Projects. I always seem to have one. This channel shares the random stuff I find myself doing, documenting the experience, tips, tricks and lessons learned. From landscaping, to solar, home maintenance, computers and cars I share my adventures with you.
Strong suspicion you had a dealer break the tabs putting them on. Stuff like that happens constantly at shops and dealers I've work with over the years. Some idiot tech just buttons it up and doesn't tell anyone....sends it down the road. Still no excuse for EOS not to be more receptive and helpful....but tabs like that don't just break from driving down the road.
I've been using the honor band 4 since 2019, and looking to switch to fitbit inspire 3, especially for the HRV. Your video really helped me in making the final decision! Thank you!
Did you remove the bond in your output panel? Once you plugged in to your plug from your home panel which you know is also bonded you now have 2 bonds.
@thlightest9827 The u bolts are just from home depot. The plate is a piece of aluminum I had in my shop, you could use anything, I used aluminum so it wouldn't rust. The hose doesn't seem to be on amazon anymore but there are a ton like it that come with the hanger, just search expandable hose. I've made similar hangers out of aluminum\steel by putting in a vice and bending
@@lifewithlonsi Perfect thanks, i’m building mine a tad different than yours. I’m utilizing 3 10”x4.5” filter housings 2 of them will be the pre filters (sediment/carbon) And the final stage will be a 10”x4.5” filter housing with a refillable filter cartridge filled with roughly a little over a pound of mixed bed DI Resin. Total project cost around $340 including hand truck, connectors, fittings etc.
@@thlightest9827 Makes sense - I have a similar setup coming into my house. Originally had 10" but changed to 20". Works well with a spun pre-filter, iron filter then carbon block. TDS coming off the well is under 200 and makes the DI resin life reasonable.
Great videos, thank you. I have a SPF 3000TL LVM and no where in unit or in the user manual does it mentioning installing an Earth ground. There is no grounding lug/point. So where does the ground come from?
I'v had them on my car for over a year. Possibly your dealer broke them. The quality of the part was excellent. Mine were carbon flash painted. The paint looked just as good as my ACS stuff painted carbon flash.
Interesting. They were fine after the initial install, I inspected the vehicle top to bottom when I took delivery including the guards, radiator protectors and wheels which I had the dealer put on. I bought my C8 from the #2 Corvette dealer in the country, they have a dedicated Corvette service team - it's not a random chevy dealer who works on a handful of these a year. That said, I guess it could be possible they over torqued the screw and they cracked it over time, but seems unlikely. My main issue was the response from the manufacture, I understand they cannot accept blanket warranty claims for all parts but given the circumstances on this one I think any reasonable person would look at this and know something's not right here.
Thanks for sharing - I don't think anyone should rely on the estimated calories for any of these devices. Everyone is different and your body\metabolism will be WAY different than mine, even if we were the exact same age and weight. Muscle mass, lifestyle, fitness level etc. have a big impact on calorie burn. Sure, they can be helpful but certainly not solely relied on for decision making!
I’m confused, so we DO or DONOt want neutral bond continuity? I just installed this unit with a EG4 LLS on my travel trailer. I’m only running on electricity no gas generator.
It depends on your application, check out my other videos on the Growatt for more detail but you will likely want to keep it in your case (if running completely off grid and without a bonded panel). I'm not sure how shore power hookup works on an RV but that may also be a consideration
I do not have tint. I'm in NH which is generally strict on tint on front windows and will not pass annual inspection. MA is more lenient I believe but I'm not sure of the details.
On average Whoop scores about 4-5% higher. Some days are the same others have varied by ~10%. I wear the Whoop on my dominant wrist and Fitbit on the other, so that may account for some variation as well...
Hi - thanks for the comment. Yup, figured that one out! Need to post a follow-up but both inverters need a 120v input from each leg of the main panel (US).
I agree, Paid for sideskirts and once inspected called and complained many lines in the product and they stated the lines was when they joined the ends to pieces together. Very pure product, China made product. Will never buy from ACS again
Miracle you didn't kill your meter. It must have at least half decent protection. You are sticking 120V across the meter's probes between earth (ground) terminal and the hot terminal (since the bond relay is engaged), and of course between neutral and hot. The meter will sense the current flow and determine that there is continuity based on that. Please familiarise yourself with proper use of a meter before working on electrical, it may well save your life. The ground fault initially reported may well have simply been that you were connecting and disconnecting from your premises' neutral/ground bond. Some of these types of inverters have manual connect and disconnect of their internal N/E as well as an auto-sense mode that is only done during startup. Disconnecting / connecting to your premises' supply should not be done with the inverters operating. The manual probably does, or certainly should, explain both the settings and when it is permissible to connect/disconnect the incoming supply.
Thanks for the comment. Appears this inverter does run through an auto-detect procedure at startup and will only operate when grid tie is connected prior to power on. The manual is vague in this regard and my plan to use a switch to power on/off grid tie will not work with this functionality. I'm going to repost an update to the video. Re: the meter - There is no voltage on the AC Input terminals while I am testing with the meter, you'll notice that there is nothing wired in. That is the first thing I confirmed (off camera but should have done so on camera for the benefit of others watching - good callout)
@@lifewithlonsi Ah, my mistake. I mistakenly thought you were measuring the output terminals. With the AC input vs a switched supply, you should be OK to have the unit set the solar/battery as the primary power source and fall back to mains when they are running low or the reverse situation where mains is priority for charging and loads but left turned off at the switch to force solar/battery operation. It shoud be ok to have the mains input always connected so that the neutral/ground bond at the main panel is seen by the inverter but the power switch on the mains is set to off so that the live/hot wire does not supply power to the inverter. The critical part is likely that the neutral/ground bond must be in the same state the entire time the inverter is on, which it should be if you leave the plug in the socket. If the socket your inverter is supplied by has an AFCI/GFCI inline (at the panel or supplied by an intermediate socket) there is potential for the neutral to be disconnected if the breaker trips and this is not an acceptable thing to happen if you are relying on this circuit to provide your neutral/ground bond for the inverters and the circuits supplied by them. Check your AFCI/GFCI to see if it should be replaced with a single pole switching GFCI/ACFI or standard breaker that only switches the hot/live in this situation. Take care with the power cord wiring gauge and the gauge of the circuit wiring too as in this circumstance they will be carrying full short circuit current of the inverter, across the neutral and ground wire in the cables, should you get an earth fault until the inverters go into overload protection or a GFCI on the circuits supplied by the inverters trip breaking the fault. I know a lot of people do wire these things with a plug but in my opinion they should be hard wired. Good luck and success with your project.
Appreciate the objective review. Was torn between which to get. Going with the whoop after watching this and a couple other reviews. Also, nice Carhartt.
Question: is the earth neutral bond made by connecting the Top layer circular PCB screw connect area of the PCB to the casing using the screw? Or is the disconnect made by a small space that happens between the case and the PCB circular PCB screw connect area when the screws are removed. I ask this question because if the bottom layer of the PCB has the same circular PCB contact area, it is possible that the bond is not removed when removing the screws. Anybody know this?
That is a good question - I do not know. My two inverters are back in operation so I cannot easily check. I'd hope there is proper separation on the backside of the PCB, especially if there is solder or metal contacts there. I'd be interested to see if anyone can check...
Really on point review. I think you hit it on the head...I can definitely see the benefits with the whoop if you're a pro athlete or aspire to be one. For the average joe like me who's just trying to get more active and lose some weight...I think the fitbit will serve my needs perfectly
Ok my question is you say your setup last two ok I have almost the same setup I have two alpha5 48 volt rack mount batteries from Rich Solar and two 3000 watt 48 volt inverters from rich solar that are exactly inside and out like the growatt and I have 10 200 watt solar panels plus I’m tied to the grid but it’s solar first then grid if no sun My batteries will only last one night if I’m lucky I know that I’m doing something wrong or there’s something wrong but I’m not sure what that is. Everything seems to be working fine but I can’t seem to get these batteries to last more than one night and I know they should any ideas where I’m going wrong Thanks
Hi - it really comes down to your draw on the system. When I say 2 days, that is cutting all non-essential loads - I am really just running a few lights, my well pump as needed, heat\ac sparingly etc. I shut off all of my nice to haves in an effort to stretch power. Do you know your phantom load (how much power is constantly being drawn)? With all my stuff on I'm around 450w but I cut that to around 200 if I'm trying to conserve. Plus the inverters add roughly 75w to that number as well. My house pulls roughly 25-30kWh this time of year when it's business as usual, so yes, if I were to leave as is then I would likely get ~12 hours out of it.
more about the Inverter and battery Solar stuff system .. please and thank you .. PS: the people that have money to waste on this topic are paid out at a higher RPM by RU-vid . channels that are focused in topic uploads tend to retain subscribers . think as in your own life we do not go to the Bank for Cooking tips we go to the bank seeking financial advice and if our banker insists on talking about food We Find a New BANKER. the best banker know a whole lot about many many things but you would never think that from the conversions you have with them At The BANK Good Luck
Thanks for the comment. I know there are a variety of topics on this channel. I'm not trying to make money here, simply sharing things in my life that I find interesting and if it can help someone then great!
Did you have out before removing the screws? They should have no impact on voltage. You may need to double check your settings, I believe you'll only see output voltage when the Growatt agrees with everything (i.e. battery settings & config)
Correct, no grid-tie on this setup. That requires a lot more in terms of coordination with utility, permitting etc. Also, most grid tie systems out there will be offline during an outage - so you are left with what's in your batteries until the grid is back online, in the typical setup, solar goes down with the grid. I want my system generating solar power when the grid is down!
First off, really nice clean installation! But in my opinion EG4 or Mpp solar inverter/charge controllers make more reliable units with higher voc allowing you to put more panels in series which I prefer. In tests that I have performed and also seen online, partial shading on a parallel configuration lowers the wattage coming in just as much as series. In essence a higher voc is always better in any case.
Good info - thanks. I've been seeing all of the new EG4 stuff come available and it looks great, I wish it had been an option when I purchased all of this but there's always round 2!
That's a good point - I failed to mention in the video but we did clean the coils about 6 weeks prior. Definitely one of the things you should look at!
Great idea. Also, it might be a good idea to take the panels off and clean any debris that might be present. Flush with a hose from the inside out. Also, cut the zip tie ends off, Lol.
I have the same growatt. I'm unsure if I want to buy another to parallel them. Would you recommend just buying a different brand or does it seem to work well.
These seem to work fine. I've run my house off them a few times with no issues. That said, there's a lot of new stuff out and if I were building today I might go a different route. The Eg4 inverters look interesting and I believe they are UL listed which is a plus
Just saw an email from signature solar and made me think of your comment. They have a special on a parallel kit with a wireway\breaker box that looks really cool. signaturesolar.com/eg4-13kw-off-grid-split-phase-inverter-bundle-2-x-6500ex-48-13000w-output-16000w-pv-input-split-phase-120-240vac-all-in-one-solar-inverter-system/?_hsmi=269051297&_hsenc=p2ANqtz--aDD0GA_uXTlTOqPPL5c8awc_iYIGxGRzdGHgmNUwqB_pV0KJ3eX79tR1119_lrWobiLASOuhiU10UmYdV8en6Xo1yXA
I have a very similar set up using the 2 Growatt inverters. Nowhere as clean as yours is. It's been running my off grid shop/garage, and 2 Mini splits on my house for 1 year now. I had 2600 watts of solar, and found that it was just enough in 110 deg Texas heat. I also use it as backup for the house if needed, so I always try and keep the 4 - 24v/100Ah batteries at least at 70% SOC if needed. I had to use it 4 times this spring (lots of bad weather), and it worked great. I just bought, and am currently installing another 2400 watts of solar to make sure batteries are better topped off when the sun goes down. I have their AC charger also, but the 30amp version and love it, thinking about getting another, so I can use my gas generator to charge the batteries faster if no sun is available during a power outage. Nice work.
Very cool - I'm in the middle of installing a 50a inlet to backfeed my panel which I plan on using to charge my batteries (by grid or generator) to supplement my panels. Broke my collar bone with the work half done so it's going to sit a while! I'll post a vid on that once I'm back into it. Thanks for sharing, your setup sounds great.
Nice video. Just a heads up, Option 11 will allow you to limit utility charging current. I have mine set to 14amps so I can use normal 12/14gauge extension cords.
Thanks, I need to double check but when I first setup, setting the battery type to LI disabled that option. I believe you need to set battery type to User to open it up, which I should just do.
My understanding is that if there is a fault somewhere and a ground ends up carrying current, it will do so back to the main panel at which point the bond will allow the circuit to complete via the bond with neutral. Having the bond in the panel ensures that current will flow back to the panel on a predicted path (normally neutral or ground in case of fault) and then complete the circuit. If there are multiple ground eutral bonds it creates a variety of paths that current could take, and have potentially dangerous and unintended current flows.
If you have 100amp service to your house, all breakers past main need to be below 100amps to function aside from the main, if breaker is above that 100amps, it will not trip even if there is a short.
So I've got the 2x5000ES, with two midpoint transformers. I've got a transfer switch and 6 EG4 48v batteries. We use it for "time-shifting" and backup... I've got a manual transfer switch but am trying to figure out an automated one... the inverters can be programmed as to when to run, so I figure if I get one of these "backup generator" ATS's, and wire it with the *grid* as the backup power source, that will do the trick. None of the companies who make this hardware will talk to me, since they just want to sell me a generator... If you, or any of your viewers have any thoughts, I'd welcome them. Your setup looks very clean, thanks for the video! -- Bill
I've never played with an ATS but from my understanding in theory that should work. Inverter output is no different than a generator so just swapping out the source should work fine. I think the devil will be in the details on how\when you are switching and what the trigger will be - that will ultimately be up to the ATS and what it supports. Interested to hear if others have experience ecommendations on this one.
Well yes - the issue depends on your setup. On mine I have it bonded elsewhere and you only want to bond at a single point, so for me it was in my service panel not the inverter...
I have the ACS Composite (same as OEM) version of these and they’re flawless. Everything I have installed on my C8 is from ACS, they’re the ones that supply GM Motors with the front splitters, rock guards, side rockers, rear wings and made in Canada with quality.
I'm going to try it - with battery set to LI the manual says the amp limit is disabled. I'm going to switch to User and see if that works. The bus bars are from Rysz Battery in CT. ryszbattery.com
Hi, when we should remove N-G bonding? Some people told not to remove, some told that we have to. Im confused here, my growatt spf 5000 is arriving, so gotta prepare for that. Thank you.
I have another video on my channel that explains when and why you would want to. Basically you should have it bonded somewhere, where depends on your design.
Had mine on for over a year. 7000 miles and no problem. It's a part that will take a lot of weathering and you can't expect them to have a lifetime warranty. It's possible your dealership broke them when they put them on and you just noticed it when you went to store it.
Good to know, thanks. I'm curious if this has happened to others. I agree, can't expect a lifetime warranty on a product like this but given the circumstances I think it deserved a 2nd look. I'm guessing my kit had a manufacturing defect. I also should have mentioned in the video, I know they were not broken during install, I inspected the work. I also hand wash the vehicle and that is how I found it (I know it happened between washes, roughly a 2 week period).
I have two 48 V Crowatt ES inverters and am basically building the same system. However Growatt says that 4 gauge wire is to be used. Originally Signature solar said to use 2 gauge wire which was almost impossible to fit into the inverter and did not fit into the Nader breakers they had me buy. Does the growatt manual say to use 1/0 wire or did you just use it?
The manual on mine calls for 1x2AWG or 2x6AWG for 24V and 2x8AWG for 48V on a 200AH bank. I threw that out and went by the max amp ratings which is 141A on 24V and 71A on 48V and sized my wiring based on that AND the loads I will be running. To do it "right" by many folks standards it would have me running 2/0 for the inverters and 4/0 between bus bars.
@@lifewithlonsi Thanks for getting back to me. I started with 2/0 wire but almost broke the inverter opening fringes getting them attached. Went to 4 gauge as the manual stated, but have now got 1/0 wire coming. The 2/0 gauge did not work with the breakers I want to use, from sig solar, and 1/0 gauge will work with them. Finding that this is a bit of trial and error. Hope that in a month this thing actually is turned on!!!
I would imagine so. My inverter did have two screws bonding while Growatt support advised there was only one so you may want to check around in yours too.
