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Going with Offgrid Solar

Nashville Cat said:
Yes, the batteries are fully charged and the inverter is running. Does the inverter need a load to get the dc current flowing ?
I tried to turn the ac on but no-go.
Click to expand...

Do you have the inverter in power save mode (switch is up)? If so switch it down to full power mode.
 
Yes it's in full power mode.
What number do you have the "battery type" set to on the front panel ?
I set it to "0" because the Midnite Classics will be doing the charging.
The inverter has 54V at the input terminals.

1689346813791.png
 
Mine is at zero as well as I don't use the onboard charger. Did you turn the breakers on the bottom on? the 2 breakers to the right need to be on.
 
That was it !
Plus I also had the main breaker off on the elec panel.
Everything is running but it still looks like the Classics aren't pulling many amps. Is that because the battery voltage needs to drop before the amps are needed ?
 
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It's impossible to see those breakers with my batteries in front of the inverter. So glad you remembered ! LOL :ROFLMAO: 👋 (y)
 
Nashville Cat said:
That was it !
Plus I also had the main breaker off on the elec panel.
Everything is running but it still looks like the Classics aren't pulling many amps. Is that because the battery voltage needs to drop before the amps are needed ?
Click to expand...

The classics don't pull any amps, they provide the amps.

What you should see is power coming in from the panels on the left of the screen, and power going out on the right side of the screen charging the batteries.
 
I turned on all 4 :
1) heat pump water heater (turned up temp to make it run)
2) House ac 3 ton
3) Garage ac 1.5 ton
4) Attic air handler

It's drawing about 30 amps total

1689348847357.jpeg

1689348947676.jpeg
 
If the batteries are fully charged, then the power goes directly to loads (what you're running), otherwise it goes to charging the batteries.
 
kmakar said:
It appears you may not have programmed them to master/slave setup. You'll need to read up on that and set it up accordingly so the master sets the slave in the right mode (follow me feature).
Click to expand...
Will do. I have the phone line plugged into master on the left classic and slave on the right.
 
I turned on the "Follow me" in each classic. I enabled the arc fault and turned on the Whizbang Jr.
I think I'm good.
Thanks so much as always :)
 
I was wondering if the "AC Input" of up to 60 amps would actually work.
Early this morning the batteries were at 20% and it was raining and the batteries were still not being charged.
It's still raining and the backup grid current finally kicked in; they are charging with 21 amps right now. (y)
 
Nashville Cat said:
I was wondering if the "AC Input" of up to 60 amps would actually work.
Early this morning the batteries were at 20% and it was raining and the batteries were still not being charged.
It's still raining and the backup grid current finally kicked in; they are charging with 21 amps right now. (y)
Click to expand...

Word of caution. The LiFePO4 batteries are safe with an 80% DOD (down to 20%), but the more you do that, the shorter their life. I never let my batteries ever get below 50% DOD (it's been down to 50% about a dozen times), but for the most part, it never get's below 80% (20% DOD). We are shooting to keep the batteries at 90% or higher, but right now it's going down to 85%, so we'll add more panels. Keeping the batteries at 90% or higher lengthens their lifespan from 7,500 cycles to over 12,000 cycles. We have 1,500 ah of batteries, and it's more than enough, but we need more panels to compensate for cloudy days. We charge on cloudy days, but not always to a full charge, and adding 12 more panels will compensate for the cloudy days insuring we charge fully everyday.
 
kmakar said:
Word of caution. The LiFePO4 batteries are safe with an 80% DOD (down to 20%), but the more you do that, the shorter their life. I never let my batteries ever get below 50% DOD (it's been down to 50% about a dozen times), but for the most part, it never get's below 80% (20% DOD). We are shooting to keep the batteries at 90% or higher, but right now it's going down to 85%, so we'll add more panels. Keeping the batteries at 90% or higher lengthens their lifespan from 7,500 cycles to over 12,000 cycles. We have 1,500 ah of batteries, and it's more than enough, but we need more panels to compensate for cloudy days. We charge on cloudy days, but not always to a full charge, and adding 12 more panels will compensate for the cloudy days insuring we charge fully everyday.
Click to expand...
I might expand the system if I have another big stock gain :)
Not sure how the winter will go, but so far it's easily keeping the ac and water heater going.
 
Nashville Cat said:
I might expand the system if I have another big stock gain :)
Not sure how the winter will go, but so far it's easily keeping the ac and water heater going.
Click to expand...

You're under utilizing it right now, but that is also dictated by the amount of reserve power in your batteries. Basically you'll find that your system will handle just about anything you throw at it.
 
Is mounting the panels on plywood safe? I mean as far as a fire hazard? I have 0 knowledge on Solar 🙂 come to think I’ve mount interior electrical panels screwed to wood wall studs 👍🙂
 
Shovelrick said:
Is mounting the panels on plywood safe? I mean as far as a fire hazard? I have 0 knowledge on Solar 🙂
Click to expand...

The panels do not pose a fire risk unless you intentionally short them out, but then they fry themselves, so nope, no fire hazard.

I suppose if there was gas or something else flammable and you arced a spark, then it'd be hazardous, but what idiot would do that anyways?
 
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