Great video! We bought 2 EG4 12k solar units a few months ago from Signature Solar. We have been nothing but impressed and happy with them! I live in the southwest and as I'm writing this it's late after noon, 100 degrees and the AC's are set to 68 & 69 and cooling great! Both are using full solar power, one is pulling 299 watts and one is pulling 520 watts (bigger space to cool) from the solar panels! Everything works as it was advertised and signature solar has great customer service! Free AC! Can't wait until winter to see how the heat pumps work in the winter and more importantly, if i get a lot solar we could have FREE HEAT! Glad I'm sitting done, i feel woozy...
@killer5846 did you put each of AC units on separate circuits and solar arrays or are they both sharing the same array? ....and follow up question how many of the two sided EG4 panels did you end up needing to supply two AC units? I've asked and they never got back to me ....maybe the dimensions I provided for the only strip of land I can put panels on was too small to accommodate enough cells to run two mini splits. If I had a third question, it would be whether you needed a battery bank to run overnight or if you are in-fact using some grid power at the cheaper rates to run a few hours into the evening .....say until 10pm?
@@GiantRobo77 Hello! Happy to answer some questions. My set up is two 12k BTU solar units and one 9k BTU non solar unit. Important to know the setup so it makes some sense. 9k unit is in our bedroom which is used 90% at night so no solar. 12k in dining room kitchen, other 12k in the living room with solar assit. 1. Grid power. The 9k BTU (non solar) and one 12k BTU unit are on one 20amp AC circuit as they draw 4 amps maximum so combined they are well under the 16 amp working load on a 20 amp breaker. The other 12k units is on a 15amp circuit by itself. 2. Solar. The two 12k units are on #4 each solar panels provided with the package and seem to be perfectly size for the units. 3. The solar arrays are not shared, each unit has #4 panels wired in series directly plugged in to the units with a solar cut of switch (required for code) for safety. 4. They sell their 24k mini split with 8 panels, so I would assume 4-per 12k seems like a good fit. 5.Grid power, we do use grid power as we have no battery back ups for any of the units. They should be easy to set up with battery backups as these units are heat pump inverters and are super efficient! We use the 9k only at night and on grid power but it uses very little power. The 12k units use grid power when the sun is not up. I'm in the southwestern US in summer, so the solar starts kicking in around 7am and goes full solar (no grid power) at around 8am. Assuming a clear sunny day the units use full solar until around 6:30pm when they begin to taper off dropping solar at around 8pm. I had the solar panels installed on our metal roof and they don't take a lot of room. Ground Mount's should work well with the proper space available. Also, one pro tip I was taught by a solar installer's on TH-cam is to make sure of shading where you want to install where you have the least amount of shading. Hope I answered all of you questions. Good luck
@@killer5846 Awesome! Thank you so much for the detailed response. ... that is exactly the scenario I'm looking for ....it's either that or we have to completely stop using the kitchen for cooking ....my wife made cupcakes with our daughter yesterday and made a pan fry dinner at the same time.... I couldn't cool the kitchen dining area down no matter what I tried.....great in winter .....lousy in summer. I can see the wisdom in each unit having its own 4 panel solar array power supply ....independent of each other. It's only a small hassle to run wires under the house in the crawlspace over to the side of the building where I presently plan to mount panels. I think 8x oanels will fit ....though this has me thinking more and more about a car port with a solar panel roof on the driveway/detached garage/kitchen side.....those are two benefits that are very worth while. It occurred to me after asking the question about battery banking solar power that that should be a separate system for the whole house ....mostly so the fridge can stay running in a power outage and inverting back to 120v AC would give us lights and fans. I'll work on that in "phase 3" of this plan. It's great to live in the 21st century when we have the ability to do these things....Wow!
@@GiantRobo77 You're very welcome! The major reason I did this was because I wanted to do solar but it's so damn expensive and our utility out here has been cutting back on the incentives so it would take many, many years to recoup the cost. Also, I like how simple they were to install and I did most of the work myself except for the solar panel installation. The mini splits were no problem and really the solar panels weren't either I just needed to hire a independent contractor to help me install to make sure it was done to code. What I like best about this system is the simplicity, you put everything together and simply plug in the solar panels. All of the electronics are built into the outdoor unit and it takes care of using solar when it's available or switching back to grid power automatically! The last thing for me was not getting up on the roof anymore I service our swamp cooler, getting to old for this crap. You sound like you know what you're doing and you have a plan, just go slow and you should be great!
Ive been running the first version for over a year now and 😅it has been revolutionary. So much better than my baseboards and its saved 1.3MW in solar power. Unit has paid for itself in my situation in 1 yr!
@@CountryLivingExperience 10 = cold, 20 = nice, 30 = hot. Metric. Easy as 1, 2, 3 :) I can't quite fathom Fahrenheit; the numbers seem random. Beautiful install. I'll be doing the same on my new home next year.
Great video! I have the 12k model. It's been great for both heating & cooling my cabin, but my unit didn't come with a mounting templet. Was the one you used in this video included with your mini split?
First, thanks for yet another great vid. The part I'm fuzzy on in general is the PV -> Unit power needs. If you over-panel for winter, then you have wasted power in summer and vice versa. Not sure how to size such a thing effectively - maybe after some use you can provide some insight into choosing a ratio of PV to hours of operation / cool-heat overall effectiveness. Where I live, I need cool thru the most of the night. The PV -> Battery -> Inverter -> 120v does have loss but also the battery acts as a buffer and to extend operations into night-time cool/heat. It would be nice if the unit has some MPPT type monitor info - e.g. PV in, power used to help inform - do I need more or less panels etc.
You're welcome. Can't change how the panels work. You have to account for that voltage spike in cold temps. Until they figure out that science, it is what it is. I will certainly do a follow up video on it after some time and testing. I certainly need cooling at night as well but wanted to just test out the full capability of the DC only configuration. I am sure they will continue to develop these and maybe add something like you are talking about....although that will greatly drive up the cost.
Sir, put a larg-ish rubber washer or motor mount under the outside unit and sitting on the concrete. Like a motor mount they will absorb most of the vibration. I have a 2 1/2 ton unit that we installed in 1998 and it still works great! Plus I live in Florida where it runs 8 months straight, plus on and off during the winter.
Hey you probably already figured this out but you can change the temperature reading a few ways. • Method 1: Press the TEMP Up and Down buttons simultaneously. • Method 2: Power down the remote and hold both the TEMP Up button and the Fan button simultaneously for ~5 seconds. It was in my manual but hard to find. Usually under remote control operations
Nice video. I really love my EG4 mini-split that I installed last year in my pole barn too. Just a quick word of caution....I noticed you built your solar panel rack out of timbers. When I did that, the wood boring bees really chewed up the boards. You might want to consider upgrading that to some superstrut or an actual solar rack instead. Signature Solar has some good solutions for that. Good luck and best wishes!
@@CountryLivingExperience Just so you know, the lumber I used for my previous rack was treated too....but the bees still bored into it like crazy wherever there were horizontal surfaces. Mine lasted for a few years before it got to a point where I was worried about the structural integrity in some locations. I ended up switching out to superstrut channels.
Wow, that's crazy. I have had some treated in my garden planter boxes for 5 years and they have no bug damage at all. You must have super bugs where you live. Steel channel is always better though.
@@CountryLivingExperience They probably aren't going after your planter boxes if the lower side of the wood isn't exposed to air. They tend to attack the under side of any horizontal wood surfaces. We are in Ohio...so it's possible we have super bugs! ;-)
To change from C to F. Method 1: Press the TEMP Up and Down buttons simultaneously. • Method 2: Power down the remote and hold both the TEMP Up button and the Fan button simultaneously for ~5 seconds.
I installed an EG4 9k recently, the AC only DIY version, and it didn't come with the cardboard stencil so I had to drill the hole based on their instructions and it was slightly off, I had to take the unit off and file away some drywall to expand the hole to get everything to fit. Unit has been working great though, not a difficult install at all.
@@killer5846 I bought mine probably 6-9 months ago and it sat in my garage until I was ready to install it, so maybe they started adding it after that. Would have been useful for sure! The instruction manual wasn't very clear about the hole in relation to the bracket.
@@paul.phillips must have been added after you bought yours because I did notice that it had some more things in the packing then was on the videos I saw.
Am wondering, what's the difference between using such a unit and a common A/C unit by utilizing a hybrid solar inverter and no batteries? Is there any "special circuitry" inside these to optimize operation? Thanks for the video!
It is there. Patience bro. It was like the 6 link on the page that was clearly labeled. Here you go...signaturesolar.com/eg4-hybrid-solar-mini-split-kit-energy-star-certified-air-conditioner-heat-pump-ac-dc-12000-btu-seer2-22-1800-watts-of-solar-pv-kit-e0011/?ref=countrylivingexperienc
I think it surges to 1100w when the compressor kicks on and then drops after that. I am not sure how many watts for continuous running of the compressor.
We have had our 12k units for a couple of months and I have never seen them go over about 900 watts on 104' days. Usually after they slowly ramp up and get to a working indoor temperature they hangout around 240 watts after about an hour.
I have solar panels on my roof. Does this come with instructions on how to do that connection? I am confused as to what else I need to buy to make that happen and also to be able to go from DC to AC. I only need a 9000 BTU or a 12,000 BTU for a master bedroom suite and don’t think that I will use it a lot, just to cool the room off at night in summer, however, I don’t see where it shows exactly what you need to do this hook up? Do you have another video that shows how you also hooked it up to the electrical?
If you were to add this to your home that already has panels, then you would just run it from the AC power in your main panel. You can add panels to this also for extra power generation. I have another video where I hook up a Mr.Cool unit to my home which has panels already.....but the electrical connection is not shown completely.
By adding more panels in parallel and keeping below the maximum voltage, how many panels (how much Short Circuit Current) can I add if I want to make sure I have maximum PV for my mini split (this mini split)?
Depends on your panel rating/voltage. The max current is 12A and max VOC is 380V. The max for my SolarEver panels is 7 total in series. They are 455w, 49.35VOC and 11.44A. If you are trying to parallel, remember that Amps are added. I think that the manual also mentions to only add a series string to this unit. It does not recommend paralleling panels.
If running on solar only and the unit shuts off due to not enough solar energy, does the unit have to be turned back on with the remote or will it come on when enough solar energy is present. My scenario would be that I am not present at the location so I want to be sure it continues to run without any intervention provided enough solar energy is present.
If only running off the panels, the unit will 'wake up" in the morning when enough voltage has been generated. The fan will run with a lower voltage and then the compressor will turn on when the proper higher voltage is reached. They have an app for your phone that you can monitor the unit with. If running on AC power as well, the unit will never shut down. Once the sun hits the panels and provided enough voltage, the unit will switch from ac power to dc power.
Nylog isn’t needed, the seal is made using rubber gaskets in the sealed connections with those “DIY” fittings. You’d want to use them if it had the traditional flared lineset.
Nylog isn't needed but highly recommended! Every HVAC person I talked to said no matter what, use Nylog, tighten the connections for the proper torque and you will not have any leaks!
@@killer5846 those diy fittings are very different, it would like using teflon tape on plumbing pipe threaded connections with a rubber gasket, the seal is at the gasket not the threads.
@@silverlex1 true, but as it was described to me it is a HVAC lubrication as well and very effective at ensuring minimal stripped and cross threading. and it's so cheap, for me $6 is cheap insurance! Installed a Total of 3 mini splits and no leaks!
@@killer5846 Most hvac techs have never seen the sealed quickconnect lineset fittings. Its remarkably easy and essentially impossible to mess up. Obviously you are welcome to put nylog on it but its not doing anything :)
@@silverlex1 your probably right about the nylog, psychological insurance! As for the premade and ready quick lines, I love them! Made it so much easier!
You can order it from this link and have it shipped.....signaturesolar.com/eg4-hybrid-solar-mini-split-kit-energy-star-certified-air-conditioner-heat-pump-ac-dc-12000-btu-seer2-22-1800-watts-of-solar-pv-kit-e0011/?ref=countrylivingexperience
Unfortunately you skipped the most important test: When the sun goes down and the unit shuts off, when the sun goes up the next morning, WILL THE UNIT AUTOMATICALLY TURN BACK ON, and use the prior settings? if yes, than this is a great feature. If no, then this means you must go out to the shed every morning to turn the ac unit back on fir the day, which would be a oain in the a$$. Please test this feature, and show what you learned from how it reacts. thx
@@CountryLivingExperience I was hoping it is still there, mine is about a year old before the DYI line set, but the same unit, it works great, mine pulls 4.3amps on AC power full blast cooling
Who actually makes the unit? Plus, are repair parts available? Many of these DIY mini-splits are basically disposable after as little as 4 years because parts aren't available. Been there, done that. I like the idea of a solar run unit, I just look at all sides of ownership of appliances.
EG4 is the developer of the unit but I am not sure who exactly manufactures it. You would have to call EG4 re: the availability of spare parts / warranty work.
If you have to dispose these units after 3 years…something is definitely wrong…I’ve installed most of these units and 7years and still working(ofc your gonna have compressor efficiency loss over time)but it’s still cooling and energy consumption ain’t that bad…Regular maintenance and proper management of the unit is what makes it last(Ofc they’re outliers like manufacturers fault or voltage spikes that can shorten life)
Hey Eric. I have had my 2 Ton EG4 running only on DC for over a year now. I have discovered some downsides. Often I have to disconnect the PV and reconnect it after 30 seconds. I have 8x 320w Qcell 40.66VOC panels. Could you help me figure out how to fix the need to reset it often to get the compressor running. It will still run the fan but it has to be turned on and off manually often to get it going again.
I haven't experienced that issue yet. I read that it has a 3 minute delay if it loses DC power before it can restart. Are you running it just off of the panel DC power?
@@CountryLivingExperience yeah just DC from the panels is all it has ever had. 2400kWh of pure sunshine Heat & Cooling this past year. It could be a grounding issue? All I have is the positive & negative PV wires going into it. Doesn’t give me an error code or anything. The compressor just shuts off at random and wont turn back on unless I turn it off/back on or fully unplug replug the solar manually. I have installed over a dozen of these now. Mine is the only fully off grid one. I have one other customer that is having the same issue. Have heard from others in SS FB page that they have experienced the same. Unsolved mystery for over a year now. When it works it works great, just has some random quirks when fully off grid.
in the beginning I did try to troubleshoot with SS, ticket expired due to lack of perusing it on my end. Couldn’t seem to figure out why it is doing that with them. They were pretty brand new then. They might have more experience with that issue by now. I tried to reach out to DEYE in China and they were unresponsive.
Good Job on the video....are you on Rumble? I'm a long time subscriber....I'm sick of the two to three minutes of crap ads in front of your videos....especially you know who begging for campaign donations for her MOVEMENT
Thank you. I appreciate it. I have a Rumble account but have not uploaded any videos there yet. I may start doing that. I try to filter out the ads shown here but TH-cam does what it wants.
Not sure it wouldn't be more practical just to do a solar to battery system , i need heat/ac at night. Might save some but seems a waste of energy collected.
Air conditioners that are properly sized don't run continuously. A thermostatically controlled split unit will cycle on and off. The idea that solar panels which are continuously capturing solar energy would not feed that unused energy to a battery is ludicrous. Investing in 1.6kw of panels and dedicating that to a single appliance is a waste on an epic scale. The proper approach is panels/arrays connecting to a charge controller that stores the energy in a battery bank(s). An inverter supplies the needs of your appliances directly from the batteries. If the panels are sufficiently sized, the voltage drop on the batteries will be unnoticeable and pass straight through to the appliance Then, when the sun goes down, you have the stored energy in the batteries to run that appliance before noon and after 3pm. What these manufacturers of solar split systems and "solar generators" don't tell you is that the rule of thumb is only five hours of peak current is supplied from the panels each day. In summer, when you think your collection will be tops, heat reduces the panels' efficiency by as much as 30%. Sure, you can overcompensate for that ratio by adding more panels but you waste that extra energy by not collecting it in your battery bank(s). What about the other 19 hours a day. For context, my wife and I cruise and live fulltime on a 40ft sailboat that is fully electric (including auxiliary propulsion) and powered by solar. We haven't had a power bill in 7 years. It's 11pm, here in the Florida Keys, and 86°. The solar panels stopped collecting at 6:30pm and it has been dark for 4.5hrs...and our air conditioner is running (as well as our fridge/freezer, lights, electrical outlets, and our Epson home theater projector).
@@davidalbright7335 Not everyone lives on a sailboat, and for those that don't mind finding used our discounted panels. . .this is lovely. There is much more complexity to a full solar inverter system, and it isn't a weekend project, this is and works well.
@@JerrySpann-fn4kw And you left wing wannabe tree huggers can’t seem to gleen the fact that in order to make those panels which you buy from China, who uses coal to power their factories and the fuel it takes to ship them across the world. It’s not right wing, it is being RIGHT.
I like how you gave the important information without making us watch you screw in each screw!
Happy to help. I edit out the mundane stuff.
But we live for the mundane...
Great video!
We bought 2 EG4 12k solar units a few months ago from Signature Solar.
We have been nothing but impressed and happy with them!
I live in the southwest and as I'm writing this it's late after noon, 100 degrees and the AC's are set to 68 & 69 and cooling great!
Both are using full solar power, one is pulling 299 watts and one is pulling 520 watts (bigger space to cool) from the solar panels!
Everything works as it was advertised and signature solar has great customer service!
Free AC!
Can't wait until winter to see how the heat pumps work in the winter and more importantly, if i get a lot solar we could have FREE HEAT!
Glad I'm sitting done, i feel woozy...
Awesome!
@killer5846 did you put each of AC units on separate circuits and solar arrays or are they both sharing the same array? ....and follow up question how many of the two sided EG4 panels did you end up needing to supply two AC units?
I've asked and they never got back to me ....maybe the dimensions I provided for the only strip of land I can put panels on was too small to accommodate enough cells to run two mini splits.
If I had a third question, it would be whether you needed a battery bank to run overnight or if you are in-fact using some grid power at the cheaper rates to run a few hours into the evening .....say until 10pm?
@@GiantRobo77 Hello! Happy to answer some questions.
My set up is two 12k BTU solar units and one 9k BTU non solar unit.
Important to know the setup so it makes some sense.
9k unit is in our bedroom which is used 90% at night so no solar.
12k in dining room kitchen, other 12k in the living room with solar assit.
1. Grid power. The 9k BTU (non solar) and one 12k BTU unit are on one 20amp AC circuit as they draw 4 amps maximum so combined they are well under the 16 amp working load on a 20 amp breaker.
The other 12k units is on a 15amp circuit by itself.
2. Solar. The two 12k units are on #4 each solar panels provided with the package and seem to be perfectly size for the units.
3. The solar arrays are not shared, each unit has #4 panels wired in series directly plugged in to the units with a solar cut of switch (required for code) for safety.
4. They sell their 24k mini split with 8 panels, so I would assume 4-per 12k seems like a good fit.
5.Grid power, we do use grid power as we have no battery back ups for any of the units.
They should be easy to set up with battery backups as these units are heat pump inverters and are super efficient!
We use the 9k only at night and on grid power but it uses very little power.
The 12k units use grid power when the sun is not up.
I'm in the southwestern US in summer, so the solar starts kicking in around 7am and goes full solar (no grid power) at around 8am.
Assuming a clear sunny day the units use full solar until around 6:30pm when they begin to taper off dropping solar at around 8pm.
I had the solar panels installed on our metal roof and they don't take a lot of room.
Ground Mount's should work well with the proper space available.
Also, one pro tip I was taught by a solar installer's on TH-cam is to make sure of shading where you want to install where you have the least amount of shading.
Hope I answered all of you questions.
Good luck
@@killer5846 Awesome!
Thank you so much for the detailed response.
... that is exactly the scenario I'm looking for ....it's either that or we have to completely stop using the kitchen for cooking ....my wife made cupcakes with our daughter yesterday and made a pan fry dinner at the same time.... I couldn't cool the kitchen dining area down no matter what I tried.....great in winter .....lousy in summer.
I can see the wisdom in each unit having its own 4 panel solar array power supply ....independent of each other. It's only a small hassle to run wires under the house in the crawlspace over to the side of the building where I presently plan to mount panels. I think 8x oanels will fit ....though this has me thinking more and more about a car port with a solar panel roof on the driveway/detached garage/kitchen side.....those are two benefits that are very worth while.
It occurred to me after asking the question about battery banking solar power that that should be a separate system for the whole house ....mostly so the fridge can stay running in a power outage and inverting back to 120v AC would give us lights and fans. I'll work on that in "phase 3" of this plan.
It's great to live in the 21st century when we have the ability to do these things....Wow!
@@GiantRobo77 You're very welcome!
The major reason I did this was because I wanted to do solar but it's so damn expensive and our utility out here has been cutting back on the incentives so it would take many, many years to recoup the cost.
Also, I like how simple they were to install and I did most of the work myself except for the solar panel installation.
The mini splits were no problem and really the solar panels weren't either I just needed to hire a independent contractor to help me install to make sure it was done to code.
What I like best about this system is the simplicity, you put everything together and simply plug in the solar panels.
All of the electronics are built into the outdoor unit and it takes care of using solar when it's available or switching back to grid power automatically!
The last thing for me was not getting up on the roof anymore I service our swamp cooler, getting to old for this crap.
You sound like you know what you're doing and you have a plan, just go slow and you should be great!
Great work on another video, me and my family have enjoyed seeing y'all homesteading, solving problems, and DIYing. Please, keep it up!
Thank you.
We will keep going as long as we can.
Ive been running the first version for over a year now and 😅it has been revolutionary. So much better than my baseboards and its saved 1.3MW in solar power. Unit has paid for itself in my situation in 1 yr!
Awesome!
Press the up and down temp buttons at the same time to change from C to F.
Thank you Paul. I appreciate the heads up.
@@CountryLivingExperience
10 = cold, 20 = nice, 30 = hot. Metric. Easy as 1, 2, 3 :)
I can't quite fathom Fahrenheit; the numbers seem random.
Beautiful install. I'll be doing the same on my new home next year.
Arent tjese guys from Texas? They should default all units to F not C.
@@MyChannel-vm6dw The military, NASA etc. all use metric. It's not difficult.
@@MyChannel-vm6dw They are re-branded units, manufactured outside the USA.
Best explanation on TH-cam, hands down! Well done. 👏
Thank you
Great video! I have the 12k model. It's been great for both heating & cooling my cabin, but my unit didn't come with a mounting templet. Was the one you used in this video included with your mini split?
First, thanks for yet another great vid. The part I'm fuzzy on in general is the PV -> Unit power needs. If you over-panel for winter, then you have wasted power in summer and vice versa. Not sure how to size such a thing effectively - maybe after some use you can provide some insight into choosing a ratio of PV to hours of operation / cool-heat overall effectiveness. Where I live, I need cool thru the most of the night. The PV -> Battery -> Inverter -> 120v does have loss but also the battery acts as a buffer and to extend operations into night-time cool/heat. It would be nice if the unit has some MPPT type monitor info - e.g. PV in, power used to help inform - do I need more or less panels etc.
You're welcome.
Can't change how the panels work. You have to account for that voltage spike in cold temps. Until they figure out that science, it is what it is.
I will certainly do a follow up video on it after some time and testing. I certainly need cooling at night as well but wanted to just test out the full capability of the DC only configuration. I am sure they will continue to develop these and maybe add something like you are talking about....although that will greatly drive up the cost.
Sir, put a larg-ish rubber washer or motor mount under the outside unit and sitting on the concrete. Like a motor mount they will absorb most of the vibration. I have a 2 1/2 ton unit that we installed in 1998 and it still works great! Plus I live in Florida where it runs 8 months straight, plus on and off during the winter.
Great video. I’ll be interested in seeing a follow up video in the future to see how well you like it after using it for awhile.
Thank you. I will keep y'all updated.
Awesomr job. this looks like it could be an option for my future shop. Keep us updated on how it performs.
Thank you.
I will surely keep y'all updated.
Hey you probably already figured this out but you can change the temperature reading a few ways. • Method 1: Press the TEMP Up and Down buttons simultaneously.
• Method 2: Power down the remote and hold both the TEMP Up button and the Fan
button simultaneously for ~5 seconds. It was in my manual but hard to find. Usually under remote control operations
Yep. I got it. Thanks Rodney.
Another great video with more great ideas. God Bless you and your family.
Thank you. Glad it was helpful.
Absolutely.
Great to connect and confirm those important points and make seem to be a simple effort!
Nice video. I really love my EG4 mini-split that I installed last year in my pole barn too.
Just a quick word of caution....I noticed you built your solar panel rack out of timbers. When I did that, the wood boring bees really chewed up the boards. You might want to consider upgrading that to some superstrut or an actual solar rack instead. Signature Solar has some good solutions for that. Good luck and best wishes!
Thank you.
The rack is temporary and made out of treated timber so insects don't really eat it.
@@CountryLivingExperience Just so you know, the lumber I used for my previous rack was treated too....but the bees still bored into it like crazy wherever there were horizontal surfaces. Mine lasted for a few years before it got to a point where I was worried about the structural integrity in some locations. I ended up switching out to superstrut channels.
Wow, that's crazy. I have had some treated in my garden planter boxes for 5 years and they have no bug damage at all. You must have super bugs where you live. Steel channel is always better though.
@@CountryLivingExperience They probably aren't going after your planter boxes if the lower side of the wood isn't exposed to air. They tend to attack the under side of any horizontal wood surfaces. We are in Ohio...so it's possible we have super bugs! ;-)
I used the coupler through the hole. It’s naturally rounded edges make a great protection for hoses and wires.
Why not use the one that comes in the kit?
How is your Mr cool doing. We need an update and comparison. Thumbs up 👍 that’s a super easy system.
Mr. Cools are performing perfectly. I will try to compare them in the future sometime.
Oh boy, do I want one of those!! Great video!
If darkness ever needed to be reinvented an EG4 instruction manual could do it. Sig. Solar has plenty of friendly folks to answer most questions.
Excellent job on this one. I’m going to be doing an install on one of the non hybrid eg4 versions pretty soon. Should be fun.
Thanks brother! I appreciate it. Have fun with your install.
I have done 3 mini splits so far, Defenatly use Nylog and get a torque crescent wrench to get the tightness correct.
Good luck!
Awesome video. They are always sold out when I look on their web site lol. Have a great day over in beautiful East Texas. Gd Bless in all things.
Thanks Rodney. God bless you as well.
If your really interested in getting one you can contact signature solars customer service and reserve one!
A lot of good information I always learn something from your videos.
Glad to hear it. Thanks.
To change from C to F. Method 1: Press the TEMP Up and Down buttons simultaneously.
• Method 2: Power down the remote and hold both the TEMP Up button and the Fan
button simultaneously for ~5 seconds.
Thanks for the tip!
You did great, as always 😀🇦🇺
Thanks Rick. I appreciate it.
What if lines need NOT to install thru wall instead to side wall?
We live in town. Rock basement. 1 1/2 story home that was built in 1919 or around that time. Not sure our town would let us do this.
You can disguise it with some plants. Just keep the space in front of the unit the proper distance.
Any idea if I could make this work on a toy hauler RV? Or is the vibration of the RV driving going to cause problems?
You can change the temp to F by pressing the temp up AND temp down button for 3 seconds
Yep. Got it
The first thing you need to do before you start drilling any hole is to locate the studs with a stud finder.
It is a pole barn. There are no studs.
I installed an EG4 9k recently, the AC only DIY version, and it didn't come with the cardboard stencil so I had to drill the hole based on their instructions and it was slightly off, I had to take the unit off and file away some drywall to expand the hole to get everything to fit. Unit has been working great though, not a difficult install at all.
Yep, those templates are extremely helpful.
That's weird, I installed the same 9k unit and I did have a template. May have forgotten yours in packing. They do make installation easier!
@@killer5846 I bought mine probably 6-9 months ago and it sat in my garage until I was ready to install it, so maybe they started adding it after that. Would have been useful for sure! The instruction manual wasn't very clear about the hole in relation to the bracket.
@@paul.phillips must have been added after you bought yours because I did notice that it had some more things in the packing then was on the videos I saw.
Awesomeness! Great info.
Blessings ❤
Thank you!! Have a blessed day.
Great video!! Thank you for the awesome info!!
Thanks. Glad it was helpful.
Am wondering, what's the difference between using such a unit and a common A/C unit by utilizing a hybrid solar inverter and no batteries? Is there any "special circuitry" inside these to optimize operation? Thanks for the video!
It would work the same but the infrastructure for adding the inverter would cost way more. This unit has a small inverter internally.
I wish your link pointed directly to the solar a/c. I don't have time to try to find it in all their products. Already wasted too much time looking.
It is there. Patience bro. It was like the 6 link on the page that was clearly labeled. Here you go...signaturesolar.com/eg4-hybrid-solar-mini-split-kit-energy-star-certified-air-conditioner-heat-pump-ac-dc-12000-btu-seer2-22-1800-watts-of-solar-pv-kit-e0011/?ref=countrylivingexperienc
💕💗💕🙏🙏🙏 Have a blessed day!!!💕💗💕
back of the remote instructions on C to F
Thank you for the great video. Question, how many but’s is your unit and do you know how many watts this mini split pulls with the compressor on?
I think it surges to 1100w when the compressor kicks on and then drops after that. I am not sure how many watts for continuous running of the compressor.
@@CountryLivingExperience sorry I meant BTU’s not but’s. (Autocorrect)
@@marioluna4344 Ours is 12000btu
We have had our 12k units for a couple of months and I have never seen them go over about 900 watts on 104' days. Usually after they slowly ramp up and get to a working indoor temperature they hangout around 240 watts after about an hour.
label on back of remote tells you how to switch from celius to F
Yep. I found it that same day.
You did not mention if the mounting brackets line up with the wall studs, are the bolt holes 16" apart?
Because my pole barn has a different type of construction.
@@peterwaroblak166 just cut a 1/2" plywood spacer to mount to studs, then mount to the plywood.
I have solar panels on my roof. Does this come with instructions on how to do that connection? I am confused as to what else I need to buy to make that happen and also to be able to go from DC to AC. I only need a 9000 BTU or a 12,000 BTU for a master bedroom suite and don’t think that I will use it a lot, just to cool the room off at night in summer, however, I don’t see where it shows exactly what you need to do this hook up? Do you have another video that shows how you also hooked it up to the electrical?
If you were to add this to your home that already has panels, then you would just run it from the AC power in your main panel. You can add panels to this also for extra power generation. I have another video where I hook up a Mr.Cool unit to my home which has panels already.....but the electrical connection is not shown completely.
How much you spent for the hole thing?
The ac unit is $1300
By adding more panels in parallel and keeping below the maximum voltage, how many panels (how much Short Circuit Current) can I add if I want to make sure I have maximum PV for my mini split (this mini split)?
Depends on your panel rating/voltage. The max current is 12A and max VOC is 380V.
The max for my SolarEver panels is 7 total in series. They are 455w, 49.35VOC and 11.44A. If you are trying to parallel, remember that Amps are added.
I think that the manual also mentions to only add a series string to this unit. It does not recommend paralleling panels.
If running on solar only and the unit shuts off due to not enough solar energy, does the unit have to be turned back on with the remote or will it come on when enough solar energy is present. My scenario would be that I am not present at the location so I want to be sure it continues to run without any intervention provided enough solar energy is present.
If only running off the panels, the unit will 'wake up" in the morning when enough voltage has been generated. The fan will run with a lower voltage and then the compressor will turn on when the proper higher voltage is reached. They have an app for your phone that you can monitor the unit with. If running on AC power as well, the unit will never shut down. Once the sun hits the panels and provided enough voltage, the unit will switch from ac power to dc power.
Nylog isn’t needed, the seal is made using rubber gaskets in the sealed connections with those “DIY” fittings. You’d want to use them if it had the traditional flared lineset.
Nylog isn't needed but highly recommended!
Every HVAC person I talked to said no matter what, use Nylog, tighten the connections for the proper torque and you will not have any leaks!
@@killer5846 those diy fittings are very different, it would like using teflon tape on plumbing pipe threaded connections with a rubber gasket, the seal is at the gasket not the threads.
@@silverlex1 true, but as it was described to me it is a HVAC lubrication as well and very effective at ensuring minimal stripped and cross threading.
and it's so cheap, for me $6 is cheap insurance!
Installed a Total of 3 mini splits and no leaks!
@@killer5846 Most hvac techs have never seen the sealed quickconnect lineset fittings. Its remarkably easy and essentially impossible to mess up. Obviously you are welcome to put nylog on it but its not doing anything :)
@@silverlex1 your probably right about the nylog, psychological insurance!
As for the premade and ready quick lines, I love them!
Made it so much easier!
Does the senville leto work with solar panels
Not sure.
how much is the price of that kind of solar air-conditioning?
$1300
I’m looking for a DC air conditioning to replace my other AC/solar panel energy system. Nobody sells the DC type in Honolulu.
You can order it from this link and have it shipped.....signaturesolar.com/eg4-hybrid-solar-mini-split-kit-energy-star-certified-air-conditioner-heat-pump-ac-dc-12000-btu-seer2-22-1800-watts-of-solar-pv-kit-e0011/?ref=countrylivingexperience
Unfortunately you skipped the most important test:
When the sun goes down and the unit shuts off, when the sun goes up the next morning, WILL THE UNIT AUTOMATICALLY TURN BACK ON, and use the prior settings?
if yes, than this is a great feature.
If no, then this means you must go out to the shed every morning to turn the ac unit back on fir the day, which would be a oain in the a$$.
Please test this feature, and show what you learned from how it reacts.
thx
Yes, it does.
Sprry for the dumb question but why wont it run at night off of a battery bank?
You need to add different pieces of equipment to run it from a battery.
Interesting. Thanks
You're welcome
Can you run the EG4 AC on a 48 Volt battery to 110 AC volt ?
Solar panels or 110v only. If you use a battery, you will need a charge controller, etc.
On the back of the remote tells you how to switch to F and off of C
Didn't see that. Thanks.
@@CountryLivingExperience I was hoping it is still there, mine is about a year old before the DYI line set, but the same unit, it works great, mine pulls 4.3amps on AC power full blast cooling
Thanks for sharing your experience!!
You’re welcome
Who actually makes the unit? Plus, are repair parts available? Many of these DIY mini-splits are basically disposable after as little as 4 years because parts aren't available. Been there, done that. I like the idea of a solar run unit, I just look at all sides of ownership of appliances.
EG4 is the developer of the unit but I am not sure who exactly manufactures it. You would have to call EG4 re: the availability of spare parts / warranty work.
@@CountryLivingExperience Thank you.
@@CountryLivingExperiencewouldn’t the information show on the packaged box or even on the Information label on either the evaporator or condenser?
If you have to dispose these units after 3 years…something is definitely wrong…I’ve installed most of these units and 7years and still working(ofc your gonna have compressor efficiency loss over time)but it’s still cooling and energy consumption ain’t that bad…Regular maintenance and proper management of the unit is what makes it last(Ofc they’re outliers like manufacturers fault or voltage spikes that can shorten life)
Yea looked it up…China manufactured the unit.
Hey Eric. I have had my 2 Ton EG4 running only on DC for over a year now. I have discovered some downsides. Often I have to disconnect the PV and reconnect it after 30 seconds. I have 8x 320w Qcell 40.66VOC panels. Could you help me figure out how to fix the need to reset it often to get the compressor running. It will still run the fan but it has to be turned on and off manually often to get it going again.
I haven't experienced that issue yet. I read that it has a 3 minute delay if it loses DC power before it can restart. Are you running it just off of the panel DC power?
@@CountryLivingExperience yeah just DC from the panels is all it has ever had. 2400kWh of pure sunshine Heat & Cooling this past year. It could be a grounding issue? All I have is the positive & negative PV wires going into it. Doesn’t give me an error code or anything. The compressor just shuts off at random and wont turn back on unless I turn it off/back on or fully unplug replug the solar manually. I have installed over a dozen of these now. Mine is the only fully off grid one. I have one other customer that is having the same issue. Have heard from others in SS FB page that they have experienced the same. Unsolved mystery for over a year now. When it works it works great, just has some random quirks when fully off grid.
@@OffGridEssentialsbyFirebear Interesting. Have you contacted EG4? Do they have any solutions?
in the beginning I did try to troubleshoot with SS, ticket expired due to lack of perusing it on my end. Couldn’t seem to figure out why it is doing that with them. They were pretty brand new then. They might have more experience with that issue by now. I tried to reach out to DEYE in China and they were unresponsive.
@@OffGridEssentialsbyFirebear Thanks for the heads up.
I just installed one of these
. I was able to change c to f on the remote, but it still show c on the head unit. Is that supposed to change too?
It will change on the head unit also if you change the temperature up or down
@@CountryLivingExperience thanks! I'll try again...
Sir multiple your temperature seen on the display by 2.12 and that will give you the temperature in fahrenheit, your numbers are way off
Will it cost me a second mortgage
No. $1300
You keep saying directly off the panels, but is that actually true?
Doesn't it need batteries to meet the starup cranking amps?
No batteries needed. The amperage draw is so low, the panels produce enough to start it directly.
@@CountryLivingExperience woah! Did you test them that way or know of a video where somebody does?
Not sure what you mean. I showed the unit starting and working in the video from just the solar panels.
@@CountryLivingExperience Sorry, hadn't gotten that far yet 😅
Thanks 🙏
Good Job on the video....are you on Rumble? I'm a long time subscriber....I'm sick of the two to three minutes of crap ads in front of your videos....especially you know who begging for campaign donations for her MOVEMENT
Thank you. I appreciate it.
I have a Rumble account but have not uploaded any videos there yet. I may start doing that.
I try to filter out the ads shown here but TH-cam does what it wants.
Thank you for not supporting her movement.
Not sure it wouldn't be more practical just to do a solar to battery system , i need heat/ac at night. Might save some but seems a waste of energy collected.
What is nice about this thing is the options.
Air conditioners that are properly sized don't run continuously. A thermostatically controlled split unit will cycle on and off. The idea that solar panels which are continuously capturing solar energy would not feed that unused energy to a battery is ludicrous. Investing in 1.6kw of panels and dedicating that to a single appliance is a waste on an epic scale. The proper approach is panels/arrays connecting to a charge controller that stores the energy in a battery bank(s). An inverter supplies the needs of your appliances directly from the batteries. If the panels are sufficiently sized, the voltage drop on the batteries will be unnoticeable and pass straight through to the appliance Then, when the sun goes down, you have the stored energy in the batteries to run that appliance before noon and after 3pm.
What these manufacturers of solar split systems and "solar generators" don't tell you is that the rule of thumb is only five hours of peak current is supplied from the panels each day. In summer, when you think your collection will be tops, heat reduces the panels' efficiency by as much as 30%. Sure, you can overcompensate for that ratio by adding more panels but you waste that extra energy by not collecting it in your battery bank(s). What about the other 19 hours a day.
For context, my wife and I cruise and live fulltime on a 40ft sailboat that is fully electric (including auxiliary propulsion) and powered by solar. We haven't had a power bill in 7 years. It's 11pm, here in the Florida Keys, and 86°. The solar panels stopped collecting at 6:30pm and it has been dark for 4.5hrs...and our air conditioner is running (as well as our fridge/freezer, lights, electrical outlets, and our Epson home theater projector).
@@davidalbright7335 Not everyone lives on a sailboat, and for those that don't mind finding used our discounted panels. . .this is lovely. There is much more complexity to a full solar inverter system, and it isn't a weekend project, this is and works well.
Did anyone use the coupon code? It says the one given is not a valid code.
I will check on that for you.
Is this the one? Countryliving12
I checked. It is working fine.
Tried several times it's not working for me 😔@@CountryLivingExperience
Too bad they don’t have a 8000 btu for rvs
I have one on mine. Waaayyy quieter than the dump truck roof unit.😂
No point switching to fahrenheit... Just keep it in celcius which is standard in the world :)
I've always figured something like this could be invented. Whenever I mentioned it, right-wing naysayers would pop off and say it wouldn't work.
@@JerrySpann-fn4kw And you left wing wannabe tree huggers can’t seem to gleen the fact that in order to make those panels which you buy from China, who uses coal to power their factories and the fuel it takes to ship them across the world. It’s not right wing, it is being RIGHT.
🤡
This is way overpriced. Lol
NYLOG! :)
Yep
I don't believe it goes on the threads but the contact surfaces.
@@perryberk2090 Can go on both.