Today is the big day you finally get all the solar panels connected up to the solar combiner box. It's a nerve wracking moment, not sure if it will all work or not?
I’m almost as excited as you are at this point! This was a monster DIY project, and it must feel so good to have all the installation done. Thanks for sharing all the hardships you endured to accomplish this goal. I think your choice to include the good and the bad is very valuable to those of us who will be attempting this in the future.
Came across the channel by accident. looks like we're starting the same project, so about 8 months behind yourself. We too have a Victron Quattro and Seplos battery boxes, with new EVE cells on a slow boat. Hopefully we'll have a plant room built in the next few weeks. Wish us luck 🤞🔋🔋🔋
Sarah, you call those boxes whatever you want and combiner box sound very good to me. Also, it was great to see that you had over 360v in the combiner box. Can't wait to see you in the plant room working on getting you system up and running.
Congrats. So satisfying when seeing a plan come together. Please take a habit thou on wearing protective electrician gloves fit for the purpose especially when handling with high voltage DC(after connecting from solar and probing). It only takes one single 5:30 AM brain fart with a silly mistake and...dead. Today those gloves are also a joy to wear for wear and tear of the skin while peeling cables. Even with 220V AC it hurts like hell and could easily kill a person. Little alone 400V which there are far less margin of error to survive from with bare skin contact. We just like so see you guys staying safe =)
Yeah, you are using the label and heat shrink method for labelling. It makes such a nice clear label. I would like to think I recommended it to you but I am sure a bunch of people did.
I really like your channel, my small solar project (ever evolving) will never be as grand as yours so I wish you the best and appreciate your bravery undertaking yours. You have such good sense and are able to listen to your fans. Good luck. I’ll keep watching.
Brilliant idea using a printed label, and clear heat shrink, much cheaper that using a special printer and printable heat shrink. Nice to see the first stage powered up. I'd call them PV Fuse Boxes or PV breaker box, a Hoover and a vacuum do exactly the same thing, what you have and and a combiner box don't, perhaps its just me being pedantic, but it could save a misunderstanding. Looking forward to it being powered up.
Yeah, I'd imagine quite a few people have slipped up with that - I know I nearly did. The breakers in that box are DIHOOL DZ47Z-63 and have a (-) top left and (+) top right so from what I can see they're wired correctly. I'm assuming that there are a couple of short busbars at the top connecting across to the fuse holders and which are covered with some white plastic. I'd also be interested to know whether those preinstalled earth leads have ferrules or spade connectors on the ends.
Combiner boxes generically handle more than just paralleling strings. They have fuses, breakers, and typically also a surge protector. So its quite simple... if these boxes do these other ancillary functions, then you can go ahead and call them combiner boxes even when they aren't combining anything. Otherwise just call them breakers or disconnects. That is the wrong type of crimper for MC4 crimps. You need the type of crimper that has the little dip and curve in it that pushes the crimp tags ends into the middle of the wire. Not a flat crimper. Those crimps are going to develop issues over time (I hate to say that you'd have to redo them all, but... I would. A few other things to note on the MC4 connectors. Yes, the wires are crimped... but if you want the connectors to last, particularly up on the roof, you need to solder the wire-interface at the crimp in addition to doing the crimp. MC4 crimps are very, very easy to solder for an extra solid connection that will last forever. One other thing to note on the MC4 connectors. Once you have the system fully operational and running at full power, you want to hand-check all your MC4 connectors. Just put your hand on the outside and make sure none of them are hot. The reason is that even though the wire crimp joint can be very good, not all MC4 connectors mate well and when they don't mate well with their counterpart they can get hot. -Matt
Bear in mind that MC4 connectors are not standardised so there is a chance that they won't be waterproof when mating together connectors from different manufacturers. Options are; to source connectors from the same manufacturer who made the ones on your panels or, to snip off the first and last connectors in your array and attach new ones, although this second option will void any warranty you may have on the panel. Really sorry for mentioning this now that you've got off the roof.
