@@diySolarPowerFunWithRayyou are correct. Any fire that occurs by non compliant modifications will void your coverage. Insurance is great in theory. Most people never read and let alone comprehend the fine print in their insurance contract/binder. 99% of the time it will never be used. When a person has a “catastrophic loss” they will get to encounter the “loss prevention” team of the insurance company. Their job is to eliminate or minimize the insurance companies losses. You are smart to get any required inspections and permits for your improvements. The insurance company may still screw you. It just gives you a fighting chance. Great video thanks for your experience and sharing your story.
Looks good and love the Polaris connector idea. Few comments for code compliance 1) You need 36" clearance in front of the electric panel, need to move your battery rack, 2) All PV must be in EMT or MC conduit within the premies, can transfer to PVC when outside in your trench, 3)your DC battery cables must be in EMT/MC conduit for code compliance, not PVC.
Ray, great update. Don't forget to add a disconnect on your grid feed out of the panel. Then, you will not have to turn off power to the house in order to isolate the inverter for service or removal.
Don't like seeing exposed copper poking out the bottom of your breakers I'd rather see the insulation all the way to the entrance into the breaker. Maybe it was the camera angle but looked exposed
The inspector may comment about obstacles in front of the panel next to the inverter. By code, the area in front of the panel has to be accessible. The inspector may look the other way if the battery box is on wheels. It all depends on the AHJ, authority heaving jurisdictions. Let us know how it goes.
If your Solar Panel String is High Voltage D.C. & not micro inverters, then your Solar String wires needs to be in Metal EMT Conduit when it comes into a building.
the only thing i dont see there or close to it is a fire extinguisher, you never know when those batteries blow up or a fire start, or is that not regulation for it there by you?, or you have sprinklers above it? having a gun and not have to use it is better than not having one at all lol
i would secure you solar panels before a storm or high wind takes them. I would not put those batteries so close to the door. They don't work well in the extreme winter.
Hi I appreciate your videos. I'm in SLC, UT I'm curious if you would consider converting to EG4 12 and net metering? How would you assess the pro/cons. It seems to hinge on pv array size/cost versus battery bank/cost but would love your input.
The nice thing about the 12K or the 18K is that you can use with batteries and backfeed if you want. The 12K and 18K also have more certifications... so if you are getting a permit and your inspector gives you a hard time about the 6K, you might consider going to the 12K or the 18K. A single 6K is a little bit small for my house so the 12 K might be just perfect for me. I'm gonna try it out for sure.
I am on the grid, and only want a system sized for a refrigerator. Would it make economic sense to go with a battery only big enough for overnight, and switch from solar to grid when needed? I could preheat water with the excess solar amps. In New Mexico we have few cloudy days, and those in the summer.
Just get an Ecoflow Delta Pro to run your refer. No need to go to all the trouble of installing a system like this for just one refrigerator over night.
On the inverter there is a DC breaker for the battery cables. So just make sure you select battery cables according to that DC breaker if you want to use the protection from the DC breaker
Question about tapping after meter before 200 amp panel with Polaris or B-Tap connectors: Can 200 Amp go directly to the 6000 XP with 6 AWG? A disconnect or 60 Amp breaker recommended?
look rigged up, put those wires in conduit, drooping cables in the way of the door. I get er done sometimes, but I wouldn't post it like it's my final work.
You need lighting protection between the panels and the charge controller. The panels also need to be mounted to be in compliance . I am off grid for about 3 1/2 years, I am in the USVI and our power is terrible .
I am going to have them feed through the same interlock kit. For me, I am planning to add a wire trough underneath the inverters where I'll connect both L1 and L2 feeds with a couple polaris connectors.
I haven't done so but I imagine it would be fine....HOWEVER, if you have a lot of other loads running at the same time it probably will not and you would have to buy another unit. 2 units can be a little noisy so you would need to make sure you have a space where that wouldn't bother you. You could use a meter on your home and see how much power you are using on each leg when the air conditioner is running. If a single leg is over 3,000 Watts the unit will switch to bypass mode and run everything off of grid. During this time all solar goes into charging the battery. If your battery is topped off your solar will be just wasted in this scenario.
I have three server rack batteries for my system and if I run the air conditioner after the sun goes down my battery is will be dead in just a few hours. They will last through the night if I turn the air conditioner off after the sun goes down.
Good video for DIY project, I am not an electrician so I have a question about the Polaris connectors. Lets say your panel is 100 amps and you connect the Polaris connector so you can then connect to the inverter. Would this send 100 amp to the inverter? (Grid breaker on the inverter) I thought this inverter max ac input was 50 amps.
If you connect this inverter between your house panel and your meter, you will definitely be limiting the number of amps that your house can accept. In my case 50 amps has done me pretty well. It hasn't tripped yet but it might be in the future. I might end up putting two inverters in so I have twice the power. Or switching out to a larger inverter
Would not use an interlock on the main panel. Instead, use one or two 10 circuit Reliance manual transfer switchs. Gives you the ability to run solar for the stuff you want solar to run off of, and keep the other stuff on the grid, and switch back and forth easily depending on your needs. The interlock is ALL OR NOTHING...
After 4 years my inverter ran great & one morning it went dark. What I did wrong was buy an Inverter from them they avoided warranty & any furture service for parts completely closed the door in my face. Stay away from this company bad with warranty & service
The 6000 xp isn't bad. But if you want something over the top I'd go with one of these models. I hear they're very efficient...But expensive and it's not a all-in-one unit. For example you'll still need to buy a MPPT, etc. signaturesolar.com/victron-multiplus-48-8000-48v-input-8000va-output-230v-110a-charger-transfer-switch/?ref=DiySolarPowerFun Expensive but very nice from what I hear.
For the ruixu batteries? Min 9:20 in this video. ua-cam.com/video/H38UZV3gx4Q/v-deo.htmlsi=dALiyViinT-27QhD This worked best for me. I'm open to suggestions though.
These pair real well with the powerpro wall mount batteries and conduit wire way. Easily upgradeable by stacking batteries or inverters as needed. Thanks for the update. I always use and recommend metal flex conduit for pv wire indoors
Yeah, it can be loud when it's running heavy. You definitely want this behind a closed door or in a garage somewhere. The crazy part is this is supposed to be quieter than the previous competitors.
You mentioned that you can configure the 6000 XP to do a neutral bond via software controlling a relay. From what I understand that is correct however it is not an automatic set up. I believe you were saying that if you connect an RV set up to shore, the XP will automatically decouple the neutral bond link. I do not believe that’s correct. I believe the manual states that it is either on or off and you would have to manually go in and reset that and take the neutral bond off if you connected to short power that had neutral bond.
Thanks, If the manual states that, that is probably correct. I'm not sure where I heard did that. Automatic bonding would be really nice. I know that if I enable option 26 I get the bond in the inverter. Thanks 👍
@@diySolarPowerFunWithRay I was commenting on the same this, Its an either or, NOT automatic. If it were to be used in a mobile scenario it would have to be manually changed every time you hook to grid etc.
My neighbor got a similar install to this. Same size battery and it was about 130,000. That's always an option. some of us don't want to pay that much.
1'st issue you got a cheap eg4, anything is junk. Are those white breakers even UL rated. ? I bet they are just more cheap China hardware. Last time I had a issue with EG4 invertor it took me 300 calls and 6 mo's to get a refund. All those people do is play games! Also why use a cheap high freq inverter ? If you are wanting to run items in your home for years of no issues use, always go with a low freq inverter that has a phat copper coil in it & not just cheap china IC's that try to act like a copper coil.
The certifications for the breakers are listed here: chintglobal.com/products/nb1-63-miniature-circuit-breaker-8-829 Granted this is a new inverter and who knows how long it will last. After speaking with signature solar, it this sounds like this is their best-selling off-gride inverter. Because it is a high frequency inverter, I don't necessarily think that is a bad thing. The solark 15K is also a high frequency inverter which has been around longer...People seem to really like that one. But this one can handle more of an imbalanced load from my understanding. Time will tell how this one does. I hope it does well. I want to see companies come out with a more quiet inverter. This inverter is supposed to be more quiet than competitors but the fan is definitely VERY noticeable... not for inside a house!
Ray, your vids on the XP prompted me to purchase mine. It's not installed yet. Did not know the fan was loud or noisy. Will try to mitigate that. Also, way to go with this response to Debbie Downer. No need for people to be negative and insulting. You've done a lot of people a big favor with your vids. Thanks for the month update vid. Take care.
@BigBillFL thanks, I forgot to mention the fan in this video. Supposedly the fan in this unit is more quiet than the older competitors. I'll mention it in the next video. My unit is in my garage, so it doesn't really bother me. At least not much. Hopefully you have a spot behind a closed door that you can put it. The fan on the 18K PV supposedly does not run as often. But a lot more money. Its fun to monitor the power being used through out the day.
. The 6000xp is ETL listed according to the UL 1741 standard... similar to the solark 15k. The ruixu batteries I'm using are ETL listed according to the 1973 UL standard.
I haven't tested the daily kwh use with the AC Yet for a typical summer day. But this install video tests the kw when my larger appliances are all running.
@@diySolarPowerFunWithRaydon’t you have your power bills from before you added this gear. you won’t get peaks, etc. but you get an idea about average power used over the whole year if you have bills for last year. found a year of bills online for my house. with a little work you can get into a spreadsheet by week, or month, or quarter to draw some graphs once you collect the new data from your new gear you will have much better idea what is used all year in another year.
Why would you invite a corporate municipal inspector over to your private land?
Good point. For me, it's about homeowners insurance.
@@diySolarPowerFunWithRayyou are correct. Any fire that occurs by non compliant modifications will void your coverage. Insurance is great in theory. Most people never read and let alone comprehend the fine print in their insurance contract/binder. 99% of the time it will never be used. When a person has a “catastrophic loss” they will get to encounter the “loss prevention” team of the insurance company. Their job is to eliminate or minimize the insurance companies losses.
You are smart to get any required inspections and permits for your improvements. The insurance company may still screw you. It just gives you a fighting chance. Great video thanks for your experience and sharing your story.
Looks good and love the Polaris connector idea. Few comments for code compliance 1) You need 36" clearance in front of the electric panel, need to move your battery rack, 2) All PV must be in EMT or MC conduit within the premies, can transfer to PVC when outside in your trench, 3)your DC battery cables must be in EMT/MC conduit for code compliance, not PVC.
Nice. Thanks!
Very cool Ray, looks great
Thanks :)
Ray, great update. Don't forget to add a disconnect on your grid feed out of the panel. Then, you will not have to turn off power to the house in order to isolate the inverter for service or removal.
36” clearance in front of panels. This is a basic code regulation.
Basically, what he is saying is that you can't put the battery enclosure in front of the breaker panel
Big nono
Don't like seeing exposed copper poking out the bottom of your breakers I'd rather see the insulation all the way to the entrance into the breaker. Maybe it was the camera angle but looked exposed
Just an FYI, high voltage dc PV wire is required to be in metallic raceway inside a building in most areas.
The inspector may comment about obstacles in front of the panel next to the inverter. By code, the area in front of the panel has to be accessible. The inspector may look the other way if the battery box is on wheels. It all depends on the AHJ, authority heaving jurisdictions. Let us know how it goes.
Ah. Good to know. Thanks 👍
Thanks for the update. But this is considered off-grid? So why the need for inspection, thank you.
Can you make a LiFEPO4 video talking about Power Strips and safely connecting / loading a battery with multiple devices / appliances?
If your Solar Panel String is High Voltage D.C. & not micro inverters, then your Solar String wires needs to be in Metal EMT Conduit when it comes into a building.
Thanks again for the how to video.. I copied your setup in my shed 6000XP install today! Awesome stuff! keep up with the videos!
the only thing i dont see there or close to it is a fire extinguisher, you never know when those batteries blow up or a fire start, or is that not regulation for it there by you?, or you have sprinklers above it? having a gun and not have to use it is better than not having one at all lol
i would secure you solar panels before a storm or high wind takes them. I would not put those batteries so close to the door. They don't work well in the extreme winter.
Hi I appreciate your videos. I'm in SLC, UT I'm curious if you would consider converting to EG4 12 and net metering? How would you assess the pro/cons. It seems to hinge on pv array size/cost versus battery bank/cost but would love your input.
The nice thing about the 12K or the 18K is that you can use with batteries and backfeed if you want. The 12K and 18K also have more certifications... so if you are getting a permit and your inspector gives you a hard time about the 6K, you might consider going to the 12K or the 18K. A single 6K is a little bit small for my house so the 12 K might be just perfect for me. I'm gonna try it out for sure.
I am on the grid, and only want a system sized for a refrigerator. Would it make economic sense to go with a battery only big enough for overnight, and switch from solar to grid when needed? I could preheat water with the excess solar amps. In New Mexico we have few cloudy days, and those in the summer.
For one fridge it would make sense To me to get a battery that would last a couple days.
Just get an Ecoflow Delta Pro to run your refer. No need to go to all the trouble of installing a system like this for just one refrigerator over night.
What is the capacity of the AC unit you have? eg. 2 ton?
It's a 3 ton. Air conditioner
Does this inverter require to have both positive & negative DC panel arrays wires fused?
On the inverter there is a DC breaker for the battery cables. So just make sure you select battery cables according to that DC breaker if you want to use the protection from the DC breaker
Question about tapping after meter before 200 amp panel with Polaris or B-Tap connectors: Can 200 Amp go directly to the 6000 XP with 6 AWG? A disconnect or 60 Amp breaker recommended?
look rigged up, put those wires in conduit, drooping cables in the way of the door. I get er done sometimes, but I wouldn't post it like it's my final work.
You need lighting protection between the panels and the charge controller. The panels also need to be mounted to be in compliance . I am off grid for about 3 1/2 years, I am in the USVI and our power is terrible .
Great video, Ray!
If you add a second inverter do you need to add a second interlock fuse? How will it feed the panel?
I am going to have them feed through the same interlock kit. For me, I am planning to add a wire trough underneath the inverters where I'll connect both L1 and L2 feeds with a couple polaris connectors.
Can you run an AC unit (4 tons) with a soft-starter with the 6000xp? and for how long can run the AC unit with the power stored in the batteries?
I haven't done so but I imagine it would be fine....HOWEVER, if you have a lot of other loads running at the same time it probably will not and you would have to buy another unit. 2 units can be a little noisy so you would need to make sure you have a space where that wouldn't bother you. You could use a meter on your home and see how much power you are using on each leg when the air conditioner is running. If a single leg is over 3,000 Watts the unit will switch to bypass mode and run everything off of grid. During this time all solar goes into charging the battery. If your battery is topped off your solar will be just wasted in this scenario.
I have three server rack batteries for my system and if I run the air conditioner after the sun goes down my battery is will be dead in just a few hours. They will last through the night if I turn the air conditioner off after the sun goes down.
Good video for DIY project, I am not an electrician so I have a question about the Polaris connectors. Lets say your panel is 100 amps and you connect the Polaris connector so you can then connect to the inverter. Would this send 100 amp to the inverter? (Grid breaker on the inverter) I thought this inverter max ac input was 50 amps.
If you connect this inverter between your house panel and your meter, you will definitely be limiting the number of amps that your house can accept. In my case 50 amps has done me pretty well. It hasn't tripped yet but it might be in the future. I might end up putting two inverters in so I have twice the power. Or switching out to a larger inverter
Battery box can't be in front of your panel.
Would not use an interlock on the main panel. Instead, use one or two 10 circuit Reliance manual transfer switchs. Gives you the ability to run solar for the stuff you want solar to run off of, and keep the other stuff on the grid, and switch back and forth easily depending on your needs. The interlock is ALL OR NOTHING...
After 4 years my inverter ran great & one morning it went dark. What I did wrong was buy an Inverter from them they avoided warranty & any furture service for parts completely closed the door in my face. Stay away from this company bad with warranty & service
What company did you go through? Signature solar? Also what inverter went bad on you? Thanks.
Do you have a recommendation for an inverter with lower idle power consumption?
The 6000 xp isn't bad. But if you want something over the top I'd go with one of these models. I hear they're very efficient...But expensive and it's not a all-in-one unit. For example you'll still need to buy a MPPT, etc. signaturesolar.com/victron-multiplus-48-8000-48v-input-8000va-output-230v-110a-charger-transfer-switch/?ref=DiySolarPowerFun
Expensive but very nice from what I hear.
What communications settings did you use for the batteries on the 6000xp
For the ruixu batteries? Min 9:20 in this video. ua-cam.com/video/H38UZV3gx4Q/v-deo.htmlsi=dALiyViinT-27QhD
This worked best for me. I'm open to suggestions though.
Nice updates.
These pair real well with the powerpro wall mount batteries and conduit wire way. Easily upgradeable by stacking batteries or inverters as needed. Thanks for the update. I always use and recommend metal flex conduit for pv wire indoors
Thanks, I'm running my PV wires now. I will definitely put them in conduit inside. 👍
is that the fans screaming in the background?
Yeah, it can be loud when it's running heavy. You definitely want this behind a closed door or in a garage somewhere. The crazy part is this is supposed to be quieter than the previous competitors.
@@diySolarPowerFunWithRay yikes. Loving my victron
@@tlteal What victron do you have? How often does the fan run? Thanks.
@@diySolarPowerFunWithRay 450/100 and I don't know since I can't ever hear them :-)
@@tlteal How about your inverter?
You mentioned that you can configure the 6000 XP to do a neutral bond via software controlling a relay. From what I understand that is correct however it is not an automatic set up. I believe you were saying that if you connect an RV set up to shore, the XP will automatically decouple the neutral bond link. I do not believe that’s correct. I believe the manual states that it is either on or off and you would have to manually go in and reset that and take the neutral bond off if you connected to short power that had neutral bond.
Thanks, If the manual states that, that is probably correct. I'm not sure where I heard did that. Automatic bonding would be really nice. I know that if I enable option 26 I get the bond in the inverter. Thanks 👍
@@diySolarPowerFunWithRay I was commenting on the same this, Its an either or, NOT automatic. If it were to be used in a mobile scenario it would have to be manually changed every time you hook to grid etc.
also you need a ground wire in the flex that feeds the grid power.
I could add that, but I currently already have a grounding wire in the other flex.
Thank you for the update
Its the diy part
My neighbor got a similar install to this. Same size battery and it was about 130,000. That's always an option. some of us don't want to pay that much.
Great info...
1'st issue you got a cheap eg4, anything is junk. Are those white breakers even UL rated. ? I bet they are just more cheap China hardware. Last time I had a issue with EG4 invertor it took me 300 calls and 6 mo's to get a refund. All those people do is play games! Also why use a cheap high freq inverter ? If you are wanting to run items in your home for years of no issues use, always go with a low freq inverter that has a phat copper coil in it & not just cheap china IC's that try to act like a copper coil.
The certifications for the breakers are listed here: chintglobal.com/products/nb1-63-miniature-circuit-breaker-8-829
Granted this is a new inverter and who knows how long it will last. After speaking with signature solar, it this sounds like this is their best-selling off-gride inverter. Because it is a high frequency inverter, I don't necessarily think that is a bad thing. The solark 15K is also a high frequency inverter which has been around longer...People seem to really like that one. But this one can handle more of an imbalanced load from my understanding.
Time will tell how this one does. I hope it does well. I want to see companies come out with a more quiet inverter. This inverter is supposed to be more quiet than competitors but the fan is definitely VERY noticeable... not for inside a house!
Ray, your vids on the XP prompted me to purchase mine. It's not installed yet. Did not know the fan was loud or noisy. Will try to mitigate that.
Also, way to go with this response to Debbie Downer. No need for people to be negative and insulting. You've done a lot of people a big favor with your vids.
Thanks for the month update vid. Take care.
@BigBillFL thanks, I forgot to mention the fan in this video. Supposedly the fan in this unit is more quiet than the older competitors. I'll mention it in the next video. My unit is in my garage, so it doesn't really bother me. At least not much. Hopefully you have a spot behind a closed door that you can put it. The fan on the 18K PV supposedly does not run as often. But a lot more money. Its fun to monitor the power being used through out the day.
.
The 6000xp is ETL listed according to the UL 1741 standard... similar to the solark 15k.
The ruixu batteries I'm using are ETL listed according to the 1973 UL standard.
Hey Wray how much daily kw does your house pull with the ac included? Thx
I haven't tested the daily kwh use with the AC Yet for a typical summer day. But this install video tests the kw when my larger appliances are all running.
@@diySolarPowerFunWithRaydon’t you have your power bills from before you added this gear. you won’t get peaks, etc. but you get an idea about average power used over the whole year if you have bills for last year. found a year of bills online for my house.
with a little work you can get into a spreadsheet by week, or month, or quarter to draw some graphs
once you collect the new data from your new gear you will have much better idea what is used all year in another year.
@_xyzyz_ that's a good point. I need to find those for the comparison video. That should give me a good idea
Put a UPS on your Internet gear to keep them running when switching between grid and off-grid
Thanks, it switches so fast that my electronics don't notice.
THanks for your videos. Would #2 wire fit into the load breaker on the inverter?
Yes it does.