WOW, just what I was looking for. I have a well to water our cattle as a backup to rain water harvesting. Right now I drag a little gasoline generator out to the well and refill the IBC totes when we are without rain for 10 days or more. This is perfect thank you.
Being a qualified electrician in the United States is useless. They are not even allowed to certify their own work as in most other countries so it just shows that they aren’t trusted to do a proper job highlighting that there must be fundamental issues in the training.
@@jasonbroom7147 in the United Kingdom and electrician has electrical qualifications but also inspection and testing ones which means that they have to fill out rigourous and detailed documentation when they install something if this documentation is filled out correctly when you go through at the end you have to check a lot of things put your reasoning for everything. It is very detailed and basically does the same as the inspection we do have, the local planning authority run by the government which could inspect something if you’re not registered with a competent person scheme or third-party companies but if you’re an electrician you’re generally registered with a competent person scheme you can’t actually issue the paperwork unless you’re registered with one and they will order you randomly but they also offer expert advice if you are unsure
Heat kills or shorten the life of everything. In addition to your fan, I would put a sun shade over it, direct sunlight drastically increases the ambient temp inside the unit and will increase the life of your fan.
Great build! Clean look too. Personally I’d put the battery in the enclosure too, mount the mppt on top, inverter below it then the battery could sit on the bottom in front the inverter.
I really love this idea. I have a runaway camper or square drop camper and I’m looking for ideas to build something like this so I can camp 🏕️ off grid. I really think this could work for me. Thank you so much for posting this. I think I’m going to build this for my camper.
That looks like a lot of fun. I worked for a solar company for a brief period of time during my career and I always liked building prototype stuff much the same way. My biggest accomplishment was building/programming an auto start/stop device for a generator. Basically if the battery level got too low and the solar panels couldn't keep up it would automatically start a generator to charge the batteries. Also while the generator was running it would bypass the inverter and supply generator power to the load. Once the batteries got to around 85% charge (if I remember right) it would shut the generator off.
Very nicely done. I would have mounted a 2 gang box on the outside of the enclosure to give more power options. You may also want to change your plug to a right angle plug - it would help the cover close. On an aside, it would be nice if LI Time had some external/remote monitors that could be affixed to the panel door so you could see the status without having to open the door.
Thank you for doing this. Have been wanting to do small systems like this on coops and out buildings but never have time so sit down and do the build list Thank you so much
Always enjoy :) I could see this being very useful in different applications maybe even a smaller one to operate a gate and cameras at the end of your driveway, push button open gate drive thru and hit button close the gate.... since you have become famous security needs to be improved :) thanks for bringing us along
love this setup. I threw together a crude version a year ago with a cooler. Been wanting to remake it nicer {build it nice not twice} because its so handy in the barn I never move it anymore. I used a 40amp mppt controller with the same battery and was worried about charging it to fast, I guess its not a problem if we can use a 60a and be fine. Love the solar channel!!!
I'd like to build that on a little trailer so I could have power on the farm industry if the house power have a little backup power. Thanks for the lesson.
Nice! I like the arrangement, very neatly done. You must be a licensed electrician. If I took on his project, there would be lots of extra parts/fittings left over at the end!!
Very nice setup with the only thing I would have done different would have been putting the battery in a similar type enclosure. I won't the wayward mouse trying to find a new home such as they might with the battery box.
Awesome video! I've been watching some of the "solar on a hand cart" videos as an idea for a quick-deploy system for emergencies and my biggest concern so far was they're all using indoor-rated inverters. Putting something like this on an appliance dolly for quick, outdoor deployments could be just what I was looking for.
Very informative. You probably already know that anything (ie motors) with inductive/capacitor start will have a surge of power on start up. Thus the "beep"
You cheaped out mounting the box. 😂 I would put couple of treated 4x4x8 posts You need to place a mirror next to the inverter display screen. You might have to tilt it a little towards the display screen.
One thing I highly recommend you do not do is dreading holes in the side for anything but the fan although it would be less convenient on the bottom there is a much lower chance of water getting in I would also recommend using fuses or some kind of circuit protection as some of these devices like to fail in such a way where they just drain the battery quite quickly and you don’t realise it’s an issue
FYSA: I have had several issues with LiTime charge controllers. Good luck after sending several of them back to Amazon. I switched to victron. My LiTime inverter is still running strong after being used daily for over a year.
Great video! Thanks. This would work fine for my wife’s Apiary (the bees need their internet). Where do you source your outdoor enclosures? Can you share the manufacturer and model number, please.
i would highly suggest using a center punch for marking the holes. drill bit wondering is alot of pain when working with such tight layout. you dont want to start rimming out holes to get them to fit. and what about grounding? no external grounding? even a GFCI wouldnt be consider as safe since they are no ground, so dont touch the box. other than that. great little system. mobile for a small shed or out building. or mounted to roll around stand mount. and some what cheaper than your ECOFLOW>
@diegojines-us9pc i did use a center punch. And i showed it once in the video when mounting the terminal block. I can't show every step or the video would have be 2 hours long. The gfci will work. If positive and neutral aren't equal it will trip. Around a 7 milli-amps difference causes it to trip. It doesn't monitor the ground. The ground provides a safe path back to the source. And I did mention a ground rod in the video.
@@CountryViewSolar-DIYProjects sorry about missing the ground rod part. by the way. the code states you can replace a non grounded outlet with a GFCI, because the code thinks a GFCI is better than no ground. but not to be used a replacement for not having a ground. just for all your watchers. be safe.
The solar panels I used aren't for sale anymore. They were a Newpowa 200 watt panel. Here is a link to a Renogy 200 Watt panel. Should be similar. amzn.to/3Y1O4AX
No, the charge controller has a 150V solar input limit and the output is rated to 60A so if attached to a 12V battery is limited to 12 * 60 or 720 watts... Though charging a 12V battery runs at higher than 12V so it's rated for 900W at 12V. The MPP tracking range is the battery voltage +3V, so if you have a 48V battery it's probably best to make sure your solar string adds up to somewhere in the 60 - 120V range to be sure it starts and charges properly and stays within a safe voltage range.
@@rileywillard139 yes, but the MPPT voltage range is battery voltage +3 up to 120V which is why I recommended to shoot for between 60-120 so that no matter your battery voltage (12, 24, 36 or 48) setup it would always work.
You said you ran the pump until the battery ran down and the inverter shut down, but you didn't say how long it ran. Will it run long enough to complete the garden watering? Are you going to build a solar panel mount on the fence or a growing mount? Cool setup. Thanks for the video.
The battery wasn't fully charged to start. It ran about a half an hour, before the inverter shut down on low voltage, the battery was around 11.5 volts. So it shut down before it was completely drained. Since then, I have ran it a couple times, and with solar panels charging, it ran for an hour before I shut it off. It hasn't shut down on me since that first day.
The manual reset for low voltage on the inverter is a bummer. Is that a safety requirement for all inverters? Nice video! I've made Christmas light controllers in boxes just like that.
Hi Evan, could you do a video on building and or buying bits and information on “Rotating Solar Panels” ? I have 30 solar panels using micro inverters on the house with 2 batteries in the in-house garage but I would like to add more. My double garage / shed has a gable roof but the two faces are in the wrong orientation to use. But my carport has a skillion roof, all I need would be the rotating solar panels and using your outdoor setup with micro inverters and battery. Is that possible ?
@@CountryViewSolar-DIYProjects Thanks for the reply. Do you think this could run one of those $600 mini splits on amazon? Looking at doing this but for a shed/cabin.
Evan I don’t believe a ground rod is required for your setup. Look at the manual for the inverter. Also what was the total cost of your sprinkler Solar setup? I have a project for a pond oxygenation.
The Li Time Equipment with today's sale price is $588. The enclosure is $183 and the rest of the parts are around $225. So the total price would be around $1000. I am not sure this inverter would start a pond aerator. Compressors can be extremely hard to start. I would suggest a bigger inverter.
@@CountryViewSolar-DIYProjects Yeah, once you turned the box over I could see the fan housing had an opening in the bottom. Couldn't see that the first time. Great job as usual.
Why continuously screw people with 12 volt solar? You spend twice the money for half the power, then you spend as much on a 48 volt system as you do on your cabling to move current instead of voltage. You're doing people a serious disservice shame on you
For a small system like this. (2000 watts or less) 12 Volt can be more economical and will work fine. For Larger Systems, 48 volts is the better choice.
WOW, just what I was looking for. I have a well to water our cattle as a backup to rain water harvesting. Right now I drag a little gasoline generator out to the well and refill the IBC totes when we are without rain for 10 days or more. This is perfect thank you.
This inverter is right on the edge of working with this 1 Horsepower pump. I would suggest a bigger inverter for better reliability.
This is a great build. I love the flexibility of being able to have a non permanent solar power station.
All of your builds are next-level...your background as a certified electrician really shows through!
Being a qualified electrician in the United States is useless. They are not even allowed to certify their own work as in most other countries so it just shows that they aren’t trusted to do a proper job highlighting that there must be fundamental issues in the training.
@@UKsystems - Yes, their work must still be inspected and signed off on by a 3rd party. Is that not a good idea?
@@jasonbroom7147 in the United Kingdom and electrician has electrical qualifications but also inspection and testing ones which means that they have to fill out rigourous and detailed documentation when they install something if this documentation is filled out correctly when you go through at the end you have to check a lot of things put your reasoning for everything. It is very detailed and basically does the same as the inspection we do have, the local planning authority run by the government which could inspect something if you’re not registered with a competent person scheme or third-party companies but if you’re an electrician you’re generally registered with a competent person scheme you can’t actually issue the paperwork unless you’re registered with one and they will order you randomly but they also offer expert advice if you are unsure
Heat kills or shorten the life of everything. In addition to your fan, I would put a sun shade over it, direct sunlight drastically increases the ambient temp inside the unit and will increase the life of your fan.
Great job. Enjoyed this video immensely. 🔋
Great build! Clean look too.
Personally I’d put the battery in the enclosure too, mount the mppt on top, inverter below it then the battery could sit on the bottom in front the inverter.
I really love this idea. I have a runaway camper or square drop camper and I’m looking for ideas to build something like this so I can camp 🏕️ off grid. I really think this could work for me. Thank you so much for posting this. I think I’m going to build this for my camper.
Nice build! I would love to see an update to this later on after you use it for a while.
This is my next project. Thank you for the idea and the product links.
excellent work sir, as usual.
That looks like a lot of fun. I worked for a solar company for a brief period of time during my career and I always liked building prototype stuff much the same way. My biggest accomplishment was building/programming an auto start/stop device for a generator. Basically if the battery level got too low and the solar panels couldn't keep up it would automatically start a generator to charge the batteries. Also while the generator was running it would bypass the inverter and supply generator power to the load. Once the batteries got to around 85% charge (if I remember right) it would shut the generator off.
Very nicely done. I would have mounted a 2 gang box on the outside of the enclosure to give more power options. You may also want to change your plug to a right angle plug - it would help the cover close.
On an aside, it would be nice if LI Time had some external/remote monitors that could be affixed to the panel door so you could see the status without having to open the door.
Good idea
That is a great set up Evan, thanks for sharing with us. So simple yet such a big help for anyone. Stay safe and keep up the great videos. Fred.
Nice build and nice cabinet. I’m building a 24V system in this same cabinet.
Thank you for doing this. Have been wanting to do small systems like this on coops and out buildings but never have time so sit down and do the build list
Thank you so much
The detail of what tools you used and how you did it right down to making the screws shorter helps a lot. Thank you.
Perfect for a hunting stand or cabin:)
That was badass Evan! Thank you!
Nice build. Book marked for future reference.
Always enjoy :) I could see this being very useful in different applications maybe even a smaller one to operate a gate and cameras at the end of your driveway, push button open gate drive thru and hit button close the gate.... since you have become famous security needs to be improved :) thanks for bringing us along
Super fun video. Thank you for sharing it. Makes me want to try it myself.
love this setup. I threw together a crude version a year ago with a cooler. Been wanting to remake it nicer {build it nice not twice} because its so handy in the barn I never move it anymore. I used a 40amp mppt controller with the same battery and was worried about charging it to fast, I guess its not a problem if we can use a 60a and be fine. Love the solar channel!!!
I very much enjoyed watching this video. The information and process was very helpful for possibilities for my own needs. Thank you...
I think the "inlet" air hole would be more effective if it were installed near the bottom of the side panel.
Thanks Evan! Always enjoy your channel! There are jerks everywhere!
Put a soft start motor controler on inverter output
I'd like to build that on a little trailer so I could have power on the farm industry if the house power have a little backup power. Thanks for the lesson.
Nice! I like the arrangement, very neatly done. You must be a licensed electrician. If I took on his project, there would be lots of extra parts/fittings left over at the end!!
Very nice setup with the only thing I would have done different would have been putting the battery in a similar type enclosure. I won't the wayward mouse trying to find a new home such as they might with the battery box.
True a mouse or other pests could get inside the battery box.
Yup 1 more project
Awesome video! I've been watching some of the "solar on a hand cart" videos as an idea for a quick-deploy system for emergencies and my biggest concern so far was they're all using indoor-rated inverters. Putting something like this on an appliance dolly for quick, outdoor deployments could be just what I was looking for.
Nice work! 👍👍👍
Very informative. You probably already know that anything (ie motors) with inductive/capacitor start will have a surge of power on start up. Thus the "beep"
Yes
Good job as always. Question: how long will a fully charged electric portable power station stay fully charged without being used or plugged in ?
Very good but personally I would fuse the DC a couple of places. I really like the battery post mounted fuse.
Hey Evan those tomatoes look very ripe !!!!
Nice installation...going to use that idea next year for my garden...5*s
I would suggest a 3000watt inverter if you plan to use a 1 horsepower pump. This 2000 watt barely works in this application.
Excellent video, well done
You cheaped out mounting the box. 😂
I would put couple of treated 4x4x8 posts
You need to place a mirror next to the inverter display screen. You might have to tilt it a little towards the display screen.
It was just temporary. We just got our first freeze so garden season is over. It will be moved somewhere else now.
I was thinking you could mount a small mirror at 45 deg. in front of the inverter screen so you could see it easier.
Nice build! Also to add on the air louver: another wire mesh to the bottom to prevent mud daubers from nesting there?
Liked and subscribed. Nice video. Cheers.
One thing I highly recommend you do not do is dreading holes in the side for anything but the fan although it would be less convenient on the bottom there is a much lower chance of water getting in I would also recommend using fuses or some kind of circuit protection as some of these devices like to fail in such a way where they just drain the battery quite quickly and you don’t realise it’s an issue
Yes fuses can be added easily
FYSA: I have had several issues with LiTime charge controllers. Good luck after sending several of them back to Amazon. I switched to victron. My LiTime inverter is still running strong after being used daily for over a year.
Thanks for letting us know, we'll see how long it lasts. It is running everyday.
@@CountryViewSolar-DIYProjects my first one lasted a few months. The second one lasted a little over six months.
Really nice build. What gauge are your main battery cables ? Thanks!
Saw your spec listed as 2 gauge. Why not 2/0 or 1/0 gauge with a 2000 watt inverter?
Cable is sized to battery output.
Such s tremendous protection of the inverter. Did you do the same for batteries?
@laurencenarcisi4370 the battery is in an outdoor battery box.
Great video! Thanks. This would work fine for my wife’s Apiary (the bees need their internet). Where do you source your outdoor enclosures? Can you share the manufacturer and model number, please.
Can you put a mirror at a 45° angle against the corner so that we can see the readout that’s on the end of that unit.?
Here in the US southeast it would be 130+ degree's in that box
Probably right.
Thx
Hi Evan, can you advise the size for the self tap screws you used? I have received all my parts and wanted to use the same length you used.
1/2 inch screws. You may need to pre-drill and use sheet metal screws
@@CountryViewSolar-DIYProjects Perfect! Thank you sir!
Now you just need a few more panels so it is actually self sufficient.
i would highly suggest using a center punch for marking the holes. drill bit wondering is alot of pain when working with such tight layout. you dont want to start rimming out holes to get them to fit. and what about grounding? no external grounding? even a GFCI wouldnt be consider as safe since they are no ground, so dont touch the box. other than that. great little system. mobile for a small shed or out building. or mounted to roll around stand mount. and some what cheaper than your ECOFLOW>
@diegojines-us9pc i did use a center punch. And i showed it once in the video when mounting the terminal block. I can't show every step or the video would have be 2 hours long.
The gfci will work. If positive and neutral aren't equal it will trip. Around a 7 milli-amps difference causes it to trip. It doesn't monitor the ground. The ground provides a safe path back to the source.
And I did mention a ground rod in the video.
@@CountryViewSolar-DIYProjects sorry about missing the ground rod part. by the way. the code states you can replace a non grounded outlet with a GFCI, because the code thinks a GFCI is better than no ground. but not to be used a replacement for not having a ground. just for all your watchers. be safe.
@countryviewsolar - Can you also add a link to the solar panels you used, please? Love your videos!
The solar panels I used aren't for sale anymore. They were a Newpowa 200 watt panel. Here is a link to a Renogy 200 Watt panel. Should be similar. amzn.to/3Y1O4AX
So could you put as many volts into the charge controller from the solar panels as you like?
No, the charge controller has a 150V solar input limit and the output is rated to 60A so if attached to a 12V battery is limited to 12 * 60 or 720 watts... Though charging a 12V battery runs at higher than 12V so it's rated for 900W at 12V.
The MPP tracking range is the battery voltage +3V, so if you have a 48V battery it's probably best to make sure your solar string adds up to somewhere in the 60 - 120V range to be sure it starts and charges properly and stays within a safe voltage range.
@@Snerdles so you could put up to 150v in from the panels and it could charge a 12v battery to a 48v battery
@@rileywillard139 yes, but the MPPT voltage range is battery voltage +3 up to 120V which is why I recommended to shoot for between 60-120 so that no matter your battery voltage (12, 24, 36 or 48) setup it would always work.
An MPPT charge controller Drops the voltage to around 14 volts to charge the battery but increases the amperage up to a max of 60 amps.
I would have put an intake and exhaust fan... Create much better air flow
You said you ran the pump until the battery ran down and the inverter shut down, but you didn't say how long it ran. Will it run long enough to complete the garden watering? Are you going to build a solar panel mount on the fence or a growing mount? Cool setup. Thanks for the video.
The battery wasn't fully charged to start. It ran about a half an hour, before the inverter shut down on low voltage, the battery was around 11.5 volts. So it shut down before it was completely drained. Since then, I have ran it a couple times, and with solar panels charging, it ran for an hour before I shut it off. It hasn't shut down on me since that first day.
Fuses, Fuses on the battery cables.
The BMS will shut off the battery if it goes over 100 amps.
Sorry, just saw your specs listing as 2 gauge. Why not use 2/0 or 1/0 for a 2000W inverter?
The battery only outputs 100 amps max. The cable is sized for the battery.
What namebrand of solar panels do you have?
Newapowa
The manual reset for low voltage on the inverter is a bummer. Is that a safety requirement for all inverters? Nice video! I've made Christmas light controllers in boxes just like that.
No, some inverters will reset themselves
Hi Evan, could you do a video on building and or buying bits and information on “Rotating Solar Panels” ? I have 30 solar panels using micro inverters on the house with 2 batteries in the in-house garage but I would like to add more. My double garage / shed has a gable roof but the two faces are in the wrong orientation to use. But my carport has a skillion roof, all I need would be the rotating solar panels and using your outdoor setup with micro inverters and battery. Is that possible ?
I think You are talking about a solar tracker. I am not sure what voltage the trackers work at. Each brand could be different. I will look into it.
You are mitigating heat - but what about cold - will this set up work for areas that get lots of snow and months of freezing weather?
hopefully the inverter and charger will make their own heat.
Soon
What was the total cost for everything? Box, cables, battery, inverter, solar panels ect..
When everything was 9n sale! It was around $1000
@@CountryViewSolar-DIYProjects Thanks for the reply. Do you think this could run one of those $600 mini splits on amazon? Looking at doing this but for a shed/cabin.
👍👍👍👍👍
👍
You really need to fuse your DC and GFCI on the AC side.
That could be done. But the battery BMS will shut off the battery on high current. And the outlet is GFCI
@@ArtWagoner you could get din rail mounted fuse holders to fuse the AC side.
Evan I don’t believe a ground rod is required for your setup. Look at the manual for the inverter. Also what was the total cost of your sprinkler Solar setup? I have a project for a pond oxygenation.
The Li Time Equipment with today's sale price is $588. The enclosure is $183 and the rest of the parts are around $225. So the total price would be around $1000.
I am not sure this inverter would start a pond aerator. Compressors can be extremely hard to start. I would suggest a bigger inverter.
why are solar panel making dc insted of ac ?
Solar panels make DC voltage. You have to install a micro inverter on the panel for it to make AC voltage.
but you are blocking the ventilation. No ?
No, the air flows just fine. This is exactly how it is done in industrial applications.
@@CountryViewSolar-DIYProjects Yeah, once you turned the box over I could see the fan housing had an opening in the bottom. Couldn't see that the first time. Great job as usual.
why are their so many commercials on your channel now?
Not sure. Seems like you get less, but longer commercials on the TV. Seems to vary depending on what you are watching it on.
Man, that mppt is Huge. Why not just take the wire directly to that junction box outside 🤨 instead as done..
less wires leaving cabinet. less holes in cabinet.
Why continuously screw people with 12 volt solar? You spend twice the money for half the power, then you spend as much on a 48 volt system as you do on your cabling to move current instead of voltage. You're doing people a serious disservice shame on you
For a small system like this. (2000 watts or less) 12 Volt can be more economical and will work fine. For Larger Systems, 48 volts is the better choice.
Did the system work for what he wanted? I didn’t hear him say “it can only be done this way”.
Excellent I'm going to build the same after seeing this. Cheers from OZ 🦘