My name is Justin and I've always enjoyed building things. I am obsessed with creating new things, understanding how they work, and learning new methods to complete the job. I am passionate about learning and sharing my experiences related to solar. I designed, sourced, permitted, installed, and commissioned my own solar system. I love testing and exploring new technologies as they become available in my solar niche.
I started a new forum/website where DIY solar enthusiast can share their experiences. Ask questions, help others, find good deals on solar equipment, and even source entire solar systems. Check it out if that interests you at www.justinsproject.com
Thank you for this. My machine didn't come with an instruction manual. Although it was a pretty simple installation (7 bolts), I came here to double-check my installation. I also left the grease port on the outside for easy access but noticed the wheels rubbed on the frame. I flipped them (grease port on the inside) and problem solved!! Great little machine!!
Good job brother. Good info for those that don't know. Glad to see no bitterness about the inspector. A lot of people would blame the inspector for their shortcoming. The NEC and inspectors are there for safety. 99.9% of inspectors want it to be safe. There are a few who are impressed with their title. Ag and industrial wiring must be protected using MC (metal clad) cable, emt, rigid, or pvc conduit. Nice vid!
Im reluctant to go with microinverters, because the batteries are two to three times the price compared to batteries that are compatible with string inverters. Plus with string inverters you have dozens more options for batteries.
I enjoyed your video and I like your style of presentation. I don't make YT content, but I do consume a lot of it and, for the last 2 1/2 - 3 years, much of it has revolved around LFP batteries, chargers, inverters, solar panels, etc. I've built a number of emergency backup power systems for my home here in tornado alley and have bought lots of testing gear to play with just because I'm retired and have always enjoyed lab type work. I say all that so I can say this and you won't think I'm just popping off. I think I know what I'm doing and I just want to help you if I can. I think the reason that you came up short on the capacity test is because these (and actually ALL batteries or rather the cells that make up the battery) get their capacities tested under a set of standard criteria. For LiFePO4 batteries they are only expected to deliver their rated capacity if they are discharged at no more that 20 % of their AH rating. A 100 AH battery has to be discharged at 20 amps or less and should be able to do that for 5 hours. The battery that you're testing must be discharged at no more than 40 amps and should last for 5 hours. It's referred to as the ".2 Rate" or the "5 HR Rate". Lead acid batteries, on the other hand can only deliver their rated capacity if they are discharged at the ".05 Rate", commonly referred to as the "20 HR Rate". For a 100 AH AGM battery that would be a mere 5 amps for 20 hours. If you exceed these discharge rates you get less capacity from the batteries in question and if you do it at a lower amperage you will usually get a little extra energy than the rated number. Now, having said that, let me say this, I've never ever seen anyone even TRY to discharge one of these batteries at their max discharge rate for the cells, even when the BMS is also rated for that current flow rate. All I've ever seen done was to make sure that the battery would deliver that current for 10 minutes at most, just to prove that the BMS really would support it. My hat is off to you, my friend because you just gave this baby one hell of an acid test!! I'm flabbergasted! Because of all the discharge specs and the scientific method that I pointed to earlier in this comment, I don't know how many times you could get away with this without doing damage, but by golly it worked once and that convinces me that this battery is absolutely legit. Please keep breakin' rules and makin' content!
I have been using grid tie inverters for years to offset my power consumption. The one key important issue is to not just plug it into any home power receptacle. If you do so, you will likely compromise the protection provided by the breaker in your electrical panel. The best way to do it is to have one separate power recepticle, with its own breaker, coming out of your electrical panel.
If your panels aren’t maxing out at 295 you don’t wanna go up to the iq8a. You could actually actually get less production. 370W panels IQ seven pluses are a good match and if you’re not getting 290 to 295 W peak you do not want to go with a different inverter. I have placed thousands on thousands of in phase products in service. Happy to have a conversation with you. It sounds like your panels are limited by a thermal nominal, wattage limitation, not the inverters.
Ever had a problem with gas not draining down the right side tank. When my left tank runs dry, the engine dies. The other tank is full. Any ideas? It's a 2024 Maverick HD with Kaw.
Yeah, I'm not a fan of the rollbar, either. I think it's unnecessarily tall. When up, it grabs limbs and hits you in the back of the head. But that's not all, I forgot about the rollbar, and got hooked on a leaning tree. The mower popped about a 2-3ft wheelie. Fortunately, i stopped, thought about it for a second, then backed up and lowered the front back down.
thank you so much for sharing this! your information has been very helpful. (the following is a little long, so tl/dr: you've made the very best cost-effective choice in terms of $$$/kwh! don't replace those microinverters! new installers, don't buy iq8a microinverters if cost is your most important metric!) the losses from your microinverter "cap" aren't that serious. in fact, by $$$/kwh, you've already made the very best choice that cost-concious new installers should follow. i did a quick spreadsheet to calculate your losses on a summer solistice day with absolutely no clouds, and your losses were less than 10% of the day's potential solar production. if a few clouds had rolled through, losses would be even less because you would be less likely to hit the microinverter cap during the 5 overproduction hours. sure, you wish you had that extra 10% during peak hours, but let's use the prices on the enphase web site today to see how it could be that you made the very best price-concious decision by spending the most optimal (i.e. the least) $$$/kwh. iq7+ = $164.50 iq8a = $223 difference = $58.50 = 35% price increase from iq7+ to iq8a what if you had put up another panel up instead? let's evaluate that cost proposal: panels = about $1/watt = $370 for 370w $370 panel + $164.50 iq7+ microinverter = $534.50 $370 panel + $223.00 iq8a microinverter = $593.00 let's try to make this difference clearer: if you have 10 panels with iq7+, it cost about 10 x ($370 + 164.50) = $5,345.00 if you have 10 panels with iq8a, it costs about 10 x ($370 + 164.50) = $5,930.00 let's increase iq7+ capacity by 10% by adding another panel: if you have 11 panels with iq7+, it costs about 11 x ($370 + 164.50) = $5,879.50 so, to get "back" that less than 10% lost, you could either: buy 11 panel/iq7+ combos for total cost of $5,879.50, or buy 10 panel/iq8a combos for total cost of $5,930.00, which costs $50.50 more! so the extra panel is the winner price-wise, unless you have no space for another panel. this gives us a simple rule: when space-constrained, buy enough panels with iq8a to fill your space when cost-constrained, buy enough panels with iq7+ to meet your needs i haven't considered other iq8 series benefits, such as providing standard power ac power even when not connected to the grid. a user might decide that those features are worth the very modest extra cost. i also haven't evaluated the use case in which you match panel production to microinverter capacity. that would require more thought, because with both space and cost constraints, it's a more complex problem. bottom line though: you've already got the most cost-effective installation. i think you've done an incredible job and made good choices. and, especially, i'm thankful that you've shared your work, your installation, and some of your concerns in this video to help us all make better decisions. thanks again!
Hello, could you advice please because LiTime support not useful... I have same 24v 100Ah battery but totally confused with full charge voltage. Should I charge it until 28-29+ Volts or stop charging after 27 Volts as battery manual shows that 27V is a 100% capacity? (I believe my cheap charger from Aliexpress has monitoring option and can stop charging but from I see it keep charging after 27.5V and it taking a time so I assume it still transfering power to battery?
Thanks for the video. I just unboxed my Sun gold SPH5048P. I plan on using 3 Vatrer LifePo4 51.2 batteries. I have 8 420 watt solar panels and will have to series parrel because they produce 620 VDC if I only series wire them. I am looking for help designing the wiring diagram. I will not connect to the power grid I just use these to run my a/c to lower my big electric bill. This hot summer weather in Oklahoma is making my electric bill around $400. I already have other systems foe my security system, PC, and TV. I also have another one for the shaved ice machine. And a small ecoflow for the .7 cubic feet freezer. I am on a learning curve and I do not learn easy LOL. All help is appreciated.
GREAT video and a HUGE vote of confidence to Mammotion Customer Support for being exceptionally responsive and coroptivie. I just purchased a Luba2 / 5000 and your video helps to confirm that Mammotion is a GREAT company!!! All the best!
At 500vdc, how would one reach the 9000 watt max of solar? Youd hit voltage limits before wattage. I have found some 550w panels with 49.9 VoC and 10 of those would hit the voltage limits. 🤔
One disadvantage that you do not address is that if there is no 120vac present, the inverter will not work. It needs AC signal to sync to the system. The reason I know is that when Edison had a power outage, the panels worked but no AC was present at the output. So with out AC present, no output to your system.
If you don't have a net meter or any way for the power to feed back to the grid and your producing more Watts than your house is using what happens to that extra power. Is there any damage to the inverter because you're making more power from the solar panels or does it just get wasted somehow?
Where can I buy this? I live in Norway. If I buy it, where can I get spare parts? I tried the web shop, but it only had "United States" as an option for the shipping address.
Additional Thoughts - Cable AWG Testing - Add two identical solar panels to the roof. Wire one with 12AWG and the second panel with 10AWG. Measure the received power. Then switch the cables but leave the microinverter on the panel the same. Measure results. Compare the individual panels with each wiring configuration against the other panels during the same time period. EnPhase microinverters - same test as above but use an IG8 series microinverter on one panel and an IQ7 series microinverter on the second panel. Then, switch microinverters between the panels. If there is a significant difference, then you can decide if changing out the microinverters from IQ7 to IG8 is worth it. Ground mount - The biggest change if you went to a ground mount (adjustable or not) is using bifacial solar panels. On the ground mount, you would pick up additional power from diffuse reflections from the background. Using bifacial on roof mount - not so much.
If you are only getting 270W (maximum) from the EnPhase microinverter, then there is the possibility that the solar panel is not producing as much power as you think. If that is the case, then changing out the microinverter will not help you. The 400W solar panel rating is at STC. You would likely down-rate a 400W solar panel to 300W or less for normal conditions. After conversion in the microinverter you might have 290W of AC power. So, if this is the case, switching to the IQ8 may not solve your problem.
Awesome well done video. Have had mine for almost one year still boxed waiting and will get to use it this summer. I am very inspired and stoked to use it now more than ever after watching this video. Keep up the great work.
I got the Maverick 54" for our non profit. It does not have the awesome seat, but we can make do. If we buy another one I'll definitely upgrade to the Maverick HD.
Great vid as always! If there’s any areas on the machine where you’re worried about wet concrete build up; you can rub a rag soaked in diesel on em right before pouring. It should help keep it super clean in the long run 👍
A primary disconnection for feeders in isolated from primary bldg. must be well marked.a main might suffice but a seperate disconnect close to entrance would be best.
I was allowed #2 alum but I should had used #2 copper. It's really comes down to temp and whether it is going to be above ground or in conduit below. Plus the length of the wire. If #1 is in your budget, then it would always be best to do that.
