Great ramble. I follow Average Joe as well. You both have great content. Interesting info on the EG4 batteries. I had heard that the inverters (6500) had issues. I need to look into this a bit more. No sense in getting EG4 batteries to run emergency backup and a mini split if it can’t handle the surge. Thanks for the video. All the best from north Texas!
Great video and breakdown! I am wary of burying any wood - even Pressure Treated - as some last as rated and some turn to garbage quickly so it will probably be Schedule 30 pipe driven or in a sonotube for me as posts. Maybe markings or preset detents for optimal angles by month in the site's latitude could be a nice touch. WELL DONE! PS: They have 'soft start' add-ons for large surge appliances. They are not cheap but they alleviate the need for expensive overkill when it comes to capacities.
James, I very much enjoyed your presentation and I am grateful that you share your knowledge. I feel like I will use your design to do my own diy adjustable mount. Thank you, Ellis
Good Looking! I started mine out of the metal channel like yours has "as the frame;" that did not work due to warping during the welding process. So I did wood frames for the other 2 sections but now I see the wood is warping a bit. Would like to know how yours is holding out, looks like it's been a year now for you too. I like the combination of wood and steel; looks like a better plan. I coated my wood with roofing goop/paste before cementing them in the ground, have the same type of soil working very well. Great video Sir, thanks for sharing.
Batteries have been crazy but getting better both finished retail and DIY. All my builds have been with 304ah cells and JK BMS's. Even those have dropped drastically. My latest order for three sets with boxes built for the JK boards is $1800 ea. (Delivered) Hope that's the end of batteries for a long while. Total of 135kwh. That's 9 batteries if you're counting.
All I can say is that battery storage is very important. I started off with 400 AH at 48 V LIFEPO4. I was hoping this would last two days. I have 17,200 W of solar panels. I think I need to double my battery storage already. I first pull from the solar panels and with a secondary pull from from the batteries. But I do get some cloudy days in a row. I've already purchased a windmill to help offset some of the cloudy days. I am on grid. So if my batteries drop too low, I do have bypass power with trickle charging the batteries. But, I do think I need to double my battery bank to get me two more days. I think if I have four days with grid power down and solar and wind charging the batteries I could possibly last up to 7 to 10 days being conservative not longer. I do like your ground mount. I think I'm going to copy it and change a few things. My solar panels are a little bit bigger than yours at 555 W. So I think I'm gonna build the same tilting array as you did only using eight solar panels. I do live in the great white north Canada, so tilting becomes a very big plus in the winter for sun gathering and snow shedding. I was looking for a great solution, and thanks to your video, has given me some good ideas. Thanks
6 місяців тому+1
Great video. I like the simplicity. Not a lot to go wrong. I live in Maine where we get 70 mph nor easters and wonder if the tilting arms need to be reinforced around the bolt. How much wind do u get? I have access to 12 ft telephone pole that I plan on creating parallel faces for tilting arms.
I have theBlueSun 460W Half-Cell Bifacial Solar Panel (Silver) | Up to 575W with Bifacial Gain. 27 total. I was wondering if i could use reflectix as a reflective placed about a foot beneath (underside) of the panels to get the gain. Thoughts? Thanks.
Nice design James , like how you have framed this . Can you add a listing on here , for your hardware ? Showing the best system/parts for the pivot parts ? Is it best to simply have a ball bearing center pivot , or simply a washer and solid bolt thru a nylon center ? Forget what they call that ....have seen in past . Appreciate , if you can help with your parts listing . Did you get any sagging with the wood 2 X's ? What kind of fastener/ pivot did you use on your degree angle board , to adjust the season angles ? Thanks
You got off track about the tilt from the summer to winter of before you had tilt to after you had tilt. How much of a difference was there in production in the winter between the two?
Thanks for the video. Great design! I'm copying it. One question. How did you secure the unistrut to the 2 x 6's? And connections from unistrut to the panels? Thanks for your help.
Just so you know there is a minimum amount of batteries required for inverter size, with my 6,000 watt inverter minimum number of batteries is 2, i couldn't get more because of money, i eventually will add more, but i am almost certain that you have underbatteried your system.
Im stealing your design but im doing (2) tilt mounts with 9 panels (335w) on each setup. Mine will be 20'x10'. Thanks for the great idea. Ive looked through so many designs and most were just too cost prohibitive just to NOT get the tilt function. Im going to improve upon your design and add a trailer (boat) winch for taking care of the angle change then install a adjustable brace system for the 4 season. Might even get crazy and make it for all 12 months but I dont know if im going to be that energetic year after year. My inverter is a hybrid sun gold power hybrid so my sytem will run without batteries until the price comes down on batteries via the advancements that are going on in the battery egineering world. Id like to have some LI Iron Phosphate or the Crystal ones.
@@Tech4UbyJames Oh im sure it will. But with the winch it will hold the array in place while you adjust the stabilizing brace that locks it to the angle. The winches are $25 on amazon! Heads up on your hardware! You might end up having some galvanic corrosion where your steel bolts and washers meet up against the aluminum frames of the solar panels! Didnt see if you have a grounding system, you will want that! Im an electronic technician by trade so I can help with grounding, anything electronic or electrical.
Great ramble. I follow Average Joe as well. You both have great content. Interesting info on the EG4 batteries. I had heard that the inverters (6500) had issues. I need to look into this a bit more. No sense in getting EG4 batteries to run emergency backup and a mini split if it can’t handle the surge. Thanks for the video. All the best from north Texas!
Great video and breakdown! I am wary of burying any wood - even Pressure Treated - as some last as rated and some turn to garbage quickly so it will probably be Schedule 30 pipe driven or in a sonotube for me as posts. Maybe markings or preset detents for optimal angles by month in the site's latitude could be a nice touch. WELL DONE! PS: They have 'soft start' add-ons for large surge appliances. They are not cheap but they alleviate the need for expensive overkill when it comes to capacities.
James, I very much enjoyed your presentation and I am grateful that you share your knowledge. I feel like I will use your design to do my own diy adjustable mount. Thank you, Ellis
Good Looking! I started mine out of the metal channel like yours has "as the frame;" that did not work due to warping during the welding process.
So I did wood frames for the other 2 sections but now I see the wood is warping a bit.
Would like to know how yours is holding out, looks like it's been a year now for you too. I like the combination of wood and steel; looks like a better plan.
I coated my wood with roofing goop/paste before cementing them in the ground, have the same type of soil working very well.
Great video Sir, thanks for sharing.
Batteries have been crazy but getting better both finished retail and DIY. All my builds have been with 304ah cells and JK BMS's. Even those have dropped drastically. My latest order for three sets with boxes built for the JK boards is $1800 ea. (Delivered) Hope that's the end of batteries for a long while. Total of 135kwh. That's 9 batteries if you're counting.
All I can say is that battery storage is very important. I started off with 400 AH at 48 V LIFEPO4. I was hoping this would last two days. I have 17,200 W of solar panels. I think I need to double my battery storage already. I first pull from the solar panels and with a secondary pull from from the batteries. But I do get some cloudy days in a row. I've already purchased a windmill to help offset some of the cloudy days. I am on grid. So if my batteries drop too low, I do have bypass power with trickle charging the batteries. But, I do think I need to double my battery bank to get me two more days. I think if I have four days with grid power down and solar and wind charging the batteries I could possibly last up to 7 to 10 days being conservative not longer.
I do like your ground mount. I think I'm going to copy it and change a few things. My solar panels are a little bit bigger than yours at 555 W. So I think I'm gonna build the same tilting array as you did only using eight solar panels. I do live in the great white north Canada, so tilting becomes a very big plus in the winter for sun gathering and snow shedding. I was looking for a great solution, and thanks to your video, has given me some good ideas. Thanks
Great video. I like the simplicity. Not a lot to go wrong. I live in Maine where we get 70 mph nor easters and wonder if the tilting arms need to be reinforced around the bolt. How much wind do u get? I have access to 12 ft telephone pole that I plan on creating parallel faces for tilting arms.
I have theBlueSun 460W Half-Cell Bifacial Solar Panel (Silver) | Up to 575W with Bifacial Gain. 27 total. I was wondering if i could use reflectix as a reflective placed about a foot beneath (underside) of the panels to get the gain. Thoughts? Thanks.
Nice design James , like how you have framed this . Can you add a listing on here , for your hardware ? Showing the best system/parts for the pivot parts ? Is it best to simply have a ball bearing center pivot , or simply a washer and solid bolt thru a nylon center ? Forget what they call that ....have seen in past . Appreciate , if you can help with your parts listing . Did you get any sagging with the wood 2 X's ? What kind of fastener/ pivot did you use on your degree angle board , to adjust the season angles ? Thanks
Stay tuned i will have a complete build video in about 2 weeks
Sir, how did you know where to mount the unistrut?
As in how far apart?
Sorry i had comments off...
Nice build question you think you could just lag bolt into the wood vs doing unistrut to save even some more money
You could. But i like the ease of the unistrut
You got off track about the tilt from the summer to winter of before you had tilt to after you had tilt. How much of a difference was there in production in the winter between the two?
Thanks for the video. Great design! I'm copying it. One question. How did you secure the unistrut to the 2 x 6's? And connections from unistrut to the panels? Thanks for your help.
I used lag bolts.
I have been looking for the RAC panels. Where did you find them at and I like your videos
Thank you! Sorry for the late response. I got them from Santan Solar
I do believe the price on the cells have gone up a little but still affordable and YA 280ah+
Still very affordable compared to others options.... DIY is the way to go!
Are your pv panels connected in parallel or series?
Both... 3 in series and the 4 sets parallel.
@@Tech4UbyJames determining parallel / series or a combination of both is something that needs covered in a video.
Just so you know there is a minimum amount of batteries required for inverter size, with my 6,000 watt inverter minimum number of batteries is 2, i couldn't get more because of money, i eventually will add more, but i am almost certain that you have underbatteried your system.
confusing as to why batteries wouldn't run mini-split AC?
Im stealing your design but im doing (2) tilt mounts with 9 panels (335w) on each setup. Mine will be 20'x10'. Thanks for the great idea. Ive looked through so many designs and most were just too cost prohibitive just to NOT get the tilt function. Im going to improve upon your design and add a trailer (boat) winch for taking care of the angle change then install a adjustable brace system for the 4 season. Might even get crazy and make it for all 12 months but I dont know if im going to be that energetic year after year. My inverter is a hybrid sun gold power hybrid so my sytem will run without batteries until the price comes down on batteries via the advancements that are going on in the battery egineering world. Id like to have some LI Iron Phosphate or the Crystal ones.
Believe it or not you can adjust the whole array with one hand. It tilts very easy.
@@Tech4UbyJames Oh im sure it will. But with the winch it will hold the array in place while you adjust the stabilizing brace that locks it to the angle. The winches are $25 on amazon! Heads up on your hardware! You might end up having some galvanic corrosion where your steel bolts and washers meet up against the aluminum frames of the solar panels! Didnt see if you have a grounding system, you will want that! Im an electronic technician by trade so I can help with grounding, anything electronic or electrical.
Apologize best post to be rec solar panels I am from Texas. We make mistakes in talking. Lol
I am from Louisiana so i understand lol
I can tell you cut your own hair, we share the same hair style.
I dont cut it... But i do it simple lol....