New garage time!

[fatjay]

JFC I just want to hit hte button. But there's always "one more thing".

I hooked up all the panels in 3 strings of 5 to go to the inverter, I finished the conduit. I got the pv wiring done inside. I think I'm going to start with just 2 inverters in parallel until I get more batteries. And speaking of batteries, I need to finish the battery shelf, and finish building the battery pack.

***Speaking of battery packs, I started but accidently left them in parallel for balance charging for like 2 months, but I didn't take them to 3.65v, when I turned it off they were at 3.3x and now they are at 3.29v. ny chance I've accidently balanced them?

But when I went to hook up the set of rails, I realized that along with 1/2" bolt and lock washer, I got 7/16" nuts. So it was back to HD, and to my non-surprise, they were out of grade 8 1/2" nuts. So I had to grab regular ones. Not the end of the world but still. Over an hour wasted of time I don't have much of.

i need to hook up the inverters to the grid breakers still and make the bus bars for the batteries as well as the cables as well.

When I'm done, I'm going to write a manual on building a solar system volume 1, steps 1-1000. Followed by volume 2, steps 1001-2000, and I suspect I'm up to volume 8 now, but the good news is I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

 

[fatjay]

This is indicating that the female mc4 is negative, while the male mc4 is positive, right?

 

[fatjay]

Getting there.

 

[ning]

Getting there.

Ingenious use of the buss bar - is it code (honest question, I have no idea)? I used polaris connectors for something similar, though it was also in a much tighter spot

 

[fatjay]

Ingenious use of the buss bar - is it code (honest question, I have no idea)? I used polaris connectors for something similar, though it was also in a much tighter spot
View attachment 1767501

The only code violation i'm aware of is when 3 or more strings are joined there must be fuses.

I got around the issue by putting in-line fuses at the panel connections. The panel wire is 12ga, but the wires going into the joiner are 10ga. When there's 3 or more strings, the amperage is to high for 12ga in the event of a grounding worst case scenario. So between the panels and the wire from the box there are inline 20a fuses.

High voltage arc's, so there's that to consider. However it's 3kv/mm for arcing, so you would need 76,000v to arc an inch.

I'm going to get bigger bus bars to get rid of the strain/bends. The wire is not very flexible. I want it to come strait in.

 

[fatjay]

I was not sure if 5s or 6s as far as voltage since my mppt is 120-250v, so I checked my voltage when the sun was almost set, to see where I stood.

I'm pleasantly surprised.

 

[fatjay]

Got the bus bars installed and cleaned up and closed up.

Got the wires cleaned up, and the pv wires run.

I got the first inverter ONLINE! It idles under 30w.

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

Wondering your choice to provide battery backup over a generator for short term outages?

 

[fatjay]

Wondering your choice to provide battery backup over a generator for short term outages?

I don’t understand the question. I have a whole house generator. I’ve had to use it for weeks on end.

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

I don’t understand the question. I have a whole house generator. I’ve had to use it for weeks on end.

Ok then but why the battery backup? Isn't that redundant, or did I misunderstand your earlier post about batteries?