Home Solar, Batteries & Energy
Solar panels and inverters, home batteries and portable power stations, heat pumps, dynamic tariffs, export payments and DIY systems, alongside energy markets and climate policy.
About this list
English coverage of home energy equipment, DIY systems, markets and climate policy. Check the country and product context of every source; manufacturer channels provide commercial viewpoints.
Stories from DIY Solar Forum. Show all stories · All sources
Latest stories
Newest first
Updates are delayed. Showing the last checked articles.
Where does the price of fuel wind up?
Please avoid making this thread excessively political. It will go there no matter what, just focus on fuel (gas or diesel) and where it will wind up over the next year. Gas and diesel prices in my area are now painfully high. Oil pumping ability of producing nations is adequate to bring enough to market to keep gas prices between $2.50 and $3.00 per gallon. Getting oil to market has been disrupted by the Iran war specifically because the Strait of Hormuz is blocked. A terrorist attack... Read more
EG4 warranty and parts
Absolutely do not buy EG4 equipment. They will not stand behind their warranty and they have no parts to fix any broken units. If you're inverter goes out you have to buy a new one literally even if they won't stand behind their warranty they have no parts available. They don't offer any service work for any of their equipment. You are just done or go buy more. If there is one scratch any kinda of marking on the box its out of warranty. If it's in perfect shape they can still come up with 10... Read more
Anybody else think it's crazy to have your system on the Internet?
Israel has targeted solar equipment already over the Internet and various other IoT devices get hacked on the regular, now we see a bunch of spoiled food from Internet connected freezers in France. Sure, who would want to target me is a rejoinder, but why risk it? When your place could catch fire? And with AI making it more easy to do, how long before somebody makes your house evaporate for the lulz like they do with SWATing? Or a government or some other group targets everybody... Read more
Introducing ChargedReviews.com: Verified Solar & Battery Reviews That Can't Be Deleted
ChargedReviews.com: a public database of verified product reviews, certificates and datasheets for the solar and battery industry. Every claim gets checked against public records, and anything that does not add up gets documented for everyone to see. In short, Charged Reviews gives you: Verified owner reviews that manufacturers cannot delete, with a verified badge from a private receipt and serial label photo Reviews for products, distributors, manufacturers and... Read more
The Future of AI + Solar
I know I have been bashing on AI for months, but I am just starting to realize how capable it now is. I am using it for everything. I do not think most individuals talking to a chat model understand the utility that a powerful LLM actually has. Look beyond these "AI Summaries" and low quality youtube thumbnails and try out opus 5.5 and give it a really difficult task. Try it for a few days and really push it to the limit. Once you really see how capable it is, it almost brings about a... Read more
Boosting signal between Flexboss/Gridboss comms ports
Greetings: TL/DR: Want to fix comms failure between FlexBoss/Gridboss pair that are 270ft apart. MODBUS/RS485 signal booster being considered - recommendations? Details: Our off-grid community recently (Oct) installed a FlexBoss/Gridboss combination that are separated by about 275ft (buried cable length). The original installation was working but after replacing (under warrantee) a miss-behaving Flexboss we have a persistant "W030: Grid Boss CAN Loss" error. Edit... Read more
How do I replace LA battery with LFP in 12v system?
I've decided to replace my current LA battery system with a single Vatrer 300Ah LFP battery. I did not build this system, and I have never done this before, so I am seeking advice on how to make this switch relatively quickly and safely. Photos below. More info on this system at this thread. Also, we don't have cell service here so if I need to look up something or troubleshoot while the power is off during the switch its a 10-min drive down the road to reach cell service, and... Read more
Thinking about solar? Don't start with solar. What I tell friends and family
Like everyone here, I love solar, but when friends ask if they should put it on their house, my first answer is usually “probably not.” If they keep asking, I move on to some version of the below. (side note: I'm putting this here because I just got tagged on FB again) Solar doesn't magically create savings—it mostly moves money you would have paid the utility into equipment, financing, installation and somebody else's profit. And unless you're DIY'ing it, that movement often isn't in your... Read more
Help with Humsienk battery SoC issue - SoC Drifting??
Is controlling off BMS reported SoC a dumb idea? I am running an Humsienk 314 Ah 48V LFP battery with an EG4 6000XP as an MPPT charger. EG4 and battery talk via CAN, and the SoC and voltage match between the displays. EG4 is running in SoC control mode. Started out great. Ran for a month, charging all day, then discharging all night at ~750W until it hit 20% (reported) SoC. I shut the system down for a week for some upgrades, left the system at 100% SoC for a few days. Now the system... Read more
New high efficiency refrig needs to be powered
Greetings all, Newbie here, well sort of. Been playing with small PV system for a few years. Lots to learn. Here is the deal, got a high efficiency frig for my summer cottage. I'm trying to figure out new battery needs. What I have: 2 335W panels outputting 48V into my Sky Blue 50a charge controller output is 12V two Renogy AGM 12 V batteries Solar generation is only about 4 hours/day using 2000W pure sin wave inverter I want to increase my battery capacity... Read more
EG4 is JUNK!
At least their chargeverter and charge controllers are junk! Not to mention their customer support is an absolute joke! I have a chargeverter that should be under warranty (1.5 years old) and is acting up. After waiting a week for a reply to an email I called…. That turned into a 45 minute waste of time! Basically all I found out was they do not recommend having the Chargeverter connect to the battery bank while the inverter is on… wait… what??? What the hell is the point then!!! The only... Read more
How does this setup sound to you?
Good afternoon all! Maybe I should post on the beginners thread but I was hoping of getting inputs from the more experienced guys I'm planning an off-grid solar system for a rural property in Portugal and would really appreciate your opinion before I start ordering everything. The system I'm currently looking at is 8x JA Solar 635 watt panels, 1x Victron SmartSolar MPPT 250/100 VE.Can 1x Victron MultiPlus II GX 48 V 6.5 kVA, 1x ECO-WORTHY PowerMega 48 V 314 Ah LiFePO₄ battery, 1x... Read more
What was your most interesting recent non solar project?
Wasn't sure where to place this. We all have a strong interest in solar and countless threads are written on the topic. I was curious what other interests and projects others have worked on that they found interesting. Recently I found myself learning the details of a modern hot water heater. Two days I could barely explain what a thermocouple was. Since then, with the failure of our hot water heater I was given a choice. Try to find a repair person I could afford on a holiday or learn as... Read more
Victron is Over-priced Eurotrash. Why would anybody buy Victron over an AiO?
EDIT: This thread has become a Victron bro-fest. Anything Victron related is on-topic. Given that I'm also horrible about staying on-topic, even that rule is flexible... For those familiar with my post-whoring ways, this subject line is likely quite shocking. Just trying to make a point... Seemed a good lead into the question. The answer? Because Victron is worth it. It's a small company run by people who give a shit and care about their product, its performance, features and the... Read more
Victron 200Ah Battery Meltdown Failure
In service running great for five years on on a boat. External regulation 200Ah Victron battery and system. User had a warning on victron app that one cell hit 3.95V. Then: "recharged to 100% then went to use microwave and it shut down the bank after about 20 sec so I checked the batteries and the photos show what happened so I removed it". Meltdown: These use sinpoly winston thundersky's. Some of the best cells out there for slow... Read more
Don't connect Victron MPPTs in parallel
I thought I was clever, I made a combiner with 6 strings of panels down into the mech room. My idea was that any/all of the strings would be connected to 2 250/100 MPPTs. Each string of panels is fused... but the combination of panels was not fused to each MPPT. If you read the manual in the fine print it tells you that the MPPT can accept upto 70 amps. Well mister, 6 strings of panels can make more than 70amps. Aparently on of the MPPTs did a sweep and it caused the other to think... Read more
Battery cable & fuse question -> Epoch V2-T 12v 460 ah
I'm in the planning stage for building a new DIY solar generator. I'm ditching my old one with the four BB 100 ah batteries and decided to re-engineer based on what I learned the first time around. I'll be reusing the four 100 watt Renogy panels from the first build. Based on the max current possible from this battery I think I should be using 4/0 cable, and a A3T T2 400 amp fuse (and holder) off the positive terminal. As I understand it, that protects the cable and the battery's internal... Read more
Garden solar vs. bananas and rabbits
I never bothered to show and tell my 5+ year old garden solar project. Until now… Punchline: I think rabbits hate (and ate part of) my DIY garden solar lighting system. Background: Not long after I joined the forum I built a modest garden lighting system. It started as a single 50W panel, a Renogy PWM controller, a 9Ah lead acid battery and a single LED uplight for a garden feature. Over time it became 300W of panels, a Victron MPPT, a 20Ah LFP... Read more
Battleborn Batteries (Dragonfly Energy) is Suing Will Prowse
Yep, just got a comment on my video saying this, and found the official dragonfly energy holdings page here: Will Prowse Sued by Dragonfly Energy Over Alleged False and Misleading Claims About Battle Born Batteries® Dragonfly Energy is suing DIY influencer Will Prowse for alleged false and misleading claims about Battle Born Batteries. Learn why the company filed a trade libel complaint.
SOLAR PANELS, INVERTERS,BATTERIES, ISOLATION TRANSFORMERS, ETC
I am working on bringing a solar system to our property that will use the grid as a back up to our system without giving any electricity back to the grid. Our intention is to use the grid to top off our batteries should the panels not produce enough electricity. We want to bring our property off grid with 7 days of run time (battery backup) should the world go dark for no good reason. Our peak use is 3,000 kWh per month. The system will be in a climate controlled server room... Read more
My PV solar hot water heating build
So as some context I have hot water evacuate tube solar that heats shop and preheats hot water. I probably wouldn't do it again, or maybe, if it was a very simple sys. PV gives lots of options,,, Along time ago I had thought multiple elements with contactors,voltage and temperature sensing.... Not that terrible long ago I realized how hard it is to switch DC at high voltages... So have seen stuff like this posted and was interested for multiple reasons. @efficientPV efficientPV said: If you have... Click to expand... Read more
Power station purchase advice
Hi All, I'm based in Ecuador, so pricing, availability and warranty coverages aren't amazing. I'm looking to initially get a power station. I was looking at the Cafini sanci SC-TY 2622 power station. Spec sheet here. It's 1792WH, 2000Wmax, and comes with a charging block of 29.2V and 10A. The pro is that it's good capacity and great pricing. Over here, the branded ones easily run more than double the price for this capacity. The downside is that it's not a brand and i'm thus... Read more
Plug in solar brainstorming
I am waiting for Plug-in Solar to be legalized in California, and then I am thinking about taking advantage of the new law. I have been doing some brain storming, and here is what I am thinking. The new law allows the production of 1200W of solar power. As far as I understand it, it does not limit the size of your solar array. Stage 1 would be to just purchase something like the EcoFlow Stream Ultra with a 2KwH built in battery. This system can accept up to 2000W of solar, and... Read more
Multiple jk bms battery in parallel
Hey all I have 2 battery 16kwh with jk bms. The battteries are connected with copper busbar and then to the inverter. The + and - are not having the same lengt but that should not be nessecarry because they are diagonally wired. The top battery is always faster discharged or charged. They have the same cells, same hardware and same settings. What could be the problem here ? Please help, I can not find the problem.
Email Client
I was absolutely tired of webmail for my verizon and gmail. They would slip ads in everywhere they could despite adblockers. I have thunderbird, but meeeeeeeh, it's slow and only on one machine. But I had to have it because i had my domain email on that and didn't have a web ui set up for it. I was going to setup round cube for it, but round cube sucks, and only supports one account. So I decided I was going to roll my own. I made peep. There's 2 different versions, peep desktop and peep... Read more
Help with SunPower Lease payoff
Any luck negotiating a SunStrong lease payoff down? Hi all — trying to help my grandfather out. He signed a SunPower lease back in 2013 for a 10kW system (didn't really know what he was signing, but that's water under the bridge). He's since moved into a retirement home and we're trying to sell his house, but the lease is holding up the sale. There's about 7 years left on the lease. We got the payoff quote from SunStrong: roughly $42,000 ($39k plus tax). The system is 13 years old with... Read more
Grandtech 16.08 kw rolling battery
Aloha everyone, Been watching Will for years. Just put together a cabin system with a srne 5000w with a grandtech battery. so far i love it!! I cannot find much on these batteries. I got it for 2700 on the big island!! Also, when running mostly solar and supplementing with generator power if needed, should i set it to mains or pv priority? I blasted it with the generator to put that initial 100% on the batts and it responded great. Any information on this battery would be much appreciated... Read more
Wildfire preparedness
feel like this is an interesting community to ask. Does anyone here stock their house or otherwise with stuff specifically for wildfires (or specific to other natural disasters)? Had two this year, both within 1/2 mile of my cabin, and I'm thinking about stocking some stuff. I think the two most important ones are radios for communication and respiratory protection. We have equipment and used it in both situations and it felt really stupid not having communication. Curious what others... Read more
SIGNATURESOLAR.COM NIGHTMARE!
BOUGHT FROM SIGNATURESOLAR.COM a 12000xp EG4 inverter, 314AH outdoor EG4 wallmount battery, an EG4 chargeverter... Price $6,400. Called to ask if they could inspect our products before we order them to not have any issues, we were told they would do a white glove inspection. The battery arrived bulging. We reported it damaged. They warranted it with a battery that has a Battery Management System issue. Our battery will not charge and we have been off grid without power from August 28th to... Read more
DC House golf cart battery
Before the cold I charged up my cart battery to 100%, it was sitting at 0% despite having around 60% the last time I left it a few days prior. Today I went out and fired it up, it's 35F out, it started around 90% and after about 15 minutes it was at 0%. I threw it on the charger and it's at 2% now and charging. It still ran fine despite the display showing 0%. It ran fine all summer. I'm really lacking confidence in cold weather for the LFP's. I'm wondering if it had something trigger... Read more
Flexboss21 battery open battery low warning issue
I have a Gridboss/Flexboss combo with 2 powerpro wall batteries and an ac coupled enphase system. Last night, around 7pm, when transitioning from solar to battery, the Flexboss threw a W027 (battery open) and W026 (battery voltage low) at 86% SOC, around 53.6V. Tried restarting multiple times, with correct boot sequence. Tested the battery voltage at the terminals and 53.3V across both pos and neg. Tested for a short with battery cables removed and battery breaker on at the inverter, 0L on... Read more
Best charging voltage for a 12v deep cycle battery
My little skiff has one battery. I already have a little 25w panel that came with a little charge controller. It's a battery tender. The most I've ever seen checking with my Fluke VOM, voltage wise, is 12.4v. All this battery is for is to run a trolling motor (that I rarely ever use), my nav lights and my Garmin mapping sounder. The sounder and the voltage are my main issue. If I go out with the battery at 12.4v, the Garmin will start winking out below 11v. Or about 2 hours. A way to leave... Read more
3 Phase Inverter & Heat pump issues
Hi All, This my first post! I’ve tried searching but I couldn’t find a relevant topic. I hope this is the correct place for this thread. Our house has a 3 phase power supply. I’ve also had a PV system installed recently with 9.35 kW PV panels, 25.6 kW HV battery combined with Deye SUN-10K-SG01HP3-EU-AM2 inverter. The incoming grid is passing through a CHNT smart meter and the house and inverter are connected in parallel after the smart meter which is connected to the inverter via RS485... Read more
Hello from West Java, and a question about rain
Hi all, Wahyu here, from Cibinong, a town just south of Jakarta in Indonesia. I've been lurking for a couple of months while I plan a small grid-tie system for our house, maybe 3 kW on the roof. When I'm not reading about inverters I'm usually at the Pakansari stadium down the road watching Garudayaksa FC (https://garudayaksa-fc.id/), which is how I learned to hate afternoon rain even more than I already did. That's actually my question. In the wet season we get heavy rain almost every... Read more
Looking for 4kw or larger grid tie inverter with 2 or more MPPT inputs for AC-coupling to EG4 18KPV UL-1741SA
We have an EG18KPV hybrid inverter, which has 3 MPPT inputs. We have 3 different arrays, connected to one of these inputs each. One of these arrays is an older large array with 39 230W panels arranged into 3 strings of 13 panels each, these 3 strings then put in parallel into PV1 on the 18KPV (rated for up to 25A). Due to shading issues at the ends of the days, I want to separate these strings into 3 different MPPT inputs by adding a smaller (4kw or larger) grid tie inverter that would... Read more
When you are rarely in town
On Tuesday I was in town for my monthly shopping trip and I had a morning appointment to get my truck aligned. While waiting I wondered down and into a Home Depot as a means of wasting some time. I usually buy stuff online and that being finding a specific thing, so I don't see everyday items and their prices. Looking about as I aisle cruised the prices for just standard stuff it was a real shock. Of course the armed guards at the doors checking everyone as they came out with strip... Read more
Battery enclosures, anybody using one?
I saw this on amazon, if it came with a bms, id jump on it... Amazon.com: JKBMS JKLR015D 16S 51.2V LiFePO4 DIY Battery Box Kit, 280-320Ah | Empty Battery Enclosure, 4 Leveling Casters, Fits 280/304/314/320Ah Cells, Galvanized Steel, No BMS, LCD or Cells : Electronics Amazon.com: JKBMS JKLR015D 16S 51.2V LiFePO4 DIY Battery Box Kit, 280-320Ah | Empty Battery Enclosure, 4 Leveling Casters, Fits 280/304/314/320Ah Cells, Galvanized Steel, No BMS, LCD or Cells : Electronics a.co There was another one a couple hundred more.
Stacking Eco Worthy Rack Batteries
Trying to determine if it is ok to stack three 48V 100Ah Eco Worthy rack batteries on top of each other. These units weigh 103lbs each and that would be a over 200lbs landing on the bottom unit. I have looked thru the manual but see no mention to the max allowed to stack without using a rack. I would prefer to set this new system with the batts flat on top of each other and the book shows the preferred placement for these batteries as flat also. My second choice will be for them on their... Read more
You have reached the end of this list.
Showing 38 of 38 articles
Know a source we’re missing? Tell us about it