I dont usually do much commenting, however..... this is a masterclass in "how to" videos - all the required information present clearly and quickly. Bravo !! and thank you..
The best instructional video on mc4 by far, thank you! Others just showed crimping, screwing connectors, done 🙁🤔 But you explained the most important thing that people don’t know: Male pin into female connector. Female pin into male connector. Good job 👍🏼
I can’t believe how beautiful and wonderful this video was. Head and shoulders above other videos trying to explain the technique. Thank you for taking your time and explaining everything thoroughly.
جانی بھاٸ سلام 👍 میں آپکی لینگویج نہیں جانتا ھوں لیکن میں نے آپکی وڈیو دیکھ کر بہت کچھ سمجھا ھے جس کے لیے میں آپکا دل سے بہت بہت شکریہ ادا کرتا ھوں اور اللہ پاک سے دعاگو ھوں کہ آپکے علم میں مذید اضافہ کرے شکریہ 🌹
Very useful and to the point information. Switching my Harbor Freight panels to MC4 connectors will make it easier to connect them in series, without suffering the power loss of all the wire adapters otherwise needed. Having the All In One MC4 kit on hand will also make for quick repairs if any connectors get damaged in the future.
Thank you for making this video. Love that it gets straight to it and is easy to follow. I bought the tool through your link and my crimps are perfect the first time.
This is all brand new to me and I have been trying to figure out which of the pins were male or female. I've watched about a dozen videos including ones from solar companies. Yours is the 1st to show me, not just say, which is m/f and the part about keeping the couples together was PERFECT! I will remember that FOREVER!!! I can't thank you enough! I have no idea what your channel's about but you have a new subscriber and I'm excited to find out.
Hi Shelly glad you found me and this helped you out, and thanks so much for the sub and joining the group 👍🏼😀 Check out the solar beginner videos as there is some good info there as well…👍🏼
@@johnnysweekends You are a VERY fast talker so I have to back up and replay several times to catch (and understand 🥴) everything. But I am a senior with a little bit of hearing issues 🤪. Just an observation 🤔. Although it seems to be who you are so trying to slow down might not work for you.
Shelly I have actually addressed this in newer video. I just like going fast and getting thing as done but i have to work at a pace that is more neutral for everyone. Unfortunately cant fix the older videos.
Fantastic! Thank you! I did a small custom solar job on a roof and I used marine crimp heat shrink connectors as I didn’t have the tools or parts to make custom ends. Now that I see how easy it is, I will use them!
You have your male and female connection back to front. It's based on the internal metal ferrule not the external plastic. Generally, the female MC4 connector is associated with the positive lead and the male connector is associated with the negative lead. Though I guess it doesnt matter what you call it as long as they go to the right place.
Yes you are correct and one of the only ones to actually notice or catch that. But I found when teaching people, this was the best way I could think of. People only see the outside and that’s it. So it seemed the inside became irrelevant. So I did it this way and so far, people seem get it. But again, you noticed 👍🏼
Hey, thank you so much! Never did this before, & your video explained & showed in detail how it's done. Some other videos were vague, incomplete & too fast. The one on Amazon was such bad quality, I couldn't even see what the guy was doing.
I ordered some bougerv MC4 connectors and they just came in today I grabbed a male metal pin crimped it on the same wire where I had all the failures with the other pins and it crimped on perfectly no issues at all! Also the female connector snapped right on with no issues either then I was able to snap it right on to the branch connector flawlessly, it made me so happy to be able to complete this project I testing the voltage with six one hundred watt renogy solar panels with 3 panels in series two parallel and in the shade I tested 60 volts, then I drove the van into direct sunlight it was around 3:00 and tested 64 volts but the sun was still a little low. I forgot to test the amps but it should have been around 10 amps, I will test it tomorrow to see. But it does seem that bougerv connectors are excellent connectors, not like the cheap once I bought and broke apart when I crimped them. Just thought I'd give you an update. It seems in my first comment I had the female pin and the male connector backwards in my brain but nevertheless It was a male pin and a female connector that I was working with and got failures i was just tired at the end of the day working 7 hours on the van that day. And it is confusing male pin with female connector and female pin with male connector WOW LOL you know mean well thank you for the video because it lead me in the right direction to finding some connectors I can trust.
Awesome glad it helped and you got to get the project pretty much finished up. I’m glad the connectors are working for ya. I think they are decent for sure. Thanks for the update 😀👍🏼
Perfect video. Moreover I happen to have the exact same tools. One thing to add: the pins must be pressed/pushed in position pretty hard until it ‘clicks’. I have had a couple of instances where the contractor (pin) was too recessed and it did not work. Thanks!!
Go ahead, count how many times he needlessly says, "Go ahead". It seems to be endemic amongst male, American RU-vidrs. Thanks for the informative upload. Cheers.
That’s a very valid assumption that we could say that alot, but appreciate the feedback, but while your here go ahead and smash 💥 that like button and subscribe..😀👍🏼😁😉👊🏼
This is an old video but a few corrections here. First, use the largest AWG that fits into the crimp if you can. Either 10AWG or 12AWG, generally. Do NOT use wire thinner than 12AWG, it won't make for a good crimp. It MUST be stranded copper or stranded tin-plated copper wire. It should NOT be "poofy" wire (tin-plated copper wire with 200+ really thin strands). Poofy wire should never be used in these applications. Use wiring explicitly designed for solar applications which means 10AWG or 6mm^2 stranded copper wire with no more than a few dozen strands (and usually not tin-plated either). Second, don't twist the wire. The crimp folds over and pushes into the middle of the wire bundle. Twisting the wire may cause the crimp to cut the wire while it is pushing into it. The wire should be kept straight. The crimp retains the wire because the extra wire past the end of the crimped metal splays out and prevents it from being pulled out (like how most crimps work). Third, if you want something that will last the life of the system, consider soldering after crimping. It is very easy to solder the wire after you've crimped it, before placing it in the housing. This does require a hot iron due to the amount of metal and wire involved and a soft vice to hold the wire. The solder will soak and flow very nicely and basically guarantee that the crimp will never become loose. The only thing to watch out for is to be sure that you don't put so much solder in that it flows into the retaining tabs on the pin for the plastic housing (the wire should not extend that far into the pin anyway). But also don't put in too little. The solder should completely fill the crimp area and flow nicely into the excess wire area past the crimp area as well. Poor crimps and/or not soldering can result in excessive heat at the junction, and other problems over time. You don't need to use the wrenches to finish screwing in the housing. It should be done by hand. It doesn't "tighten" per-say, you just screw it in until it hits its stop. The seal is made by the rubber gasket inside, not by tightening. So just make sure its screwed down all the way, that's all.
There are 3 different places to crimp. You didnt mention which to use. I have the same tool and i believe if the cable is 2.5mm2 then you use the end crimp .it is marked 2 5mm2
This is all fine and dandy, but this amateur viewer has reservations about buying a crimper kit when all I need to do is use it one time to build my small system.
Greetings, You have a few mistakes in the video. MC-4 is not a generic term for the connectors on solar panels, they are made by Staubli. All of the Chinese solar panels I have seen, say "Compatible" with MC-4. This is not a UL tested term and they might fit together but not perfectly. When moving 600 to 1,000v you want perfect. You don't want to mix and match connectors, you want the same brand on both sides of the connections. The wire you show is not #10 or typical solar wire, which has a double jacket for protection and is thicker. The blue plastic sockets are not meant for the final tightening, perhaps with some of the "compatible" connectors, but not with MC-4. They are only meant to snug up the fitting. Staubli actually has (an expensive) torque wrench to tightern the final threads. It is moderatly easy to cross thread the nut and the threads, if this happens you have to start over with a new connector. Improper connectors are the #1 point of failure in a solar system, by far. These techniques might be OK for a small cheap low voltage solar panel, but not for a house where you have up to 600v or a commercial roof with up to 1000v.
You would be correct. But the mc4 term is a simple general term still used in solar installs and when building an array with staubli “mc4” as you would see stated on most spec sheets like Canadian solar, Qcells and more then the general term is still mc4 for short. Have to remember nobody cares about tech terms for the simple diy and beginners. If I started saying modules, junction box’s, arrays and more people get lost. That’s what this video is for. The new diy people learning about solar. Still all these connectors are still Ip68 rated and most are good to 600v or even 1000v. The cable on the back of this harbor freight panel is barely UV rated and not actual cable like you would see in other solar videos I have done it like my LG 335s Again, simplify, that’s who the video is for.
I must have bought a bad kit because I was crimping a female pin for the male plug and in the kit was 5 of each pin male and female. I was trying to finish off my project with a female metal pin to go into the male plastic plug and I did everything you did but the metal pin would break after crimping the metal pin would just fall off in pieces I ended up using all 5 female pins and every single one broke off the wire in pieces. That being said, I was using another kit before this last kit and everything worked fine, I didn't have a problem until I used that last package kit of MC4 connectors. Very very frustrating I was more than angry because I couldn't complete my project and now have to wait for my order for more MC4 connectors to come in!
Sir good day to you. Im from ph and starting to build my DIY solar system. Basically, i series my two panel. And now i have to crimp a mc4 and followed your video. However, when testing the panel, i got a negative reading which means that the polarity was reversed. My question is, if my panel have a male connector for negative polarity then my mc4 female polarity should use the black wire and not the red wire since it is still negative connection correct? And vise versa with the possitive polarity? I asked this because i follow this instructions and put then red wire in female and black to the male and plugged it to my panels and now I got a negative readings in my multimeter 😅. I just want to confirm my scenario for me to switch the wires on the mc4. Sorry for my noob question btw.
Do you know how to make solar panel connectors longer for parallel T branch connectors? My panel connectors are too short, and I need to make extensions. I am thinking I need two red and two black, but would they need a positive connector on one side and negative connectors on the other or would it be two female connector on each side of the negative connector and two males for the positive connectors?
You can buy pre made cables if you like to extend to a much longer length. Or you can buy wire at most any hardware store and add connectors like in this video. Depends what you want and need.
@@johnnysweekends Thanks.This afternoon right after I type the message to you, I thought about it for a while and then went and got some shorter MC4 cables. Mostly what I have is 100 ft, but these were about 30 feet. I got out one red and one Black mc4 cables. I connected the red MC4 connector to one of the positive end, and one black MC4 to one of the negative end. After that I was able to connect them to the T Branch connector. I will have to shorten them at a later date.
Do you have other links besides Amazon? Amazon sucks. I really like your video and want to support your stuff but Amazon is my last choice to purchase anything from..
I could provide Walmart and eBay but seems 98% just go straight to Amazon..🤷♂️ is tough man but let me know and appreciate you trying to help support the channel..🙏🏼👊🏼👍🏼
Nice Quick video, but misses a critical point. Who is the manufacturer of these connectors they don't appear to be Staubli Multi-contact (MC) Connectors. Use of this MC terminology for other manufactures connectors can be misleading and dangerous. These style connectors cannot typically be cross-mated with other Mfrs connectors, and definitely not with true Multi-Contact connectors. This is the leading cause of fires in PV installations today. Seriously, just read Staubli's instructions and Whitepapers.
While true a Staubli connector is more the standard and what we have in the shop most people dont want to pay $5 per set. Plus how you know every manufacturer is using a staubli connector on every brand of solar module? I find the renogy, Ecoflow, bougerv all seem to be the same as far as quality goes between them. And I would recommend at least a name brand verses the cheapest of the cheap from eBay and Amazon. So many out there with tons of different names. Maybe I’ll compare some and see if there is any real significant difference.
