four EG4 LL batteries in parallel that have their own individual breakers?
- Do you have recommendations for the PV cutoff switch, wire, and connectors? Note: since the EG4 3000 has a 500V PV max, I plan to have all ten of the panels (~40 VOC each) in series.
- Would a Smart Shunt tell me anything that I can't get from the EG4 software?
Thanks for any help.
