Solarphile

With the experience you already have, is it not possible to do the work yourself and get a certified electrician to sign off on your work?

Was it Microcare themselves who installed the system, or perhaps an installer who just used their products? From my experience I have found Microcare to be very helpful. I have a 10Kw Microcare inverter that has been running nonstop for 4 years. I also have two Microcare MPPT’s that have also been running for the same time. My opinion is that they have fantastic products.

With my Microcare MPPT’s there is a feature where it tells you how much power was produced every day for the last ?? days. I’m sure many other charge controllers have a similar feature.

While I am practically off grid now, I wasn’t always in this position. Years ago I started with one 180w solar panel, a cheapie 20A pwm controller and a 105Ah deep cycle battery. All the rooms in my house were fitted with 12V 5W LED down lights that ran straight off that battery. I also had two 12V 10W LED floodlights into the back and front yards. The idea of having lights on everywhere changed the whole family’s mood and made the load shedding more tolerable. 😊 We would have missed lights the most during load shedding.

I tend to agree with this. I have noticed that after a few years, certain things I have soldered tend to start rusting. My theory is that the heat of soldering compromises the tin plating of the metal.

I was also looking at this same unit about a year ago. After much reading, research and a long inner debate, I decided to scrap the wind turbine idea and rather add more solar panels. For around R18k I am happily producing an additional 14kwh (average) per day. Judging from this thread I think I made the right decision.

This is exactly what I have done. Crimp and solder together. I feel confident that it is now right. 👍

This is where the problem appears to originate. I pulled the connector apart and it appears there was no solder and also I see rust inside. GVC was right too in that there was no crimping The Y-connector itself didn’t have an issue. The connection from the Y- connector to the cables going to the controller was the weak point. Thank you guys, this appears to be solved. 😁

Has anyone ever seen this before? I was asked to inspect a local farmer’s solar array which seemed to him to be underperforming. It was 8 x 150w panels that were only putting out about 550w on a good day. Everything looked fine from the outside until I checked the connector underneath the panels. The two-into-one MC4 adapter was melted. I replaced the adapter and found the panels to be putting out an acceptable 980w. I’m trying to figure out why this would happen....

You are going to get mixed feelings about this. While many forum members say that this communication is mandatory, I have personally never used this feature. I have also seen many installations by other installers without said cables. My personal reasoning is that the BMS takes care of balancing and protection from overcharge or overdischarge. The charge controller only charges to a certain voltage and the inverter switches off at a certain discharge voltage. For me that is good enough. The one area I could foresee a problem arising is if you had too small a battery bank and too big a solar array. In that case communication might help to keep the charge amperage to acceptable level.

I have to agree. I have been using lithium batteries for around two years now and have never had any communication. My inverter has a low voltage cut off at 48V and my charge controllers will not charge past 56V. What will communication accomplish that isn’t happening now?

Bobster, you’re the man!!

I am wondering the same thing. What difference does it make? 🤔

The red alarm light means one of two things. Either the battery is flat and needs to be charged, or the battery has been overcharged. How many green lights are on?

From the feedback on this forum, bloody good!