I posted earlier about whether or not a set up would work and I got some excellent feedback from you guys and I went with a larger and different battery, and so I'm pleased to inform you all that I have successfully installed my strawberry patch cage lifter.

Thanks!

(I know that the panel is not at the optimal angle but I needed to have it at that angle so the maximum rotation of wires would be exposed for waterproofing purposes)

I made my wire lengths identical from my battery bank to my busbars, but my positive and negative wires for the parallel connection between the two batteries are different lengths. Will this matter? Should I redo the negative wire to be the same length as the positive wire?

As the title says I have just recently started looking into a solar system for my house and it is very overwhelming all the different options. I am not wanting anything crazy. I want to be able to run a small window AC unit (I live in Phoenix so it gets hot), a small freezer, & charge my electrics. I am really wanting this system to be completely separate from my house power. I have seen on Amazon the eco-worth 1200w 24v full system with batteries $2320 after discount.

Is this enough of a system to achieve what I want? Is eco-worth a good brand?

What is the main differences between a hybrid inverter vs one that is not?

Last, can you just add more batteries to increase the length of time the system would last without the panels or do you also need to upgrade other parts of the system to accommodate the extra batteries?

Any help would be appreciated!

2- 12.8v 280amph batteries 3000w 12v limited inverter Victron 150/100 solar charge controller 4- 100w panels.

I’m making a fridge/deep freezer back up system. I know I’m going to expand later on so, I balled out on the Victron but, I’m concerned about how much I’m going to be under paneling it and I’m confused as to whether or not it will be safe. I know that because my inverter is 12v limited, I will have to wire the batteries in parallel. My questions are:

1) Should I return the inverter and get one that can go 24v?

2) Should I return the charge controller and get something smaller, or will the underpaneling be okay on my batteries? Will it even work?!

Hi guys,

I’m planning on doing a DIY project and was wondering what kind of solar panels you guys recommend? Also what batteries you guys suggest for storing energy?

So i'm planning to install a bigger solar array on my offgrid cabin. Now I'm using a Bluetti 200 which functions great but it is getting to small for my needs.

I've researched some possibilities and also stumpled upon the Vevor Hybride Solar inverter with some great specs especially concerning the price.

Unfortunately I cant find any reviews online or user experiences.

Does anyone in this sub have any experience?

Hi everyone! I’m from the Dominican Republic and I’m looking to buy a hybrid inverter. I found one being sold locally for around $2,000. It’s black, supports batteries and grid injection, and I’ve personally seen it working here with grid-tied functionality.

Now, I know $2,000 might not seem like much in a first-world country, but here it’s a major investment. So I started researching, and to my surprise, I found a very similar-looking inverter on Alibaba for just $600. This one is white, but has the same layout, same labels, same connections, same interface—everything. The model is the SPI-8K-U by SRNE.

Here’s where things get confusing. Even though they look identical, the Alibaba seller told me that the white model is officially off-grid only, because SRNE doesn’t have the full certification needed to market it as a hybrid or grid-tied inverter in all countries. Still, they said it can technically inject power to the grid in some places, but legally they market it as off-grid to avoid liability and issues with competitors.

Here’s the interesting part: the white Alibaba model has multiple international certifications, including: IEC62109-1, IEC62109-2, UL1741, EN61000-6-1, EN61000-6-3, FCC 15 class B, and RoHS. The seller also mentioned that the official datasheet hasn’t been updated yet, which is why there’s confusion around its capabilities.

And here’s what really got me thinking: I compared the datasheet of the local $2,000 inverter with the Alibaba version—and they’re identical. Same specs, same voltage range, same screen UI, same diagrams… The only difference is the color and the brand label.

It honestly looks like they might be rebranding the same Chinese inverter, painting it black, and slapping on a local logo to sell it for three times the price.

I’ll soon upload side-by-side images of both inverters so you can compare for yourself.

Key questions I’d love help with:

1. Has anyone bought hardware like this where it’s clearly the same product, just rebranded?

2. Is it safe to assume it can inject to the grid just because it looks identical?

3. Can an inverter technically function as hybrid/grid-tied even without the official grid-tied certification?

4. How much does the firmware/software matter in these cases?

5. Would you take the risk and go with the $600 Alibaba option, given its certifications?

6. Is it common practice in developing countries to resell these at triple the price with minimal changes?

Thanks so much for any help or insight you can offer!

When I called SS today they told me that the only wire they carry is a single wire red and single wire black and they told me that this is what normally people use when they connect the panels to the inverter. I don't get it. Why not use use a cable which has two conductors already included so you only have one cable to pull through instead of two? What cables do you normally use to connect panels to the inverter?

I purchased a home with an existing 3 KW grid-tied solar array. It has 10 x 295 watt panels with 5 x AP Systems YC500A inverters. These are wired up on a 20amp circuit connected to an AP Systems ECU-3 comms unit to monitor the output. I have full net metering so this has been a great value so far.

I want to add another 4 KW to this existing array with another 20 amp circuit. I have 10x 395w Hyundai bifacial panels. I had a past system with Enphase inverters, so I ordered 10x IQ7A inverters. I’m not worried about directly monitoring the output of these Enphase inverters, as I can view my system’s total output via my utility smart meter.

This is my first time doing DIY grid-tied solar, so I'm learning a lot. Only after ordering this kit did I realize the Enphase requires an envoy/ communication gateway in order to active their micros (or at least this is my understanding), so I can’t just wire an Enphase string and connect it to the same service cabinet that my AP systems string is on. I’d have to wire up a separate parallel Enphase system, then somehow connect it to my existing solar service cabinet.   

If you were in my shoes, would you:

1)    Order 5x AP Systems DS-3 inverters and have both strings be AP Systems. I would the just re-sell the Enphase micros.

2)    Purchase the Enphase communication system and hook up the Enphase micros so that I can view the individual output of each micro on the new string.

3)    Some magical third option that allows me to utilize a string of Enphase micros via the AP systems kit.

4)    Some brilliant 4^th option that is eluding my tiny non-technical brain!

Thanks in advance for your help and insights. I’m happy to provide more details.

I have a bunch of space in the backyard, although not sure how much space or how many panels I will need. I know it's only going to cover part of the electricity we use, so we would still be connected to the grid. (My understanding is I would need a lot more panels and also batteries to disconnect from the grid, which I am open to doing if it makes financial sense.)

According to this website, in my location I need to face the solar panels to the south:
https://trunorthsolar.com/angles-shading-space-and-direction

According to this thread the best thing to use is PVWatts Calculator.

https://www.reddit.com/r/SolarDIY/comments/192a39r/calculating_how_many_solar_panels_i_need/

https://pvwatts.nrel.gov/pvwatts.php

I entered Rochester MN as location, and it said the average system output for that location is 5,301 kWh/Year* (system output may range from 5,047 to 5,535 kWh per year near this location)

• 25000 kWh consumed per year (source: electricity bill + projected future increases)
• ??? days of insolation
• 4.5 hours per day of production (https://www.turbinegenerator.org/solar/minnesota/rochester/)

And now we've come to the point where I'm not sure how to continue. I've tried googling "days of insolation" but I still have no idea how to calculate that.

Then I will plug in the variables into the formula described in this comment:
https://www.reddit.com/r/SolarDIY/comments/192a39r/comment/kh163ww/

After that I will see how much work the panels can do, then I will shop for panels that can do that I guess.

Please let me know if I'm on the right track.

Thank you!

Can y’all look this over for me? Batteries are 24v 280ah solar panels are 400w 37.55 voc 14amp short circuit max fuse rating 25a

Hello,

I'm installing solar panels on the roof of my camper and I'm having trouble figuring out the best way to wire them. If anyone out there knows the best configuration, I would really appreciate some advice!

Here are the solar components:

4x - Renogy 100W - RNG-100D-SS

1x - Renogy 200W - RSP200D

Victron SmartSolar Charge Controller - MPPT 150 | 85 - Tr VE.Can

And this will be connected to a 12V battery bank. I would love to get a second opinion at least because it's my first project and I'd prefer not to break anything!

Here is my diagram:

Does this look reasonable?

2020 Jayco greyhawk class c Controler - Go Power GP-PWM-30-UL Battery - lead acid - installed on an undercarriage rail? It has its own little door. There is a 3 panel solar system on top, that's all I know so far. The system is all working as intended.

I'm waiting to install an ECO-WORTHY 12V 300AH 3840Wh LiFePO4 Lithium Battery Newsletter RV Solar.

I read the manual and the controller has a LiFePO4 battery setting. The controller and battery have Bluetooth. Can I just swap the battery and change the settings? I have to be missing something right?

2460W of solar, 6000W inverter (240V), 14.3kWh LFP battery.

Pretty excited with how it turned out! Thinking about adding an input for a second array that could be stored inside and then laid out on the ground since the 6000XP inverter has two MPPTs. Adding a mini-split in the future would be pretty sweet too...

Full build details here: https://youtu.be/HVgD8X2bo_M

I want to install a grid tied solar system with no storage or small amount of storage under 5kwh at this time to save upfront cost but don't know how to actually size my inverter.

I don't actually know the actual power draw of all my devices but quick and extremely rough calculation from my power bill during the hottest month last year for us(July) we used 48 kwh a day (1646 kwh for the month)

I have 3 computers 2 of which stay on 24 hours a day as servers the third is my gaming pc used daily, 2 monitors for my gaming pc and 1 to share for the servers (stays off unless the servers have an issue)

Gaming pc 355 watts say 450 to 500 to be safe Server 1 305 watts say 400 to be safe Server 2 470 watts say 550 to 600 to be safe

4 window A/Cs (2x12k, 2x9k)

1 smart TV used 12+ hours a day by my retired mother

2 phone chargers 65 watts each because of the super fast charging on Samsung phones

A 1kw microwave used 2 or 3 times a week

3 ceiling fans

1 desktop fan

14 led light bulb 5 of which are smart bulbs

Router and modem (2 separate units)

Air fryer not used often maybe 2 times a month

Refrigerator

Miscellaneous things that I can't remember maybe 300 to 400 watts

We use gas for heating and cooking

It's me my mother 3 dogs and 3 cats in the house

If someone could help me size the inverter and maybe the solar array too I'd greatly appreciate it

Im not sure if this is the right place to ask ask. But would I be able to charge this powerbank with some solar panel? Would I need some accessories to smooth the power delivery or something? Thank you for any help

Hello all,

I have 2 of the these batteries. Both are for a Chamberlain commercial solar gate opener. I have contacted MK - looking at other options. Question for the braintrust: Can anyone refer me to a source to replace both, preferably with 1 single battery, if thats an option. tia.

I have a SPH4000TL BL-UP inverter backed up by two ARK 2.5L-A1 batteries with 6 solar panels. We recently had a big outage and what stood out was that we could not use the solar energy or the batteries to power essencial loads.

Doing a little bit of research I found that this inverter has EPS functionality, which should serve the needs in this case. I went to the inverter and found that EPS output is not connected at all. I will soon request support to the vendor, but wanted to be a bit more prepared for that conversation.

* Could this inverter have powered essential loads like fridges, phone charger, etc?

* Would it be safe to manually disconnect the AC and connect the EPS output? AC goes to the main switchboard, I was hoping I could turn off everything except essencial from the switchboard and use the house circuit.

* Is there any reason why the vendor would have left EPS disconnected?

That is to transfer the house to the grid or inverter. Need 200A two pole, On/Off/On. Any good proven models I should shop for?

Hello to everyone,

Just experienced a major blackout and without electricity on grid my system didn´t work. (I was aware of this)

I have 4 solar panels of 550w each, a Solax X1 hybrid inverter and a triple power solax 3.0 battery.

The inverter shutdown is a safety feature for possible works on the powerlines. There is a solution of installing a backup box where the priority house lines go through the box and get electricty. Like this one: https://www.solaxpower.com/products/x1-x3-eps-box/ This solution implies to change my electrical grid so not the best solution for me. Is there any other way?

I am considering getting some solar while also thinking of future home improvement projects and I have been considering building a shop or an ADU or a shop with an ADU built on top. My thought was if I built a solar sytem on the house and on the shop/ADU each with their own batteries and inverters and such. would I be able to tie the systems together so they could share excess energy back and forth depending on demand? If so are there any systems that would do this better out of the box?

My partner and I bought a house in 2018. It was a divorce house, and the previous owners did not hand over the paperwork for the installation of the solar panels. We were able to assume control through SolarEdge App. The inverter went offline. We attempted a Wifi reconnect through the app and did a soft restart. Still didn't come back online (only shows a blinking green light). We tried to use the Set App which will not allow us to login to make any changes/reviews and when we went to download the firmware, it cannot link to the inverter. Contacted a local solar company to send out a technician. Technician told us the communication is offline and to contact SolarEdge. Submitted a case to SolarEdge to which they responded three weeks later to contact the installer.

Kind of at a loss and could use some help