After watching this video I’m glad I landed on the dc isolators I did. They have a 6mm Allan screw and make use of lugs for the connections. Loose connections, especially on high current draw circuits, will cause major headaches down the line. I have also gone back and triple checked they are all still tight since watching your video. 😊
Hello Gary and thank you for all the useful information and the patience to film. As a recommendation for you, you should use terminal pins (ferrules) for all connections with stranded wire, this is much safer and is part of the standard. Good luck and keep it up. Happy holidays!
Thanks for that. I have heard that advice and the opposite too. There are ferrules on some of the connections which you might have seen in the video. What I found was the surface contact in the breaker was greater without the ferrules and I went with the advice to have most of them bare. The trick is getting all strands into the hole! I will give more consideration to this though.
Good stuff and thinking about getting a second Seplos battery later next year. Do you balance the batteries once a month. I was recommended to do it once they are at 100% charge once a month but not sure on process. Do you just press press the silver button in at back to balance or do you need to press and hold it for a period of time.
They will auto balance if you have the settings done properly and this happens once the cells reach set values. The manual balance button seems to be unnecessary. I make sure my cells are balanced every 7-10 days, or the risk of the SOC falling off a cliff is high. I have seen drops from 60% to 15% when not balanced. It only takes one cell to bring everything down. You can manually balance with a touch of the button once the pack is at 98% or higher (again depending on settings).
A little friendly criticism mate, "ALWAYS TREAT EVERYTHING AS LIVE" And yet your using the SHITTIEST NON INSULATED screw drivers ! Oh, and great placement of the tap under battery 2. So your reaching under the wires to turn the WATER ON ? You have 45 KWh of stored energy and 10-15k euro of electronics over a water tap in a space that seems it's not climate controlled and can possibly freeze and crack. You see where I'm going with this ?
You're not an electrician by any chance, are you? If yes, I would have a couple of genuine questions for you, especially if you are a RECI. Criticism is always welcome (if friendly). Safety criticism deserves a detailed response. It's easy enough to miss things, so thanks for pointing at a few areas of concern. Let me go over those mentions with mitigation and plans. *Non insulated screwdriver comment. Plastic is non-conductive. While there are better screwdrivers for electric work (some of which I have) and the risks can't be fully removed, I think the Makita screwdriver with insulated handle is perfectly safe to use, especially when the system is isolated electrically. I use similar equipment at work and that's on 3 Phase and 400V+ installations. We get weekly audits and have to complete risk assessments daily. The auditors can fire you if your ID badge is not facing the right direction, or there is a speck of rust on your tools, so I think I am OK with what I am using on conductive surfaces. *Tap location. The tap is always open and the flow is controlled on/off with the gun which is always on the ground tucked into the wall. So, no reaching under the wires, it's just an open valve there. While this is still not ideal, I will be moving the tap out from under the cabinet (which will have bottom covers installed anyway) for easier access to the hose. *Freezing. The temperature has not dropped dropped below double digits and the passage is enclosed and kept mild thanks to the heat from the equipment. I keep a digital thermometer in there to record the daily/weekly temperatures. Lowest has been above 11 Celsius even when the temps outside were -2 Celsius and the door was open for a few hours while I worked on the system. The pipes are all pex, so are flexible and there is little to no chance of freezing. Pipes were fine for years even before the second door was installed. There are fuses and breakers and isolators on each battery in the event of a malfunction, but yes, this does need a couple of improvements that I have mentioned in previous videos already. This project is a work in progress and I continue to make improvements both in function, capacity and safety. Only today, I installed Smart Smoke Alarms above the inverter and above my Fuseboard. I also mounted a fire extinguisher at the end cabinet. I'll release that video tomorrow, or soon after. Now that I am satisfied the system is working more or less as I want it to, I will seal it in and move onto to the water pipes, which includes moving the hose connection. Working full time with a busy family life can sometimes delay wanted and needed upgrades, but I will keep working on that. Have a good one.
You clearly know your way around electrical installations, and all of us have unique situations at our homes. Thanks for what you are doing to share your experiences!
@@GaryMeatsLife Full time job and family, same here mate so thanks for taking the time to write about your plans. No, I am not an electrician. Just a DIYer like you with a few mates and we help each other on our systems and avoid electricians like vampires and garlic. Haha. Also I am located in Greece so any comments for my system may be false due to possible differences and regulations in electricals. Still building my new system and havn't got it online yet but your video on the seplos settings was great and I will definately try them. But again mate. PLEASE go get a couple of insulated electrical screwdrivers and that shitty yellow gift screwdriver in the recycle bin. Also, not only is the tap under preasure but the hose and gun as well ? So more potential fail points. Keep up the good work and hope your channel grows.
@@halogen25 Just enough to get things working and not hurt myself 😄. But the poster above is right to point out anything he thinks is unsafe. I often see very dangerous stuff on youtube and I too would point out concerns if I think the creator cares.
@@georgelaskaris1682 No problem at all. I take the comments both seriously and with humour. Our legislation here would be quite similar to the UK and restricts DIYers and competent persons from doing so many things. We can't run new circuits. We can't replace board fuses...we can't even remove the cover from the board. In my line of work, I am in daily contact with and work on high voltage electrical systems far more dangerous and complicated than a domestic setup. Think large production machines the size of a camper van and some larger than buses and that will give you an idea. Safety inspectors and auditors everywhere and as a non-electrician (but a competent engineer) I am certified and allowed to work with such systems. Oh...don't worry about the water pressure. A 90 year old man has more pressure in his pipe than the line below the cabinet. It needs a pressure washer to make use of the flow. I have a magnusson insulated screwdriver set and a 5 set of stanleys. I just don't like using them. Rubbish grip and I find that the stanleys are prone to stripping screws. Evidently, the electrician who installed the solar used stanleys and half the screw heads are partially stripped. Might be an excuse to buy a nice Wera set though 😅
After watching this video I’m glad I landed on the dc isolators I did. They have a 6mm Allan screw and make use of lugs for the connections. Loose connections, especially on high current draw circuits, will cause major headaches down the line. I have also gone back and triple checked they are all still tight since watching your video. 😊
Hello Gary and thank you for all the useful information and the patience to film. As a recommendation for you, you should use terminal pins (ferrules) for all connections with stranded wire, this is much safer and is part of the standard. Good luck and keep it up. Happy holidays!
Thanks for that. I have heard that advice and the opposite too. There are ferrules on some of the connections which you might have seen in the video. What I found was the surface contact in the breaker was greater without the ferrules and I went with the advice to have most of them bare. The trick is getting all strands into the hole! I will give more consideration to this though.
Good stuff and thinking about getting a second Seplos battery later next year. Do you balance the batteries once a month. I was recommended to do it once they are at 100% charge once a month but not sure on process. Do you just press press the silver button in at back to balance or do you need to press and hold it for a period of time.
They will auto balance if you have the settings done properly and this happens once the cells reach set values. The manual balance button seems to be unnecessary. I make sure my cells are balanced every 7-10 days, or the risk of the SOC falling off a cliff is high. I have seen drops from 60% to 15% when not balanced. It only takes one cell to bring everything down. You can manually balance with a touch of the button once the pack is at 98% or higher (again depending on settings).
A little friendly criticism mate, "ALWAYS TREAT EVERYTHING AS LIVE" And yet your using the SHITTIEST NON INSULATED screw drivers ! Oh, and great placement of the tap under battery 2. So your reaching under the wires to turn the WATER ON ? You have 45 KWh of stored energy and 10-15k euro of electronics over a water tap in a space that seems it's not climate controlled and can possibly freeze and crack. You see where I'm going with this ?
You're not an electrician by any chance, are you? If yes, I would have a couple of genuine questions for you, especially if you are a RECI. Criticism is always welcome (if friendly). Safety criticism deserves a detailed response. It's easy enough to miss things, so thanks for pointing at a few areas of concern. Let me go over those mentions with mitigation and plans.
*Non insulated screwdriver comment. Plastic is non-conductive. While there are better screwdrivers for electric work (some of which I have) and the risks can't be fully removed, I think the Makita screwdriver with insulated handle is perfectly safe to use, especially when the system is isolated electrically. I use similar equipment at work and that's on 3 Phase and 400V+ installations. We get weekly audits and have to complete risk assessments daily. The auditors can fire you if your ID badge is not facing the right direction, or there is a speck of rust on your tools, so I think I am OK with what I am using on conductive surfaces.
*Tap location. The tap is always open and the flow is controlled on/off with the gun which is always on the ground tucked into the wall. So, no reaching under the wires, it's just an open valve there. While this is still not ideal, I will be moving the tap out from under the cabinet (which will have bottom covers installed anyway) for easier access to the hose.
*Freezing. The temperature has not dropped dropped below double digits and the passage is enclosed and kept mild thanks to the heat from the equipment. I keep a digital thermometer in there to record the daily/weekly temperatures. Lowest has been above 11 Celsius even when the temps outside were -2 Celsius and the door was open for a few hours while I worked on the system. The pipes are all pex, so are flexible and there is little to no chance of freezing. Pipes were fine for years even before the second door was installed. There are fuses and breakers and isolators on each battery in the event of a malfunction, but yes, this does need a couple of improvements that I have mentioned in previous videos already.
This project is a work in progress and I continue to make improvements both in function, capacity and safety. Only today, I installed Smart Smoke Alarms above the inverter and above my Fuseboard. I also mounted a fire extinguisher at the end cabinet. I'll release that video tomorrow, or soon after. Now that I am satisfied the system is working more or less as I want it to, I will seal it in and move onto to the water pipes, which includes moving the hose connection. Working full time with a busy family life can sometimes delay wanted and needed upgrades, but I will keep working on that. Have a good one.
You clearly know your way around electrical installations, and all of us have unique situations at our homes. Thanks for what you are doing to share your experiences!
@@GaryMeatsLife Full time job and family, same here mate so thanks for taking the time to write about your plans. No, I am not an electrician. Just a DIYer like you with a few mates and we help each other on our systems and avoid electricians like vampires and garlic. Haha. Also I am located in Greece so any comments for my system may be false due to possible differences and regulations in electricals.
Still building my new system and havn't got it online yet but your video on the seplos settings was great and I will definately try them. But again mate. PLEASE go get a couple of insulated electrical screwdrivers and that shitty yellow gift screwdriver in the recycle bin. Also, not only is the tap under preasure but the hose and gun as well ? So more potential fail points. Keep up the good work and hope your channel grows.
@@halogen25 Just enough to get things working and not hurt myself 😄. But the poster above is right to point out anything he thinks is unsafe. I often see very dangerous stuff on youtube and I too would point out concerns if I think the creator cares.
@@georgelaskaris1682 No problem at all. I take the comments both seriously and with humour.
Our legislation here would be quite similar to the UK and restricts DIYers and competent persons from doing so many things. We can't run new circuits. We can't replace board fuses...we can't even remove the cover from the board.
In my line of work, I am in daily contact with and work on high voltage electrical systems far more dangerous and complicated than a domestic setup. Think large production machines the size of a camper van and some larger than buses and that will give you an idea. Safety inspectors and auditors everywhere and as a non-electrician (but a competent engineer) I am certified and allowed to work with such systems.
Oh...don't worry about the water pressure. A 90 year old man has more pressure in his pipe than the line below the cabinet. It needs a pressure washer to make use of the flow.
I have a magnusson insulated screwdriver set and a 5 set of stanleys. I just don't like using them. Rubbish grip and I find that the stanleys are prone to stripping screws. Evidently, the electrician who installed the solar used stanleys and half the screw heads are partially stripped. Might be an excuse to buy a nice Wera set though 😅