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Jonski

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Everything posted by Jonski

  1. For future people who stumble upon this, it seems to be recommended to not earth the battery negative:
  2. If you've got a small desktop inverter, like a Victron 12/500 which has an earth connection on it, is it sufficient to just wire that to the earth wiring of the house? Would the battery negative also need to be earthed, like in this diagram: https://www.victronenergy.com/media/pg/The_Wiring_Unlimited_book/en/ground,-earth-and-electrical-safety.html#UUID-63a9c710-66e2-2c63-0d7c-d9345826267b And yeah, since this is South Africa there is always a mains connected charger connected to the battery as well (but an intelligent charger, so only charging if needed).
  3. The CT coil - is that supplied with the inverter?
  4. What's the catch with this: https://sosolar.co.za/index.php?option=com_virtuemart&view=productdetails&virtuemart_product_id=455&virtuemart_category_id=51&Itemid=1266 The So Solar power box with 80Ah LiFePO4, nice carry case and inverter for R9500? Specs are pretty good for the price, especially when compared say to the Jackery or the EcoFlow-River devices. Alternatively, I might think of building something myself with say the Hubble S-120 batteries, but since those batteries are already R6000, just getting an inverter/charger would push it very similarly to the price of these nicely packaged carry units.
  5. Thanks @plonkster for the detail. Strangely, I could see the text scroll pass in a serial console (for /dev/ttyUSB0) as my regular user (which is in the dialout group), but running VictronConnect as that user I still got no devices found $ ls -alh /dev/ttyUSB0 crw-rw---- 1 root dialout 188, 0 Jul 15 11:15 /dev/ttyUSB0 Note it is dialout and not dialup as the victron notes say. I then ran it as root, and also couldn't see my inverter! I wonder if the device stops sending over the serial console after a period of time? It wasn't in eco mode, but I also had no load attached to the inverter. Switched it off and on again, redid the console thing, and now it shows up both as the regular user and as root. Problem solved, more or less. Thanks. It seems to be a bit flaky (but at least I now can confirm that I have the right cable!) and can get there with some persistance. If I had to redo it I would buy the bluetooth cable, although it is really overkill for adjusting and tweaking the inverter cutoff voltage.
  6. To answer my own question - needed to run the app with "sudo". Sorry for wasting anyones time! Mustn't tinker late at night, this was kind of obvious with hindsight, but will leave the question up here for someone else to stumble upon
  7. Hi I've just bought a Victron Phoenix inverter together with a VE.direct to USB cable which is the source of my grief cable is this one. Note that it is not the MK3 USB cable. The thing is, the Linux Victron Connect software (v5.27) isn't detecting the inverter at all. I did add my user to both the dialout and dip user groups. The `lsusb` command shows a "ID 0403:6015 Future Technology Devices International, Ltd Bridge(I2C/SPI/UART/FIFO)". Do I have the right cable? Do Phoenix inverters work with such a cable to the computer? I have also tried installing VictronConnect under Windows10 on my wife's computer, but that gives a white window that just disappears! Anyone able to assist? Thanks!
  8. I think the Revov batteries are so-called "2nd life" aren't they? It would mean that there may be some wisdom to limiting the number of cycles. But I want to also see what other commentators here say, as lithium batteries are forgiving and can handle a lot of things that other batteries can't.
  9. To answer my own question, seems someone constructed an Axpert trolley already: https://www.diygeek.co.za/product/plug-play-1kva-pure-sine-wave-inverter-c-w-100ah-agm-battery/ Looks like they're charging a nice premium on that at R11.5, but it does look to be very neatly done.
  10. Or is there some way to mount it on a trolley like the Mecer equipment?
  11. That's another really interesting rabbit hole. However, I take it the only way to use it involves having an electrician connect it to your DB board, leaving it under the desk to run a computer with an extension cord sticking out for the TV would be a no no?
  12. I'm beginning to think I shouldn't have started hanging out on this forum. It started with a R2600 inverter, now I'm up to thinking of buying the entry R3000 Victron and perhaps the R2400 Victron charger, followed by the Victron bluetooth kit. And that is before I start over and do it properly! Although I have a suspicion properly is much more expensive than an Axpert. This is a deep and dangerous rabbit hole that I have fallen into. But am grateful for the recommendations and didn't realise there was a Victron in my price ballpark. Regarding coffee, since Plonkster apparently lives in the Cape like me, I can recommend the little hipster errr... Hario, plastic filter funnel and filters ( to tide yourself over). [1] or an Aeropress if you like hand cranking [2] [1] https://capecoffeebeans.co.za/products/hario-v60-pour-over-coffee-dripper [2] Makes a fine coffee. But not much change from R800
  13. The C-Tek you're thinking of, would that be a 5A charger? This is like the Outdoor warehouse model? I have also got an old "Stadium" that I use to charge the car battery (which is something I've had to actually use recently with lockdown). It claims it can do 6A in the fast charging mode, but when I look at the gauge it usually only shows 2 or 3. I assume a lead acid battery is a lead acid battery, and even a deap cycle one can be charged with such a charger, at least for a bulk charge?
  14. Speaking of 12V LED lights directly from a battery, I have made a few of these. Should have cut the wires a little shorter when I made this one which was my prototype. Replaced the light bulb holder with a proper fitting for a downlight. The plastic enclosures were cheap at R35, and accidentally ordered 25 instead of 5 of the little boost circuits from China, back in the days when we could order from overseas. Also was lucky to buy more powerbanks from Takealot in December when they had a promo. These give off a much more pleasant and usable light than the camping lanterns which make you feel like you can't see anything.
  15. Thanks to you and plonkster I'll probably go for the Victron. That does look like a no-brainer. Although, as you say, let's see if the 'adults' have any recommendations about whether or not I need pure sine wave. The main concern is that I will probably want to have the possibility to use my wife's 8 year old desktop computer (and accompanying Dell monitor that annoyingly only has an AC input). And perhaps occasionally run the TV at night if we go back to full on load shedding. I've always thought that computers fell into that sensitive equipment category for which you need pure sine wave.
  16. Yeah, you know how it goes, start off with only wanting to power one thing and then you end up with wanting to power the fridge and gate motor. I personally know folks who have dropped 100k+ in panic over load shedding, but in these 'uncertain' times I'm going to keep it small. For now. I hope. Who knows where the job market is going to go? To be fair I haven't described some of my setup - I have a DC-DC buck-boost gadget [1] that I already use to power a fanless 'NUC' type PC that takes DC , and it also powers my fibre modem and mikrotik router. Don't currently drive any monitors but need the machine to continue doing what it does and to stay connected to the internet during outages. So can relate to what you're saying about going full DC. The 100Ah battery was an upgrade to that setup. And then I thought, wouldn't it be nice to also have a monitor? And my laptop has shitty battery life, so why not have a way to keep it running in case I can't do 2 hours. And perhaps my wife's computer if I'm not charging my laptop or running a screen. So this is why I'm still thinking of a smaller inverter. Although, when you think about it does it have to be pure sine wave? Don't know, perhaps the 'adults' in the room will say that a good power supply will still be able to make clean DC. Let's see what they say! [1] https://www.mini-box.com/DCDC-USB?sc=8&category=981
  17. Hi I'm looking for a simple inverter 600W or so, pure sine wave. I have a 100Ah 12V deep cycle lead acid battery, and for loadshedding would like to be able to drive a computer and a monitor as well as various laptop chargers (or at night perhaps the TV and a light). I see that Takealot sell a Sky King 600W pure sine inverter for R2635 (and also So Solar at around that price). It doesn't have to have a charger (have an old Optimate 4, but that really is for batteries up to about 75Ah so will take longer to charge the battery). Having it cut out at low voltage to save the battery would be a feature I would pay more for! Ayone have suggestions?
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