DIY - Wire Solar Panels to Breaker Box Electric

DIY - Wire Solar Panels to Breaker Box Electric - Growatt Inverter 3000

Рет қаралды 88,016

2 жыл бұрын

This video will show in detail how I wired my solar electrical system together from the panels to the breaker box. How I wired to the Combiner box, to the inverter, lithium batteries and on into the Circuit breaker panel. I try to cover the complete wiring diagram in this video of my entire solar system from beginning to end for all to enjoy, learn and create a more robust system. As always this video is for Entertainment purposes, I am not a professional electrician, if you have doubts on your own system be sure to call a licensed electrician and be careful as electricity can cause serious harm.
Comments are welcome, one reason I create these videos is for us all to learn, be safe and create a good experience for all while making DIY projects.
Update - Part 2 of this video - DIY - Wire Solar Panels to Breaker Box Electric - Growatt Inverter 3000:
• Part 2 - DIY - How to ...
An overview of my system - 2 Growatt 3000TL LVM-ES 48 volt inverters, configured to grid power, running in Split Phase, connected to 24v EG4-LL Lithium batteries, 25.6V, 200AH - 2 x 2 in series to make 48v 400AH total. Overall a great system, 7KW PV system feeding into this battery bank, not a ton of power but more than efficient when connected to the grid and being aware of your electrical needs and consumption. Happy DIY-ing friends! Leave any comments below, if I can I'll be more than happy to help.
Additional videos on Growatt SPF 3000TL LVM-ES 120/240 Volt Inverters: • Growatt SPF 3000TL LVM...
Snow effects on Solar Panel systems:
• Snow effects on Solar ...
Video on EG4-LL LifePower4 batteries here:
• EG4-LL LifePower4 Lith...
Growatt SPF 3000TL LVM-ES FAULT 15/16
• Growatt SPF 3000TL LVM...
How I wired my Solar System:
• DIY - Wire Solar Panel...

Пікірлер: 109

@paulaffron7744 2 жыл бұрын

This is totally the video I have been looking for. Straight to the point without lots of useless talking. I am building a similar system with 48v. And 9.2KW system. I will be wiring my fuse panel but I am going to have an electrician look at my setup before I flip the switch on.

@larrycanatsey4541 2 жыл бұрын

Sub panels must have neutral and ground bars separate per NEC

@mannahfarmandforge5225 Жыл бұрын

This is a godsend of a video. I'm also in the IT field and live in the back country. Currently researching and planning out my solar. House is 102 years old and I have 8 buildings that require electricity. Love the sub panel idea. I want to centralize the power and run cabling underground as well. Your electrical wiring looks like a network closet lol. I am going to stick with propane and wood for heating. I have 2 massive greenhouses I am hoping to power off of solar. Thank you and I will be looking for more of your videos.

@jimmyg6215 2 жыл бұрын

I would check that bond in your sub panel. Some of those Growatts when on grid power have the neutral carried from the input to the output. That would mean u are bonded in two places, grid side and inverter side which is a no no. The should be only one bond if the grid is involved. If it was entirely off grid, no grid inputs, then you would want a bond in that subpanel. Some inverters allow you through a setting in the software to not pass the neutrals on the in and out AC side of the Growatt. I would change the subpanel AC input to a double pole so if it trips it kills the 240v feed entirely, vs two singles. I know u said double pole breaker, but the video looks like two single breakers in that subpanel. You could be left with a trip of 1/2 of the subpanel and any 240v device connected would be unhappy with on part of the phase. Also best to use T style fuses on those batteries. I use them on my gyll and have they much better protection from arcing if they blow. 150A T with holders around around $40 range. Great setup of panels and like the combiner box, I use the same setup from Ian’s site. Enjoy.

@ahhlifesgood1956 2 жыл бұрын

Thanks Jimmy for the detailed response, really appreciate the input. Many great points you've explained here to improve on and go over which I most definitely will. One subject you touched on that has always been my question is "to not pass the neutrals", I've had big question on this topic on how it's really handled? Was thinking of using the Dry Contact port on the Inverter to setup a Relay switch between neutrals? I think Andy P had a video on the subject that was really good.

@SdBoy 2 жыл бұрын

@@ahhlifesgood1956 Im building a NEW rack simular to your... what are the HOOKS that are connected to the STRUTS that hook onto the 2x4's called ? Taht is a better idea than me BOLTING the strut to the 2x4 ;) thx

@ahhlifesgood1956 2 жыл бұрын

@@SdBoy - Hello SD, I used Auto Leaf Spring U Bolts from Napa Auto to adhere the Super Struts to the 2x6. Its a much more inexpensive route than purchasing the Solar Super Strut clamps.

@SdBoy 2 жыл бұрын

@@ahhlifesgood1956 thx on the reply... I couldnt tell in the pic but it looked like it was a 2x4 across the top... Originally I was just going to bolt the superstruts into the wood rail across the top but that will require perfect measurements when it comes to TWO rows of panels on the same strut.... and I saw that "hook" type of a bolt you had used... although im going to use 2x4's across for the TOP raila nd bottom rails.....

@opennrgdotcom 2 жыл бұрын

Best wiring video I have seen, thanks. Saves me a lot of time.

@ahhlifesgood1956 2 жыл бұрын

I was hoping to connect with a few of you that might be looking for the detail, thanks for the comments!

@kalypsoisland 2 жыл бұрын

I really appreciate your videos. I learn much. I bought 4 eg4ll 24v 200Ah and 6 tier rack too. I’m total novice.

@robertmyers4155 11 ай бұрын

Thank you very much for your videos! You have have helped me a lot with these videos! A lot of guy’s didn’t go into as much wiring detail as you have here. I don’t think there’s a real need to double ground your inverter panel. I have seen other videos with Will Rouse and he recommended not double grounding them!

@AndrewJohnson149 Жыл бұрын

Thank you very much for this video. I learned a lot.

@tomcarey3457 2 жыл бұрын

Nice setup thank you for sharing

@SeaDraggin 2 жыл бұрын

Good video. I liked you explanation of double pole. Looking forward to doing my own offgrid soon and videos like this are super helpful

@ahhlifesgood1956 2 жыл бұрын

- Thank you for tge comments, enjoy and be sure to exercise patience, I never proceeded forward without being sure I fully understood the process of my action prior.

@yankey4 2 жыл бұрын

GRATE work man. Thanks for sharing. God Bless

@ahhlifesgood1956 2 жыл бұрын

- Thanks Bob for the kind words, nice work as well on the song for your intro video!

@electricandlspower 2 жыл бұрын

Nice work. Thanks for sharing.

@ahhlifesgood1956 2 жыл бұрын

Thank you for watching EV and the good word

@cowboymcq6711 2 жыл бұрын

Great video I’ve been running solar and power just a hand full of items in my house so far just by using extension cords LOL I can’t wait to add a breaker panel and do the same set up as you Thanks for the great overview ✌🏼👍🏼 Very nice and neat setup

@jimginnyohio 2 жыл бұрын

Looks good! Excellent wiring description? Thanks for sharing! That racking system looks familiar! ;-)

@ahhlifesgood1956 2 жыл бұрын

Cheers Jim, racking system is superb in functionality

@jimmybob7364 2 жыл бұрын

Green is your static ground or earth ground or case ground. It’s so you don’t get shocked if your power messes up and hits the case of an electrical device or something. White is common or negative in DC terms. Def want to separate the two to separate your power circuit from a safety circuit. Since you already case grounded the right bus, connect all greens to it and tie your left bus to the main common and then connect all your commons to it. Wire the case of your panel to a piece of rebar that you drive into the ground outside about three feet or so. Some people wire the case to the sub pipe that they bury their cables in the ground if that pipe is steel.

@oakshillelagh4339 2 жыл бұрын

Very Nice job !

@ahhlifesgood1956 2 жыл бұрын

Thank you! Cheers!

@martinc6273 2 жыл бұрын

Great video William! Just subscribed to your channel. I installed a solar system a couple of months ago. I wish your videos were available prior. install string inverters

@martinc6273 2 жыл бұрын

Wished I could have installed string inverters, but have shading issues to contend with. Definitely save money with your solar design.

@ahhlifesgood1956 2 жыл бұрын

- Thanks for commenting Martin and sharing your words

@trace9130 9 ай бұрын

On the subject of the bolding screw in the solar panel. When you inverters go into bypass (not enough solar and batteries drained) the inverties will connect the solar panel directly to the panel, thus bypassing the inverter. When this happens you will have two bolding points. This is considered a big no-no. You will need to check your inverter but a lot of inverters will bold themselves when it is necessary. I would suggest putting your inverters into bypass and checking ground for current.

@michaelkunz9521 2 жыл бұрын

Thanks again for all your hard work and sharing what you've learned. If you ever put together a wiring diagram let me know. I am working on a 23KW solar system and I have the 48V version of your batteries with the LCD screen. I have 5 Growatt 5000 ( signature solar US models ) 1 Growatt Auto Shut off and 2 Growatt Auto transformers. I have the invertors mounted on the wall, all of my panels are up and I now have to wire it all together. I purchased the

@ahhlifesgood1956 2 жыл бұрын

- Sounds like a great system your planning to install. I used various schematics that I downloaded from the internet, and asking for advice when unsure. Let me know how it goes with your system, it should crank out allot of energy! I'm getting a max of 32kwh daily from only a 6000 watt system.

@MrEgigas 2 жыл бұрын

If you want more volts to power the inverters up at lowers levels, dont parallel. Only reason to parallel is if your amps are too high for your inverters max input DC amps. When computing max amps dont add the panels in series only. There will always be loss and your panels, operating at max capacity is a pipe dream. Those ratings are just in a lab with perfect conditions. Kinda like fuel mileage claims. If you coast downhill with the wind at your back you might get the advertised mileage. Bottom line is more inverter conversion to AC earlier and later in the day, is a good thing I would say.

@jsmalone1 2 жыл бұрын

Also great video. I'm still experimenting. Question, what are you able to see or do with the Bluetooth modules in the Growatt inverters??

@ahhlifesgood1956 2 жыл бұрын

Yes I was able to setup the Bluetooth communications for internet monitoring in the end. The trick was to setup a 2.4 ghz channel on your wifii router, I couldn't get mine to work under 5 ghz.

@davefarnsworth6444 2 жыл бұрын

I would add a ground wire from the top battery to case ground of your battery panel. This makes a loop in case one ground wire gets loose or becomes disconnected for any reason. The added wire would back feed the battres. Added insurance of the ground. The ground of your subpanel only goes to one ground rod? In our area we require 2 ground rods 6 foot apart. However, your area may only require one.

@ahhlifesgood1956 2 жыл бұрын

- Great advice Dave thank you, I do have a ground wire from the battery case, to the batteries and onto the separate grounding rod coming from the sub panel that services the PV system, that sub panel is now "not" bonded with the screw. One ground I was thinking of adding would be a ground wire from the case of the inverters to the same grounding rod, although not sure as I don't' want to create an unnecessary loop seeing as the inverters already have a ground running from "AC In and Out", one from the Main panel and a second from the Sub panel... "Yes" I have a separate grounding rod that services my sub panel and did install it 100 foot apart which I now wish was a bit closer to the panel itself. Thanks for the comments

@fattyfat-fat6639 2 жыл бұрын

2 things: 1- you only need to bond the main on-grid service panel. All sub panels are not bonded. That allows a fault to find itz way back to the main power source instead of electrifying your other metal and appliance cases. 2- i would like to know what you would do differently if you did this again. -🐴

@ahhlifesgood1956 2 жыл бұрын

- Thank you for the comments F.F.F... The only thing I would've done different is invested in exactly twice as much equipment as I had originally purchased prior to the inflation. I would've also increased the size of my inverters to a minimum of 5000+ Watt capacity over the 3000 watts I currently have. As well I need to desig a system to remove snow from the panels automatically in winter. Other than that no complaints, the system is working flawlessy to date.

@frederickstirnkorb3094 2 жыл бұрын

Growatt 240V inverter with a center tap transformer would be much simpler to set up. Each of those inverters is a 5KW which would give you 10KW of power with no imbalance problems on the legs.

@ahhlifesgood1956 2 жыл бұрын

I agree with you 100%, this setup was designed for use the greenhouse I plan to build. One thing that is nice with these inverters and Growatts in general is there scalability as well, the systems can go as you grow for the folks on a lower budget.

@josephgriffin1219 2 жыл бұрын

Really a big help... just getting started and was wondering how to get power back to existing circuits in house without running seperate and new wiring and outlets. Can you suggest any good books that helped you??? Thank you

@ahhlifesgood1956 2 жыл бұрын

Hi Joseph and thank you for writing. I'm not a licensed electrician but the research I've done would suggest that you would probably need to install a sub panel that services your inverters and switch over the existing circuits to this panel. The other alternative would be to go FULL solar and not connect to the existing grid, essentially severing the connection that would only allow you to use Inverter Power to the main panel or Grid power, NEVER at the same time. Maybe some of the more experienced electricians in these comments will way in more specifically. Cheers

@bosvark4x4adventures Жыл бұрын

What grounding system does your utility use?

@Townsonbck Жыл бұрын

Great video, I don't understand how you got 240 off of 2 individual inverters. I always thought your two 120 legs had to be 180 out of each other. Beautiful setup. 👍

@easylooker 2 жыл бұрын

Not understanding the wiring of the breakers from the growatt. You have 3 spots on that inverter.. Ground/Neutral/ Hot. On North American grid you have to use the Neutral as another hot. So the wiring from the grid input into the inverter would be Ground/ L1/L2. That gives you 2 legs of current to make 240V. The output is the same from the inverter right? You have a Ground/L1/L2 coming out of the inverter? Or is it just 1 leg of 240V? Where their is a G/N/Hot? Seems you would need to get a voltmeter out and test the output of those legs in the output of the inverter. Also noticed that you didn't have a auto transformer. Is that something your planning on getting in the future?

@kencabanaw4165 2 жыл бұрын

I would go with some flavor of wire duct or simple junction box instead of plumbing fittings. by wire duct I mean a skinny metal box with a hinged lid. you drill holes in it or knock out holes the size of the conduit youre running. that way you dont have to fish wire through a plumbing tee. Electricians will probably question the use of pvc in an inappropriate application. mine did. adios the condensate drain at the bottom of the pv inlet conduit and prevent water/humid air intrusion into the pipe to begin with. which means seal each end of the pv conduit around the wires. I would use thumb gum or whatever they call that putty electricians use. you will likely upgrade the panel prior to the UV damaging that short spot on the cable to the point of failure.

@ahhlifesgood1956 2 жыл бұрын

- Thanks Ken for the comments and ideas, fully agree with your advise and proper wiring boxes. The PVC I'm using is temporary and in place as an added layer of protection for the moment. Drains or condensation holes/valves in conduit, boxes and proper tubing where water or condensation could accumulate is good advise and rarely discussed.

@thepressedpig5397 2 жыл бұрын

I’m trying to figure this solar out! Lol If I understand correctly for each inverter you have you have to have one 40 amp breaker? Thank you ! Great video!

@ahhlifesgood1956 2 жыл бұрын

For each Inverter you will need to have a seperate breaker, and the breaker size will depend on what the Manual recommends.

@kostaskostopoulos2913 Жыл бұрын

Hi, I would like to ask you, in case you have inductive loads, do the inverters run smothly these loads?

@ahhlifesgood1956 Жыл бұрын

- The inverters run extremely smooth under normal load capacities, I don't notice any dimmining or flickering of lights or loads ever, unless using LED lights with variable watt light switches set at anything below 100%. One of the nice features of these particular growatts is the automatic shutoff feature when inverter loads are pushed to 100% capacity (3000 watts each), the inverter will shut down to protect the circuit, you can then either program for it to reinitialize in a set amount of time automatically or you can set it to wait for your input before reinitialization. A word of advice for those planning on using them for continuous larger loads I would suggest you go with a minimum of 2 - 5000 watt inverters for normal American household electrical consumption.

@hayabusa3558 2 жыл бұрын

Hi ! How do you get the permit for solar ?

@Moneyhan1 Жыл бұрын

How did you deal with the floating neutral issue when powering in inverter mode? That doesn’t seem to be an issue when running in utility mode since the house main panel is bonded so a floating neutral is avoided in that mode.

@ahhlifesgood1956 Жыл бұрын

Each of the inverters has a direct ground to earth. Neutral from Inverter (AC) to independent breaker box floats, bonding screw not installed. However I do have ground wires connected to the breaker box for all circuits coming from breaker box, direct ground to earth.

@todamnbad 2 жыл бұрын

Do your breakers break both negative and positive or just your positive on the PV input?

@ahhlifesgood1956 2 жыл бұрын

Hello Sir, coming from the PV Arrays they break both Negative and Positive. I can't remember the exact reasoning behind not using the sub panels main breaker input coming from the inverters, probably a breaker or input connection reasoning.

@marktheunitedstatescitezen185 2 жыл бұрын

I have a more for all you’re commenters , is it possible to use the nutritional line that does have excess electricity , can I use that to power a battery charger to charge my lithium batteries ?

@gxmario_13jf94 2 жыл бұрын

Hi one information the growatt 5000es how many watts can it support from photovoltaic panels? thank you

@ahhlifesgood1956 2 жыл бұрын

- The 5000es is a "5000" watt inverter, the inverters I'm using in this video are 3000 watts

@todamnbad 2 жыл бұрын

So not to pry but did you get that inspected? I am trying to do a very similar project but I was told that since my house has grid power that all of my components need to be UL listed, i explained that my solar would have zero chance of feeding the grid and apparently NEC code says it still needs to be UL listed

@ahhlifesgood1956 2 жыл бұрын

- Thanks for writing. When I went to the local township and asked for a permit they told me they have no procedures in place for solar! These are some of the advantages when you live in the middle of nowhere, hopefully it stays the same. FYI, I'm connected to frid, all my equipment is UL certified but I do not use net metering or choose to sell back electricity.

@honestabe7349 9 ай бұрын

Answer to your question. At the first main electrical panel you tie or bond the neutral to the ground. On all sub panels after the main panel, you Do Not bond the neutral bar to the ground bar. Neutrals only tie back to ground at the first main panel.

@TrytoCatch22 2 жыл бұрын

If you have your grid inputs into your Growatt inverters, why don't you combine the breaker box into a single box? In the video you explain that it's because you don't have a large enough solar system. But i thought the whole point of putting the grid inputs into Growatt inverters is to be able to use the inverter's bypass abilities to allow the grid to pass power through the inverter to complete the house's power needs. For example: you are maxing out you inverters 6kw capacity but need 8kw. The other 2 kw of power would pass through your inverters (from the grid) on the same wiring to provide all 8kw of power. Still learning so I could be wrong...

@ahhlifesgood1956 2 жыл бұрын

- Hi Catch, I think I miss understood your first comments sorry about that. What you had written in your second comments is exactly how the system works, "the reasoning/purpose for the AC input wires going into the Growatts are to provide extra current through the inverters and into your subpanel to handle power requirements greater than what the Growatts can cover by themselves"

@ahhlifesgood1956 2 жыл бұрын

- So the answer to your original question "why don't you combine the breaker box into a single box? " - One could use the original breaker box from your grid but you would still need to install a separate service panel coming from the grid that would allow you to have the Grid power and PV (Inverter Power) loads on at the same time.

@TrytoCatch22 2 жыл бұрын

@@ahhlifesgood1956 got it! Thanks for taking the time to answer

@jmflournoy386 10 ай бұрын

Double check that bonding screw in sub usually sub neg and ground must be separate to main box

@bigcheese4454 2 жыл бұрын

In your video , i think you say you have 3 strings of 4 solar panels connected in parallel . which would give you 45 voc per string. does your combiner box work in series? giving you 135 voc? and keeping your amps from the 3 strings the same? I think i bought a combiner box that runs in parallel multiplies the amps and not the volts. anyone know if combiner boxes can be parallel or series?

@ahhlifesgood1956 2 жыл бұрын

- Hello Big Cheese, Yes it works like I I beleive your referencing. I have 4 Panels connected in Parallel, each panel has max Voc of 45voc, each string has 4 panels, 3 strings in total per inverter making up 1 PV array. 1 pv array averages between 128 to 158voc during the day, a little low. I'm planning to add another string of panels to each combiner or PV array to improve voc on each inverter as the inverters I have need a minimum of 120v just to turn on.

@ahhlifesgood1956 2 жыл бұрын

The combiner boxes will work in both parallel or series configuration of panels, just be sure the equipment sustains the amount of current your planning to combine. This might be obvious but I figured I'll mention it, connecting the panels in parallel maintains the volts the same at the combiner box while increasing the amps, if you connect the panels in series configuration the volts increase and the amps stay the same at the combiner box. If for some reason you are unsure please consult an electrician before connecting anything.

@EduardoRodriguezRocks 2 жыл бұрын

is the only load the heater? so it is not connected to the reset of the house

@ahhlifesgood1956 Жыл бұрын

- I have many loads connected to the system, the electric heater I use when needed to burn up the additional electricty being produced.

@shawstor4576 2 жыл бұрын

using 24v panels and using 24v inverter and using 24v batteries bank, is it safe to wire them in series or is it safe to wire in parallel

@ahhlifesgood1956 2 жыл бұрын

- Hello Shaw, NOT safe to connect your batteries in series as you'll increase the voltage of the batteries higher than that of your system. Only connect your current battery configuration on Parallel to increase Amperage output.

@ahhlifesgood1956 2 жыл бұрын

This is the same when connecting your panels, parallel connection only.

@JungleJargon 2 жыл бұрын

I think the power from your inverters should be connected up top where the main breakers are instead of being connected to the output breakers.

@ahhlifesgood1956 2 жыл бұрын

- Thank you for the advice Jungle, very good eye for observation and I couldn't agree more.

@JungleJargon 2 жыл бұрын

@@ahhlifesgood1956 I'm a retired mechanic that just started working for an electrician. *: )*

@codraven57 2 жыл бұрын

I was thinking and wondering the same.

@gardenwonders3308 2 жыл бұрын

If I were to buy a 240 V inverter, could I connect it to a subpanel double pole breaker without going through a transformer to 120 V wires?

@ahhlifesgood1956 2 жыл бұрын

- Hello Garden Wonders, your screen name says it all. Whether gardening in the ground or gardening our life, we're almost always gardening something with our energies, what is it that we're gardening is the question? You can buy a 240v inverter that has a built in transformer that'll give you a 120v line coming from it. It's also possible to run without batteries, depending on the inverter purchased.

@genetownsend8847 2 жыл бұрын

Let me get this straight- You have 2 separate inverters supplying 120vac each correct? If so how do you know you’ll get 240vac from 2 separate sources? If they are separate sources they have no common neutral that you have in your typical residential service. The voltage potential between these 2 (inverter) sources could be anywhere from 240v to 0v.

@ahhlifesgood1956 2 жыл бұрын

- Neutral is common between both inverters at the panel. The inverters are regulating loads, if this were a long term solution for my house I would've added a transformer to balance those loads but seeing as the system is designed to go into a green house that I haven't yet built its currently being tested and doing great I must say.

@pmotorsports8276 2 жыл бұрын

Grow lights. Every one I know that is serious about solar are growing

@jsmalone1 2 жыл бұрын

I'm confused, I have this exact inverter. While the AC input & output are labeled L1-N- Gnd, these inverters, mine anyway, is 240 volt input and output. My N terminal is 120 volts. I have an Auto transformer to create a neutral. Very confused??

@ahhlifesgood1956 2 жыл бұрын

Sounds to me like you have the 5000 version inverter? The ones on my video are on 3000 series, a little different setup being that each one is capable of 120v as opppsed to the 5000 where you'll need a transformer.

@worthmor5146 2 жыл бұрын

I always thought sub panels don't get bonded.

@ahhlifesgood1956 2 жыл бұрын

- That's what everyone says in most cases the Sub panel does not get bonded. It's nice to here the continued support for myself and everyone in question, thanks for the comments. I have disconnected the bond screw on my sub panel.

@jersey3990 Жыл бұрын

Your sub panel shouldn't be bonded.. only the main

@GoatZilla 2 жыл бұрын

Is there some required clearance around those growatt units?

@ahhlifesgood1956 2 жыл бұрын

- Hello GoatZilla, yes there is a specified for each inverter to have at least 50 cm distance from any other obstructions on Top and Bottom and 25 cm on any obstructions Left and Right. I would imagine this is for heat dissipation through ventilation. I've actually monitored the heat generated from these inverters at peak performance times and they do not seem to get very warm, not saying they couldn't but mine have not.

@briankarnowski5614 2 жыл бұрын

If the grid goes down, what stops electricity to backflow, potentially endangering linecrews working on the grid?

@ahhlifesgood1956 2 жыл бұрын

My inverters do not provide current to the grid service electric panel. The only connection I jave to grid is to supply electric and balance loads if needed from low batteries or faults the solar system (none to date). In this setup electricity from my solar cannot flow back to the grid.

@blainecelestaine4543 2 жыл бұрын

AC current is not pos and neg like DC. AC is hot/power common/neutral and ground

@ahhlifesgood1956 2 жыл бұрын

Thank you Blaine for the correct terminology

@blainecelestaine4543 2 жыл бұрын

@@ahhlifesgood1956 thank you for sharing a detailed view of your system. In learning from u

@ahhlifesgood1956 2 жыл бұрын

@@blainecelestaine4543 - That's motivation Blaine thanks, happy DIY'ing

@quattrohead 2 жыл бұрын

This video for entertainment purposes only. Yikes.

@ahhlifesgood1956 2 жыл бұрын

- Thank you for your comments - The most important perspective here is that viewers don't act upon only what they see but also upon what the learn and study. I'm exposing my system so that others may have a general overview of what I have done, not replicate myself, but better learn, better your system and educate us all in the process.

@bigblockcutlass123 2 жыл бұрын

some of the professionals can do worse work the do it your self.

@ahhlifesgood1956 2 жыл бұрын

lol... thanks, nice to know I'm partially on target!

@marktan3668 2 жыл бұрын

Not very clear objective. Sounds like you have local utility in the snow country. The racks look like medium size system. Payback in 20 years? Or it’s just an expensive toy.

@ahhlifesgood1956 2 жыл бұрын

On top of it all, this location is probably the cheapest I've paid anywhere in the world for electricity! Payback will truely be if there is ever an issue with grid, and the planned large, atrium greenhouse with a year round controlled climate to mimic the tropical rain forest while looking out at the snow. Planning to heat the green house with passive geothermal and solar combined, hence the "1st" addition of my solar system. In this area its not cost effective to go solar given current electric pricing, but then again the unpredictability of where energy markets are headed, one never knows.

@marktan3668 2 жыл бұрын

@@ahhlifesgood1956 over a thousand dollars, it’s hard to count payoff. I run 3 panels and promise myself not to be addicted. No doubt, for anything, if used frequent enough for long time, is cheap. My objective is to run bright/creative lighting in winter.,yard waterfall/fengshui. In summer, 100f, solar compliments my air conditioning which is well below average, anyways. On philosophy side, I started to track sunrise hours. Taking hourly numbers, pretty soon sun goes down. Suddenly feel life/time passes so fast. Make hay while sun shines.

@ahhlifesgood1956 2 жыл бұрын

@@marktan3668 - Interesting how the solar process involves you in other aspects of life, not sure of your location but we're 46 degrees north and the angle of the sun difference here is extreme, from 60 degrees above the horizon in summer to 12 degrees at winter solstice. Even though the trees are cleared for the panels, when the sun is at 12 degrees it still has to go through the tree tops prior to panel arrival. That said, I can still generate 90ah today in full sun with 24 panels. For the me the process is new and very enjoyable, what happens next who knows, that's the beauty of life!

@marktan3668 2 жыл бұрын

@@ahhlifesgood1956 I am in Las Vegas, more than 10 months of sun. Summer is scorching, not affecting current flow as some claim. Tilt angle matters. But it’s quite hard to adjust too frequently. Some said ~10% increase . Payback can be complicated to calculate. For me, my frugal wife appears happy with it, that’s important to me. But in reality, only 3 panels can solve my lighting half of 3500’, 10Kbtu aircon, some fengshui… But, I should not get addicted to it. When we go abroad, I need to automate it or convince my son to maintain it.