My brother recently looked into installing solar on his new home in Phoenix Arizona. He contacted 10 different installers. Enphase & Solaredge were his only two choices for inverters! Your regulations down there regarding emergency shutdown fortunately don't add cost or limit your choice of equipment. Up here in the good ole US of A ( land of the free ) we're required to have rapid level shutdown devices on every panel. The result of this INSANE regulation is that Enphase & Solaredge now have a monopoly on the inverter market for residential rooftop solar. They were the only two companies which already had rapid shutdown functionality inherent to their design when the regulators dropped this bombshell on the industry without any forewarning. SMA, Fronius and the other string inverter manufacturers were left flat footed and now can only manage to capture a tiny percentage of the market! The result - more complexity, higher cost, lower reliability, fewer choices and less interest in going solar!
I remember when I put my little off grid system up years ago, they asked me if I wanted a roof top cut off switch. I suggested that, if there was a fire I would have to get a ladder, go on the roof, switch of the panels which I informed them was far more dangerous than watching the fire burn the shed down. I think I was ahead of my time with regards to safety compliance.
@@OffGridGarageAustralia most of the time I hear them say is"hhhmmmm that's unorthodox" But the biggest, hugest and ginormous thing I've learnt from you is the grounding of the solar panels, I had absolutely no clue that anodized aluminum was not conductive, did a continuity test too! Thank you Andy.
The best thing for this concern in my opinion is in line fuses. They have in line mc4 whole string 15a fuses. This makes it much safer if you are worried about the wires being cut into or becoming bare from rats, etc... Midnite makes combiner boxes for roofs that hold fuses or breakers but personally I find that to be frustrating when troubleshooting and superfluous overkill on all but the largest residential systems.
Dear Andy. I've been watching the live vrm portal since yesterday. The power in the batteries has sky rocketed. Till 52% yesterday and almost 100% today. The peak average production is super crazy. 8.* Ish KW. And I unfortunately didn't saw the peak production of today's production.
I've got fuse boxes and disconnect boxes plus inline mc4 fuses. Not paranoid at all but seen solar fires. The box you showed was full of water and others were wired wrong. That's why they melted. Weird config inside one of those boxes. I wouldn't want to pull one of those MC4 apart in full sun. I got zapped doing what Andy was doing, just playing with mc4 connecters in low light can give you a shock if you become the new ground.
The MC4 connector are not meant to be disconnected under load. It's all part of the regulations. The sparky will have to install some drains in the combiner boxes so any water can escape. Part of the regs as well... Lot's more to do.
Hey Andy, the MC4 connector you showed that's tucked away under the panel, one end isn't screwed in all the way. This is important for waterproofing and making sure the connection is secure for many years of production. If they missed one, you should manually inspect all MC4 connections to make sure they are tightened sufficiently
Often the bushing and strain relief are mismatched intentionally on an mç4 connector. This seems to be to add a little buffer and make sure the seal is tight, 10lbs of solution for 5 lbs of problem. Additionally the strain reliefs will usually slip, strip, and just not tighten any further if you force them. Personally I miss the old days of j-boxes on the backs of panels. More difficult and longer installation but overall a much better machine, especially considering the ones on the panels themselves (except for the last disconnect one) will likely never be unplugged unless they have shorted out, which I see more than I'd like. And all they do is speed up installation and remove-replace execution. 😁
I’m sure Andy knows it, but others may not know to never disconnect an MC4 connector under load unless it’s an emergency and the fact that the connector may be damaged is not the concern. This is especially important if your PV voltage is 250 - 500 volt range. The arc produced when disconnected is not only mesmerizingly huge, but damaging to the terminals inside the connector. Can’t wait to see when all the new panels are on line!
@@electro2606 Your kind of reply always worries me. I have no doubt you are correct, but you are not taking into account what some other shonky (Not Andy!!) person has done! It only take one example of "this can't hurt you" to go wrong... "You can stand here, the chain to the Lion is not long enough for it to get to you" Huh, did you remeasure when they put the new chain on?? "The new ch...??? aarrrrrggghhhhh!!!!" :)
no voltage CD is safe guys.. Had 300v DC shock not nice very unpleasant and I always wear insulated gloves when making off any connections if I have to come into contact with pv. Check my channel..
Andy, clearly Powermate is coming through for you! Quite satisfying how you upgrade an already upgraded solar system! I must admit it was difficult watching the dismantling of your sweat and hard work. Although considering the fourth-coming conclusion, I find it very impressive to say the least. Cheer's to you and the crew. BOTTOMS UP!
110622/1709h PST 🇺🇸 hello Herr Andy, thank you for Part 2 of new PV installation work in progress. Exciting of course. I had to respond this way, because I don’t see “Comments” on my YT screen, reason being UKN. Cheers und 73s…
Hi Andy, have a look at the Sunnytrack application. You can use it to see the position of the sun for different days of the year. The whole thing works via the AR function. Great for making a useful panel alignment.
@@OffGridGarageAustralia You're right, on a roof you're not very flexible. You could use it to see if the second row is shaded in winter 6:43 Or which obstacles shade the panels from a certain time of year. Take a look at it, it costs nothing.
Looks awesome, I want some of those panels! 😍 Andy once your house plan runs out you will be able to supply the neighborhood with the power you generate 😉 I started with 2 145w panels for my camper trailer only to find in shady areas it wasn't enough, so I added another 2. Now I've bought a camper van and thinking of covering the roof with some if needed.
@@OffGridGarageAustralia so I can have some of your new ones? lol I wish but hey they wont suit my system so im just going to have to buy my own, great stuff Andy keep up the good work.
I think the trees are blocking the sun more than the clouds are affecting panel performance. I have zero tree shading and even in cloudy/rainy conditions I am getting great performance. full sun right now 7500, cloudy 6500 and heavy rain 5500 watts. But I also have my panels set for fall/spring almost winter angle (51 degrees). I truly hope yo get more than 500 watts an hour from 4000 watts of panels.
@@kevinmills5293 they are not just trina 235.I bought used. I want to know why my panels are performing when others don't. Is it cause I live 7 miles form Lake Michigan and its reflecting more sun? is it my angle to the atmosphere? I bought used 235 watt Trina panels (40) 38 works. the max I have got is 7500 watts. the lowest I have seen is when the sun first comes up 1 inverter slowly goes 100 then in 30 minutes its around 3500 watts. other inverter I have not seen under 1000 watts. again did I find an angle to where the sun works better in my area? I have no clue I just know I get way more power than expected.
I agree. This is the primary reason for almost all the leaks I see on installations. I use a blower, water, and even solvents if necessary. Old asphalt is the worst for this because a lot of guys don't seal under the shingle and if you don't have a flashing, the grit gives up then your house requires black mold remediation 🤦
Dektite are the mouldable seals for roof penetration. I used one for my small off-grid garage array. Mine is located underneath a panel to give it extra protection from sun and weather.
I've used one on my main roof as well, my installers at the time were just going to cheat, so I had to buy the Dektite and insist they use it, not sure I'd want to use one on a flat roof though, but would be a much cleaner option. I've 5kw of panels going on my flat roof garage soon.
@@TheRonskiman i think they are fine for pretty much any/most perforations on many surfaces with a bit of silicone under the seal before screwing down preferably & dab a bit on the screw tops later as well if ur worried about water ingress there.
@@evil17 they do one with adhesive especially for felt roofs. I'm going to use that, then put some extra felt over top, it will be much neater. My frames are going to be bolted through the roof as well, I've a rubber pad, then an aluminium spreader block to compress the pad, and will use polyurethane mastic which is much better than silicon sealant.
The best way to use those flashings is to completely fill the inner cup through a small puncture with a caulking gun and silicone after it is installed. This fills the air cavity solid with sealant instead of just the edges. It makes it so as the seal deteriorates in the sun, any leaks will not fill that empty chamber and eventually rot a hole through (seen this a lot). For this reason I jab the tip of my silicone caulk tube through the rubber after it's all installed, and squirt as much in as I can before it fills and oozes out. The rubber will expand slightly and when you pull the tip out sealant will ooze out, sealing the hole you made and indicating it's full and truly sealed.
Migh be usefull to consider a foldable stand to expand the hight during winter cause with these new panels you will see a big increase during winter. Just changed our panels from summer 28° to 55° degree during winter and that did nearly double the power in the moment I had done that. Best would be a 1 axis tracker but that is not that cheap and in your case it would hurt the other panels too in their production or at least 1 row or 1 string. But at the end it will be an experiment to measure what you can achieve during an average winter day and not the bright sunny winter day you might rarely have cause those figures on a sunny day can be really impressive at least in sunny germany at the shore but the average winter day here looks quite the opposite .
The panels against the fence, face to face at 45° angles that is supposed to increase out put up to 50%. Since they are On the ground it would be easy to check that out. A power accordion.
Looks promising mate. You have tons more sun than me, Scotland has been kicking my arse, my new Trina solar managed 1.7kWh all day yesterday and 5.5 today 😭😭😭 New battery cells are on there way 🤞🤞, but nothing to charge them with lol.
@@OffGridGarageAustralia my worst yet. Heavy rain and gakes yesterday gave me 0.7kWh all day fro 8kw peak of panels. I am waiting for the day I get a big fat ZERO!!!
Hi Andy, I’ll now give you a valuable little tip. IF, your solar installers haven’t ..already done ..this for you, themselves, you should make sure that after they finish the job, that you get yourself a tub of Lanotec Type A Grease, and then go along to all of your solar panel rail mounting clamps and unscrew each of the stainless steel bolts out of them, and apply a good smear of that grease to the threads on all of the bolts, before re-screwing them back into the aluminium panel mounting clamps again. Why…?? Because if you don’t do this, then within a year or two, of exposure to the weather, you’ll find that all, of those stainless steel fixing bolts will have ..seized, ..themselves, (sometimes permanently) because of moisture induced electro-galvanic corrosion, between the two dissimilar metals, into the threads of the aluminium panel mounting clamps, and they will become an ..absolute ..problem for you, further down the track, if you should ever have to lift or remove and replace a damaged or faulty panel. The Lanotec grease provides a permanent, waterproof barrier, between the mating interfaces of the two dissimilar metal threads and thereby acts as a very effective anti-sieze agent, thus preventing this moisture induced corrosion from galling, the stainless steel threads of the fixing bolts in the aluminium panel mounting clamps. Trust me, it’s cheap, it works, and it will save you a ..mountain of pain, and frustration, and a LOT, of swearing, in a few years time…! 😉
Yeah, nah, I won't do all that. It's been installed now and it is what it is. I know what you mean and I had a hard time to get the old ones off., but apparently the new ones are different and this greasing is not necessary any more.
If falling leaves and foliage is an issue you may want to install a mesh wire kit along the top of your arrays to prevent it falling down and then sliding under your arrays.
I had such mesh on the gutters. That was the first thing I removed when we moved in. The gutters were full of small stuff which falls through the mesh. Better to have good access and clean it out properly.
@@OffGridGarageAustralia Yes I have gutter guard, but the solar kits are different and more aimed at rodents and larger foliage, small stuff will just wash straight down and off.
Hi Andy, should turnout to be a great system again. I noticed they used corrugated conduit here & there that are in the sun. I have seen the corro get very brittle in the sun. Is theirs UV rated, hope so. Cheers
Here in Hawaii you can only use metal conduit for any interior/exterior transition. It is vastly superior as long as the proper seals and quality conduit are used.
Hey Andy, I noticed you replaced solar panels fuses in the distribution box with DC Breakers. What rated current for each string? Have a nice weekend Stay charged, stay safe has you would say 😉
There was a small hole in the flexible conduit when you were showing the rubber seals. Also that flexible conduit will only last about 5 to 7 years in the sun that is how long it lasted for me it needs to be covered.
Andy have i catch right that you are expecting shading on bottom line of already mounted panels and you are having 5 parallel strings of 2 panels in serial? If so and then you should consider to connect upper part of 2 and 2 in serial in top line alone, then 2 and 2 on bottom line and last 2 remaing as you are planning now - one panel from top line and one from bottom. This will give you full power from 4 panels when bottom line is shaded with another lines of panels (that with settable heigh and angle) and full power from that panels making shade on already mounted. I did some measurements and when one of 2 panels in series is partly shaded, that you get nearly no power from whole set. And if sun will hit those shading panels in wrong angle, then you have to make another video in what scenario you will get more power :) If it is better lose 10-60% power on 10 panels caused by bad angle or to lose 70-95% power from 6 pannels by shade..
Hallo Andi, grüße vom Schwabenland. You have in your "Big Batterie" two types of cells in use. The LF280K and the LF304. When you would get both at the same Price per Ah, wich one would you prefer. With a look of livecycles at max 0.2-0.3C. Thanks for all these wonderful Videos. I learnd a lot.
Hallo Andy. Thanks for sharing the progress of the installation with us. It's quite interesting to see, how they install the panels and that there is no big difference to the job you did. But one question: Could the panels on the car port be moved further to the outside (to the west)? Closer to the gutter of the carport? This would reduce the shading on the panels on the west roof, when the sun is already quite low and could give you 21Watts more... ;-)
Aha, now I see it. It's not possible to move the rails, because of the location of the screws, which are holding the metal roof and therefore where the support beams are located.
We have lowered the tilt now a bit but still get a bit of shading on the other panels after 5pm. The sun is already fairly down by then and behind the trees anyway. So, loses are minimal. At this point of time, I'm expecting the battery to be fully charged anyway.
@@OffGridGarageAustralia Thanks, this sounds reasonable. I also suspect, that the sunset will be close, when shading occures, so that the gained energy (not power) will not be that much. There's just not enough daytime left.
Hi Andy, exited for you to get some more pooowah on the roof, have you thout about what to do with all that overproduction? That battery is gonna be full pretty quickly, trust me, i have a 48Ah battery and since a couple of weeks i double our PV field from 30 panels SW with a other 36 panels op NE. For the Same reason you are. The New field provides 4-10kWh a day on a cloudy day, much needed power to get tru the day! Have not seen the battery under 55% since!
I know what you mean since today 😉 The overall goal is to connect the house as well without touching the house solar and high feed in tariff. With the limited cables available, this will be a challenge.
That is one very impressive solar array you have there, hope it all works as expected. With your solar and lithium battery experience you may be able to answer a question I have about battery chargers. Is it possible to charge Lithium batteries with a standard LED, GEL, AGM, battery charger and if so will it hurt the battery? Cheers Robert from cloudy Vict'
Looking pretty good. A couple things I noticed... they seem to have just siliconed right over the dirt on the roof (not what you would have done yourself I'm sure, I would have cleaned it myself in those spots). Also, the base of the mounts where the aluminum is shaped like an inverted "V" to match the roof ridges... is there some sort of rubber/silicone around the screw where it goes through the roof? It looks like just aluminum pressed against the roofing and water could seep in without some sort of seal (maybe you could put a little silicone on the uphill side of the mount). Looking forward to the next episode - good stuff!
I noticed the dirt under the silicon as well, personally I would of cleaned it (as would Andy), but I'd use Polyurethane sealant which is much more durable, silicon will fail much sooner.
Congrats andy this setup looks promising, kann's nicht abwarten bis es fertig ist. 2kw in so einem wetter ist geil. wieviel wird's sein im regen. ich glaube auch so um die 1kw oder mehr
Andy I was shocked and very disappointed to see the copious amounts of silicon they applied directly to the roof, without any real attempt to clean and prepare the roof surface properly IMHO they may as well have not put the silicon on there at all, because within a few short weeks water will easily start to wick under the silicon, and it will lift and become useless. Such a shame that this lack of attention to detail has in my mind tarnished what appears to be an otherwise good install job. Looks like you are going to have so much solar input form now on, how are you going to use it all? 😁 How about a car charging station for the local EV folks, and start making some money back! 🤣
Need help. I'm below noob here. Could you do one on the non-inverting summing amplifier circuit? (voltage adder circuit) I want to take 3 cell phone power banks and add their voltages (5v + 5v + 5v = 15v) then output the resulting 15v to a power inverter. I'm surprised this circuit isn't more popular. Off-grid solar power from multiple voltages of panels. Etc.? There's a rare Fincore one on eBay but I don't see any output on it. Any help much appreciated. Schematics look like gibberish to me but I've always wanted to learn electronics!
Hello Andy, could use your help on getting the specifications for B1A8S20PH heater film/element requirements. I'm unable to find any info on volt/watt heater usage, to keep the smoke from letting out Thank you in advance Jim
Hi Jim, not sure about that. I read somewhere it's limited to 3A of current. I would send a message to the shop were you bought it and ask for the specs for the heater.
Wouw! Impressive capacity that's gonna be. Andy, I see no drain holes at the edges of the panels. Wouldn't that cause dirty spots on the bottom of the panels after one year. Especially since after the first year the coating will roughen up and be more susceptible to dirt? Just my 2 cents off consideration. Cheers to the off-grid garage!
Yes I can't understand why panels don't have that "gap" or drain, some LG panels had this a while ago and I thought it was a terrific idea, if you can stop the water pooling at the bottom of the panel, less buildup is going to occur !!
@@spoonwzd the panels I bought for my off-grid installation had clip-on plastic for the bottom that "sucks" the water over the edge of the panel by capilar force. I see no residue effects at the bottom sides so maybe that works te same.
You are lucky, our fire code mandates a 3 foot offset from roof edges. This can cause a significant reduction in how many panels you can put on the roof. Looks good, can't wait to see it finished.
Thanks John. The system really comes together now. Lots of power pouring in today. The many regulations can really make it hard sometimes to get something together which actually works. The new panels are far more efficient than the old ones, hence I now have the space required around them.
They are shingled, means overlapping cells, like shingles on a house roof. More information here: www.acsolarwarehouse.com/news/what-are-shingled-solar-panels/
I would just like to add something my solar installer told me as they were hooking up my 10kw of pv in regards to the safe disconnecting of those panels from the roof top mc4 connector/ fuse whatever,,,,, he told me that he saw a guy say watch this, as he touched two 600-700vdc pv copper conductor wires together and he said it just vaporised about 400mm long of wire instantly before his eyes in a bright blue/greeny flash that sounded and looked somewhat like a giant plasma welder, so I would have to say I have a total lack of confidence in that as a safe means for a panic type disconnect, of course you should make sure there is no power on such a circuit first, but I have heard of sillier things happening.
Never heard of such things before. I doubt 700V will make such a long spark especially if it comes from a solar array. As you said, it was a foolish move from this guy to disconnect a live DC solar array. Such work should only be carried out by a licences electrician. As per definition, the Disconnection Point is a 'non-load breaking disconnection'.
@@OffGridGarageAustralia this is all hearsay of course, but my assumption from what he was saying, was that it was a qualified sparky who did this, I believe to show his offsider its potential. Also Andy, in Australia, I’m sure you have heard of the term, ‘Never let the Truth get in the way of a good story!” Cheers
@8:54 They are just called a Dektite, in the trade, so named after the Australian inventor. You had it right, they are called a flashing. A generic nomenclature, for any roofing waterproof over-protection, whether it be flat sheetmetal flashing, or a penetration type one . You'll soon be up & running again. In time for Xmas. Question, with all you've spent, both on your DIY efforts, with old panels, etc., as well this new upgrade, how long before you expect to break even, on your power/cost ratio?
Hello, I would like to make a battery with 280ah Lifepo4 cells. My question is, is it possible to make blocks of 2 cells in series so 3.65v 280+280=560ah and then put 16 blocks of 2 cells in parallel to make a 48v battery. So I will come up with a 48v 560ah battery with 1BMS 200ha to manage the battery. My inverter is a 10KV WKS. Or make two 16 cells batteries with 2 BMS. For cells, which option is the best for you? Thanks
It's the exact opposite, Charles. Put two batteries in parallel (positive to positive and negative to negative) to get 560Ah and then 16 of these parallel packs in series (positive of one parallel pack to the negative of the next and so on. This will increase your voltage then). If you're new to all this (it sounds like it), please be very very careful as these batteries contain and awful lot of energy!
At around the 7-minute mark you see a lot of discoloration in the solar panels, is this some kind of protective plastic film that haven't been removed yet or are the panels already cracked? Edit: It might just be finger marks?
@@OffGridGarageAustralia One more question though, why don't you cut down the trees nearby that shadows the panels? I will soon install my 22kw ground mount system and I am going as far as buying some of the neighboring property to cut down the trees. My neighboring property is mostly forest though so not too expensive to buy.
@@Mr.Engineer. that would be wrong. We're cutting down far too many trees and causing all kind of problems with that. When we install solar panels, we want to be as sustainable as possible. Having trees is a gift not a burden. Removing the trees in my yard would have cost more than oversizing my solar array. It's a long term experiment I'm doing, trying to generate enough energy even under (partly) shading conditions. It's also explained here: th-cam.com/video/nS72GpEO-zA/w-d-xo.html
@@OffGridGarageAustralia I guess the impact of cutting down trees is different in different environments around the globe. I basically live "in a forest" and we have problems with our old pastures and open areas in nature growing back with bush and forest. We have to much forest in certain places and the forest all around me is tall pine trees about ready to be cut down for timber. It was planted about 70 years ago I think, when they cut down the forest around me last time for the same purpose of timber. I also have a stream I am considering laying a small portion of in pipe. Would yield around 5kw and consume less than 1% of the water during spring and autumn and maybe upwards of 30% during the drier season. It is green power, and I would become self-sufficient with electricity, even during our dark and cold winters up here in Norway. But got me curious, is there any reason why I shouldn't cut down a few trees and build the hydro power given my location and environment?
Personally I think it is a big mistake to use normal bathroom silicone. It will dry out quickly. They should have used UV secured Sika Flex or a similar glue also used for caravans.
Someone needs to do a video on grounding the panels... And they don't need to discuss how to do it right. That's obvious. What the discussion needs to be about, is why its needed at all electrically. Since the solar panel is completely electrically isolated from the aluminum frame, it's not clear to me why any grounding is desired??? Glass is a perfect (or as close to it as one can get.) insolator.
@@OffGridGarageAustralia they can help with partial shading by making all the voltages constant. Im not sure you are aware as most people aren't, a mppt charge controller can only track the lowest voltage string in any parallel configuration. Meaning that if only one string is shaded, you will lose production from all of the strings relative to the greatest voltage drop. So one panel shaded on one string will result in a relative drop in production and mppt perceived voltage across all parallel strings 😎🥰
@@OffGridGarageAustralia it's actually pretty interesting to test. Would make a great video 😉. Just putting a 12v panel in parallel with a 40v panel or a 40v panel parallel with any other relatively higher voltage string and looking at the charge controller would do it pretty good 🤓
18 years in and that's probably the trickiest part of photovoltaic I've come to learn, and also why mixing and matching panels non uniformly across strings is a big no-no and can result in a very poorly producing system. I've disconnected low voltage strings before and watched dead systems come back to life like a bear after winter ❄️🥶
All those details you show us, yet you fail to inform us the exact configuration of your new array? i still don't get it is it in 2s5p? at first i thought each 5 will form a string...then you measure the voltage to be 92V that's a 2S.....what's going on?? please include a detailed 2 min explanation of your new array configuration with physical layout on paper, connection diagram......i'm lost
Is it just me thinking this takes very long? There are 4 workers on the roof. Should be a job done in at most two days for all four roofs. Especially because all electric stuff was already in place.
Yeah, it seems like an easy job but it's a lot of cabling work as well and they started just before noon at two days. My preparation certainly saved them a lot of time, they were saying.
@@OffGridGarageAustralia Shouldn't be your problem right? You would expect an installer to come over and do a full day work, not just a few hours.Then again, I assume they are finished now so all ok now.
Come on Andy. I am very disappointed in you. Look at all the leaves on your new panels. Get your blower out and blow them away. I am sure you will get an extra 3 .... maybe 4 watts if the panels are leaf free.
I just got so addicted to this channel . Well done
Thank you.
Gee it's looking great Andy
Looking Great Andy!!!
It's pumping out amps now 👍💪
9 am and it's 100 A outside. Wow !
My brother recently looked into installing solar on his new home in Phoenix Arizona. He contacted 10 different installers. Enphase & Solaredge were his only two choices for inverters!
Your regulations down there regarding emergency shutdown fortunately don't add cost or limit your choice of equipment. Up here in the good ole US of A ( land of the free ) we're required to have rapid level shutdown devices on every panel.
The result of this INSANE regulation is that Enphase & Solaredge now have a monopoly on the inverter market for residential rooftop solar. They were the only two companies which already had rapid shutdown functionality inherent to their design when the regulators dropped this bombshell on the industry without any forewarning. SMA, Fronius and the other string inverter manufacturers were left flat footed and now can only manage to capture a tiny percentage of the market!
The result - more complexity, higher cost, lower reliability, fewer choices and less interest in going solar!
Yeah, some regulations are a bit crazy and unnecessary. We have also lots of them down here...
Suspense is killing me!
Looking forward to the next one!
Uh oh Andy has power 💪... There goes the neighborhood 😀
Andy, you need your own Stonehange 🤣 to determine the position of the sun.
I should get one, true.
I remember when I put my little off grid system up years ago, they asked me if I wanted a roof top cut off switch. I suggested that, if there was a fire I would have to get a ladder, go on the roof, switch of the panels which I informed them was far more dangerous than watching the fire burn the shed down. I think I was ahead of my time with regards to safety compliance.
Yeah, but if it is part of the regulation, you need to comply any way. Some regulations make more sense than others though.
@@OffGridGarageAustralia most of the time I hear them say is"hhhmmmm that's unorthodox" But the biggest, hugest and ginormous thing I've learnt from you is the grounding of the solar panels, I had absolutely no clue that anodized aluminum was not conductive, did a continuity test too! Thank you Andy.
@@Mymindisablank thank you. I learned this down the track as well and hat to test and share it.
The best thing for this concern in my opinion is in line fuses. They have in line mc4 whole string 15a fuses. This makes it much safer if you are worried about the wires being cut into or becoming bare from rats, etc... Midnite makes combiner boxes for roofs that hold fuses or breakers but personally I find that to be frustrating when troubleshooting and superfluous overkill on all but the largest residential systems.
I don't know why I am so emotionally invested in this progress but I am lol. Come on Andy where's the next video?
Dear Andy. I've been watching the live vrm portal since yesterday. The power in the batteries has sky rocketed. Till 52% yesterday and almost 100% today.
The peak average production is super crazy. 8.* Ish KW. And I unfortunately didn't saw the peak production of today's production.
Yeah, it's absolutely crazy what this system is outputting. I have this all on camera and it will be in the next videos.
I've got fuse boxes and disconnect boxes plus inline mc4 fuses. Not paranoid at all but seen solar fires. The box you showed was full of water and others were wired wrong. That's why they melted. Weird config inside one of those boxes. I wouldn't want to pull one of those MC4 apart in full sun. I got zapped doing what Andy was doing, just playing with mc4 connecters in low light can give you a shock if you become the new ground.
The MC4 connector are not meant to be disconnected under load. It's all part of the regulations.
The sparky will have to install some drains in the combiner boxes so any water can escape. Part of the regs as well... Lot's more to do.
I would hate to be that contractor with an OCD german looking over my shoulder. lol. Looking great Andy. My favorite solar channel....
I stayed away most of the time, hahaha, just the occasional recording on the roof... 😂
Glad to see you have part of your array!🎉
Nice work Andy.
Thanks Andy, looking good 😀
Heya, that looks very good and now you have the possibilitie to keep the panels clear as you can walk aroound the panels
Hey Andy, the MC4 connector you showed that's tucked away under the panel, one end isn't screwed in all the way. This is important for waterproofing and making sure the connection is secure for many years of production. If they missed one, you should manually inspect all MC4 connections to make sure they are tightened sufficiently
Often the bushing and strain relief are mismatched intentionally on an mç4 connector. This seems to be to add a little buffer and make sure the seal is tight, 10lbs of solution for 5 lbs of problem. Additionally the strain reliefs will usually slip, strip, and just not tighten any further if you force them. Personally I miss the old days of j-boxes on the backs of panels. More difficult and longer installation but overall a much better machine, especially considering the ones on the panels themselves (except for the last disconnect one) will likely never be unplugged unless they have shorted out, which I see more than I'd like. And all they do is speed up installation and remove-replace execution. 😁
I’m sure Andy knows it, but others may not know to never disconnect an MC4 connector under load unless it’s an emergency and the fact that the connector may be damaged is not the concern. This is especially important if your PV voltage is 250 - 500 volt range. The arc produced when disconnected is not only mesmerizingly huge, but damaging to the terminals inside the connector. Can’t wait to see when all the new panels are on line!
And DC voltage over 80 VDC is deadly, so if you came in contact with that big arc plasma, you'd be toast!
@@greenbimoon yea but you need to toch + and - so its not that dangerous whit solar panels.
@@electro2606 Your kind of reply always worries me. I have no doubt you are correct, but you are not taking into account what some other shonky (Not Andy!!) person has done! It only take one example of "this can't hurt you" to go wrong...
"You can stand here, the chain to the Lion is not long enough for it to get to you"
Huh, did you remeasure when they put the new chain on??
"The new ch...??? aarrrrrggghhhhh!!!!"
:)
@@electro2606 Absolute rubbish.
no voltage CD is safe guys..
Had 300v DC shock not nice very unpleasant and I always wear insulated gloves when making off any connections if I have to come into contact with pv. Check my channel..
Very nice! My solar installer started at my house this afternoon. They will be here all week. 12 kw PV with 20 kwh Enphase system.
Superbe mise à jour ANDY, merci pour cette magnifique expérience pour cette nouvelle installation très riche techniquement.
Andy, clearly Powermate is coming through for you! Quite satisfying how you upgrade an already upgraded solar system! I must admit it was difficult watching the dismantling of your sweat and hard work. Although considering the fourth-coming conclusion, I find it very impressive to say the least. Cheer's to you and the crew. BOTTOMS UP!
110622/1709h PST 🇺🇸 hello Herr Andy, thank you for Part 2 of new PV installation work in
progress. Exciting of course. I had to respond this way, because I don’t see “Comments” on my YT screen, reason being UKN. Cheers und 73s…
It is coming along really good. I'm super happy with the result...
Hi Andy, have a look at the Sunnytrack application.
You can use it to see the position of the sun for different days of the year.
The whole thing works via the AR function. Great for making a useful panel alignment.
I hope he will check it ouit cause I wanted to check it out tomorrow when sun is back again. pitch dark right now and still 10 hours to go at least.
Well, you have to go with your roof orientation, there is not much you can optimize. For a ground mounted system, go full north (south up there).
@@OffGridGarageAustralia You're right, on a roof you're not very flexible. You could use it to see if the second row is shaded in winter 6:43
Or which obstacles shade the panels from a certain time of year. Take a look at it, it costs nothing.
Excellent progress & report, cant wait to see what the finished install can output on a good day and a bad day. Cheers
Once ready, you have a fantastic system! Congrats from the rainy Netherlands...
Yeah, we're getting there, I guess. Thanks and all the best to the Netherlands.
You are definitely going to get some power from it all when finished wow jealous not lol 🤣🤣🤣👍👍👍
Nice work
Dear Andy. Few hours back I was able to see the production data. I think now you've changed mppt. It's saying no data to show. 😂
Changing the configuration constantly... but it should now be correct and working again.
They have a app to calculate the sun with you panels!
I know Andy loves his trees but others may find this useful!
Looks awesome, I want some of those panels! 😍 Andy once your house plan runs out you will be able to supply the neighborhood with the power you generate 😉 I started with 2 145w panels for my camper trailer only to find in shady areas it wasn't enough, so I added another 2. Now I've bought a camper van and thinking of covering the roof with some if needed.
You cannot have enough panels! 💪
@@OffGridGarageAustralia so I can have some of your new ones? lol I wish but hey they wont suit my system so im just going to have to buy my own, great stuff Andy keep up the good work.
I think the trees are blocking the sun more than the clouds are affecting panel performance. I have zero tree shading and even in cloudy/rainy conditions I am getting great performance. full sun right now 7500, cloudy 6500 and heavy rain 5500 watts. But I also have my panels set for fall/spring almost winter angle (51 degrees). I truly hope yo get more than 500 watts an hour from 4000 watts of panels.
Your panels sound amazing! What make and model are they?
We must have different clouds. On a cloudy winter day here my 6.1kW array might only be producing 100-200W.
Have you got micro inverters or balancers installed with the panels?
@@andysPARK no. I have 2 5000US growatt inverters(want schneider)
@@kevinmills5293 they are not just trina 235.I bought used. I want to know why my panels are performing when others don't. Is it cause I live 7 miles form Lake Michigan and its reflecting more sun? is it my angle to the atmosphere? I bought used 235 watt Trina panels (40) 38 works. the max I have got is 7500 watts. the lowest I have seen is when the sun first comes up 1 inverter slowly goes 100 then in 30 minutes its around 3500 watts. other inverter I have not seen under 1000 watts. again did I find an angle to where the sun works better in my area? I have no clue I just know I get way more power than expected.
when they put the last one in polish a corrner with a clean rag 40 watt😊
Yes, a brand new video!!!! Thank you
Great update !!! At least you can fill this huge battery with some electrons !!!! Very soon this will be finish .
I have you pointing out all these little details to me and learn from you....thx btw...again ;)
I'm trying to capture as much as possible and share it here.
Wow Andy! Clean installation and it looks like real world results may better your testing, again!
The results are outstanding with this new setup. I need to make some further changes, too much power now 🤦♂️
@@OffGridGarageAustralia Can you ever really have too much power?
@@OffGridGarageAustralia there must be power enough in the wintertime, so you are probably not oversized...
@@michagooglein5008 that's correct. It's easy to thrive in summer but we will see the true outcome in winter.
No such thing as too much power! Good news.
With the roof glands, ideally the iron roof should be cleaned before smothering it in sealant. Gives it a far better chance to adhere and seal.
I agree. This is the primary reason for almost all the leaks I see on installations. I use a blower, water, and even solvents if necessary. Old asphalt is the worst for this because a lot of guys don't seal under the shingle and if you don't have a flashing, the grit gives up then your house requires black mold remediation 🤦
Roof seal is called a decktite.
Dektite are the mouldable seals for roof penetration. I used one for my small off-grid garage array. Mine is located underneath a panel to give it extra protection from sun and weather.
I've used one on my main roof as well, my installers at the time were just going to cheat, so I had to buy the Dektite and insist they use it, not sure I'd want to use one on a flat roof though, but would be a much cleaner option. I've 5kw of panels going on my flat roof garage soon.
@@TheRonskiman My garage is flat roof. The hole is on the ridge of the corrugation, not the valley so that also helps.
@@TheRonskiman i think they are fine for pretty much any/most perforations on many surfaces with a bit of silicone under the seal before screwing down preferably & dab a bit on the screw tops later as well if ur worried about water ingress there.
@@evil17 they do one with adhesive especially for felt roofs. I'm going to use that, then put some extra felt over top, it will be much neater. My frames are going to be bolted through the roof as well, I've a rubber pad, then an aluminium spreader block to compress the pad, and will use polyurethane mastic which is much better than silicon sealant.
The best way to use those flashings is to completely fill the inner cup through a small puncture with a caulking gun and silicone after it is installed. This fills the air cavity solid with sealant instead of just the edges. It makes it so as the seal deteriorates in the sun, any leaks will not fill that empty chamber and eventually rot a hole through (seen this a lot). For this reason I jab the tip of my silicone caulk tube through the rubber after it's all installed, and squirt as much in as I can before it fills and oozes out. The rubber will expand slightly and when you pull the tip out sealant will ooze out, sealing the hole you made and indicating it's full and truly sealed.
Migh be usefull to consider a foldable stand to expand the hight during winter cause with these new panels you will see a big increase during winter.
Just changed our panels from summer 28° to 55° degree during winter and that did nearly double the power in the moment I had done that.
Best would be a 1 axis tracker but that is not that cheap and in your case it would hurt the other panels too in their production or at least 1 row or 1 string.
But at the end it will be an experiment to measure what you can achieve during an average winter day and not the bright sunny winter day you might rarely have cause those figures on a sunny day can be really impressive at least in sunny germany at the shore but the average winter day here looks quite the opposite .
Linear gate actuators are pretty neat for this type of application.
The panels against the fence, face to face at 45° angles that is supposed to increase out put up to 50%. Since they are On the ground it would be easy to check that out. A power accordion.
Well, face to face they won't output anything, I would say😂
Looks promising mate. You have tons more sun than me, Scotland has been kicking my arse, my new Trina solar managed 1.7kWh all day yesterday and 5.5 today 😭😭😭
New battery cells are on there way 🤞🤞, but nothing to charge them with lol.
What do you have installed?
@@andysPARK Not enough 😂
I have 4kw peak Trina solar virtex s 400w and 4kw peak of second hand Phono solar 250w panels.
Oh, wow, I know, I had such energy harvest in winter too. That will be the time of truth for my setup. After January, it will go down again already.
@@OffGridGarageAustralia I am counting down the days to the Winter Solstice lol.
@@OffGridGarageAustralia my worst yet. Heavy rain and gakes yesterday gave me 0.7kWh all day fro 8kw peak of panels. I am waiting for the day I get a big fat ZERO!!!
Look again Andy, - the quick disconnect MC4 pairs you showed us don't look to be screwed together tightly?
Hi Andy, I’ll now give you a valuable little tip. IF, your solar installers haven’t ..already done ..this for you, themselves, you should make sure that after they finish the job, that you get yourself a tub of Lanotec Type A Grease, and then go along to all of your solar panel rail mounting clamps and unscrew each of the stainless steel bolts out of them, and apply a good smear of that grease to the threads on all of the bolts, before re-screwing them back into the aluminium panel mounting clamps again.
Why…?? Because if you don’t do this, then within a year or two, of exposure to the weather, you’ll find that all, of those stainless steel fixing bolts will have ..seized, ..themselves, (sometimes permanently) because of moisture induced electro-galvanic corrosion, between the two dissimilar metals, into the threads of the aluminium panel mounting clamps, and they will become an ..absolute ..problem for you, further down the track, if you should ever have to lift or remove and replace a damaged or faulty panel.
The Lanotec grease provides a permanent, waterproof barrier, between the mating interfaces of the two dissimilar metal threads and thereby acts as a very effective anti-sieze agent, thus preventing this moisture induced corrosion from galling, the stainless steel threads of the fixing bolts in the aluminium panel mounting clamps.
Trust me, it’s cheap, it works, and it will save you a ..mountain of pain, and frustration, and a LOT, of swearing, in a few years time…! 😉
Yeah, nah, I won't do all that. It's been installed now and it is what it is. I know what you mean and I had a hard time to get the old ones off., but apparently the new ones are different and this greasing is not necessary any more.
@@OffGridGarageAustralia OK, your choice, ..good luck. 😉
If falling leaves and foliage is an issue you may want to install a mesh wire kit along the top of your arrays to prevent it falling down and then sliding under your arrays.
I had such mesh on the gutters. That was the first thing I removed when we moved in. The gutters were full of small stuff which falls through the mesh. Better to have good access and clean it out properly.
@@OffGridGarageAustralia Yes I have gutter guard, but the solar kits are different and more aimed at rodents and larger foliage, small stuff will just wash straight down and off.
@@Crawfa79 I'll have a look. Thank you.
Looks good so far! Hopefully this adds some juice to your batteries until the remainder is operational!
Excellent!
Those conduit, I would have put them all under panels to avoid UV
What UV? I have had some out in the wild for 12 years and it's still like new. They are using HD conduit. It will just last.
Nice, you see, your clever thinking of before ticks almost all boxes of the pro's. And they need 3 guys, 3 jutes and a lot of regulations 🤔😂🤣😀
But now it's covered by the insurance as well 😉
your batteries are full, before u even get to peak AMPs. This is insane
Yes, but we have almost summer no. Winter will be interesting...
Hi Andy, should turnout to be a great system again. I noticed they used corrugated conduit here & there that are in the sun. I have seen the corro get very brittle in the sun. Is theirs UV rated, hope so. Cheers
Yes, they are using HD conduit UV resistance and also spray it with cold gal paint. It should last decades.
Here in Hawaii you can only use metal conduit for any interior/exterior transition. It is vastly superior as long as the proper seals and quality conduit are used.
Hey Andy, I noticed you replaced solar panels fuses in the distribution box with DC Breakers.
What rated current for each string?
Have a nice weekend
Stay charged, stay safe has you would say 😉
There was a small hole in the flexible conduit when you were showing the rubber seals. Also that flexible conduit will only last about 5 to 7 years in the sun that is how long it lasted for me it needs to be covered.
Andy have i catch right that you are expecting shading on bottom line of already mounted panels and you are having 5 parallel strings of 2 panels in serial? If so and then you should consider to connect upper part of 2 and 2 in serial in top line alone, then 2 and 2 on bottom line and last 2 remaing as you are planning now - one panel from top line and one from bottom. This will give you full power from 4 panels when bottom line is shaded with another lines of panels (that with settable heigh and angle) and full power from that panels making shade on already mounted. I did some measurements and when one of 2 panels in series is partly shaded, that you get nearly no power from whole set. And if sun will hit those shading panels in wrong angle, then you have to make another video in what scenario you will get more power :) If it is better lose 10-60% power on 10 panels caused by bad angle or to lose 70-95% power from 6 pannels by shade..
Just top the God damn trees already!!! 🤣🤣
Hallo Andi, grüße vom Schwabenland. You have in your "Big Batterie" two types of cells in use. The LF280K and the LF304. When you would get both at the same Price per Ah, wich one would you prefer. With a look of livecycles at max 0.2-0.3C. Thanks for all these wonderful Videos. I learnd a lot.
Hallo Andy. Thanks for sharing the progress of the installation with us. It's quite interesting to see, how they install the panels and that there is no big difference to the job you did.
But one question: Could the panels on the car port be moved further to the outside (to the west)? Closer to the gutter of the carport? This would reduce the shading on the panels on the west roof, when the sun is already quite low and could give you 21Watts more... ;-)
Aha, now I see it. It's not possible to move the rails, because of the location of the screws, which are holding the metal roof and therefore where the support beams are located.
We have lowered the tilt now a bit but still get a bit of shading on the other panels after 5pm. The sun is already fairly down by then and behind the trees anyway. So, loses are minimal. At this point of time, I'm expecting the battery to be fully charged anyway.
@@OffGridGarageAustralia Thanks, this sounds reasonable. I also suspect, that the sunset will be close, when shading occures, so that the gained energy (not power) will not be that much. There's just not enough daytime left.
Hi Andy, exited for you to get some more pooowah on the roof, have you thout about what to do with all that overproduction? That battery is gonna be full pretty quickly, trust me, i have a 48Ah battery and since a couple of weeks i double our PV field from 30 panels SW with a other 36 panels op NE.
For the Same reason you are. The New field provides 4-10kWh a day on a cloudy day, much needed power to get tru the day!
Have not seen the battery under 55% since!
I know what you mean since today 😉
The overall goal is to connect the house as well without touching the house solar and high feed in tariff. With the limited cables available, this will be a challenge.
Stick it into the Tesla and resistive hot water heater
Hey Andy, looks great. What happened to all the holes in the roof of the old construction/rails. did you seal it somehow?
sounds like very loud possums up there
I would clear some tall trees blocking the sun.
That is one very impressive solar array you have there, hope it all works as expected. With your solar and lithium battery experience you may be able to answer a question I have about battery chargers. Is it possible to charge Lithium batteries with a standard LED, GEL, AGM, battery charger and if so will it hurt the battery?
Cheers Robert from cloudy Vict'
Nice
Reminded me of a song by: 5th dimension, let the sunshine in ..
Yeah, almost too much sun today!
You are close to your own power station.
Looking pretty good. A couple things I noticed... they seem to have just siliconed right over the dirt on the roof (not what you would have done yourself I'm sure, I would have cleaned it myself in those spots). Also, the base of the mounts where the aluminum is shaped like an inverted "V" to match the roof ridges... is there some sort of rubber/silicone around the screw where it goes through the roof? It looks like just aluminum pressed against the roofing and water could seep in without some sort of seal (maybe you could put a little silicone on the uphill side of the mount). Looking forward to the next episode - good stuff!
I noticed the dirt under the silicon as well, personally I would of cleaned it (as would Andy), but I'd use Polyurethane sealant which is much more durable, silicon will fail much sooner.
Me too, & Im sure many others squirmed as they saw the dirt under the silicone.
Yep, noticed this as well...
Congrats andy this setup looks promising, kann's nicht abwarten bis es fertig ist. 2kw in so einem wetter ist geil. wieviel wird's sein im regen. ich glaube auch so um die 1kw oder mehr
I hope for at least 1kW under thick clouds. We will see...
Andy I was shocked and very disappointed to see the copious amounts of silicon they applied directly to the roof, without any real attempt to clean and prepare the roof surface properly
IMHO they may as well have not put the silicon on there at all, because within a few short weeks water will easily start to wick under the silicon, and it will lift and become useless.
Such a shame that this lack of attention to detail has in my mind tarnished what appears to be an otherwise good install job.
Looks like you are going to have so much solar input form now on, how are you going to use it all? 😁
How about a car charging station for the local EV folks, and start making some money back! 🤣
with those roof flashing/gland fittings, why did they not clean those surfaces? Not great to encapsulate dirt into that silicone
Are the MC4 connectors crimped or crimped + soldered?
Crimped. Never ever soldered.
What did you have to pay for the 540w panels?
Would be fun to compare prices in Australia and where I source mine :)
Not sure, still haven't got the invoice yet...
Need help. I'm below noob here. Could you do one on the non-inverting summing amplifier circuit? (voltage adder circuit) I want to take 3 cell phone power banks and add their voltages (5v + 5v + 5v = 15v) then output the resulting 15v to a power inverter. I'm surprised this circuit isn't more popular. Off-grid solar power from multiple voltages of panels. Etc.? There's a rare Fincore one on eBay but I don't see any output on it. Any help much appreciated. Schematics look like gibberish to me but I've always wanted to learn electronics!
Hello Andy, could use your help on getting the specifications for B1A8S20PH heater film/element requirements. I'm unable to find any info on volt/watt heater usage, to keep the smoke from letting out
Thank you in advance
Jim
Hi Jim, not sure about that. I read somewhere it's limited to 3A of current. I would send a message to the shop were you bought it and ask for the specs for the heater.
@@OffGridGarageAustralia I’m a new subscriber, love your content and your presentation, only about a third of the way through your videos so far.
@@kf6qbw welcome to the channel, Jim. Lots more videos to come...
Wouw! Impressive capacity that's gonna be.
Andy, I see no drain holes at the edges of the panels. Wouldn't that cause dirty spots on the bottom of the panels after one year.
Especially since after the first year the coating will roughen up and be more susceptible to dirt?
Just my 2 cents off consideration.
Cheers to the off-grid garage!
Yes I can't understand why panels don't have that "gap" or drain, some LG panels had this a while ago and I thought it was a terrific idea, if you can stop the water pooling at the bottom of the panel, less buildup is going to occur !!
I 3D printed some drain clips for the panels on my all-but-flat garage roof. They work brilliantly.
@@spoonwzd the panels I bought for my off-grid installation had clip-on plastic for the bottom that "sucks" the water over the edge of the panel by capilar force. I see no residue effects at the bottom sides so maybe that works te same.
@@spoonwzd so, now Andy has to go 3D 🤔
I'll test a few of these rain clips for panels and see how they work.
You are lucky, our fire code mandates a 3 foot offset from roof edges. This can cause a significant reduction in how many panels you can put on the roof. Looks good, can't wait to see it finished.
Do you know what the rationale is for the 3 foot offset?
@@andysPARK So the firemen have room to stand and cut a hole.
@@john_in_phoenix Our firemen will not go on roofs against their rules here.
Thanks John. The system really comes together now. Lots of power pouring in today. The many regulations can really make it hard sometimes to get something together which actually works. The new panels are far more efficient than the old ones, hence I now have the space required around them.
why are these called shingled? because of the vertical lengths?
They are shingled, means overlapping cells, like shingles on a house roof. More information here: www.acsolarwarehouse.com/news/what-are-shingled-solar-panels/
@@OffGridGarageAustralia interesting, I wonder what is the power-size ration compared to full cells and half cells mono
I would just like to add something my solar installer told me as they were hooking up my 10kw of pv in regards to the safe disconnecting of those panels from the roof top mc4 connector/ fuse whatever,,,,, he told me that he saw a guy say watch this, as he touched two 600-700vdc pv copper conductor wires together and he said it just vaporised about 400mm long of wire instantly before his eyes in a bright blue/greeny flash that sounded and looked somewhat like a giant plasma welder, so I would have to say I have a total lack of confidence in that as a safe means for a panic type disconnect, of course you should make sure there is no power on such a circuit first, but I have heard of sillier things happening.
Never heard of such things before. I doubt 700V will make such a long spark especially if it comes from a solar array.
As you said, it was a foolish move from this guy to disconnect a live DC solar array. Such work should only be carried out by a licences electrician.
As per definition, the Disconnection Point is a 'non-load breaking disconnection'.
@@OffGridGarageAustralia this is all hearsay of course, but my assumption from what he was saying, was that it was a qualified sparky who did this, I believe to show his offsider its potential. Also Andy, in Australia, I’m sure you have heard of the term, ‘Never let the Truth get in the way of a good story!” Cheers
@@OffGridGarageAustralia what video you explained more of this?
👍
Hi Andy, it works out fine.. 🍻
Cheers, Henry 😎👍
Yes it does
@8:54 They are just called a Dektite, in the trade, so named after the Australian inventor. You had it right, they are called a flashing. A generic nomenclature, for any roofing waterproof over-protection, whether it be flat sheetmetal flashing, or a penetration type one .
You'll soon be up & running again. In time for Xmas.
Question, with all you've spent, both on your DIY efforts, with old panels, etc., as well this new upgrade, how long before you expect to break even, on your power/cost ratio?
Some of the cost might be offset by TH-cam income.
That is hard to say as I don't have the house connected yet. Lots of energy coming in now but no load...
8:30 - direct contact copper to aluminium? that is corrosion on the way.. and same with silicone, you have to use only neutral silicone..
The earth clamps are stainless.
Hello,
I would like to make a battery with 280ah Lifepo4 cells.
My question is, is it possible to make blocks of 2 cells in series so 3.65v 280+280=560ah and then put 16 blocks of 2 cells in parallel to make a 48v battery.
So I will come up with a 48v 560ah battery with 1BMS 200ha to manage the battery.
My inverter is a 10KV WKS.
Or make two 16 cells batteries with 2 BMS.
For cells, which option is the best for you?
Thanks
It's the exact opposite, Charles.
Put two batteries in parallel (positive to positive and negative to negative) to get 560Ah and then 16 of these parallel packs in series (positive of one parallel pack to the negative of the next and so on. This will increase your voltage then).
If you're new to all this (it sounds like it), please be very very careful as these batteries contain and awful lot of energy!
I wouldn't be to happy about the silicon over roof dirt. I think I might have wiped and cleaned the roof a little b4 putting the boots on.
At around the 7-minute mark you see a lot of discoloration in the solar panels, is this some kind of protective plastic film that haven't been removed yet or are the panels already cracked?
Edit: It might just be finger marks?
Because the surface is almost black you clearly see the finger prints. If this would be a car, I would constantly wash it 😂
@@OffGridGarageAustralia
One more question though, why don't you cut down the trees nearby that shadows the panels?
I will soon install my 22kw ground mount system and I am going as far as buying some of the neighboring property to cut down the trees.
My neighboring property is mostly forest though so not too expensive to buy.
@@Mr.Engineer. that would be wrong. We're cutting down far too many trees and causing all kind of problems with that. When we install solar panels, we want to be as sustainable as possible. Having trees is a gift not a burden. Removing the trees in my yard would have cost more than oversizing my solar array. It's a long term experiment I'm doing, trying to generate enough energy even under (partly) shading conditions. It's also explained here:
th-cam.com/video/nS72GpEO-zA/w-d-xo.html
@@OffGridGarageAustralia
I guess the impact of cutting down trees is different in different environments around the globe.
I basically live "in a forest" and we have problems with our old pastures and open areas in nature growing back with bush and forest. We have to much forest in certain places and the forest all around me is tall pine trees about ready to be cut down for timber. It was planted about 70 years ago I think, when they cut down the forest around me last time for the same purpose of timber.
I also have a stream I am considering laying a small portion of in pipe. Would yield around 5kw and consume less than 1% of the water during spring and autumn and maybe upwards of 30% during the drier season.
It is green power, and I would become self-sufficient with electricity, even during our dark and cold winters up here in Norway.
But got me curious, is there any reason why I shouldn't cut down a few trees and build the hydro power given my location and environment?
@@Mr.Engineer. Sounds interesting. You should consider a TH-cam channel and explain all this a bit more. People will watch this, including me...
We want to see poooooower !!!! 😃😃😃😃😃
looks good . i can't wait to see you out there washing and waxing all the panels every month :)
Personally I think it is a big mistake to use normal bathroom silicone. It will dry out quickly. They should have used UV secured Sika Flex or a similar glue also used for caravans.
Who is using bathroom silicon? That would be stupid...
😂
Silicone is silicone.....
@@OffGridGarageAustralia It certainly looks like bathroom silicone in the video and not polyuretan based like Sika Flex
@@QuantumMarmalade Yes and it should definitively not be on a roof in direct sunlight
S.P.A.T. on the new panels🍻
Yes, cheers. I had one too! 🍺
Someone needs to do a video on grounding the panels... And they don't need to discuss how to do it right. That's obvious. What the discussion needs to be about, is why its needed at all electrically. Since the solar panel is completely electrically isolated from the aluminum frame, it's not clear to me why any grounding is desired??? Glass is a perfect (or as close to it as one can get.) insolator.
Also you should use DC optimizers if you're not gonna chop those trees up.
Victron say don’t use them with their mppt SCC’s
DcCoptimizers don't do anything unless you have panels in one string which are pointing to different directions. Useless otherwise.
@@OffGridGarageAustralia they can help with partial shading by making all the voltages constant. Im not sure you are aware as most people aren't, a mppt charge controller can only track the lowest voltage string in any parallel configuration. Meaning that if only one string is shaded, you will lose production from all of the strings relative to the greatest voltage drop. So one panel shaded on one string will result in a relative drop in production and mppt perceived voltage across all parallel strings 😎🥰
@@OffGridGarageAustralia it's actually pretty interesting to test. Would make a great video 😉. Just putting a 12v panel in parallel with a 40v panel or a 40v panel parallel with any other relatively higher voltage string and looking at the charge controller would do it pretty good 🤓
18 years in and that's probably the trickiest part of photovoltaic I've come to learn, and also why mixing and matching panels non uniformly across strings is a big no-no and can result in a very poorly producing system. I've disconnected low voltage strings before and watched dead systems come back to life like a bear after winter ❄️🥶
Andy ur closing in 50k subscribers. So what are u going to do on 50k.
Good for you :)
They could have cleaned the roof with iso before using the silicon on the decktites
Yep, I would have cleaned it.
Don't you have a big problem with shading from those trees?
It looks like you're shading quite a considerable amount on the panels.
That's the whole point of the setup...
@@OffGridGarageAustralia ....to have shading?
I don't understand.
All those details you show us, yet you fail to inform us the exact configuration of your new array? i still don't get it is it in 2s5p? at first i thought each 5 will form a string...then you measure the voltage to be 92V that's a 2S.....what's going on??
please include a detailed 2 min explanation of your new array configuration with physical layout on paper, connection diagram......i'm lost
I explained this a few times in the recent videos. Not sure what else to do...
@@OffGridGarageAustralia can you link those videos? it seems i did not watch all
So many people mounting solar panels! 🧐
One Andy would suffice. 😅
Any comments from the "specialists" about the battery 2.0 setup?
Great, they love it and are going to build their own. Cells and JK-BMS are already ordered.
Is it just me thinking this takes very long? There are 4 workers on the roof. Should be a job done in at most two days for all four roofs. Especially because all electric stuff was already in place.
Yeah, it seems like an easy job but it's a lot of cabling work as well and they started just before noon at two days.
My preparation certainly saved them a lot of time, they were saying.
@@OffGridGarageAustralia that explains if they started just before noon 😁
@@igorybema they have so many jobs... fully booked out until January already.
@@OffGridGarageAustralia Shouldn't be your problem right? You would expect an installer to come over and do a full day work, not just a few hours.Then again, I assume they are finished now so all ok now.
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Come on Andy. I am very disappointed in you. Look at all the leaves on your new panels. Get your blower out and blow them away. I am sure you will get an extra 3 .... maybe 4 watts if the panels are leaf free.
It's usually a 21W increase 😂