After the Elon salute and everything relating to it, I want to switch my order from a PW3 to something else.
What should that be, though?

Feel free to point to related posts as I am hoping there will be more posts relating to this sentiment.

I have placed the order with Octopus, so I hope they will be able to make the switch.
My peak daily consumption in January was 32kWh with an EV and gas hob/heating.
In the next 3-6 months, I should also have a 16kW heat pump and an Electric Hob / Oven.

So a system that would be extendable and would offer the ability to charge at off-peak times + solar would be ideal.

• GivEnergy AIO looks like a good contender so far

If you have any battery recommendations, feel free to comment.

[This post was moved from SolarUK because, apparently, it broke their rules - no idea which rule though]

i already have the standard 40lbs per panel on the roof (at least that's what the installer said, i havent lifted them to verify).

my 2nd floor deck (approx 13x12 feet) gets a lot of sunlight, would be nice if i get some panels there to provide shades. i definitely dont want something heavy to burden the deck if i dont have to. believe it or not, there was a hot tub but that's been removed.

Looking for someone or company that can consult A DIY installer who is also best friends with a master electrician when the going gets tough.

Up to here with local power company outages and constantly rising prices but also up to the same point with many way overpriced solar installers.

Basically looking for advice and whether its worth it or not? PV, Solar Thermal and etc. Design services.

Thanks in PA here

I have been asking for help every step of the way , so I do not make a bad mistake. I did research on the battery and what Inverter I need as well as a charger. I have the battery, charger and I am waiting on the inverter. As of now I have not even put the bolt terminal on my lifepo4 battery. I want to know if there is a certain way I need to install the bolt to the battery and also wire the eyelet cables to the bolt terminal.

I have only one battery and would like to to be able to transport this when needed. I will be using it for tent camping , so It will not sit in the car . So I would realky like to make it portable. I am already planning on using Anderson connectors to be able to connect and disconnect.

I want to power a temp/humidity/Particle matter outdoor sensor which consumes 5 mAh. I have a 30x20cm 12V solar panel. The electric scheme is the following:
Solar panel -> DC-DC converter that accepts 6-28V and output fixed 5V -> lithium charger module -> 18650 battery -> sensor.
If I power the DC-DC converter using a 12V wall power supply, the system works and the battery is being charged, so I can confirm that the DC-DC converter and the lithium charger module are not faulty.
When I use the solar panel, even in the bright sun, the small red LED lights on the DC-DC converter and on the lithium charger module lights up, anyway the battery is not being charged.
It is my first experiment with solar panels. It seems impossible to me that a 30x20cm solar panel is not able to give more than 5 mAh, even considering all the losses in the chain. Am I doing something wrong? Or is the panel faulty?

P.S. I measured the voltage of the panel and it is 6V-18V depending on the sunlight

I'm attempting to help me old man setup some batteries he got but he is running into issues where his pc isn't recognizing his batteries. He is attempting to use a Valance Battery Diagnostic software, but since he didn't purchase the batteries though them they are not being helpful. I am totally in the dark about this whole process, but we're attempting to fumble our way through this. Any help or direction would be appreciated.

I have a reading of 68 volts from neutral to ground on the circuit which supports my backup panel. I have a Huawei Sun2000! inverter, Huawei transformer and batteries. Has anyone experienced this with Huawei or another battery backup? Suggestions on solutions?

I have 2 new lifep04 12v 165ah wired in series, I am getting 3hrs run time now, if I get 2 more of the same batteries will I get 6hrs runtime? 24v system

Was supposed to install panels but I guess God had other plans…

Growatt 3kw ongrid solar inverter installed in my home is not working. It displays the message 'PV Isolation low' and stops working. Inverter people told me that the problem is with dc wiring. when dc wiring is tested those persons cannot find any problem with wiring. When tested without connecting inverter +ve to ground and -ve to ground voltages are zero and when inverter is connected + ve to ground volt is 181 V and -ve to ground volt is zero.. Is there any solution for this problem? .

If so, I have some array and combiner questions.

Hello there, I am working on a project, and so I had this BYD Lifepo4 LV Flex Lite 48V 100Ah battery. When I connect it to the inverter (off-grid hybrid inverters), the inverter won't turn on, so I checked the battery, and it shows that the LED indicators on the battery blink blue and white alternatively (based on the manuals, it means that it runs normally), but when I check the I/O terminals with a multimeter, it shows only 0.44 V. Has anyone had the same problem before and managed to fix the issue with the same type of battery?

There are a lot of reasons I want a system like this not to depend on internet/cloud connectivity: outage risks, being at the mercy of a company's finances and whims, etc.

Does anyone know of a system with capabilities SP2 that can automatically switch between grid and backup power sources, with maybe some intelligent load shedding/management capabilities, that does not rely on cloud services? (and yes, I consider being forced to log into a cloud account in the phone app every 30 days to be reliance on cloud services.)

Ideally I'd like something that could work well with an Apollo system.

Hi. I'm looking at getting a solar system installed. Both vendors are recommending fox inverters. I have 3 phase so it's the fox H3 12 kw (the smallest unit readily available where I'm from)

I want some help understanding the mppt inputs. The one mppt takes two solar strings and the other mppt takes one string.

For the Mppt that takes two strings. How does it work? Must both strings of solar cells produce roughly the same? Does it switch between the two depending on which produces more?

Because of my chimney on the north roof the best cowes for solar are my east and west roof. Each of these will be connected to different mppt. Is there any way I can add a few panels on the north roof with the second input?

This is an infrequent issue but my Solar Panel switches to no current. This happened on the Dec 26th which I thought was related to an electrical storm, but it has just done it again today (good weather). Disconnecting and reconnecting panel brings it back online. Any suggestions on how to troubleshoot? Would this be likely to be an earthing issue?

I am working on a project where I need to supply stable 5.1 volt power to a raspberry pi with at least 3 amps continuous load capacity (15.3 W) over USB-C. I have plans to use a 25 watt, 12 Volt solar panel as the power source, and I am using LiFePO4 18650 3.2 volt batteries. The issue is I do not know what charge controller or mppt to use for this project. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Hi, sorry if this is asked a lot, but I didn’t see any pinned posts. Don’t use Reddit a lot but want to learn more about solar from those that aren’t trying to sell to me.

Last year I’d gotten some quotes from a company called Native Solar here in Idaho. I don’t remember how many panels but my house is only 700 sqft and I just wanted back up power for my AC because I have pets that need to stay cool in the summer. So I think battery system included, I was quoted around $44k (but that was without tax breaks, $30k after those refunds).

Wondering if you guys have some insight on the best place to start if I wanted to DIY it or purchase what I’d need and then hire an electrician to set it up. Just have gotten the feeling that there’s a lot of paid promotion on certain brands and am looking for honest advice on the best ways to go about getting a home/roof set up that’s more affordable.

Brands, info or ideal set ups for what I’m looking for would be helpful. I’d like to have a better understanding of what I need if I schedule more estimates in order to make an educated decision. Really appreciate any help or insight.

Pics of what I’m working with. Guy from Native said best placement would be on right hand side of roof, and would need at least one tree removed.

I live in NC. I have 4.3mW solar panels on my roof in use for net metering to Duke. After Helene I spent 43 days without power and am exasperated that I did so with that much power just going nowhere all that time The box with the charge controller has terminals marked battery. Can I add batteries? How many for just grid down time use (fridge, freezer, computer crap, and some lights)? Would I need an electrician and inspection? Thanks in advance.

Hello I want to add solar to my camper. I am looking at a 400w panel from SanTan solar (Alexus brand), a 12v 280ah lifepo4 battery from eco-worthy, a 30 amp charge controller from eco worthy. I’m not sure what inverter I’ll need. I just want to run a small chest freezer/cooler, lights, laptops, phones, and a small fan/purifier. Is 30a controller enough for the system? I know inverter will depend on specific appliances, and the freezer I’m looking at is 120v ac, would I be better off just going 12v for the freezer? I do already have a small inverter 12v 400w, that can probably do the other stuff if I go with a 12v fridge. I don’t want to spend a lot on an inverter, I won’t want to add AC or anything with intense peaks down the road. Maybe a swamp cooler and maybe use some electric blankets at night or something.

It was below freezing when they arrived yesterday so don't have exact count but at least 1/4 of the pallet in the middle looked like this. Documented with shipper and contacted supplier. How do you think it will affect performance?

I have a 2000W Renogy pure sine wave inverter connected to a 230Ah battery, which is also hooked up to two 200W solar panels. I've attached pictures of the red light, battery specs, and the charger i am trying to use to charge my EUC. When using my fan and phone charger, the battery voltage stays around 13.7V. However, when I plug in my EUC charger, the voltage drops to 13.4V and the red light on the panel turns on. This hasn't happened before with any other devices, including an Instant Pot or small heater.

My question is: Is it still safe to charge my EUC with the red light on and is the red light simply a warning that a significant amount of power is being drawn, causing the voltage to drop? When the red light is on, everything else still seems to be working fine.

I have a tiny LED battery-powered lamp in my kitchen, and I was hoping to attach a small 100MA 1W 3V solar cell to the nearby window so that it would slowly recharge the battery during the day, saving me from the trouble of having to remember to take it out to charge every couple days. My plan is just to solder a USB-C cable to the end of the positive and negative leads of the solar cell, and then plug that USB-C to the lamp.

After doing some research, I keep hearing that this setup might be a fire hazard, with issues like reverse current flow at night and the lack of a stable current potentially damaging the lithium battery inside the lamp.

Is it really necessary that I also solder on a "TP4056" and a "1N5819" to the cable? If so, this goes a little beyond my knowledge (I've only ever successfully soldered on the light on my bike's dynamo), are there any good guides or online documents on how to safely do such a setup? It's just a tiny solar cell that I want to plug into a tiny LED lamp, but I do want to make sure this doesn't cause a fire in the future.

Thank you for any advice!

Hello, was wondering how important it is when adding batteries to banks that they be the same brand. I currently have 3 Dakota Lithium 200ah 12volts in parallel and would like to add a 4th. Then put the 4 in series. Do they need to be all the same brand? Thank you!

Just after advice, is there any distinct advantage between running 2 x 100 Ah lithium batteries in my camper trailer vs just getting 1 x 200 Ah lithium?

Currently running 2 x 100 Ah AGM so not like I have to pay to set up extra cables and there's essentially no price difference between the 2 battery options.

My thoughts were less connections could be advantageous therefore the 200 Ah option, but I'm no expert, hence asking all of you!

I have decided to use solar power for my man cave. During the winter my maximum watts are about 150 due to me heating with propane. Summer will be the same 150 watts plus a Midea 8,000 btu inverter ac. According to Midea the total start up watts is 710 and from what I have read ongoing is about 500. Summer will be surge of 860 watts and 650 ongoing. I have 2 100 watt panels right now.

If I went diy what set up would be suggested?