To answer questions in advance, no, they are not growing crops with all the power. On the property, there are 3 RV's, one for my mom, one for my dad, and one for my step-dad. RV's are not very energy efficient...so in summer when it's 110F outside, they use a LOT of power to air condition them. The electrical room is also air conditioned and there is a hot tub that used to have the excess diverted to it, but sometimes they don't like waiting until there (isn't) excess. They only have about 12kW of solar, mounted flat, so it doesn't get anywhere near peak production.
WOW! Quite the project! My only recommendation would be to have kept the Plugs to make it easier if you need to replace one of the chargers in the future. Sooner or later one them will break :( But I can also see why you probably didn't want to go through the hassle & cost of wiring all the outlets.
So about 187 kwh of batteries. Dang I only have 70 and thought I was doing good. I too only have 12kw of panels. I too need more especially in Michigan
If you hadn't pinned this, I wouldn't have cared why you're doing this, but now I have to ask. Why is everyone on the same property, yet living in different RV's?
Sounds like a good PV mounting structure would be a solar canopy to park the RVs under so sun isn't hitting them directly which would cut the heat gain.
One of my retrievers really dislikes alarm beeps, they have to be addressed right away or she is in our faces until we do. I had to kennel her in order to watch this video.
One nice thing about those switching rectifiers is that it really don't care about the line frequency as much so long it is within 50 to 60 Hz. You're definitely getting the most out the generator by using it in 3 phase mode. Even if you lose a few chargeverters, definitely have enough redundancy to keep things going until you get them replaced. Maybe EG4 might come out with a budget rack mounted version for higher power configurations?🤞 It be one heck of a setup and much cleaner for larger installations...
I believe they would run off of straight DC. There is nothing inside that uses the frequency for anything. You just have to make sure the rectifier can handle the current if it's running half the diodes at 100% duty cycle.
Wish they would make a 24 volt version. I did find some cheap telecom rectifiers, pretty sure it’s the same as the EG4, just without the additional programming and charging functions. I plan on hooking up an mppt for proper stages charging. Downside is they are single phase 240 volt and at 120 volts they sedate to 2000 watts.
They would run off a wider frequency range than just 50cy to 60cy. 83⅓cy, 91⅔cy and 100cy railroad signal power would be no problem, nor would 40cy or 70cy (ancient AC standard frequencies). Only things that may be a problem are things waaaayyyyy outside of the normal utility frequency range like 25cy railroad traction power (insufficient bulk capacitance on the switcher primary buss) or 400cy aviation power (input diode switching speed, AC input shunt capacitor current and AC input circuit breakers; 400cy arcing is a right pig to interrupt).
We have the similar genset but not enclosed. Bought new in the 90s and worked reliably. But recently, the avr burst into flames because it used the infamous Rifa paper caps. Fortunately was a quick fix there are lots of clones of the avr that used more reliable poly caps. Might want to check yours out, if the Rifa caps are cracked, they will burst into flames eventually.
I'm building 4 DIY 2000ah battery to run my home I will probably post the videos of that build on my channel in about 6 months.So hopefully will get to take the record as the largest diy off grid setup😁😁😁😎😎😎😊
Looks like you have your phases well balanced...but that neutral is technically undersized. I would be interested to see what kind of current that neutral cable sees with the load of chargeverters, and if their loading stays balanced as the battery voltage comes up. Another scenerio where the neutral could see more current is if a few chargerters went off line...and happened to be on the same phase--seems unlikely, but still worth considering. Another option would be to forgo the neutral all together and run as a 208 delta (of course this would mean double pole breakers for the chargeverters). Love this content!
Neutral has 0 amps. The chargers are connected phase to phase. They don’t even have a neutral conductor. I only installed a conductor in case I need it in the future for ancillary items such as phase loss detection in my PLC
@@HighTechLab I went back and looked--can't believe I missed it the first time! For some reason I had it in my mind you were running the chargverters at 120V....after looking again @10:25 it is clear you have them phase to phase (208V). You certainly won't be overloading the neutral with the chargeverters. Super cool project!
well to be fair... i only want one... always ran a charger rather than direct gen to inverter on my off grid set ups... cheap gensets too variable ... great mech room!
That's an insane amount of chargers. EV's have chargers one 10th that size that can take anywhere from 50 to 350 kW. I wonder if one could be gotten to do the same job, but probably would need to be actively cooled. Anyway, very impressive setup. Good job. Edit: Opps! Those EV chargers are DC to DC! Yours is AC to DC. Max AC to DC in EV's is 19.2 kW that I know of and they are expensive.
They really don't. The level 1 and 2 chargers are actually just a fancy box with a relay in it the actual charger is built into the car and usually only around 5 to 10kw max. The dc fast chargers that can do 50 to 350kw are entire racks of equipment somewhere off to the side of the "charger" you plug your car into.
I'm curious about your heat mitigation strategy for your chargeverters. They tend to run quite hot, and I own one myself. While I've ensured ample space around mine as instructed, the heat output is still significant. I'd appreciate any insights you have on managing this heat.
Wow that was really cool. I’ve never seen european colour coded wires used in a US panel before. What a great setup! I really like this it turned out great. And will look even better when the lugs arrive. Its always good to have backups and redundancy and this really covers that greatly. Great concept and use case for this properties specific needs. And could benefit similar and other use cases.
Those are the colors of the AC input cable that the EG4 chargers use. It actually fits better in this case than the normal black/white/green of normal ICEA table E1 flexible cords as brown and blue are both established hot colors.
@@randacnam7321 Oh, that’s interesting. I didn’t know brown had an established code rule in NA systems. I have seen blue in 3phase panels in NA diagrams labeled as a Hot. And I’ve seen yellow/green striped as an accepted standard in one diagram for Ground. Cable wise I know it isn’t uncommon for cords that come with computer supplies in the US to use the typically European - Brown = Live, Blue = Neutral, and Yellow / Green = Earth standard. So I figure EG4 is just doing that as it seems to be a readily available cable option.
@@peteasmr2952 Brown is L1 for 277V/480VGrdY and 480V delta. Brown hot/blue neutral is the abominable IEC standard. The only thing it's better than is the old Soviet standard where L2 is _green._
any issues with hitting the generator with all those chargeverters all at once? It would seem a good idea to have them switch on in groups of three thru a three phase contractor.... that way you can ramp up the load. Chargeverters don't softitart do they?
the 2 wires that are not hooked up on the oil pressure sensor I think need to be hooked up to make the connection to the controller and make it work right now it thinks it has no oil pressure and would go into shutdown without the ziptie you will prob need to buy a new oil pressure switch also as there maybe a reason it's unhooked awesome setup btw !!!
I love how the fuel cap the fuel Inlet for the diesel tank it's just a galvanized piece of pipe with a threaded cap simple easy basic I gets the job done
I wish I had the battery rack to bolt them to the floor and keep some space in case there is somehow water intrusion to the room. The batteries make practically zero heat, so there is no thermal issue at all.
Finlay !! I can not understand why this is not the standard. to be honest the Inverter Charger combo is only god for RVs that frequent trailer parks. In any other setup you are better of separating the Inverter and Charger , and definitely having a charger that can tolerate "dirty AC".
I AGREE. It is was smart to timeslice the inverter/charger.....back in the day. But Today with cheap CVs, separate chargers makes more sense and provides simpler operation, saving the vital inverter for inverting I have a XW Pro and have switched to this model. ONLY use the inverter for loads, and not the internal charger to power charge battery (It is hooked up for possible emergency use) I have 2 CVs with 2 L14-30r from 2 grid circuits and 2 L14-30r from the 2 generator circuits. When solar input is low I can use either grid or generator to boost power. Save stress on the internal charger AND can have spare CVs at a cheaper price. LOVE this architecture model
It would be helpful to have a reactive load gauge [kvars] on that generator. PWM or SCR systems tend to have lousy power factors. That inverter disconnect seems odd on account of voltage is stable - you'd think it ought to be happy. But... does 240 from generator match inverter design? Spec sheet suggests 175-425v input, so that sounds fine. I have had charging systems in the past where they were sligtly under-specd for battery bank Ah capacity - they stood up fine, until battery age started demanding more current, and the charger failed from the mismatch -upgraded to a higher output charging unit and problem solved. So this was a video to watch: maybe battery overtemp and/or overcurrent was my first instinct regarding shutdowns. As for the newer bigger generator... what AIC is required? I was thinking main has to be 120,000? This is a fairly big project as details go. Throw some dessicant packs in that generator control panel to keep electronics happy over time - any cabinet outdoors has a way of breathing with heat/cool cycles day & night that can cause something approaching a mini rain forest inside. You might [might] need to pull back on charging volts to 54v?
Aye to this. I have no experience with these battery chargers, and in all probability never will, but it wouldn't surprise me at all if they have no PFC at all. I'd be happy to be proven wrong and find there is at a minimum passive but active would be preferable.
There's another possible option, which I saw in an LED emergency lighting unit designed for outdoor use. A little rubber bladder inside the panel, connected through to the outside. Pressure inside the cab drops, bladder gets bigger. Pressure rises, bladder shrinks. The one in the lighting unit was like a little rubber light bulb. For a bigger cab even something like a party balloon on a hose connector might do the trick. Video nel567DBAQc at 1:37 shows the one I encountered.
Given that you've got a finely-tunable load right there you could maybe perform some interesting tests on the generator to find the sweet spot where it's at its most efficient, not just for science but for practicality as you can hopefully save fuel. Fill the tank right to the brim, run for an hour at xx kVA load, measure how much it takes to brim the tank again. Repeat at different kVA loadings, either by adjusting settings or turning off balanced triplets of inverters. Graph and learn :) Worth running a three-phase socket off that panel as well? You've got a three phase diesel-powered supply available for the odd occasions when one would come in handy.
For whatever reason I have been subscribed to you for several years but I have not been receiving any notifications from your channel. Deanna and I needed this information and video very much. Thank you. I am still attempting the best means to charge the 48 volt Absolyte 2,000 amp hour battery bank that we picked up for the mountaintop. Always good to see you! Blessings and Happy New Year ( a little late!).
Solar panels are cheaper compared to batteries, but the generator is an awesome backup. I would love to see a video in the future of the system upgraded with lots of solar.
I think it might have been worthwhile to install the twistlocks off the breaker panel, and you should keep the DC wiring original/full length. The reason? Think about maintainance/warranty… It’s much easier to remove a plug, and send back a defective charger under warranty, to EG4 if it hasn’t been modified, also faster for you, as you won’t have to open the panel and loosen the screws on the 2 pole breaker.
I am kind of surprised no one mentioned floating neutral on the old generator as being a possible cause. We have seen that issue several times where some generators either intermittently charge, or just don't charge the attached equipment at all. Some equipment is just better at handling the floating neutral that most generators are setup for. Hidden usually in the manual, often in just a paragraph or less there will be something about this but there is many videos out there that can explain the floating neutral issue and how to correct it, because it sure would have been cheaper than doing all this work.
That is a beast of a setup! I'm curious how the Chargeverters are holding up now that it's been a few months. We are building a stronger charging solution for our off grid cell tower site. Have the Chargerverters kept their voltage and amp settings through all of the various generator cycles? Our generator is tiny in comparison (9500w). We have 2 Chargeverters along with the Victron Quattro 5000 charging which will be disabled most of the time in order to keep the generator 240v phases even. Plan is to back off the CV amps to keep the generator around it's peak 24x7 output rating. Generator only runs if there's multiple cloudy days. It's a very remote site so if the CVs settings get lost, they will overpower the generator if they go back to 100A.
Amazing setup, Is your generator 3-phase. I am looking to charge my batteries with a 3-phase generator using 208V. I was wondering if you could expand on how you wired your chargeverters to your generator?
Not too bad, especially when compared to that monster generator. The fans are at full speed at 85A, but I honestly expected worse when I was installing them. The room doesn't really have much echo, so when you stand back 10ft it's not bad at all.
Do the Solark’s flash or stop output when the chargeverter kick on? I saw a few videos where when they kick on, the inverters cause the power to flash?
Little confused; I thought you said it was a 480V generator. That would be phase to phase. How are you running 120/240V chargers off that? 277V to neutral would still be too much voltage. What did I miss? Also, are those chargers all completely Isolated so they don't care how their outputs are paired? Thanks. Lastly; You're not over "C"ing those batteries charging them back up almost all the way in only two hours? What's the allowed charging C rate?
What a setup! About how long can your parents operate once the batteries are fully charged? Also, can you tell us more about why they went off grid or is this a vacation home setup?
Well over a week in cloudy weather and in spring and fall they can go only on solar. They typically only need to recharge after long periods of high heat or lots of cloudy days.
Hi, high tech lab. I have a question on the Chargeverter that maybe able to clarify. I am totally off grid. Signiture Solar tech recommended that I don’t charge my batteries with them being charged and discharging to run my house.when my solar panels not producing power. Have you ever have any problems charging your batteries and the inverter running with loads? Thanks for your opinion.
Is it OK to stack 5 SOK server rack batteries on top of each other? The manual says 3 max. I ask because I also want to stack at least 5 without using the rack. Do the bottom ones get too stressed?
What is using all this electricity? Here in Germany an average home is using less than 10 kWh per day (!) the heck is going on?! :D Yup I read your comment but still, I am amazed about that amount of energy. Same as with money, there is not an income shortage but much rather a spending issue. Just for energy...
The utility company wanted $70,000 to bring in power lines, and for their usage would be about $700/month. The savings going off grid is still substantial even with all the money they have spent.
when i first read it i thought that 48v 1200A that really isn't a huge home battery, then i realised it said A and not AH. 57kw of charging power goddamn. The best i can do is 12kw with my 3phase deye. i have 1400ah of lead acid agms for my house consumption together with 18kw solar, My main fuses to my provider can only do 25A x 3 fuses. So i am hard limited to selling/buying about 17kw. Need to get thicker wires inside to get access to more power. I suppose this home battery has around 120 kwh then? perhaps for lifetime concerns about 90-100 usable kwh.
I can't help but think you've had to do a heck of a lot of working around around the fact that you bought solark inverters. Personally I think they're overrated. Give me a good old fashioned tried and tested Victron or SMA Sunny island any day of the week. I would think a pair of Victron Quattro 15k would have served your parents much better as they're literally designed for generator use and probably would have worked fine with your existing genny once you configured the weak power input/dynamic power limiter/power assist settings right. There's a reason 90% of boats etc in the world have Victron kit in them I aint seen one with solark yet. Either way very interesting vid, a heck of a battery bank and one heck of a workaround!
To answer questions in advance, no, they are not growing crops with all the power. On the property, there are 3 RV's, one for my mom, one for my dad, and one for my step-dad. RV's are not very energy efficient...so in summer when it's 110F outside, they use a LOT of power to air condition them. The electrical room is also air conditioned and there is a hot tub that used to have the excess diverted to it, but sometimes they don't like waiting until there (isn't) excess. They only have about 12kW of solar, mounted flat, so it doesn't get anywhere near peak production.
WOW! Quite the project! My only recommendation would be to have kept the Plugs to make it easier if you need to replace one of the chargers in the future. Sooner or later one them will break :( But I can also see why you probably didn't want to go through the hassle & cost of wiring all the outlets.
Interesting.
So about 187 kwh of batteries. Dang I only have 70 and thought I was doing good. I too only have 12kw of panels. I too need more especially in Michigan
You didn’t mention anything about a lab in those RVs, Heisenberg.
If you hadn't pinned this, I wouldn't have cared why you're doing this, but now I have to ask. Why is everyone on the same property, yet living in different RV's?
Sounds like a good PV mounting structure would be a solar canopy to park the RVs under so sun isn't hitting them directly which would cut the heat gain.
Gov Subsidy WILL cover 30% of the cost of such a structure if you are covering it with solar now.
A million dollars worth of genset, chargeverters and batteries yet we can't afford a new 9v for the smoke alarm... makes perfect sense.
One of my retrievers really dislikes alarm beeps, they have to be addressed right away or she is in our faces until we do. I had to kennel her in order to watch this video.
Now that’s an amazing way to harness all the power. I really like the serial hybrid approach. Great video!
That's a badass set up there brother it has changed a lot over the years... Keep it up brother
Holy cow! What a setup. That is a lot of amperage potential.
Yeah. Not something you want to work on live.
Its a fully operation battle station and the battery bank is really for powering a super-laser! /joking.
All that available power & yet no power for the smoke alarm,an alarm you REALLY want operational ⚡⚡🔥🔥
We use an EG4 Chargverter in our system and it’s amazing.
That was a great video. I have one Chargeverter and it heats up my electrical room. I can't imagine how hot that room is!
I agree, some ventilation may be needed.
One nice thing about those switching rectifiers is that it really don't care about the line frequency as much so long it is within 50 to 60 Hz. You're definitely getting the most out the generator by using it in 3 phase mode. Even if you lose a few chargeverters, definitely have enough redundancy to keep things going until you get them replaced.
Maybe EG4 might come out with a budget rack mounted version for higher power configurations?🤞
It be one heck of a setup and much cleaner for larger installations...
I believe they would run off of straight DC. There is nothing inside that uses the frequency for anything. You just have to make sure the rectifier can handle the current if it's running half the diodes at 100% duty cycle.
Wish they would make a 24 volt version. I did find some cheap telecom rectifiers, pretty sure it’s the same as the EG4, just without the additional programming and charging functions. I plan on hooking up an mppt for proper stages charging.
Downside is they are single phase 240 volt and at 120 volts they sedate to 2000 watts.
They would run off a wider frequency range than just 50cy to 60cy. 83⅓cy, 91⅔cy and 100cy railroad signal power would be no problem, nor would 40cy or 70cy (ancient AC standard frequencies). Only things that may be a problem are things waaaayyyyy outside of the normal utility frequency range like 25cy railroad traction power (insufficient bulk capacitance on the switcher primary buss) or 400cy aviation power (input diode switching speed, AC input shunt capacitor current and AC input circuit breakers; 400cy arcing is a right pig to interrupt).
We have the similar genset but not enclosed. Bought new in the 90s and worked reliably. But recently, the avr burst into flames because it used the infamous Rifa paper caps. Fortunately was a quick fix there are lots of clones of the avr that used more reliable poly caps. Might want to check yours out, if the Rifa caps are cracked, they will burst into flames eventually.
SOK needs to come up with a lifetime battery for smoke detectors.
😂
I started checking my home for it. LOL
DC house such as the one built by Purdue University. Then wire it in.
I honestly kept pausing to see if that was my smoke detector lol🤣
Beep?
Probably the largest DIY system I've ever seen on TH-cam. Lots of $...Wow....couple of generations can live off of this amount of money in my country.
I'm building 4 DIY 2000ah battery to run my home I will probably post the videos of that build on my channel in about 6 months.So hopefully will get to take the record as the largest diy off grid setup😁😁😁😎😎😎😊
Looks like you have your phases well balanced...but that neutral is technically undersized. I would be interested to see what kind of current that neutral cable sees with the load of chargeverters, and if their loading stays balanced as the battery voltage comes up. Another scenerio where the neutral could see more current is if a few chargerters went off line...and happened to be on the same phase--seems unlikely, but still worth considering.
Another option would be to forgo the neutral all together and run as a 208 delta (of course this would mean double pole breakers for the chargeverters).
Love this content!
Neutral has 0 amps. The chargers are connected phase to phase. They don’t even have a neutral conductor. I only installed a conductor in case I need it in the future for ancillary items such as phase loss detection in my PLC
@@HighTechLab I went back and looked--can't believe I missed it the first time!
For some reason I had it in my mind you were running the chargverters at 120V....after looking again @10:25 it is clear you have them phase to phase (208V). You certainly won't be overloading the neutral with the chargeverters.
Super cool project!
every time some one links to this video I have to come back and watch parts of it - LOVE this video and I share it
What a beast of a set up, very nice.
Thanks 👍
well to be fair... i only want one... always ran a charger rather than direct gen to inverter on my off grid set ups... cheap gensets too variable ... great mech room!
Nicely done! Quite the system. I would love to see an IR cam on this system. Thanks for sharing.
That's an insane amount of chargers. EV's have chargers one 10th that size that can take anywhere from 50 to 350 kW. I wonder if one could be gotten to do the same job, but probably would need to be actively cooled.
Anyway, very impressive setup. Good job.
Edit: Opps! Those EV chargers are DC to DC! Yours is AC to DC. Max AC to DC in EV's is 19.2 kW that I know of and they are expensive.
Also EV chargers are generally liquid cooled.
The amps are also a problem. 50kw into a 50v battery is 1000 amps. 50kw into a 500v battery is only 100 amps. Less amps, smaller wires, less heat.
@@Sylvan_dB I bet within 10 years almost all EVs will be 800-1000V too even.
They really don't. The level 1 and 2 chargers are actually just a fancy box with a relay in it the actual charger is built into the car and usually only around 5 to 10kw max. The dc fast chargers that can do 50 to 350kw are entire racks of equipment somewhere off to the side of the "charger" you plug your car into.
I'm curious about your heat mitigation strategy for your chargeverters. They tend to run quite hot, and I own one myself. While I've ensured ample space around mine as instructed, the heat output is still significant. I'd appreciate any insights you have on managing this heat.
Wow that was really cool. I’ve never seen european colour coded wires used in a US panel before.
What a great setup! I really like this it turned out great. And will look even better when the lugs arrive.
Its always good to have backups and redundancy and this really covers that greatly. Great concept and use case for this properties specific needs. And could benefit similar and other use cases.
Those are the colors of the AC input cable that the EG4 chargers use. It actually fits better in this case than the normal black/white/green of normal ICEA table E1 flexible cords as brown and blue are both established hot colors.
@@randacnam7321 Oh, that’s interesting. I didn’t know brown had an established code rule in NA systems. I have seen blue in 3phase panels in NA diagrams labeled as a Hot. And I’ve seen yellow/green striped as an accepted standard in one diagram for Ground.
Cable wise I know it isn’t uncommon for cords that come with computer supplies in the US to use the typically European - Brown = Live, Blue = Neutral, and Yellow / Green = Earth standard. So I figure EG4 is just doing that as it seems to be a readily available cable option.
@@peteasmr2952 Brown is L1 for 277V/480VGrdY and 480V delta. Brown hot/blue neutral is the abominable IEC standard. The only thing it's better than is the old Soviet standard where L2 is _green._
That’s a lot of power! My parents live off grid with 40kwh of lithium, 8.5kw of solar and an 8kw Miller welder/generator.
Your video had me hunting for the smoke alarm in my house that had a dying battery then I realized it was YOUR dying battery. Whoops. :)
Lmfao yep 😅
any issues with hitting the generator with all those chargeverters all at once? It would seem a good idea to have them switch on in groups of three thru a three phase contractor.... that way you can ramp up the load. Chargeverters don't softitart do they?
They do soft start unless you have them on and THEN flip on their DC breaker. I only ramped them up fast for the sake of not making a 20 min video
the 2 wires that are not hooked up on the oil pressure sensor I think need to be hooked up to make the connection to the controller and make it work
right now it thinks it has no oil pressure and would go into shutdown without the ziptie
you will prob need to buy a new oil pressure switch also as there maybe a reason it's unhooked
awesome setup btw !!!
I love how the fuel cap the fuel Inlet for the diesel tank it's just a galvanized piece of pipe with a threaded cap simple easy basic I gets the job done
This is pretty cool. Hopefully you won’t need to use the generator once you get that extra solar uo
You should try a line reactor inline on the output of the generator to help filter the noise.
Nice setup. Now that you've shown that, I've realized that the battery rack is pointless. Just save money and space by stacking them.
Earthquake protection? Is heat dissipation an issue?
I wish I had the battery rack to bolt them to the floor and keep some space in case there is somehow water intrusion to the room.
The batteries make practically zero heat, so there is no thermal issue at all.
3100aH home/1200aH shop. Our 10kW LP Generac plays nice with 12k’s.
This one did too when it was newer. Probably time for a valve adjustment and a tune up
Finlay !! I can not understand why this is not the standard. to be honest the Inverter Charger combo is only god for RVs that frequent trailer parks. In any other setup you are better of separating the Inverter and Charger , and definitely having a charger that can tolerate "dirty AC".
I AGREE. It is was smart to timeslice the inverter/charger.....back in the day. But Today with cheap CVs, separate chargers makes more sense and provides simpler operation, saving the vital inverter for inverting
I have a XW Pro and have switched to this model. ONLY use the inverter for loads, and not the internal charger to power charge battery (It is hooked up for possible emergency use)
I have 2 CVs with 2 L14-30r from 2 grid circuits and 2 L14-30r from the 2 generator circuits. When solar input is low I can use either grid or generator to boost power. Save stress on the internal charger AND can have spare CVs at a cheaper price. LOVE this architecture model
It would be helpful to have a reactive load gauge [kvars] on that generator. PWM or SCR systems tend to have lousy power factors. That inverter disconnect seems odd on account of voltage is stable - you'd think it ought to be happy. But... does 240 from generator match inverter design? Spec sheet suggests 175-425v input, so that sounds fine. I have had charging systems in the past where they were sligtly under-specd for battery bank Ah capacity - they stood up fine, until battery age started demanding more current, and the charger failed from the mismatch -upgraded to a higher output charging unit and problem solved. So this was a video to watch: maybe battery overtemp and/or overcurrent was my first instinct regarding shutdowns. As for the newer bigger generator... what AIC is required? I was thinking main has to be 120,000? This is a fairly big project as details go. Throw some dessicant packs in that generator control panel to keep electronics happy over time - any cabinet outdoors has a way of breathing with heat/cool cycles day & night that can cause something approaching a mini rain forest inside. You might [might] need to pull back on charging volts to 54v?
Aye to this. I have no experience with these battery chargers, and in all probability never will, but it wouldn't surprise me at all if they have no PFC at all. I'd be happy to be proven wrong and find there is at a minimum passive but active would be preferable.
There's another possible option, which I saw in an LED emergency lighting unit designed for outdoor use. A little rubber bladder inside the panel, connected through to the outside. Pressure inside the cab drops, bladder gets bigger. Pressure rises, bladder shrinks. The one in the lighting unit was like a little rubber light bulb. For a bigger cab even something like a party balloon on a hose connector might do the trick.
Video nel567DBAQc at 1:37 shows the one I encountered.
Given that you've got a finely-tunable load right there you could maybe perform some interesting tests on the generator to find the sweet spot where it's at its most efficient, not just for science but for practicality as you can hopefully save fuel.
Fill the tank right to the brim, run for an hour at xx kVA load, measure how much it takes to brim the tank again. Repeat at different kVA loadings, either by adjusting settings or turning off balanced triplets of inverters. Graph and learn :)
Worth running a three-phase socket off that panel as well? You've got a three phase diesel-powered supply available for the odd occasions when one would come in handy.
All I can think of calling it is "the beast". Thanks for sharing.
Love the content you put out! Please keep the videos coming!!
if you were fancy you would set up some automation to auto start the charging gen, 12min gen cooldown and back to standby
For whatever reason I have been subscribed to you for several years but I have not been receiving any notifications from your channel. Deanna and I needed this information and video very much. Thank you. I am still attempting the best means to charge the 48 volt Absolyte 2,000 amp hour battery bank that we picked up for the mountaintop. Always good to see you! Blessings and Happy New Year ( a little late!).
Solar panels are cheaper compared to batteries, but the generator is an awesome backup. I would love to see a video in the future of the system upgraded with lots of solar.
Gazooks man what town are you supplying.
I think it might have been worthwhile to install the twistlocks off the breaker panel, and you should keep the DC wiring original/full length. The reason? Think about maintainance/warranty… It’s much easier to remove a plug, and send back a defective charger under warranty, to EG4 if it hasn’t been modified, also faster for you, as you won’t have to open the panel and loosen the screws on the 2 pole breaker.
This is true, but those boxes sure do take a long time to wire up…also I work directly with eg4 so warranty is trivial.
I am kind of surprised no one mentioned floating neutral on the old generator as being a possible cause. We have seen that issue several times where some generators either intermittently charge, or just don't charge the attached equipment at all. Some equipment is just better at handling the floating neutral that most generators are setup for. Hidden usually in the manual, often in just a paragraph or less there will be something about this but there is many videos out there that can explain the floating neutral issue and how to correct it, because it sure would have been cheaper than doing all this work.
charger prob wouldnt run at all if it that was the case.
That is a beast of a setup! I'm curious how the Chargeverters are holding up now that it's been a few months. We are building a stronger charging solution for our off grid cell tower site. Have the Chargerverters kept their voltage and amp settings through all of the various generator cycles? Our generator is tiny in comparison (9500w). We have 2 Chargeverters along with the Victron Quattro 5000 charging which will be disabled most of the time in order to keep the generator 240v phases even. Plan is to back off the CV amps to keep the generator around it's peak 24x7 output rating. Generator only runs if there's multiple cloudy days. It's a very remote site so if the CVs settings get lost, they will overpower the generator if they go back to 100A.
Amazing setup, Is your generator 3-phase. I am looking to charge my batteries with a 3-phase generator using 208V. I was wondering if you could expand on how you wired your chargeverters to your generator?
So glad I bought a Chargeverter! If they can handle this, they can handle my puny 7500watt generator.
Damn. I'm incredibly impressed you can do all this seeing as you aren't even capable of replacing your smoke alarm batteries.
😂😂😂 out of my pay grade
Very nice! Also love the blue car... :)
Me too. Got it from a good friend.
No wonder I can’t find one in stock to buy this dude got them all 😂
I guess some people do not hear smoke detectors chirping...
Lol…I tried changing the battery while I was there and it was still chirping. Time for a new one
Nip that code black in the bud 😂
Nice video! How loud are the chargeverters at 85 amps output? Is the fan temperature controlled?
Not too bad, especially when compared to that monster generator. The fans are at full speed at 85A, but I honestly expected worse when I was installing them. The room doesn't really have much echo, so when you stand back 10ft it's not bad at all.
Oh yeah! More power!!!
How to go nuts on batterys and generators
It would be interesting to test fuel usage at different laods to see what what percentage load the generator gets it's best fuel economy
Do the Solark’s flash or stop output when the chargeverter kick on? I saw a few videos where when they kick on, the inverters cause the power to flash?
@4:32 smoke alarm beep 😂
I thought I had a large system lmao, this is massive :D
EMP proof good idea 👍
Thanks! what an awesome setup.
Little confused; I thought you said it was a 480V generator. That would be phase to phase. How are you running 120/240V chargers off that? 277V to neutral would still be too much voltage. What did I miss? Also, are those chargers all completely Isolated so they don't care how their outputs are paired? Thanks.
Lastly; You're not over "C"ing those batteries charging them back up almost all the way in only two hours? What's the allowed charging C rate?
I re tapped the generator for 208. Batteries are good up to 1C
What a setup! About how long can your parents operate once the batteries are fully charged? Also, can you tell us more about why they went off grid or is this a vacation home setup?
Well over a week in cloudy weather and in spring and fall they can go only on solar. They typically only need to recharge after long periods of high heat or lots of cloudy days.
What cable is coming off the generator to allow 1000 amps of charge?
Bad ass thanks for the tour 😊
Hi, high tech lab. I have a question on the Chargeverter that maybe able to clarify. I am totally off grid. Signiture Solar tech recommended that I don’t charge my batteries with them being charged and discharging to run my house.when my solar panels not producing power. Have you ever have any problems charging your batteries and the inverter running with loads? Thanks for your opinion.
Wow, super cool. Thank you for sharing.
that setup must throw some heat!!!
Is it OK to stack 5 SOK server rack batteries on top of each other? The manual says 3 max. I ask because I also want to stack at least 5 without using the rack. Do the bottom ones get too stressed?
Depends on if you worry about having a warranty. For me, I am the warranty...
Change the battery in your smoke alarm.
I’m surprised tsp many devices will operate in parallel. It feels very much out of code, at least in my area, YMMV.
No code articles against it...as long as all the conductors are sized appropriately, it's all good.
What is using all this electricity? Here in Germany an average home is using less than 10 kWh per day (!) the heck is going on?! :D
Yup I read your comment but still, I am amazed about that amount of energy.
Same as with money, there is not an income shortage but much rather a spending issue. Just for energy...
Still an awesome video! :)
The utility company wanted $70,000 to bring in power lines, and for their usage would be about $700/month. The savings going off grid is still substantial even with all the money they have spent.
@@HighTechLab That's insane. How many kWh per day would that be?
WOW Crazy!!!! Love it!!!
I'm only a third the way thru but man, I'm really enjoying this so far 😂
prob could have stayed with the solarks with the new generator
Awesome and a bit insane, I love it.
@highTechLab...can you connect the charg verter to a single phase 240 volts ?
Yes. No problem
when i first read it i thought that 48v 1200A that really isn't a huge home battery, then i realised it said A and not AH. 57kw of charging power goddamn. The best i can do is 12kw with my 3phase deye.
i have 1400ah of lead acid agms for my house consumption together with 18kw solar, My main fuses to my provider can only do 25A x 3 fuses. So i am hard limited to selling/buying about 17kw. Need to get thicker wires inside to get access to more power.
I suppose this home battery has around 120 kwh then? perhaps for lifetime concerns about 90-100 usable kwh.
Thats some serious charging
No Solar panels?
They have about 12kw of solar, but it's not enough.
So we need a a 20k dollar solar setup and a massive generator to be energy independent?
Add a windmill in front of the engine.
There’s already a generator head on the back of it…what’s the point?
Speachless!
When you heard the phrase as a young man, "Go Big or Go Home."... You took it Quite Literally!
way not use solar panels?
THANKS, GREAT INFORMATION!
AWESOME VIDEO, Thanks
How big is your parents s solar system..PV array ?
How much does all this cost
Sounds like you need to go to 360v systems.
Is this guy from current connected?
need more panels
22k hours? Was it a used oil field generator? I have free NG and I don’t even use generator that much. Maybe 1000 hours a year.
The first 8000 hours were use in a mine. The rest are from this property in the last 5 years.
Anyone have an extra battery for his smoke detector? It is chirping in back ground?
I think that might be yours
Is that your smoke detector chirping or is that mine?
I think it's both
I can't help but think you've had to do a heck of a lot of working around around the fact that you bought solark inverters. Personally I think they're overrated. Give me a good old fashioned tried and tested Victron or SMA Sunny island any day of the week. I would think a pair of Victron Quattro 15k would have served your parents much better as they're literally designed for generator use and probably would have worked fine with your existing genny once you configured the weak power input/dynamic power limiter/power assist settings right. There's a reason 90% of boats etc in the world have Victron kit in them I aint seen one with solark yet. Either way very interesting vid, a heck of a battery bank and one heck of a workaround!
If Victron was UL listed, it would be a different story. They are not very permit friendly in California.
Here's a thought.... better solar panels, mounting, bi-facials etc..whew who wants to hear all that racket going... (face palming myself)
That’s a really good job. I am going to build something similar to that. How many kilowatts of pv are online? How many more are you going to add?
12kW
This is awesome!!
Gonna mess around and catch that room on fire. Rumor has it those chargeverters double as a griddle.
That's the nice part of dialing them back to 85A, they put out way less heat.
@@HighTechLab Nice, the setup looks cool. Looking forward to the future videos
That 14 kw would work great with my set up...lol...can I have it? 😂
lol it is going down to their well pump
@@HighTechLab it never hurts to ask. The worst answer is no. Nice set up by the way. That 6BT will out run everything on the property!
What up cheddar bob?
Well thats pretty neat!
Damn who's is the gt3rs 🤩
That’s my Tesla model 3 GT3 BS. Look closely 😂
@@HighTechLabhaha that's good I like it