A Forum run by Enthusiasts of MidNite Solar

Lets all jump in and introduce our self.


My name is Ryan and I live off grid in central Maine ;D

Hi, I am one of the old farts that have been designing RE equipment for the past twenty some years at Trace, Xantrex, OutBack, MAgnum and MidNite

I'm boB, and like Robin, am also an old fart designer of this stuff but not quite as wise, old or smelly as Robin, yet.

I am trying though.

boB

do i qualify as an old fart????? ??? ??? ??? ??? ???

My name is David.
I live in rural NW Ohio with flat land and farms all aroud.

We have relatively inexpensive power (6.68 cents per kwh with a total bill of $63 last month for 491kwh consumed after I turned on my most recent panel additions), but a public utilities comission that is really incentivising PV right now.  After we ran the numbers, it would have been crazy for us not to put in Solar.  Our ROI should be under about 6 years with REC credits and not having to pay for the power we use.

Hi, I'm Eric, another old fart. 

In process of building a new lakeside residence that will be 100% off grid at mid latitude, for BC that is.
Been waiting for The Release for I forget how long as the MX60 will not cut it for the envisioned array size/voltages/distances to batteries I expect to have...

Still reading specs and comparing the different models of Classic ( and against the MX60 I have), decision coming soon...  looking like the 150 will be more than ample.

Hello,  My name is Victor and I live in Northwest Pa. I am an old fart too ,just retired last May. Have GT system commisioned last December.

Hello,

My name is Edward.  I've been farting for 40 years now.  ;D  I've got 7 children ranging from 1 year old to 12 years old.  I live in a canyon in Eastern Washington.  I live out in the country, but we still have grid power thanks to the fact that this area used to be a tiny railroad town.  Railroad was decommisioned many years ago and tracks removed, but the tiny community remains.  We've got a small farm of 80 acres, but there are 1000's and 1000's of acres of government land all around. 

I like to have backup means of power generation.  In part, it's a hobby to me, but also because I want to make sure that I can take care of my big family in case grid power is unavailable.  I've got an older Onan diesel 6kW generator.  I've got a 2kW wind turbine.  I've got 780 watts of solar panels here, but they are not yet set up. 

Hello I'm Chuck, been off grid for over 20 years now install my own stuf and help neighbors get their stuff working. Looking forward to using a Classic on my new home we are building.

Chuck

Hi,

I'm Roy and I've been living off-grid with wind and PV for 15 years now. I install RE equipment for a living and specialize in letting the smoke out of prototype equipment.
Then I enjoy watching the old farts stuff the smoke back in.... ;D

Hi My name is Mike Johnson CEO of Eagle Energy Solutions LLC
I've been building Hugh's type wind turbines for over 8 years now Have made many turbines of differeent sizes biggest so far is 17 foot dim and sold some too. Main office and show system is in Clearwater MN
at Fathers farm and I live in Rochester.  Mike  p.s. look at youtube under ibeweagle for up dates.

Hi,

I'm Julie and I'm one of the cuter and cuddlier members of this fraternity profession.  Which is to say, I'm not ugly and don't smell bad.  Yet.  Worked on a few huge installs, so I know I have the potential, just don't work on enough of them to smell all the time.

I started looking at R.E. in '05 because I was somewhere that had just been demolished by a hurricane.  Then I worked with some folks from IBM's Project "Big Green" and figured I could do better than what the other "Smart Grid" folks were doing.  Which was followed by being invited to leave IBM on account of I don't speak Hindi or Mandarin.

My goal is to make all the things that don't work together in R.E. systems, work together, work smarter, and do it for less than the competitors.  boB and Robin's kit looks pretty slick and I'm hoping to make it do tricks that it doesn't do already.

My name is Keith. I'm primarily a database consultant, specializing in a variety of obscure topics. I have been picking at the edges of solar electric for a while, primarily looking at what might work off grid in third world countries, in particular Haiti.

Two years ago, I installed small PV system at my younger brother's house outside of Hinche in the central plateau of Haiti. (My younger brother is an agronomist, funded through the Presbyterian denomination PCUSA) This system consists of two Kyocera 50 watt 12 volt panels, a Stecca PR2020, a pair of Trojan T105 batteries (I know, way under-paneled for the batteries). This system provides light (12 volt CFLs), powers a small inverter, and a couple of cigarette lighter style sockets for 12 volt adapters.

Last spring, my older brother (an electrical contractor) and I installed a 1,560 watt PV system for a clinic outside of Port au Prince. (The clinic is supported by a US organization called Healing Art Missions.) This system is described and discussed in the thread:

      http://www.wind-sun.com/ForumVB/showthread.php?t=9127

I have thoughts on several other places where PV systems would be useful.

Because doing service calls and remote trouble shooting is difficult, I am very interested in equipment that works well in hot, potentially humid environments.

Keith

Hey everyone, I'm Loren, I suppose I'm a bit of a young gun with a few years of PV design experience under my belt. I'm a solar forum lurker and I work for an online retailer for PV equipment.  I look at everyday as a learning opportunity and I know a few of you have taught me a thing or two either directly or indirectly, so thanks for that!

Hi, I'm John, 28yr old in Texas and am new to RE.  I bought a small motor coach RV that I'm rigging to live in full-time off-grid and eventually travel the west coast.  I've got 2x 325Watt Yingli panels and am hoping to be the first to install a Classic 150 in an RV.  :)
Cheers

Hello,

  My name is Dave B. located here in Western NY. I have been flying axial turbines for over 6 years and currently have a 16' 24 v battery charging system on a tilt up guyed 85' Rohn tower. My partner Dave M. and I own Royal Wind and Solar and along with the fabrication and installation of turbines, towers and control panels we also carve custom blades using the Gottigen 222 profile. We are very interested in the Classic controller as well expanding into solar voltaic. Thanks Halfcrazy and Hilltop for the chat, this looks like the place to be for the latest.  Dave B.   

Hi, Ann from Spokane, WA.  Involved in a first-time installation and not quite done, but close. Battery bank is installed and functional, wind turbines are installed but not turned loose yet, solar is installed but covered with black plastic at the moment, and the grid-tie piece is done (I think).  We've been through the first round of 'newby' electrical inspections and have almost finished the corrections they wanted.  Looking forward to seeing those things turn.  Love the idea of self-production.

Hi all,

My name is Dale and I'm living in an off grid home now which is owned by a friend. I helped install his Solar power system last year and this year I'm in the process of building my home near by in NE Washington. I'm collecting all the pieces for my solar system and all I have left to wait on is the Midnight Classic 200 controller. ;)

I researched a lot and experienced some but still have a ways to go in this off grid thing.

Hi,

My name is Debbie. Got an email that I needed to post here...LOL...or I would be deleted since I had no posts. Such much spam these days.

Hi,

I have a farm in northern Spain and am slowly building the RE system and small cabin.

I'm Jim Jarvis. Owner of APRS World, LLC. Live off grid in a solar powered house along the Black River in Wisconsin.

Hello All.

My name is matthew.  We are working on a totally off grid house in southern mexico.  This is really our first time around with solar PV.  I am a huge fan of solar thermal systems.  I have built my own solar thermal panels and systems. Much better bang for the buck.  I am actually a moderator of the Yahoo Group SolarHeat, and a frequent poster of YahooGroup SimplySolar.  Both are great groups but are heavily focused on Solar thermal vs Solar PV.  (Much more DIY friendly, much harder to hurt yourself).

System is to be installed within about 2 months.  Tenative major components are
20     205 watt panels.  from sunelec.com  Works particularly well for us as they are based in Miami and have direct shipments to a local port were the project is.

xw 6048 inverter
midnight solar combiner box, and main distrubition box. Basically all the non "smarts"
Batteries somewhere in the range of 800ah at c20 rate obviously at 48v.  Surrette-Rolls line of batteries not sure if the 4000 line or the 5000 line.  Price of 4000 line very enticing but extra heavy duty look and performance of the 5000 line is very sexy.

The real tentative piece of equipment is the charge controllers.
We were looking at 2 xw mppt,  but now that the classic is available I am re evaluating things. There is something nice about keeping all the smarts in the system one brand, I would imagine this would allow the parts to communicate between one another a bit better.  But I am here to see how the classic would integrate in the xw environment.    I do like the apparent flexibility of the classic.  But we will see.

Anyway not sure if this was a good introduction, I will be mostly lurking here.

matthew wright

Hello, everyone.  I'm Kent.  Professional engineer and solar system installer in NE Oregon.

Shipping the Classic has begun.  Congratulations!

Off grid, 6 miles into California northern coastal hills, do all my own installs, always trying to learn more about new solar hardware. 

I'm from Western Maine, We have a 24 volt system here with about 1300w of solar and working on a wind turbine went over and saw half crazy about a year or two ago to see his turbine and this new controller.
                                     Brian 

Hi everyone, my name is Brian.  My family has an off-grid cabin in central Pennsylvania.  We currently have a 510w solar array and are eagerly awaiting the release of the Classic!  Thank you midnitesolar.com for this community!

Mike B here.  Just setting up my acct.   I have a midnight Epanel which my installer found quite helpful.

Mike

I have a 2400w system in Central Maine that I installed in 1999 to provide power during construction.
I'm located at the very end of the power line here and have lots of outages.
Just recently converted from TFX2400 to GVFX2435 so I could see my meter run backward :)
Retired Elec.Engr & Programmer.
Wrote my own monitoring program for Outback Mate before any were available to purchase.

Hi, I live in NE Spain, been off grid since 2005, currently using a Flex Power One FP1-6 3048E with a fixed 2400 watt array. In the process of installing ex USA designed Aerodyne Longbow windturbine (Chinese purchased  manufacturing rights from the ashes of Aerodyne, with  Spanish Head Quarters,) ). Also installing a Lorentz single axis tracker for a further  9 x Sharp 162 watt Poly Panels in anticipation of the new Classic (should be ready in about 4 weeks to wire it in Robin). I was  retired but for some reason found enjoyment and success after installing my system in doing it for others. I now am very busy selling and installing Solar Equipment across Europe. Bringing enlightenment to Europeans  on installing safe reliable equipment which includes correct DC Disconnects and CB. Its a slow task but Im winning many of my fellow installers over.

Thus it will come as no surprise that I am a Midnite Retailer and installer in Europe. Looking forward not only to the Classic and Clipper but to the new Lightning Arrestors from MNS. Along with my best seller over here in the Mini Dc Disconnect and Battery Capacity Meter.

Many have been waiting a long time for the Classic , me I gave my self a break and decided only to Install my Tracker when the Classic shipped, So the shuttering is in (Xmas Week)and the post and concrete poor comes next week.

Best Wishes to Rob, Bob and all the staff at MNS,

Nigel, Prism Solar UK & EU 

Hi,

My name is Mike and I live, with my wife, Beth,  in the NW corner of Washington near Bellingham.  I have a 1KW PV system that has been growing for the past year.  I am looking to possibly replace my 2 Xantrex controllers ( C60 and C35) with the Midnight Solar Classic 150.  I have mismatched panels in the array, and I'm not sure that the Midnight Solar Classic will allow mismatched panels in the programing.  All of my panels are within +/- 3% of VPM. Any suggestions?  ???

Thanks,
Mike :)

The gas version is great for a small camping trip. Now build me one that is solar powered. I want the most bang for the buck here.

Imagine I spend 5 days in the city and 2 days in the country. I want to run my generator 8 hours a day at 1000 watts  or 24 hours a day at 250 watts.

How many panels?
How big a charge controller?
How many batteries? what size?
How big an inverter? (1000 watt inverter doh)
Obviously want digital readouts of what's going in and out.

I can wait for sales at various stores like walmart and  piece it together.  But maybe it would be cheaper to build it myself and install the whole thing in a box. or better yet in a small portable trailer.

That's what I want. a DIY towable solar generator. That has enough Gas (stored battery power to work all weekend.)

Now I was thinking:  250 watt  panel, a 20 amp charge controller. 20 12 volt 100 amp car batteries and a 1000 watt inverter.  But what if I wanted to plug the unit in and charge at home from AC? Or better yet. Wanted to juice it up from my small camping generator.  Now I need a car battery charger.

By my calculations I could get the hours of operation I want from a system like this.

So build this. List your parts and their prices. 

PS Guys could you make this it's own TOPIC in the forums please.

Thurmond,  Rural Texas 100.9 West by 33.4 North. Two solar arrays.

Quote from: Silvertop on January 03, 2011, 03:19:21 PM
Hi,

My name is Mike and I live, with my wife, Beth,  in the NW corner of Washington near Bellingham.  I have a 1KW PV system that has been growing for the past year.  I am looking to possibly replace my 2 Xantrex controllers ( C60 and C35) with the Midnight Solar Classic 150.  I have mismatched panels in the array, and I'm not sure that the Midnight Solar Classic will allow mismatched panels in the programing.  All of my panels are within +/- 3% of VPM. Any suggestions?  ???

Thanks,
Mike :)

The Classic works similar to all MPPT controllers. If there is a mismatch of modules, it will find the spot that results in the highest output of the two "humps". That means it would not be operating at the optimum voltage for either hump, but would average the two humps and act accordingly. IT is fine to have slight mis-matches in voltage, but not wise to have large mis-matches in VMP of different panels. There are ways to use oddbal panels, but it takes a bit of thought and some luck on panel mismatch.

I copied Robins response from a similar thread for you. You will find the wizard will not support mix and match pannels but the Classic will. It would just plain be to much work to try to have the wizard allow for all that. I would recommend any body that has a specific question like this start a thread and post as many specifics as possible and we will answer the questions.

Thanks Halfcrazy thats what I was hopeing would be the answer.  I tried working the online simulation and just was not sure if I could bypase the Wizard. It appears that you go into CHARGE and MODE to manually set up the Classic for PV is this correct ?   When I saw the Wizard looking for ONE ( pm) WATTAGE, AND ONE SERIES FUSE RATEING I THOUGHT I WOULD HAVE TO PASS ON THE CLASSIC......   :'(  The Classic has many features that allow me to grow, and more than makes up for a small loss in  (VPM ) . I just wanted to be sure before I ordered one   ;D

Quote from: Silvertop on January 04, 2011, 10:09:18 PM
Thanks Halfcrazy thats what I was hopeing would be the answer.  I tried working the online simulation and just was not sure if I could bypase the Wizard. It appears that you go into CHARGE and MODE to manually set up the Classic for PV is this correct ?   When I saw the Wizard looking for ONE ( pm) WATTAGE, AND ONE SERIES FUSE RATEING I THOUGHT I WOULD HAVE TO PASS ON THE CLASSIC......   :'(  The Classic has many features that allow me to grow, and more than makes up for a small loss in  (VPM ) . I just wanted to be sure before I ordered one   ;D

Yes, you sure can bypass the wizard.   That would be a PITB if you couldn't bypass it. I'm a manual kind of guy myself.
We will normally ship the Classic with the wizard coming up on boot unless it is part of a pre-wired system with known parameters and battery size etc.

3 button pushes into the wizard, just select "skip", OR, go through the questions to completion and it won't come up at boot again unless you want it to.
There is also a menu item where one can get back into the wizard to go through it again at any time.

The "charge" and "mode" menu has the necessary items to set up the Classic just like you saw in the demo.

boB

Hello, My name is Larry Liesner. I design and install grid tie and grid tie battery backup systems for a solar company in Westport, CT. I am also a dealer for Ampair wind and water turbines. And I am a marine electrician for sail and power pleasure boats which is where I started installing solar and wind on cruising sailboats.


Thanks!

I'm not sure whether this is wher I'm supposed to be posting, but I'm Paul, the owner of the Energy Store in Hollywood, Florida. I am interested in asking about the Classic in wind applications. Since we don't have a lot of wind down here, I'm not to well informed about the charge controller working with wind. Does it require a dump circuit? I like many of you am an old fart...

Hi,
My name is Rick.  We have been off the grid for 5 years and run solar and wind.  We have a neighbor using an MX-60 for a Kestrel e220/230 and were curious about the Classic's application for these turbines as well as the Bergey XL.1 48 volt.  Since we are planning to retire our SWWP Whisper 200 asap, we are looking at the available options.

Rick

Hello All, We live in Northern Arkansas. We built our place here in the woods four years ago and love it. We are off grid, capture our drinking water off of our roof and supplement water for gardening in the summer with our spring. We have one kilowatt of panels. We heat with wood that is growing on our 28 acres.

Hey Guys
  Marc here, I am a wind and pv installer/dealer out in Northwest Nebraska. We have been involved in the installation 250 kW of wind (122kW's of that in NW Nebraska) and around 11kW of PV.
   We have been using MNS gear for about 3 years now and have always been inpressed with the tight products. We look forward to getting our Classic to help out with a problem we are having with an off grid project. We installed a 48v ARE 110 2.5 kW wind turbine that came with a outback 80 amp charge controller that has a hard time kicking into absorb.
   We are installing 2.5 of pv to this system and my question is how well will the 2 Classics play with eachother? Will they be able to be networked together to set up which one will perform the absorb time on the batteries and be able to shift this chore back and forth depending on whether the wind is blowing that day or the wind is still and the sun is giving us 700 to 1000 Watts per m2.
 
Peace, WindFarmer

I'm a part-time RVer looking to become full-time in a few years.

I've done two PV installs -- a 250W (good enough to for minimum RV battery maintenance) and a 760W RV install.

That was on my old RV: http://gallery.me.com/hughes54311#100076&view=carouseljs&sel=0 (http://gallery.me.com/hughes54311#100076&view=carouseljs&sel=0)

New RV has no panels, but plan to have a 2 to 6-panel array in the near future -- hopefully with a Classic.

I document cranes in my day job: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjSHel2Dapg (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjSHel2Dapg)

Hi, I'm Dave Petrie from Australia and the one who demanded a 120V battery capability for the Classic and no doubt delayed the product release by at least 12 months (sorry Robin!). Now just need parallel-ability to work on a 20kW array...

Hi my name is Chris,
I live in Sewanee,Tn and have lived off-grid since 2002. All my charge controllers have been designed by these savant brothers the Gudgels ( first a Trace C- 60 , currently an Outback MX- 60), so since I am overdue on adding to my 1440 watt array , I have been waiting for what feels like years for this " Classic".
  I started with my system because I had an obsession with living off grid and one thing led to another and I began putting in systems for others- I install a few off-grid and a few grid-tie systems per year and use Midnite Solar products whenever possible - I am waiting for them to recover from their classic marathon and put together a nice off-grid inverter for us end of the roaders.
Bright sunbeams, steady winds and soaking rains to you all
Chris

Hello,

My name is Pete Mobley and I live in Spencer, IN.  I live off-grid using solar and a 20kw Kohler LPG genset for backup.  My system consists of:  two Xantrex SW5548 inverters (in series), two XW60 charge controllers, nine 190w Evergreen panels, twelve 210w Evergreen panels, and eight S-530 batteries.

I'm hoping to add wind and hydro in the coming years.  Also, I'm excited to swap out one of the XW60's for a MidNite Solar CC!

Hi there!  I've been selling RE products, including Midnite's excellent products for 3 years now.  I deal a lot with PV and wind, but my specialty is solar water heating.  My house in New England is solar heater with both solar air heating and a solar water heated fan coil heater.  It's amazing how well the sun makes heat, go figure!

Hi Clyde here, working in Saudi, building in NM with grid tie and battery backup and a Bergey XL1. The Bergey will be on a 30ft converted windmill tower, can't go higher because of county restrictions, wasting my 60ft tiltup tower, trying to get a variance to go 60ft. 

Hello, My name is Dustin, and I am an RE-holic. :)
I live in the coastal mountains of northern Ca, off grid. I own a small alternative energy business doing off grid installs. I also build axial flux wind turbines and PM and HV induction hydros.
My personal system consists of:
40x 50w First solar FS-50 panels to a fm60
12x 200w Evergreens to a fm80
1x 10ft axial wind turbine on an 80 ft tower
1x induction hydro @ 340 ft head and up to 70 gpm presently putting out 380vac 120hz 3ph 1450w
2x VFX3648s in an outback PS2ac-dc
24x L-16s
flexnetDC + hub 10, and a dedicated asus EEEPc with Wattplot Pro for monitoring

does the classic talk modbus rtu

hi forgot to introduce myself

Hi, I'm Andrew. I'm a younger fart -- at least I keep telling myself that. Been working in the RE field for a few years now starting out with fake RE in the guise of smart-grid nonsense, now working with some smart farts on real Solar/wind/hydro equipment.

Aloha,
I am what has been termed an "Gray beard" in this industry (and, wow, is it ever gray!)
I have been involved in AE for about 35 years, and have been an installing dealer here in Hawaii for the last 20.
Over the years, I have been honored, and delighted to be allowed to test lot's of manufacturers
equipment to sometimes spectacular destruction!
I have been testing stuff for Robin since his Trace days, and he
finally got tired of me messing up his fine black boxes, (white ones too!) so he has signed me up to be Midnite's first official Sales guy.
If he thinks this will keep me from blowing stuff up, he is sadly mistaken!
Cheers, to all!
Tom Carpenter

Hello, still running an SW here. I enjoy trying different charge controllers though... Happily I know nothing about wind.

Hello,
I am Doug, a designer at Midnite.
Previously with Trace and Xantrex.
Not offgrid yet, But eventually.

sparkey  here  have 60 years electrical experience   and now about 10 years with wind  have four towers on the farm  located at clearwater  mn.

Hello,

I'm Phil and I like solar.  Thank you.  Hi boB!

OK, a little more serious,  I live on Vashon Island and work for WSU Energy Program in Olympia.  I have a 3.5kW PV system on my house which can be viewed via:  https://enlighten.enphaseenergy.com/public/systems/LRrP302

Aloha.

Hello--   I'm Joel in northern California, I've been off grid for 30 years, on solar for 20.  I have been waiting for the classic to come on line for a while now so I can get my new 48 Kaneka solar panels hooked into my system so I can stop using a backup diesel generator in the winter.

Hi all,

I'm Dick, an electrical contractor in Vermont. I do RE work whenever I can.

Hi everyone, my name is Neil and I'll be installing a solar RE system in an off-grid cabin soon. I had everything mapped out but then Midnight Solar just had to go and release their new charge controllers and make me rethink everything ;)

-Neil

Hello

Hello,

My name is Dustin and currently researching the latest product for a solar and wind RE system for a hybrid-grid home. Been waiting too long for Midnight Solar Classic charge controllers.   Now I am waiting for the Clipper to prevent catastrophic failure and blowing my purchase up in the wind with my wind generators.   ;)

Hi My name is Mike Vincent here in the woods of Springfield MO.

Was off grid with a micro system for the first 5 years here, been back on grid for 7 years and hoping to go back off grid slowly.

Looking to use a Classic 250

Hello everyone:

My name is Carlos from Puerto Rico. I'm currently working on my own Home PV System. Hope this forum help me on my ongoing project

Hello,

My name is Brad. I've been living in Costa Rica for 16 years and currently work for Poderco Renewable Energy. Been installing and designing off grid systems for around 5 years and the CR gov. has recently implemented a grid tie pilot program. We love the Midnite solar stuff and are looking forward to getting the Classic down here!

Greetings,

We're off-grid since before forums (~'84).  Wind and solar (3.2 kW) hybrid system with 'opportunity' diversion to water pre-heat.  Operating, as Jim tells me, one of the longest running Sencenbaughs (1 kW) in the east.  Some background in wind.  Received Doctorate from SHK (School of Hard Knocks).

Been following Classic development for ever.  Building axial-flux unit.  Hoping to learn more about experiences with Classic & Clipper.

~kitestrings

Frank here from Brooklin, ME

We have both battery-based and grid-tied PV.  I recognize some names here from other forums...   :)

I'm also into EV's - Ryan suggested I join to keep an eye on potential announcements about how to use the Classic as a battery charger.  I have a 72 volt motorcycle conversion needing a good, adjustable high-output charger.

Steve here reporting for duty. Am an off-grid poser/wannabee from the protection of my 200A serviced grid powered home. Classic 200 en route.

Sir!

Looks like you have a winner with snow melting!  Adirondack Mountains have lots.  Dave Verner here, have both off grid and grid based personal systems. For grid connected systems I'm torn between AC coupled grid/battery based systems for maximum sell back, efficiency and battery life. Yet I get calls every week of people wanting to live off grid. Many have romantic thoughts about this yet can't part with their consumption. Soon they may have no choice.

Keep up the great work Robin, bOb, Mary & all!

I am a solar integrator with about 10 years of experience in off grid, grid tie and wind. also solar thermal.  one of my first customers has a dual outback power panel for off grid living with a large battery bank of surrette 6 volt batteries wired in three strings of 8 for 48 volt operation.  these are 5 to 6 years old.  in this cold snap they are working well but the first bank of 8 is getting very hot and using lots of water but the other two are not getting hot or using as much water.  he recently redid the wiring putting all new stainless steel connectors on them and soldering the wire ends.  He says he took off only one cable at a time so the unit is connected correctly.  just wondering what might cause this heat and use of water?  he had to put in two gallons in 8 batteries, seems like alot.  thanks

918-743-2299
www.harvestsolar.net

Not quite the old fart; but acclaimed in Maine Times--what's that, lol; as a computer pioneer in Maine.

Been doing alt energy for several years......Best to go to http://www.KatahdinEnergyWorks.com
to read up on the biz.

Also involved in integrated bio-gas refineries and small scale anaerobic digesters.  

Primarily do microhydro and tidal siting assessments; then permitting; then installations.

Frank J. Heller, MPA
KATAHDIN ENERGY WORKS
207.729.6090

Hi my name is Andy, a retired power electronics/EMC engineer.  I live in eastern Connecticut and have a 5kW grid tied PV installed and solar domestic hot water. Home heat is primarily wood.
For the past few years I have been building and experimenting with wind power.  My present wind turbine is a 10' diameter axial flux generator(Piggott style) with a TriStar-60 charge controller.  Batteries are 4@6V each Rolls S-530 wired for 24V.  The turbine is mounted on a 90' tilt up lattice tower.  I'm looking to improve wind power efficiency through mppt possibly the Classic.

Quote from: jmiggins on February 04, 2011, 02:34:56 PM
I am a solar integrator with about 10 years of experience in off grid, grid tie and wind. also solar thermal.  one of my first customers has a dual outback power panel for off grid living with a large battery bank of surrette 6 volt batteries wired in three strings of 8 for 48 volt operation.  these are 5 to 6 years old.  in this cold snap they are working well but the first bank of 8 is getting very hot and using lots of water but the other two are not getting hot or using as much water.  he recently redid the wiring putting all new stainless steel connectors on them and soldering the wire ends.  He says he took off only one cable at a time so the unit is connected correctly.  just wondering what might cause this heat and use of water?  he had to put in two gallons in 8 batteries, seems like alot.  thanks

918-743-2299
www.harvestsolar.net

Anywhere in the middle of any string, could be a bad battery, or jumper. Is there one cell in the "thirsty" string that never needs water ?

Soldered and Stainless don't mix in any way that I know of.   

Hi All,
My name is Ray.  I am a contractor, electrician and solar installer living 30 miles north of New Orleans.  Someday i would like to be living off grid.  I think the Midnite Classic could help me do that.  I am here to find out.

Oooo. Can't believe I missed the Classic debut by 2 months!  I'm from Colorado. Off grid, solar and a DanB built 10 foot axial flux wind turbine. Been stalking the Gudgel boys farts for several years now waiting for Classic to arrive. Can't wait to own one!

Hello,
New to the forum, although I have peeked in every so often for a while.  I have had solar PV on my own house for eleven years, and work as a renewable energy systems designer and integrator, mostly with small wind, PV, and battery backup systems.  Most of the time I am lucky enough that I get to fix systems other people designed wrong or installed incorrectly.  I have had a few small wind turbines over the years, and am presently looking for some land to build an off-grid home to raise my four children in.

Hey! I'm Raechel. I've been living off grid in Central Maine since 2008.

Hi - My name is Leigh Caldwell, I'm from Victoria in Australia & work in the maintenance side of the mining industry
I have a grid connect 2kW / SB2500 Sunnyboy system on my house & a 750W / MX60 /12v system on a motorhome.
I am very interested in the Classic & other products for future projects.
I enjoy the wealth of knowledge that you guys provide.

Cheers
Leigh   

My name is Maverick and I live in a Solar Homestead™ in central Texas.

I enjoy building lots of different types of systems and specialize in Off-Grid and unusual designs.

Thanks

Maverick

Sorry I didn't read this first...

I work at a newer RE company based in CT - PurePoint Energy.  We've done off-grid (my first system was on a mountain top in Haiti) but mostly net metering.  I've been in the electrical/electronics world for 25 years or so and am exploring this field.  We're having a lot of fun with this and have many very happy clients.  Our systems are getting better all the time and our approach is always to do what's right for the long term stability and maintainability of these systems.  Unfortunately I see installs from "trunk slammers" all the time that are not so good.  One of my goals is to help the industry move from hobby equipment to safe and professional equipment.

We live in a very competitive marketplace and we're never the "cheapest".

Safety does matter.

Hi All,

I'm Bob1, old fart and solar Bozo for 24+ years.  Lived off grid for 10 years or so and the off grid place is now our weekend cabin. I live on and maintain a three acre organic orchard in southern Oregon with about 100 mature fruit and nut trees.  Great to be on Midnite's forum!

Bob1

Hi everyone
My name is Richard and located in Timmins, Ontario Canada where winter is -40F and summer is +95F

I am Greg, living in Statesville, TN.  Haven't been grid-connected for a few years, just squeaking by on a couple of old telecom batteries, couple of panels and an inverter from Tractor Supply.  I bought a nice system a few years back, but life has gotten in the way of installing it until now. I wish I had kept better notes from back then....

My components are: MidNite combiner box (MNPV6 ?) and an E-Panel (of course!) along with a MS4024, ME-RC, ME-GS and a Tri-Metric. Oh, also a battery salvaged from a 24V forklift (I forget the AH rate but it weighs a bit over 1100#)  and 16 62 watt panels.  I am beginning assembly of all this and have a few questions I'll post in the appropriate sections.

Good morning,
Greg

greg,
fyi, if you had gotten that battery at the same time as the other items and failed to keep the charge up on it, i'm afraid it may not be any good now.

Hi, I'm Bob.

I am going to install an off-grid system on some property I have in northeast New Mexico.  During the Spring, Summer, and Fall we park our travel trailer there and enjoy the cool, quiet mountain environment.  The solar installation will be permanent on the property rather than mounted on the trailer.  The AC from the system will feed a power pedestal much like an RV campground.  I will also have a DC connection for the 12 volt side of things in the trailer.

Hello all! I'm Mark and I have an off-grid cabin in WV. I have a 7kw diesel generator but want to branch out into wind and solar.

My name is Robert.  I have lived off grid in North Idaho for ten years.  I am an Electrical Contractor and work in WA, ID, MT.  I specialize in off grid installations but have recently done 4 grid tie with batt. back up.
I have been fortunate enough to have worked with wind, solar and hydro installations.  We have 6 "phantom loads" ages 15 to 1 1/2.  I have encountered a lot of homeowner installations that were 90% correct but that remaining 10% really made it miserable to live with.  I focus on education thus empowering the customer with the rudimentary knowledge to assess the problem and I can often help them over the phone.  I have worked with almost every make and model of equipment out there.  We have 8 Mitsub. 130's and 6 REC 210's and a Bergey XL1 on a 105' climbable tower.
I am passionate about this work and love to help people gain independence.

hello everybody, im liu fang from Neware co. ltd (battery test systems manufacturer) in china.. Want to learn more here : )

Hi Ron here been off grid in New Mexico for 28 years in a passive active adobe. There is a radiant floor system and a 2 kw pv system outlined in the sig. area. Want to say right off I absolutely love the deco influence to be seen everywhere around the home page. The software metering app is something I wasn't even aware of. Got a Classic 200 volt controller bought initially because of the Darth /Deco look. I also needed a higher voltage controller but that's beside the point.

Also I loved how Robin USED to answer the phone when I called. Seems those days might be gone tho I don't call that often these days since the Classics shipped. If he still does that sometimes...... it's a rare thing in the biddniss world. How do I get the software for the meters? Got a mac version? PV people already think different. The mac platform and Midnight seem like a no brainer to me. Hope to get to know some of you over time.

Ron

Ron
Glad to meet you. Rest assured you can still talk to Robin if needed. He is 1 of about 5 of us that answer the phones and is available for the important stuff.

Hi, my name is Kenton

I'm a Brit living in Southern Spain, totally off grid for 8 years now. We live inside a National Park where we grow olives to make olive oil and natural skincare products. Running a mixture of solar and wind with diesel genny backup. System is built around Outback controllers with a Bornay turbine providing the wind. I was introduced to this site by Nigel at Prism Solar in Tarragona, Northern Spain. I am very interested in the possiblitiy of using a Midnite controller to manage my turbine. Bornay make good turbines but astonishingly bad controllers (I have had about 12 controller failures in 7 years, the latest being yesterday). Bornay are the world's worst company for customer service and I have jus about had it with them. So any advice would be very welcome.

cheers

Hi Kenton, I trust you have read the very detailed post in the "CLIPPER" section.  More there than one can absorb in one go.  I think you may find an answer there to your issue...

cheers
Eric

Hi,

I am Olivier (with an extra i). I habe been involved in RE systems for about 20 years now. I am based in France so you may have to excuse my English from time to time. I run a company called www.krugwind.com since 2002 and we have installed about 50 standalone RE systems and about 150 small wind turbines so far.

Olivier

Hi All,

Its not my real name of course but my friends call me "th' Scroad" or just "scroad" for short (more on that later...) anyway I'm a professional software developer of about 20 years, and now the chief architect of a our company's core product.  I don't know a damn thing about electrical engineering or alternative power, but I've always been curious in the back of my mind over the years.  I live in Central Phoenix Arizona with my 10 year old son and a couple of ne'er-do-well housemates, and I'm trying to sort out the in's and outs of how a PV system works and what would be best setup for me here in Phoenix.  Please be patient with me as I'm a noob, but I tend to catch on pretty fast. :)  I'm interested in setting up a system that handles my household needs most of the time and if there is surplus, that feeds the grid so I get credit from the power company.  I'd also like to make it capable of using a generator switch over or for power assist during high usage periods (This is more for my own edification more than real practicality but I'd just like to know how to do it.)  Glad to be on the forum and looking forward to hearing from you all.

Hello everybody,,, :)
Here am going to introduce myself to all the members...who have having good time here.....
Well what would i say about me am Frost from new york...water street.....doing and learning more and more about SEO.....
I hope that i'll have a very good time with you guys as long as i'll be here with you.
Thanks.

Hi All,

Real name is Brad, and I operate a small solar business in northern Vermont.  Mostly small stuff, up to 5kW, and about 1/2 off-grid.  I also do quite a lot with solar thermal, including both domestic water ad heating systems.  Been in the solar biz for only about 5 years, and while I plan to become an old fart, only my feet stink, even when I do get sweaty!

About to move into a timber frame and straw bale house that's been in the works for over 3 years.  Eventual plan is to get as close to zero energy as we can -- solar heat (a big challange), solar hot water, and GT PV with battery back-up -- as soon as cash flow allows.  BTW:  not much cash flow in small-scale solar these days, so that will probably be next summer!

I appreciate all the smart folks who are willing to share their hard-won experience, and whenever I can contribute something useful, I'll try to pay it forward.

Clear skies,

Brad

Hi Folks!

My name is Mike, (yes, I know, another one :P) and I use a lot of Midnite products in the course of my work.  I design, sell, and build battery backup systems, often incorporating solar and other renewable power sources.  I deal with grid-tied, off-grid, grid tied with battery backup, and AC coupled systems.  I'm joining this forum because a lot of you folks run into some of the same technical challenges I do, and I wanted to bounce ideas off of you, get ideas, and give my opinions occasionally. I'd love to give advice when I can. Cheers!

Hello,
Gin from TX. I am a total solar newbie but Midnite Solar products came highly recommended by someone I trust. Look forward to learning more and getting our DIY setup up and running.

Hello All,
I guess you can call me Joe, Seven miles and a ton of money from Grid power we live in eastern Oregon.  Nine years back My wife Connie and I placed a cabin on some acreage that we have in the pine timber. I started with 6 180w evergreen panals mx60 charge controller 4 12volt battries and zantrex inverter. It did not take long to change this out for a higher voltage system. Two years ago we built a new house on the same property. We purchased 8 210w Sanyo panals on a wattsum tracker, midnight combinner box, Flex max 80 charge controller, 6048zantrex inverter and 16 s530 Battries. Our house well is 520 foot deep with the water level at 430' down. I installed a ballance flow system to reduce the high torqe to start the pump. This past summer we were hit by lightning 15' from our the room that houses our solar equipment and right directly over the wires from the panals. It totaly fried everything. In the proccess of replacing things I decided to replace the flexmax 80 with the classic 250.

I would like to give a plug to the folks at midnight solar it is so nice to call and talk with a person that designed the product  you are working with.
                                                                                                 Joe   

Hi folks. My installation is a motor coach with a real working panel tracking system on the roof. No, this one doesn't move by time nor look like it's going to rip the roof off any minute.

Just for example, I harvest between 1.9 and 2.0 KW per day with the tracker and 3 100 watt panels. So say my Classic 150 so I can prove it. I'm getting ready to put a second on the roof because you can never have too much powah.

I have the entire system, including panels to under 120 pounds. So far the rig has been down what can only be described as the worst wash board road in the United States. A wrong turn onto a national Park campsite and 3 miles of shaking so bad I though the cabinets would fall off insures it is strong. After that more than 3000 miles over just about any kind of road you can imagine, high winds, blasts from big rigs, rain, some light ice and everything is like it was built.

I put the Classic in since having the best is what it is all about. I am the 1% of RVers. Just kidding but why go with something else.

Thank you for another fantastic posting. Where else could anyone get that kind of information in such a perfect way of writing thank all of you.

Hi All,

My name is Steve and I live in New Brunswick, Canada.
Since retiring, I have been enjoying solar projects, as a fun hobby. Started with solar air heaters, then solar hot water and now beginning pv. Just purchased a Classic 150 to support ~ 800 watts of pv  generation and hopefully growing.

Lots to learn........anyone using Linux in the group?

regards,
sb

Hi There,
My name is angela and I am living in the Dominican Republic. As we have a lot of sun here we thought it would be a good idea to have a solar system for energy,.... we forgot, that we don't have to many experienced people here to install it, ... :-) that's what made me come to this forum. My knowledge until now. Sun in, electricity out, ... but it looks like our system doesn't work that way ...... so I am here to learn more :-)
Saludos from the Caribbean to all of you!!
anni

Hi,
Names Frank, from Melbourne Australia, Owner of 2 PV systems, my home have a 3.04kW Grid tie (16x190w, 3.3 kW SMA) and for my weekender have a 2.28kW stand alone system:

12 of 190 w Tianwei Monos
Midnite Classic 150  charge reg (Replaced Outback MX60)
8 of 600 amp hour Surrette flooded cell battery bank (24 volt  4x2)
2400w SEA 24v Inverter Charger

I updated my charge regulator to  the classic 150 due to its Internet interfacing, and best bang for buck feautures, will in future use a Wireless 3G route at my weekender location and monitor the classic 150

Regards
Frank

Quote from: Halfcrazy on November 24, 2010, 07:09:37 PMMy name is Ryan and I live off grid in central Maine ;D

Hi "you r Halfcrazy" - my name is "michael" and am addicted to solar too.

Am familiar with Maine & curious - do you have any ROADS?

Have 6, to start, Astronergy CHSM 6610P-240 (yet to be) roof installed "E/W Landscape" on Unirac's SolarMount standard rail with an Outback's GTVFX3648 & FlexMax80 cc. I LIKE ur E-Panels, have one ON ORDER today, still working on how to put this all TOGETHER and, in meantime, have new power-saw chain as trees close to house need to come down!

This season is best time to install, the Winter Solstice this year is Dec 22nd, can u even c the SUN at all (? ? as it's very low here Atlanta, hope it comes back)

My name is Ted and I travel about 6 months a year with my wife Ruthy in our 38 ft motor coach.  I just this past week finished installing 4 - 220W panels on the roof and a Classic 150 controller.  I installed flat with no tilt.  I got 3.0KW yesterday here in Quartzsite AZ.  I chose the Midnight controller for it's internet capability.  I work from my coach 3 days a week over the internet and wanted to be able to interface the controller and be able to monitor it while the coach is in storage, out in the sun of course.  I read a LOT about off grid solar on RV's before I started the install but I am still learning.  Thanks for the help I received on this forum and thanks in advance for the help I will need in the future.  Ted  8)

Hi group,
  Pete (and Sonya) in central Virginia (37/35yo). I currently am a self employed Excavation Contractor, but come from a background of component level electronics, PLC, motor controls, robotics, PC repair ect.. from a family of residential house painters in central west coast of FL. Sonya is in the Specialty Coffee industry, with roots in FL as well. As the construction market is down, I am currently seeking certs to move toward PVSolar Sales and Installation services.

  While always a solar fan, just recently has it become affordable for us. I "bought in" 3kw of panels, and just put in order for i guess its about 6-7kw more. We currently live with just 1.2kw(6 panels) out to work, and have all of our 120v circuits off grid, with the ability to go on grid should we get a couple days of overcast. All 220v stuff is still on grid.

I am all the while, also, personally building our future home just some miles from here. It will be a modest/contemporary 1700sq for us 2 + child, on 12 acre. Excellent/Pretty Darn Good solar "window", and im not sure of my want to grid-tie. With the obvious surplus above our raw electrical needs, i had always wanted to mess with DC water/"storage media" heating, as well as agri-business, winter cropping, so, some extra, would never be a bad thing. Maybe an electric car? I'm a bit stretched thin at times, but as my wife reminds me, "I wouldnt have it any other way" ;-)

Way to go, MidNite!
Your product line looks like the stuff I was looking for all along!
 

Hi All!
I am Electrical engineer. I want increase my knowledge so I join here. Hope everybody help me.

Hello,
another one of those off-gridders. Came here to the "old homestead" in 1979. My 1st solar module was a used/prototype ASI 16 2000 Arco, 32 rated watts $400. We have added to our system when we had the money and coasted when we didn't. More than 7 kW PV now and our major electric use is for irrigating our extensive vegetable garden/Orchard from May till October. The rest of the year we mostly have more electricity than we can use. We have never had a backup generator or any propane appliances, as we have a commitment to renewable energy. Passive solar heating, evacuated tube solar hot water, and several solar cookers round out our solar energy use. I dearly love my Classic charge controllers, and I have had many other ones over the years, but this time it's true love.       Lance

Hi, I am Don a real old fart, been around solar since "78"had 680 sq ft of thermal solar on a 3400 sqft  house solar mass of 0ver 7 tons with piping in the floor, made my own controller.  If you have ever had a 500 gal tank of boiling water  taking the paint off your downstairs ceiling and walking through down stairs feeling like you are in 3 foot of hot water and your son has all the windows open even  in zero weather. You have to modify fast.  anyway I have been a luriker for years.  Move 5 times since the solar house.   Now live in Western Co.  on a farm putting together a new system 12ea 195w solar( delivered yesterday from sunelec ), 18 thermal solar panels used, 2 old electric generators, 1 propane generator,2 solar disconnect switches, midnight classic 150,XantrexSWplus2524, Xantrex pure sinwave 1k inverter, Xantrex T240,Xantrex C40, Trace DC disconnect, 4 or 5 other solar electric panels, 2 sets of 24 volt used AGM batteries, oh I forgot a 1kw wind turbine.   Not enough hrs in a day, need to first build fence to keep the goats in ---like about 2 miles worth.   This is a great site, keep the good work. 
Don
Ps I hope the fishing off Vancover Island is still great, son and I caught a bunch of Kings one day 35 to 25lbs.

Quote from: emusing2 on March 27, 2012, 06:10:50 PM

Ps I hope the fishing off Vancover Island is still great, son and I caught a bunch of Kings one day 35 to 25lbs.

Still plenty of fish around here !!   Common down !

boB

Hi all

Mike E here....VN era vet...tinkerer in many trades....retired Postal Electronic Tech.

I started working with solar on a small scale after the 07-08 financial probs because I sensed that it was possible that the US might turn off the lights, and I didnt want to be stuck with a lot of tools and conveniences that wouldnt run anymore.......beginning with basic battery charging at 12 volts...playing with standalone 12v 2500 watt inverters........managing to run a freezer for 2 hours before the battery crapped...heh.

So I have learned a lot of things the hard way...letting the smoke out of lots of Chinese electronics...heh

I am working on a a semi-portable shop, which is a 40 foot shipping container, located in my intended retirement state of Maine....it is to be self powered and able to support a 50 amp, off grid load....sharing power with the farmhouse that it is parked next to. I have about 3kw of panels with 400w set up so far....

Its too bad that I didnt discover Midnite earlier in my trials or I might have saved some smoke.

I am here to learn..lots to read here
Mike Eaton
KD2BRS

Welcome Mike hopefully you can find some good stuff here.

Ryan
KB1UAS

Howdy Y'All,

  Greetings from Columbus GA.

I'm sitting here looking at 10 suntech 190 watt panels, magnum pae e-panel with 4024 inverter, classic 250 charge controller. 2 sundanzer chests fridge/freezer.

Later this month I'll recieve my battery bank from zapp works, 500 amp, edison nickle cores (95% pure NICKLE CORES?...GENERATIONS OF FUN!).

No chance of a wizard opition for NEFI batteries in the works is there?

Novice here....I cant spell soler.

Going to wean myself off of utility power slowly while I learn my system here in Columbus, then moving to the woods in SC, building a cabin next to a creek that I'll be getting about 500 watts an hr. of power from...(homemade system).

Lots to learn, I'll be lurking for awhile.

Mark

Tuned in, turned on, and finally dropping out ater all these years!

Hi there,

I'm in the process of installing an off-grid solar system.  It's not completed until the second string of panels is installed and the cable gets put in from the Magnum Inverter to the breaker panel, but I can control my Ecogen, charge up the battery bank from nine 235W Day4 panels, and put a 120V load.  I have a new fascination with changing numbers...    :o
 
We live in the suburbs near Vancouver BC and want to cut the ties to the utility company.  The work is being contracted out but I'm going to have to get up to speed asap on the products and process I'm jumping into.

Cheers
TC

Hi,
David from Auckland New Zealand. Took me 5yrs, much reading of Homepower and several trial runs before going off-grid in Apr 2001.
Heliotrope CC120, 52 Siemens M55 PVs, Trace 3024E, Century Yausa 1025Ah 24V (6 4v cells). Before that wasted lots $ on OZ suncycle 2V  cells that died, 12 R220s  2 years, SEA 2.2 kw ineverter  that melted and  Trace TR2424e whose square wave AC blasted my washer and TV.
Gave up on wind turbines as had little wind here Air303, 403, X, Southwest 500and Soma 1Kw that had neighbours looking for the Huey chopper.
MX60 in 2006, changed panels to Suntech 120w, 1.5kw. Was happy
2 months ago read ad for Midnite and wanted to try wind turbine again. Bought cheap turbine Missouri general  (with plans to get HY2000) and Classic 150. So pleased with it that I plan to  replace MX60 with the 150 and get 200 for wind turbine.
Still using Trace 3024E and Century batteries good after 12 years.
Local supplier sold 150 made 7/11 so old firmware. Pleased that firmware D/L provided but wondered if  hardware has been updated.
Strange that so many ppl here proudly announce 'old fart'  status.  How does one qualify for this?
Still hardly any wind...
cheers.

dgd,
i am confused why you would go back to wind power if you haven't any wind? as good as the classic is it does not create power, but only processes power it is given. nothing in equals nothing out. put some more pvs in and i think you'll be happier.

hi Niel,
Gave up on getting any useful power from wind about 2003 after several neighbours' trees matured but recent storm collapsed one on neighbours home. So trees that blocked me removed others severely pruned. Not lot of wind but on recent overcast days with ~ 1kW hr pv input for whole day I got 1.4kW hr for day from turbine. Was happy with that. You correct about pv, that's my real power about 7 to 9 kW hrs per day
dgd

Hi, I'm Maddy, 64 yo granny, off grid with gennie for 8+ years, got 800 watts pv a year and a half ago.

We're in NE Arizona, nearest neighbors 2 miles, nearest pavement 10 miles.

magnum ms2012, soon to be ms4024
FM60
790 amps 12 v Crown batteries, soon to be 395 amps 24 v
8 Dupont 100 watt 75 v panels, plus 2 not yet hooked up
6 Suntech 200 watt panels to be added


Trying right now to decide whether to ditch the FM60 and go with a Classic 150 or just add another FM 60 or 80....

compare prices and features, IMHO the answer is clear as to the superior product...  try here http://www.solar-electric.com/

Hello all

Another Mike here from South Carolina.  Trying not to burn my house down !!


Just got the classic 150  8)

Hello, my name is Allen, and I'm (currently) in west suburbia Chicago, IL (USA).

I have enough space in the back yard with proper sun to do a pretty large PV array on the back side of my proposed greenhouse ( I currently expect to have room for up to 31 of the 250+ watt sized panels), & I'm thinking that it is time I seriously looked at what it would take to go off-grid here.

Since I plan to retire to an off-grid location, this should be good practice for me, too.

Quote from: Allen15 on September 20, 2012, 11:52:01 PMa pretty large PV array on the back side of my proposed greenhouse

panels on the back side of greenhouse?!?  In what direction will the panels face?  Will the plants and the panels be competing for the same sunlight?

--vtMaps

Hi my name is Mike and live in Ont> Canada> i am installing a system at my cabin.

Hi, There,

my name is vicente, I write this with solar energy and living off-grid (in the gredos mountains, valle del tietar, spain) since 2005 ...
my installation consists of outback equipment since 2007:
VFX3024E
two FM60 (I sold my legendary MX60 that could not interact at 100%  with the new mate3, but is working in Cadiz (Spain) with no known incidence)
FlexNet DC
Mate3
HUB4
24v 985AH c120 opzs exide classic solar
Lorentz solar tracker ETATRACK 1500
Kyoceras with wp 1560
biodiesel genset

I'm an engineer and telecommunications technician after almost 30years working in companies like Telettra, Alcatel, Nokia ... I decided to go the renewable energy, wastewater treatment and bioclimatic architecture ...

I was also the Spanish navy radio operator and in hamradio since age 14, as many of you (eb4bsq)

I'm very interested in how midnite rises and reaping more success every day, so I'll be around here yet ...

Best regards

Quote from: unicornio on October 17, 2012, 06:04:22 PM
I'm very interested in how midnite rises and reaping more success every day, so I'll be around here yet ...

Welcome to the forum.  Its good to see you here.  I have enjoyed seeing your posts over at NAWS and Outback.
--vtMaps

Quote from: vtmaps on October 18, 2012, 04:52:14 AM

Quote from: unicornio on October 17, 2012, 06:04:22 PM
I'm very interested in how midnite rises and reaping more success every day, so I'll be around here yet ...

Welcome to the forum.  Its good to see you here.  I have enjoyed seeing your posts over at NAWS and Outback.
--vtMaps

thanks so much, vtMaps, I also follow your posts on other forums! ...
I love finding THE synergy in the forums! ...;-)

hi, my name is Jim and we live in the coast range of Oregon this time of year sunshine is not so good, I wish I had found this forum much sooner, I've got 1650 watts on a rack 75 feet from the house coming to a morningstar non mppt controller  to two rolls s-530 batteries with a 3000 watt mod. sine inverter, when the weather was nice no problem but now not so good,  how much more charging would a good controller like the midnight classic get me, this is off grid used only as a back power system but some days it won't even run a tv.

Hi, it depends on the configuration of your whole system. 

A few more details are needed to even attempt to answer your question...

might  help to post it in one of the other categories...

jimk,
you may benefit from arranging the pvs differently to go through an mppt controller, but do understand that no controller makes up for poor insolation. if the sun is not there, it's just not there and the sun is where you get the power from. a good controller in the right arrangement of the pvs just makes for better efficiency of the power provided by the sun and no controller creates it.

New here and to Midnite products.  I ordered the Classic 200 yesterday.  The reason for gettin the 200 over the 150 is I plan on using this with rectified 120vac from a listeroid at times.  Most of the time it will be used with solar input.  Is there anything I need to do before I install this?  Updates?

Hi Gang. 

My name is Al and have moved full-time to a sunny little island (off grid) off the coast of BC Canada.  For various reasons I've had an opportunity to use various different controllers over the last two years and have finally tried a Midnite Solar 250.  Not sure why it took me so long...  I love it and I love the fact that this forum exists with the involvement of the brainiacs (meant in the nicest way) who make this cool gear.   Customer support is everything to me, well a great controller such as the 250 means a lot too, but I'm hooked on Midnite stuff.  Good work you guys and girls! 

What would I like to see Midnite Solar do next?  Hmmm... thanks for asking.  Since you have definitely nailed the branding concept / brand recognition and lead the pack in that aspect, I'd love to have some cool Midnite Solar decals/bling for my toys.  Also how about offering a owners/users course for us ...  would be a blast.  Oh yeah, and more 'how to' videos starring Sasha!!!   :o

Again, good work, digg'in my Midnite Solar stuff...

:-)

Greetings. The farts are fresh here every day. It's only me that's old. My first and introductory post. After lurking for a long while to watch the progress in the firmware of the Classic CC it finally appeared that it was mostly working right so I pulled the trigger and recently received a Classic 150 SN5767 with the latest firmware. While I am very impressed with the product, the documentation is another matter and hence the need to finally register here. A major factor in my decision to go with the Classic has been the demonstrated willingness of the Midnite team to address customer needs here on the forum.
About me. I'm celebrating my 20th year since last drawing a paycheck as an EE/Test Engineer mostly in the power generation industry. Back in the day I also did a bit of DC/DC conversion design so I have a bit of appreciation for what would be the heart of any MPPT CC.
The past decade or so I could be best described as a subsistance farmer which suits me just fine.
I am in the last house on the end of a powerline that only has a few customers in the last mile. I thus have no expectation of rapid restoration of service in the event of a regional widespread ulitity outage. My main concern is maintaining refrigeration with everything else a luxury. My backup consists of 12X Trojan L16RE2V cells along with an assortment of inverters and chargers. While I own a couple kW of PV, most are still crated. Those along with the charge controllers now including the Classic 150 are held in reserve and it will suit me fine if I never have to deploy them. All for now. I'll have a few questions coming for the Classic CC subforum that have arisen during the checkout of my new Classic.

Welcom to the forum Mr. Taterman !

Yes, we know about the documentation.  Resources are tight BUT this IS being worked on !

Don't forget to check out our fine videos that help to explain a lot of things.  Adding more of
those too as we get the chance.

boB

Quote from: Sweet Taterman on January 26, 2013, 04:12:22 PMMy backup consists of 12X Trojan L16RE2V cells along with an assortment of inverters and chargers. While I own a couple kW of PV, most are still crated. Those along with the charge controllers now including the Classic 150 are held in reserve and it will suit me fine if I never have to deploy them.

If you are not using your batteries, or charging them frequently, you are basically killing them slowly.... not sure if I am interpreting your statement correctly, but just a heads up if I am - keep those puppies charged!

Quote from: Sweet Taterman on January 26, 2013, 04:12:22 PM
..
A major factor in my decision to go with the Classic has been the demonstrated willingness of the Midnite team to address customer needs here on the forum.

Yes, same here, I have been pleased with the ongoing support.

Quote
..
My backup consists of 12X Trojan L16RE2V cells along with an assortment of inverters and chargers. While I own a couple kW of PV, most are still crated. Those along with the charge controllers now including the Classic 150 are held in reserve and it will suit me fine if I never have to deploy them.

"Holy Classics in Boxes boBman"   :o     Another believer in keeping their Classic in the box, the Midnite marketing wizards do it again... :)

But seriously Sweet Taterman (kumera man?) Vern's advice is important. Flooded acid batteries such as the L16 will gradually discharge and die.
You need keep them alive with just a trickle of power. Even if you just unpack a couple of those panels and wire to the classic then to the batteries then all should stay good.
dgd

Quote from: dgd on January 26, 2013, 06:21:35 PM

Quote from: Sweet Taterman on January 26, 2013, 04:12:22 PM
..
A major factor in my decision to go with the Classic has been the demonstrated willingness of the Midnite team to address customer needs here on the forum.

Yes, same here, I have been pleased with the ongoing support.

Quote
..
My backup consists of 12X Trojan L16RE2V cells along with an assortment of inverters and chargers. While I own a couple kW of PV, most are still crated. Those along with the charge controllers now including the Classic 150 are held in reserve and it will suit me fine if I never have to deploy them.

"Holy Classics in Boxes boBman"   :o     Another believer in keeping their Classic in the box, the Midnite marketing wizards do it again... :)

But seriously Sweet Taterman (kumera man?) Vern's advice is important. Flooded acid batteries such as the L16 will gradually discharge and die.
You need keep them alive with just a trickle of power. Even if you just unpack a couple of those panels and wire to the classic then to the batteries then all should stay good.
dgd

Right !  You will want to give them a good absorb charge once in a while at least to keep them de-sulfated.  Maybe
once every couple weeks at least for a couple/few hours.

boB

boB, Thanks for the nudge on the videos. I am someone who typically ignores videos. I did find that the VariMax video as well as some of the Menu Items videos clarified some things that I could not figure out by trial/error.

Hi I am Bob Lienhart, aka BobL, I live at Village Terraces, a reasonably well-developed neighborhood at Earthaven Ecovillage, located in Western North Carolina.  Our neighborhood shares an off grid system comprised of about 3 1/2 generations of panels all tied into 4 new Classics.

The oldest strings are 12 Sharp NT-185 UI panels, paired up and feeding about 68 volts to a Classic Lite 150.
The second string are 8 Kyocera KC175GTs and 4 Kyocera KD 185P panels, in groups of 4 feeding about 91 volts to a second Classic Lite 150.
The third and fourth strings are brand spanking new Suntech STP240-20/Wde.  8 panels on each string feeding about 110 volts.  One string feeds a Classic Lite 200 and the second feeds a Classic 200.

The latter Classic 200 has an MNGP and the rest MNLPs.

Internally wired and configured with Follow-me and networked through a 5-port switch and running the Local Panel App.

All of this charging a pair of Solar One/Hup SO-6-85-27/24 1105A/H (6 hr) batteries in parallel at 24 VDC.

System also has a Honda Inverter/Generator and we are tied into a micro hydro station.  Both of these alternative power sources feed a Trace 4024 Inverter.  This inverter will soon be replaced with a pair of 3500 watt inverters.  The second of which will be heating a 120 gallon electric hot water tank once the batteries get topped off.  This hot water tank will have a heat exchange loop from a wood fired stove.

Complexity at its best,

BobL

Hello to all, My name is Dave  I live in Alaska & Hawaii (soon in Hawaii all the time.   Smile) Live off grid,  Installed mid size solar system in Hawaii
& can't seem to stop adding to my system or learning about solar systems..  Geeze maybe I'm a little crazy...   
Happy Thoughts
  Dave

Hello, my name is Shane.
My wife and I are building an earthbag and cob home that will be completely off-grid. We live in East Central Alberta, Canada.
Our system includes 9 Rec 230 watt panels, 4 Surrette 6CS17 (540A/hr at 20 hr), and an Outback FlexPower One with VFX3524 inverter and an FM80 charge controller. I also have some Midnite components such as disco combiner and surge protector. My system will be installed over this summer.
I am seriously considering swapping out the FM80 for a Midnite Classic 150 so I can safely use my nine panels in 3 strings of 3.

Hi I am Jim Skau a renegade film mixer that settled in Andalusia (Southern Spain) some 7 years back, where I converted my profession to solar installations.
We live in 1000m height on the southern slopes of the Sierra Nevada in Granada province. We are off grid and partly self sufficient with the main crop being vine grapes & cherries plus the resulting products.... Hooch & Wine.

I'm not the most technical guy (I've learned a lot on the Arizona wind & solar forum) so my main claim to fame is advising people on how to get the most out of their solar systems by splitting the loads up during the afternoons when the panels are idling. 
We try to keep within the spec of the NEC when installing our systems.  We use the NEC because such guidelines are virtually non existent here in Spain, but as we all know the fire hazards are well present.
Apart from all this we try to work as little as possible (meaning lots of inventions in easy irrigation systems/self feeding chicken runs/ mulched veg gardens with automated drip , and so on) and enjoy a life away from the ever maddening modern consumer humdrum.

As Voltaire's Candide says: "you should tend your own garden"

I am truly looking forward to following this forum and get to know some of you guys.

Jim Skau, Solar chapuzero

Roy here I went off grid when I retired on January 1, 2013 Single don't drink much never smoked, I do not chew I have a 3BR house and 60a back in the sticks. Nearest neighbor is 3/4 mile no cell service but I did get internet service last week. 17 trees later I get it from 6 am until 10 pm. Just moved in in January and am repairing the place.I worked construction for 40 years. Will start a garden next year I already have apple trees. I Can get two radio stations starting last year. Isolated canyon and a semi dead end road. 4000ft and heavily forested. No elect I heat with wood and cook with wood. But I will break down and put a small 2 burner propane stove in the kitchen next to the cook stove. Just getting my systems in place. First solar panel went in in December others will be this fall.

Quote from: Thirteen on June 24, 2013, 02:08:59 PM
Roy here I went off grid when I retired on January 1, 2013

Funny how the "work" doesn't slow much once you "retire" :o

Sounds like your plan is pulling together. I remember cooking with wood and needing a half pickup load of wood to bake a pie.

Propane is cheap to me for cooking. There is no substitute for heating with wood as long as i can run the saw / splitter.

Best of luck to you!

Tom

Hi, I'm Wendell, from the Bahamas, I am new to PV about 2 months, I am grid tie with battery backup, I have 10, 150 watts panels, 1, Midnite 150, 2, 2kw each inverters, 4 12v 200 ah batteries, everyday I learn something new when it comes to the PV Systems. Thanks

Rockinriley here, from Michigan.   Just dabbling in solar right now.  Wife bought me a harbor freight kit for Father's Day, and I already want MORE!   It is so addicting, but so expensive.  Nevertheless, it is fun to dream.  I was a network manager of 8 networks in North America until November, then I quit to be a stay at home dad.  I now do solar research as time allows. 

Quote from: Rockinriley on July 15, 2013, 11:44:26 AM
Rockinriley here, from Michigan.   Just dabbling in solar right now.  Wife bought me a harbor freight kit for Father's Day, and I already want MORE!   It is so addicting, but so expensive.  Nevertheless, it is fun to dream.  I was a network manager of 8 networks in North America until November, then I quit to be a stay at home dad.  I now do solar research as time allows.

Riley;

Welcome to the forum!

Renewable Energy is one of the most addictive things I ever got involved with.

Started with a little glass printed solar panel before Y2K and progressed to a multi-thousand dollar system since. Being a bit of a Prepper it has gone from hobby to mission critical so we can survive with at least the basics of refrigeration, lights, water and entertainment if the grid quits delivering power for whatever reason. Sadly, unless that happens we will never recover the full investment.

Some guys have bass boats, some have muscle cars we have an RE system that repays a small amount every single day.

Be warned it is addictive but it is also lots of fun and satisfying. There is no known cure.

Tom

Hello, i've recently bought a classic lite 150 and are slowly getting all the bits together to build a system. This web site has been very useful over the last week so I thought i'd chime in here first as i'll no doubt have a few newbe questions to ask over the next few months.
I'm in NZ and live in the Marlborough Sounds, no power lines for miles so off grid for me!
I've built small simple solar systems at home over years, but MPPT tech is new to me and want to step up in size a bit.  :)

hello all my name is Robert and I live in Jamaica
my system has 14 suntec 280w panels 2 per bank
and I recently installed a classic 200

Hi, I'm Rommel. I'm from Barbados, I'm fairly new to Renewable Energy and I'm in the processing of building an Off Grid System for my Home Office. I'll eventually have 8 - 16 250Watt Solar Panels, manage by 3 Classic 150s and 12 - 24 Concord Sun Extender 2Volt L16 Batteries

I must say this stuff is addictive and I've enjoyed designing and building it so far at this time I have 4 of the panels and I'm waiting for the classics to arrive. I also have an Outback Inverter on the way.

Hi, My name is Howard, I live in northwestern Ontario, I am trying to educate myself on solar energy with the intention of building a small system for a remote off grid cabin. I have been monitoring my power use with a kill-a-watt meter and have a good idea of what I need now. Forums like this one have been my main source of information, and I find the people very knowledgeable and helpful, thanks a ton!!!! Howard

Hi,  my name is David, Born & raised in backwoods of Alaska, off grid,  A true Sourdough. I live in central coastal California mountains and South coastal Alaska, both off grid, Work in construction in California , relaxing and sport fishing in Alaska,  retired twice communications and computers, self employed electrician now, mostly residential remodel 100% on grid. I also do very small scale solar for remote environmental documentation with communication 50 watt to 400 watt 12 volt  for governmental agencies, Siemens panels and Morningstar PWM controllers.
I have small systems  mostly gov't surplus 55 watt  Siemens M55 mono panels about 2 kW now, changing monthly, also 560 watts poly crystal and 750 watts CdTe for my small cabins. 4 Chinese (Beijing EP Solar Tracer) MPPT controllers , 400 - 1000 watts each 12 volt and 24 volt systems. Patiently awaiting my Classic which is being shipped now. Always needing the next thing in off grid technology. Cheers.

//update//.    3 Tracers  have been replaced with a Classic 150. Much better power now that set charge profile to battery type.   20% more power harvested now.   Still have 500 watt Tracer at cabin in Alaska but will replace with kid when available.

Hi, My name is Greg Pisanich.     I am working to learn more about solar and hybrid wind systems.   I'm currently working to add an inverter, batteries, and solar panels to a lance camper.  I'm also working to design a solar power system to for an off grid home.  I have a lot of questions and I hope I can eventually provide answers to others. 

Other interests include rainwater connection and composting. 

I'm also interested in machining and desktop 3D printing.

thanks for hosting this forum. 

Hi I am Greg, I live in NC. I am running 11.5 kw worth of panels (40 homemade and 24 purchased). I am using 5 150 lite controllers (love them) Battery bank is 24 LR16RE-2v configured at 24v. Power supplied to the house and HVAC using 2 aims power 6kw split phase 240v inverters.  I am primarily off grid with the exception of long cloudy periods.  I use Grid as back up.

New member learning what I can about off grid living here in central Virginia. Currently have a generator based system, 16 6 volt batteries, dual schneider xw 6000 watt inverters powering my log house (still under construction). Will eventually add solar and wind. Interested in any information or assistance available in learning more and operating these systems efficiently and effectively.

zarathust;

Sounds like you have a good start on the system!

You will find lots of world wide experience here. The do it yourself types, Professional installers, Distributors  and Manufacturers all hang around here.

Welcome to the Forum and just go ahead and dive in with any questions or ideas you want to discuss. These folks are very helpful and knowledgeable.

Tom

Hi my name is Leslie

I live in north east corner of Cincinnati Ohio on 2.75 acres of my  private jungle.
I have been in green energy since 1997 when I have purchase 2 each Trace SW4024 inverters and batteries.
For charging my batteries I had purchase 20KW diesel generator which I run and still I am running on used veggie oil.

About month ago I have find solar panels on sale for $0.79 @watt. That what it take me to purchase some. For last month I have been studying manuals of all solar controllers avaliable. Midnite solar won hands down. Yesterday I have put my money down and purchase Classic 150.
BTW: You guys in Midnite should be busy selling, you have the best product on in the USA and world market. i am glad I am allowed to participate.
Thank you for having me.

Leslie

I have been living off-grid for more than 3 years.  We are located 20 miles south of the canadian border and although grid power is available I chose solar because of the independence and just plain stubbornness.  Still working out some kinks but overall I am very happy with my system.

Quote from: Lesmar on December 30, 2013, 07:42:38 PM
i am glad I am allowed to participate.
Thank you for having me.

Leslie

Leslie;

Welcome to the forum!

Just dive in the folks here are very friendly and helpful. Hands down the best customer support I have ever experienced.

Tom

Quote from: Gray2Hairs on January 29, 2014, 02:32:34 PM
I have been living off-grid for more than 3 years.  We are located 20 miles south of the canadian border and although grid power is available I chose solar because of the independence and just plain stubbornness.  Still working out some kinks but overall I am very happy with my system.

Welcome to the forum!

Feels good to not hook up to the grid doesn't it.

Hoping to cut the line myself here soon.

Tom

Hi, I am David, hailing from the sunny island of Jamaica. Last year, I put up my first DIY system consisting of a 1500w Samlex Inverer , 4 200watt mono panels and a Morningstar TS-MPPT charge controller.

Just love my Midnite Solar MNDC and Combiner Box. The Workmanship is EXCELLENT.

Looking hard at the Classic 150 .. such a sweet CC!

Hi, My name is Cloud. I am not entirely old or smelly just yet (Only 33 after all). In May 2013, after finishing up a season of flying around the US doing aerial mapping work for county governments, decided to purchase 3 acres in the mountains of Colorado. Put up a 2000 Watt solar array (8 -250watt Canada Solar connected 4 in series and combined for 150v @17amps going to a Midnite Solar 200V CC) and proceeded to build an Off-grid,  Tiny House.

I guess I am a bit different than most. Opted to use LiFePo4 chemistry batteries for the bank instead of Lead. I didn't want to deal with venting issues, hydrogen gas, corrosion, nor the maintenance associated. From my reading, most banks die a premature deal due to harsh living with poor maintenance.  Lithiums made sense. No equalizing, no electrolyte monitoring. No self-discharging. They do not care if left at less than 100% SOC for any periods of time. Also, the battery bank capacity did not need to be doubled to remain within 50%DOD for cycle life. LiFePo4 paperwork suggests greater than 3000 cycles if kept within 80%DOD. Costs for the bank itself shipped to me was $2400 for a 5120Watt hour bank.

After 7 months of Off-grid living. 202 days system up. 461kWh produced or ~8500aH (I use on average 2kWh/day) I can say this setup and chemistry works perfect! No cell balance issues whatsoever.

Hello, my name is Marcus.   Our family (wife & 2 kids) live off-grid on 320 acres in a log house in Southern Oregon.   We moved from a tract house in town 3 years ago and are now up to 4x more efficient with energy use.   There's a lot to tell about, but we have a website:  www.docbryner.com/mossy_hollow

EDIT (TomW):

The above link does not work.
Working link:

http://mbryner.fatcow.com/docbryner/mossy_hollow/Home.html (http://mbryner.fatcow.com/docbryner/mossy_hollow/Home.html)

Done EDIT..

In short, our electrical system is 16 x L16 batteries, 2 Outback 3600watt inverters, Listeroid 6 hp diesel generator (1920's era, 600 rpm, etc.), Outback MX80 charge controller, and Midnite Classic 200 charge controller.   

I use the Listeroid diesel generator because it's fuel efficient, made of heavy cast iron (should last forever with care), and I was tinkering with burning wood gas and waste motor oil.   Since the Listeroid  causes flickering of the lights in the house with its very slow speed, and doesn't have a lot of reserve because of low HP, I feed its output through a home-built AC-DC power supply into the Classic 200.   The Classic thinks it's getting DC solar power and our whole system acts as a giant UPS.   It was working fine using %VOC mode until the bridge rectifier blew about a year ago.   About a week ago I replaced the bridge rectifier and inductor/choke.   Now, for some reason, the Classic won't charge in %VOC mode, but it will in other modes (just not efficiently).   I'm installing a firmware update and maybe that will help.   The Classic 200 is also used for microhydro charging, but there's no water in the creek this year.

And there're always more projects when you're "homesteading."

Marcus

Marcus I get a 403 error    (Forbidden)  with your link.

Marcus, I also get the error code from your webpage. I am interested in seeing your lister in action! Very neat.

Marcus;

403 error here, too.

Post a working URL and I will fix it in your original post.

I wanted to see it, too.

Thanks.

Tom

Whoops!  Sorry about that!   I've been in the process of switching domain registrars.   It will be fixed in the next day or so.   I'll update you shortly....

This should work until my original link is back up and running:

http://mbryner.fatcow.com/docbryner/mossy_hollow/Home.html

Thanks! I'm off to check it out now!

- Cloud

   Hi, name here is Bill Maddock and I live on not quite an acre here in West Tennessee. I work as an Electrical Designer
at the Refinery down in Memphis. Game plan is to develop a descent Grid-Tie system with battery backup for now and
work to reduce electrical load demands in the house and shop. I am just getting started and hope to get most of the system
in place by end the year! I think my batteries maybe undersized for the system, but was told that a 3rd battery bank would
not be a great idea with equalization problems. So I will try and go with what I have for now until I can replace the batteries.
I hope to piece together my own E-panel and will more than likely have quite a few questions!
Other hobbies: Amateur radio, Cars 2 -93 mustangs, Riding my Trek bicycle, gardening, rain water collection etc... :)

Hi, My name is Ben Zook.

I'm a solar installer in Pennsylvania. Have been installing & designing power systems for 12 years now.
Have an off-grid home & a grid-tie solar system at the work place. (Share my home place with my dear, helpful wife, & share the workplace with four wonderful, hard-working young men)
Have a sincere passion for doing the best job that is possible with today's technology. Love electrical & electronics.

Strive for neatness & reliability in many areas of my life. I really appreciate people that are honest, neat, understandable & still have an innovative mind that loves to learn & improve.

Other than the study of electronics & solar power... a passion for running, reading, occasional unicycling, & friendships with other engineers & innovators, are all a part of what helps keep my life balanced.

Hi, my name Bruce Countryman living in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. I started working in PV since 1988 (old fart). Mostly worked on solar PV development projects in the pacific Islands and Thailand, SHS, solar water pumping, solar vaccine refrigerators and some marine PV/ inverter systems.

My main interest now is backup power systems for clients that have poor unreliable grid power and PV micro-grids for remote villages.

Really like Midnite Solar's application videos and support documents, very helpful.

One question, does Midnite sell SMA Sunny Island inverter export model 50Hz 230VAC and 3 phase 400V/230VAV with Off Grid E-panels? Thanks, Bruce

Hi, my name is Kyle. "Kyle 49" @ MidNite Solar, as I was raised & lived in Alaska.

Got into the energy sector through Alaska Housing Finance Corporation as an Energy Rater (#112).
BPI certified Building Analyst & Envelope Specialist - been through nearly 1,000 homes in Anchorage, Mat-Su Valley & Girdwood. Saw lots of homes, problems with them & performed retrofits as a building performance contractor.

Took SEI courses in "Grid-Direct PV Design & Installation" and "Battery-based PV Design & Install' in Anchorage - Instructors Jay Peltz and Jay Pozner (awesome guys!)
Spent some time in Bakersfield,CA and was selected for D.O.L. grant training in: Wind Turbine Technician, Solar Technician & Power Technician training (about 5 mos.total). Moved up to WA and started working w/MidNite Solar in Dec. '13. Love MidNite Solar and all the great team members!!
Wanting to live OG sometime in the future w/Molly (my beautiful wife) and help others with design, installation & service of Solar, Wind and/or Hydro RE systems. Building performance + RE = clean, fun living IMHO. (Ready for the challenges  :D)

*Most notable thing I remember from SEI instructors and personal experience regarding the RE industry is: "All the really nice, great people!"  -  Yep, it's TRUE!

Hi All,

I have been designing electronic devices for 50 years, and have been involved in some renewable energy projects recently.  I'll be one of the guys asking lots of questions!

Hey all,
I am Sparkie (Bill) an old guy with 40 years experience in the electronic engineer and computer career and spending money on too many hobbies to name. OK I will name Ham Radio as one of the hobbies. Planning to build a retirement home as close to off-grid as possible in the next few years, here in SC. Been experimenting with solar and have bought some equipment recently which I plan on using to power the essentials at my current home during outages for now, until I build the retirement home.

Quote from: sparkie on August 21, 2014, 08:44:10 AM
Hey all,
I am Sparkie (Bill) an old guy with 40 years experience in the electronic engineer and computer career and spending money on too many hobbies to name. OK I will name Ham Radio as one of the hobbies. Planning to build a retirement home as close to off-grid as possible in the next few years, here in SC. Been experimenting with solar and have bought some equipment recently which I plan on using to power the essentials at my current home during outages for now, until I build the retirement home.

Sparkie;

Welcome to the forum!

And welcome to the wonderful world of renewable energy, your next money sink hole! Careful, it is highly addictive. Especially for techy types.  :o

Tom

HAMs are everywhere on this forum.

I'm Jan, living off grid in WV. I've been lurking and reading for some time, but still have plenty of questions. Figured it was time to register :)

Hello as you can guess my name is Herman I am a ROM (really old man) just kidding 57 years young my wife and I have just recently purchased a house in New South Wales Australia which is totally off the grid with a small 20kWh lead acid solar system running at 24 volt with 8 photo cells and 2 other cells that where older all this was stored on the veranda next to an open window (great for the hot Ozzie summers (not) so with the help from a solar expert we are in the process of moving everything off the veranda and establishing a second 48 volt system using 240Ah nife cells with  Vulcan 6 kw inverter 8 Showa Shell BX 65 panels hopefully giving me about 30KWH   8)

Hello my name is Mike and I'm looking in solar power in an off grid application an I'm hoping to find some opinions from people with some real world experience. I've found many online calculators, watched many many YT videos and I've come to the opinion that I need to pick components that closely match the power in/power out as close as possible so that the storage cells won't deplete more than seventy percent over a twenty four hour period. It's the real world gotcha's I need to get brushed up on and real quick like. So Hello There!

My name is Bafaro, I live in Mali in West Africa, I started my solar installations there has about 14 years. Today I have a solar field with a 10kw wind turbine 1kw home. I have a great love for the solar system because he is the sun galore here.

I'm a DIY'er. An old fart too. I built the off grid system for our cabin back in early 2009. OB charge controller and inverter, GC2 batteries at 24 volts. 624 watts worth of PV located 325 feet from the cabin and balance of system; the sunny spot at the foor of the 8800 foot high ponderosa pine forested ridge. All worked well until this summer when we had an encounter with a terrific thunderstorm.

We were not there that night and I believe it was a good thing from all the assorted damages; toasted FM60, toasted VFX3524M, Delta lightning arrestors that blew the ends off, scorch marks on one end of the gable roof, toasted TV and assorted other electronics inside, inverter generator control box blown, and more.

Today we have a MN The Kid that works great. The AC side makes use of the backup Samlex SA-1500-24. I have yet to check into what is needed to repair the VFX. Plus we now own several MN-SPD's and a thousand dollars worth of air terminals, heavy duty lightning capable braided wires connected to two arrays of ground rods and plates.

We have a cargo trailer I converted to travel trailer use and am considering a Brat CC for it along with 300 watts or so of roof top panels. We have two GC2 batteries, an Iota charger and a Honda EU generator. LED lights and TV, some small appliances we use from time to time. Some PV would be the finishing touch to the electrical.

Woah, that must have been quite some storm.  Pretty much direct hit material.

First post.  Since the forum titles said, "Read this first," for once, I followed instructions!

The idea of solar energy has intrigued me for a long time.  After getting a couple of small panels back in the 90's to run a gate opener, the interest continued to deepen.  Recently, I've jumped in...kinda' like someone who doesn't know how to swim but does have on a life preserver.  I have lots of questions (issues, I guess) so I wanted to join the forum to get some assistance.  Thanks in advance.

I'm the new greenie.  Been off grid (solar) for 15 years.  That system is now passing on and I'm leaping

up to 48 volts and 4400 watts of sine wave.  Went with a package that included a lot of Midnight products that

I am now figuring out how to assemble.  The hard part is that my internet connection is dial-up and video is

unheard of, pictures are sketchy,  text rules.

Settled into the mountains of the American Southwest at 6700 feet.

Hi Folks, I'm Jim.  Just starting to play around with solar-- so far a KID and a couple 100w panels and a 3 year old 12v deep cycle.   :P   I know I have the bug because my roof doesn't look the same anymore.  It looks like wasted energy.

Fist post, can't think of a better place to start!
Hello everyone, my name is Walt, I've only been playing with solar just over a year trying to provide power to one project at a time. The first is a small shop (still a working project and most likely to be for a while), the second is a camper that I was very happy with harvest this past summer, the third I will be starting is to keep are birds water from freezing this winter. Who knows what may be next 8)

Hello,

My name is Sonja, I live on Kauai, Hawaii with a husband, a daughter and cats and dogs and have a 6.8 kW grid tied system to power household, rental and a Nissan Leaf.

At the moment we are finishing a secondary 840W off-grid system powering 200 Ah 12V Ni-Fe batteries for DC-LED lights and USB, and a DC Air conditioner (which draws only from the PV and not the batteries). We are using a Midnite Classic 200.

I am a native German speaker, and a software engineer.

Sonja

Hi, I'm Mike and a newbie in the solar world.  I have 12 24v 240w Trina Solar and Astronergy panels and an Outback GVFX3524 grid tie inverter and just replaced the FM60 charge controller with the Classic 150 - which is why I'm here now!  :)  Questions, questions.

Glad to meet everyone!

hello all, Jason here in south east Missouri ( bout two hours south of St.louis) in the Ozark hills.

currently I have a Grape solar 280 watt panel and midnite Kid on 12v bank..


I am 38 and the last few years I have realized , people go to a job they hate to get things they can't afford to impress people they don't like?

after watching the "Garbage Warrior "  , I knew that the life I was living was not the way god intended me to live (fear & stress)
so I started trimming fat around the house no more paper towels, changing out nightlight switches, unplugging things when done with them, ect, ect but I knew it was not enough, I had to do more. to be free 
so after being inspired via Michel Reynolds I jumped on the ebay purchased some broken cells and soldered my first panel, and I have been hooked ever since.
so now I am starting to live my dream,  buy some acres live in a camper while I build my earthship. all while being off grid 100%

( background history) most of my 12v and power knowledge can from the high end R.C Airplane and Car area.  battery, charging, discharging, cycling, cell matching, wire size to amp draw, soldering, ect, ect

All good to Hear Jason
Keep at it & don't give up


My Story is when I leave the confines of WORK with allowances of to post/speak
VT

We're just bring our system online it the coming weeks.   Becoming a little more independent has been on my to-do list for a long time.   The hardware and control systems available these days is amazing compared to when I looked into it in the late 1990's.  Wow.
inMichigan

Hi All!

My name is Sean and I live in Ohio.  Not many people around here know anything about this stuff at all, so thanks for providing a place to learn and grow in RE Solar! New and learning fast. Love this stuff! I didn't really have a true use for RE except that I wanted to do it.  It's an evolving project and I love it!

-Sean

 Hi all, Mike here. Been playing w/solar for about 20 years now. Recently bought a beach house in Northern Baja on the Sea of Cortez. So many vacation homes, retirees and ex pats in the area. ALL off grid. Nice thing is there is a lot of sun in this neck of the woods, er, desert.



   9 Suntech 175's
   Classic 200
   Bogart Tri Metric
   Trace SW 4024 (brand new, sort of, first energized Feb. 2015)
   8- Alcatel-Lucent 175 ah @12 volt AGM Battery bank

This is Loring in the northwest Wyoming wilderness - a ranch inholding in the National Forest.  Unlike almost everyone else on the Forum I have no solar system but I do have two hydro-electric turbines, one AC with electronic frequency-based load controller (my original system) and one free-wheeling DC with a Morningstar Tri-Star-45 controller operating in Diversion Load mode.  Both systems charge the same 48 volt battery bank.  We need to upgrade to off-the-shelf components for easier maintenance by new owners.  I can't find anyone to answer my questions, so I thought I'd try the Forum.

Hi my name is Brad ,I have a coastal bach at Waihau Bay in the North Island of New Zealand .Have just gone off the grid as the power companies are charging rediculas supply charges in this area .Interested in hearing from others in NZ using the Midnite gear .

Hi Brad,
Welcome to the forum, there are a few from NZ here, but there are many knowledgeable people who are very helpful.
Dgd

What sort of ballpark are we talking for the daily line charge? After the deregulation, the power companys were required to offer a low user rate, with lower daily charges, However that does seem to be being watered down. However after quite a lot of corespondance with one company in the Central Plateau that had a lot of seasonal buildings, they justified the line charges based on people being absent much of the year.

In NZ daily line charges are (for you others) in general high. In the order of 0.5-3.00 dollars per day. It tends to make your efforts toward energy conservation more pointless.

We have a powerline 100m from our place, and chose not to connect. The intial connect fee was going to be 20K.

NZ used to be a place where 75% of power was hydro, cheaply produced by state owned generators. That percentage is now around 60% and headed for 50% by 2025. Geothermal is aparently the new growth area, and little of that projected mix is expected to come from solar. Which is just blindfold /blinkers material.
Theres also no NEM here at all, and our token effort with FIT has also evaporated.

But... Solar and hydro are a match made in heavon.

Chris - Love my Midnite Solar equipment...and building my system (see the stuff I got below). Retired USAF, living in Oklahoma (originally from MI), do lots of DIY solar/home project videos to help people.

Hey everyone, my name is Rahdi, I'm a bit of a young buck with a few years of experience under my belt. I work for an online wind and solar hybrid retailer.  I look at everyday as a learning opportunity!

sorry for the very slow reply,havnt realy got a handle on this forum thing yet ,was about $3.20 per day

Quote from: zoneblue on September 03, 2015, 06:06:59 PM
In NZ daily line charges are (for you others) in general high. In the order of 0.5-3.00 dollars per day. It tends to make your efforts toward energy conservation more pointless.

We have a powerline 100m from our place, and chose not to connect. The initial connect fee was going to be 20K.

Same story here in Otago, NZ. Lines charges in our area ~NZ$1.50/day and, so far as I know, have only ever increased. Initial connection cost was in the $25k + 15% GST region, which made off grid a no-brainer. We've produced 5,561kWhr over the last year from a 6.1kW array. Saved $547.50 in lines charges and $1,415.25 in power costs = $1962.75 saved. Lines cost would contribute over quarter of the total annual cost.

Quote from: nzbrad on October 04, 2015, 09:48:44 PM
sorry for the very slow reply,havnt realy got a handle on this forum thing yet ,was about $3.20 per day

Those lines charges are criminal. Solar installers should be rushed off their feet in your area. $3.20 x 365 = $1168... wow

Quote from: keppelk on October 08, 2015, 05:04:03 PM
...
Those lines charges are criminal. Solar installers should be rushed off their feet in your area. $3.20 x 365 = $1168... wow

Problem is there are almost zero installers in NZ who can deal with an off grid system. DIY can be cost effective but suppliers who do installation (using staff or contractors) are very very expensive often making the off grid system payback period (vs on grid costs) more than a lifetime. Worse when factoring in battery replacement.

Thats why those advertising solar energy systems in NZ are always grid tie. Not cheap either and some of the claims of energy savings, which always seem to mention optimum insolence conditions, may be unrealistic.
Then some of the power suppliers will increase the line charges to cover costs of net metering equipment even though you pay up front for meter upgrading.
dgd

Hello all my Name is Adam,
Im not so much a newbie but would still like to introduce myself here, im going to be asking loads of questions relating to theories and some elements of input i have on some ideas and hopefully can get some answers on here or hopefully even enlighten a few people to ideas i might have, at this stage i have a 400w array mono panels running a kid b with a small lead acid tubular battery, going to change to 24v lifepo4 soon. Any ways thanks for the welcome and catch you on the forums .

Chinh is my name, I live I southeastern of Wisconsin.

For years I again those utilities company, I have my house heat from corn, last couple year I installed solar panels and solar water heater to not depends on local utilities co.

My system start out with (3) lg265, magnum ms4024, classic 200 and (4)slr175 batteries, will continue grow them in future.

Hello,  Gary here joining up.  My small off grid system has been up since September, and gone through 3 major re-configs already.  Located in mid-western US.  My next step is to install system cooling fans in my metal gear cabinet & home made battery box to run off of Aux 1.  No hurry, as today the panels are under about 6 cm of sticky snow and the AGM batteries are near their 'blue line' (blue line is -10C and batteries are -2C).  Would like to double system capacity by summer and raise the pitch on one section of panels (900W that faces south)

DGD : That is ridiculous. Price Gouging. Jacobene above from OK,USA can relate. The idea that you as a consumer can pay outright to setup a system and feed back into the grid so that a Utility company can meet its government mandated levels of Renewables and quite possibly make the line more stable (in addition to lowering fuel costs by taking off the peak loads) with them turning to you for a greater line charge or $1-2 a kWh for the few you do buy is atrocious! Somehow the Utility can claim that us on Solar are "getting a free ride" and need to pay our fair share.... We already did in upfront costs of $1000s USD/NZ/AU et al.

I agree. If the govt and distributors were to work together to optimise the solar contribution to the national grid, then our finite hydro resource could be used properly and everyone would benefit. But no, if you look in the long term energy policy documents the word solar appears exactly one time, to say "its nice but the sun doesnt always shine". Idiots.

A bit off the thread topic but...

They don't know what They don't understand... so They disregard/ignore it :o

The 'they' are the people who control the economies of the world...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jk4VCT5fo7M

Quote from: zoneblue on January 12, 2016, 03:27:04 PM
... If the govt and distributors were to work together to optimise ...

The only reason for working together will be to protect the grid power distributors income stream and protect the govt's tax revenue take from energy supply.  Also, but less important,  perhaps make sure the profit is there for those that bought shares in the energy generators such as the grandad investors in the Mighty River SOE sell off.
Thank God the world market for coal collapsed, prices plummeted  and Solid Energy SOE went bust before the govt managed to sell it off to many thousands of small investors who would have lost it all.

I expect that as home solar energy schemes become more popular then the govt will find some way of taxing the energy, already there has been some suggestion of an energy generated metering system for off grid systems perhaps managed by the power companies. No doubt this would have fixed regular admin fees, metering fees as well as energy generated volume fees.
Also hefty fines and enforcement action for those that try to steal free energy  ???

dgd

DGD, sounds nearly like the fight over rain-water and water rights here in Colorado, USA.

Cniemand : Interesting vid about bottom balancing your LiFePo Battery bank.  Your end amp setting at 5 amps caught my eye but I'm using AGM battery so not applicable for me.  Yesterday, I thought I had my end amps set to high (4.5 amps) on a very cold battery bank (about -5C) and the bank only took about .5 Kw before it went to float.  That would have been about 3% too little by my calculations for the state of charge the battery bank had at the beginning of the day.  It turns out we had the unusual condition of an overnight warming trend that added 3C to the bank overnight and therefore 3% more capacity by the mid next day.  My missing 3%.  Interesting stuff.
I like your weather proof enclosure for your classic (plastic bag).  A lot of my stuff is out in the elements as well.  Thank you for the video.

Haha , Powerplay. Thanks. I am surprised how well the bag held up! The high dollar equipment now resides happily indoors with the heat and lack of precipitation in its many forms. :)

-5c ! That is a chilly bank! One of the reasons I enjoy LFP cells is that temps around freezing the capacity is still near 97%. Safe to be discharged. You only have concerns charging them at 0c and below. Something having to do with it creating internal shorts and the inability of lithium to interchelate at those temperatures.

Cloud

Looks like we'll top (or is that bottom)  the -5 today.  Air temp -17.8C battery bank -7.7C.  I insulated the bank but ascribe the higher batt temp to how slowly they loose heat.  Manufacturer says they can take a charge between -10C and 50C.  I'm a lot more worried about the 50C end and I'm planning cooling countermeasures for next summer.  The local app is great for keeping an eye on this.  They will produce current from -40C to 50C so no worries there.  I think the Classic will operate fine from -40C as well.

How did you arrive at end amps = 5?  I have a spreadsheet that calculates all of my compensations including end amps based on AGM of course.  I'm tuning it as I go but it is working really well now.

LFP chemistry or those that are pretty close to it are considered full when the amps get pulled back (Absorb is at constant voltage that adjusts the amps to maintain that voltage) to a 0.05C rate. For my 100aH cells that is 5 amps. 180aH cells would be 9 etc. 

Thank you.  I should have deduced this from your listed specs.  On AGMs, I'm shooting for temp compensated .01C.  And I'm fine with Midnite not doing the temp comp on End Amps since I'm tweaking this formula a bit as I notice when the Batts go into float.  This is really getting close to this number now days and I'm happy with the result.  I've noticed the absorb time should also be T-comped to longer based on observations.  At 0 degrees C = T-comp +25% and absorb time goes to 2:30 hours from 2:00 hours or a 25% increase at 0.  Pretty cool how it all falls into place.  How sensitive is your battery chemistry to holding in absorb after & below .05C is reached?  AGM are relatively insensitive to this and that's why I can experiment a bit.

Hi, I am Russell from the land down under. Living in Queensland inland from Bundaberg.
We have 12.5 kw of grid tie systems and have made some smoke from ergons transformers :o
Have setup a small stand alone system lately and atm have 8 x 220 watts hyundai panels (12 more panels waiting for roof space), 2 x mid nite classic regs (one hooked up), latronics 3 kw inverter and 4 x L16 trojan batteries.
I am a bit of a dinosaur as far as tech goes so everyone will have to be patient with me. Am more hands on than techno geek.
Have played around with different wind turbine blades and such from Windy Nation when our $ was closer to pariaty with the
green back. All that has stopped now as we are on approx 70cents US.
Just here to learn what I can in case of future world trends and possible lack of grid power.

Hi my name is Walter from Ottawa Canada... I'm a solar enthusiast that lives in a 5th wheel RV in the winter months in Wellton AZ...I've gone through 3 different set ups of Panels and controllers since
adopting solar till I finally have a system that I really like.  4 - Sunpower 327 watt (72 cell) panels...
2 strings of 2 panels combining and feeding the controller at 130 volts (classic 150 on 12VDC).
6 - 6 volt Standard Flooded battery bank for 696 AH....SOON to be replaced with 6 - 2V Lifeline 900 AH
AGM's...Magnum Energy MS2812 Full Sine Wave Inverter and all 12 Lights in RV changed to LED's
inside and out...

That looks Tight  .

Hi all!,

I am Alfredo from Spain, and I am building a house in the countryside that will be solar powered. I joined this forum cos the Midnight Classic cached my attention.

Hi, I'm Dan and I am a rancher in central Texas. Ive had a solar powered water well for years and now I'm slowly but surely moving towards RE on my house. I've installed a 2K wind turbine and 1.5K of solar. Just posted a couple of videos of my system today.

G'day.  my name is Johnny and i am from Australia.  Just opened up a box containing my 1st real solar controller, a classic 200 that will be utilized in the large caravan my wife and i live in.  Just starting with a small 400ah 12v lipo set up and 4 x 250 watt panels.  Eventually looking at running up to a 24 volt bank around 800ah and be completely off grid.

Will be a big learning curve for me, have been doing much research and looking forward to setting it all up once i have purchased all the bits i need to complete the system.

Cheers.

welcome, start a new thread, probably under

http://kb1uas.com/mnsforum/index.php?board=2.0

so we can discuss your system design..

Quote from: dannpd on August 16, 2016, 03:52:23 PM
Hi, I'm Dan and I am a rancher in central Texas. Ive had a solar powered water well for years and now I'm slowly but surely moving towards RE on my house. I've installed a 2K wind turbine and 1.5K of solar. Just posted a couple of videos of my system today.

Dan Post up your links so we all may view !!

VT

Hello to all members. My name is David and I am new on this forum and on solar understanding but I am trying my best to get my head on it. I am European, my first tongue is not English so I apologize if sometimes (or too often) I make stupid English mistakes on my future posts. I live totally Off Grid in a small island in Granada Nicaragua and having a tech coming here for help or repair  is near to impossible. I run a small eco lodge on the island where I am living. I try my best to help the local community living nearby which is my proud.

No worries on the English Folks .
Im English & that's my only tongue & I never seem to get it correct according to my Wife .
David  ,Glad you made it & I have noticed if with the broken english posts , they are still somewhat understood & helped.

VT

Good day all,

I'm a self-study on PV systems.  Been accumulating components for a couple of years.  Just bought (2) Deka 9C12 batteries yesterday and wired them in series (24V) and connected them to my "Classic 150" that I purchased 2 years ago for a great price.  Charging with (3) 250W Renogy panels also hooked up for the first time yesterday.  I've got things hodge-podged together for the moment just to see it work properly.  Powered my whole barn today with a 1500W Cotek inverter.  This included a computer and moniter, a 100A (output) audio amplifer, a 4' LED tube light with two tubes and a small 3cu.ft. refrigerator.  Didn't balk but I didn't push it either.

I live in central Alabama and it was a filtered sunlight day today.  I saw over 100 volts as input on occasion and the highest I saw my charging amps get up to was 20.  I haven't checked SG on any cells yet but will get to that soon.  I got a good deal on the inverter but I intend to eventually upgrade everything to power a 6KW split-phase inverter charger in my new house to be completely off grid.

Still haven't decided what path to go down for backup charging.  I'm sure I'll pick up some good advise here.  Any tips about anything will be thoroughly considered! Looking forward to it!

Glen

I did much the same for years, read as much as possible and researched which products were the best for my $$$$'s.
I went with 24 volt system purely from the shtf situation (always find 2 x 12 volt batteries of pushed and solar batteries have died) and grid outages here.
Solar panels from grid tie installers can be a good source of cheap panels for your standalone.
After seeing what a friend has gone through with smaller cells I could not recommend anybody seriously using 12 volt deep cycle batteries and the like when better are available atm. Save your pennies while you play and get the best high amperage solar batteries you can afford. It is money well spent if you are serious about being offgrid!
Good luck! ;D

grweldon,

welcome to the forum,

From my best research the best deal on solar suitable batteries are the L-16 floor sweeper batteries marketed by Interstate battery, for several reasons......there are Interstate battery dealers all over.....they will order battery's and deliver them locally to their shop at no charge! for your pickup.
These are high quality units built by U.S. Battery and are identical to the " Solar Batteries" except for the price......$225 USD for the sweepers and $356 USD for the ones with the solar labels.  Just check the shipping price for batteries purchased on the Internet!   

My 480 ah 24 volt sets cost $900 with tax vs.  $1800 for Trojan (semi-local) $2400 for Rolls -Surette (east coast)and $2000 for penn's (east coast) delivered here on the "left coast".....

Batteries are going to be a major part of any true off grid system and will probably be the first thing to fail, the biggest problem in the system......so learn all you can about that part of the system....I get 12 years average from my battery systems......a result of much study on battery systems.

David

Well I've made a few posts now, and had some fee time today to browse around the forum, and found this introduction thread. So why not?

Since around the turn of the century I've been devoting brain cycles to thinking about the future, and wanting to protect my family from it. I actually see it as planning for any of a variety of possible/likely futures that look markedly different from the current world (which admittedly has been holding up better than expected since the 21st century arrived nearly 20 years ago now. Some people see people like me as a "prepper", to use the more current vernacular (the spell checker wants to change 'prepper' to 'pepper', so maybe that's what I am. There should be jingle for that somewhere).

At some point in the long list of things to prepare for was the act of going to the gas station and finding out there was not enough gasoline to go around. When Tesla Motors announced they were going to produce an 'affordable' pure electric car I instantly signed up. I already had been researching a solar based renewable energy system, so the decision to buy an electric car, that could be charged at home, for 'free', from a clean energy source, was appealing. Overwhelmingly appealing.

What actually got me off the dime though to install solar was kind of a fluke. I started to game my credit score to be as high as possible, in order to qualify for the best possible terms on a new car (I never buy cars new any more), and it turned out that one leg of the strategy was to open an installment loan. Credit cards are considered revolving credit. Most people have plenty of that. But installment credit is a rarer species... car loans (not yet), home loans (no mortgage), and, as it turned out, solar equipment lease loans (termed 'lease to own'). I fired up a 'Bakers Dozen" $3,000 lease to own deal and made 13 monthly payments.  A pile of solar equipment made its way into the back storeroom and my credit rating went up.

I won't list all the equipment here, but I did buy a Magnum inverter and a Midnite charge controller. What swayed me was the historical write-up on Midnite's site. When I was a young man in my 20s Phase Linear had this almost mystic reputation in the stereo amplifier world (yes, I'm an old fart too but I'm not going to tell you if I smell or not). The fact that Midnite is a PRIVATELY OWNED company was the deal clincher. Public companies are beholden to the shareholders, private companies are beholden to their customers. It's not rocket science.

A year and a half later seemed to time to finally fire the system up, so I dropped the additional dime on a pile of Lithium-ion batteries, a few sticks of unistrut, and just recently got the system online.

The solar install as a whole has been challenging, confusing, frustrating, time intensive (mostly researching on the computer), and far more complex an endeavor than I could have dreamed of. It took longer to set up than expected as I had to redesign the system a countless number of times while building it, so much time was spent taking-it-apart-and-putting-it-back-together.

I wouldn't trade the experience for anything.

And now I have THE BEST SOLAR SYSTEM IN THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD, better than any before, right in my own back yard.

It kind of feels like that doesn't it?

I am a Civil Engineer who works for an oil company (Oh, the irony). I build pipelines and terminals all over the US.

However, my most recent hobby has been rural land development. I purchased 9 acres in the mountains of Colorado, and have been slowly adding infrastructure over the last 3 years.

After grading the driveway, I have my RV trailer parked up there in the summer. I needed to install a well because hauling 30 gallons of water in the bed of a pickup every weekend was not fun. Checked on getting power, and that was going to cost a fortune. Enter solar energy.

I had the well drilled, then selected a Grundfos AC/DC pump that can run direct PV or off battery. Currently, I have built a dual charge control cabinet that will manage a 48V system for the well pump and a 12V system for charging my RV batteries. The process has been so much fun that I am considering making the entire house I plan to build up there off-grid. For the $$$ the local co-op wants to supply power, I think solar will be actually be cheaper.

I have to comment on the last two posts. My brother, boB,  and I both worked for Bob Carver at Phase Linear. Those were good times. I learned a lot back then being in the audio industry. It was fun. What we do now we do consider fun too, but now we are old so it isn't quite as much fun.

The previous comment regarding hauling 30 gallons of water really hit home with me. My wife, Mary grew up on a farm in North Dakota. They had to drive three miles to hand pump their drinking water. The farm is still that way. Life on the farm was not easy, but Mary loved that farm. Mary was a big part of MidNite Solar doing the books from day one up until she passed away just before Christmas.

Like **

VT

I have been a lurker for a while and decided it's time to post an introduction since I plan to ask a couple of questions related to charging later today. I am building an Earthship in Ontario, Canada. We are building out of pocket over a number of years with the intention of moving in when our daughter finishes high school in about 3 years. Currently the ES is shelled with a portion of the solar kit installed temporarily. I have been gathering parts of the solar system over a number of years. At this point I have 24 x 230W Sharp panels,  2 x Classic 150, 1 x Classic 200, 1 x Magnum MS4024PAE inverter, MNE-240 E-Panel, 5500W remote start generator, and 12 Full River AGM batteries (830AH).  I have temporarily installed a portion of the system to run the basics like lighting, security, power tools and of course music. Currently I have 4 panels up, one of the Classic 150s, the inverter, battery bank and the generator. Remote monitoring is also online and working very well. Although I may be slowing MyMidnite down because I can't stop myself from checking it constantly during the day :)

I am Technical Systems Designer for arenas and theaters so I am very comfortable with most aspects of a solar system (I design electrical infrastructure and automation systems on a daily basis) but I have a learning curve when it comes to battery technology. I have already used the forum to successfully resolve a couple of firmware issues with my Classic 200 and hope to use the forum to strengthen my knowledge of batteries and the charging process.  I look forward to meeting some of you (virtually) online.

Bob

Straight series over series / parallel for batterys is so important for the long life of lead acid style . LI-Lion Li-Lpo are different style of charging and monitoring .

So Welcome and enjoy , get a smoke retrieval balloon !!

VT 

Quote from: CDN-VT on March 17, 2018, 09:25:51 PM
Straight series over series / parallel for batterys is so important for the long life of lead acid style . LI-Lion Li-Lpo are different style of charging and monitoring .

Yes, I would have preferred a single series string with larger capacity batteries but I was working on a show over the summer and needed a high capacity UPS to backup emergency communications. Rather than rent a UPS I purchased these batteries which were available immediately. It worked out well, I charged the production about half the cost of the batteries in rental for my system which was a huge savings for them and now I have a battery bank that should last me until some of the newer technology drops in price.

Quote from: CDN-VT on March 17, 2018, 09:25:51 PM
get a smoke retrieval balloon !!

I have no idea what that means : )

    get a smoke retrieval balloon !!


I have no idea what that means : )

Don't let the magic smoke out of any of your appliances...!

Retrieval is futile!! just like the Borg...

If you can plot  or view a graph of the Amps going to your shunt, you should see in ABSORB  a smooth line dropping over time....  when it flattens out, the ABSORB should be just about finished, that is your EA number..

Hello, My name is Mike.  I just purchased an off grid cabin on a small island near Grand Lake Stream, Maine. I was born, raised and educated in Maine, I now live in Reno, NV and will spend 6 months a year in Maine.  I am pulling together a 1KW system using the Classic 150 and a Midnite combiner box, I anticipate many questions in the future.  I have limited cell service on the island and, of course, no internet so will mostly be working from my Samsung phone and I would be very interested to know if there are any forum apps that would work with this forum (like Tapatalk).

I'll reply , but not 1000 % know for sure .
I've been here 8= years & seeing the forum move , i'd say NO .

Now I don't do Cell phones or any "Smart Crap" "" Wise World " Catch up .

Saying that , it's an old forum software , that works well.

Hughs  Sat systems  not good in Maine ?
Can Antennas to boom style ?

VT

Good Morning
We made the big move to St Croix USVI I would like to make a plan to live off grid there is no power now we live with a honda 3000 gen Great Machine !!!!!
at night I turn it off to cut it some slack the problem is the refrigerator the food is going bad can someone help me I want to start slow and cost effective I am against fierce resistance (The Boss)  I think an inverter and some batteries Im supper handy welder wires some electric gookumpucy if nothing else is working by day bright sun sum of the house 40'X 60' flat roof  during the day a nice breeze at night more wind . But first an inverter and some batteries  any recommendations would be greatly appreciated keeping in mind wind and solar in the future

                                                                                                          Island Come
                                                                                                         George&Beth
                                                                                       No More @^# freezing !!!!!!!!!     

best if you start a thread  on its own and not clutter the INTRO section..... though that has happened a few times...
and yes your idea is do-able but you should plan it out so it fits and not too big nor too small

Hello
Im Georgie A   Welder !!!  Just do it what ever   I   (we)  moved to St Croix USVI no power( the boss needs a fridge ) I want to buy an inverter Batteries later  solar  wind generator we live with a honda generator but well you know the problem is the fridge at night looking for recommendations 3000K ?

                                                                                        Thanks
                                                                                      Little Bitt 

Hello, Richard here. I live win FL but have remote property in New Mexico. I just purchased a 150, 3 100W panels, and a 260ah full river agm for a remote cell tower. Just wanted to say HI.

Hi,
My name is Beyla, that is my online name. I live in Canada, Ontario, Ottawa. I’m very happy to have joined this forum. Many veterans and knowledgeable members to help me  ensure my installation  is safe and conforms to code. Looking forward to engage in fruitful discussions. Thanks for accepting me in the fold. I have read the history of Midnite Solar and the people involved in this product, the reviews are excellent and so are the people. My Classic is still in the box, can’t wait to actually have the infrastructure in place ready to turn on the magic. I will be asking questions but not silly ones that can be obtained with a little digging.  ::)

Hello MidNite Forum!

I've been a lurker here and on the Fieldlines forum for a couple years while I designed & built my own new off-grid system for a full-size home.   Learned a ton (good and bad) from you folksâ€"Thanks!!    After all the revelations about Facebook, big data, and the nefarious digital world, I’m not using my name here, so you can call me SeaDog, thus the stupid avatar…

Since I just installed a mess of new MidNite Classics, I figured I'd actually join this great forum so I can ask questions of the MidNite Community in the future when I need to.  And, why join without a proper introduction!  Besides, I’m a story-teller by trade anyway, so phooey on you if you regret reading my tale.  Hope I can keep you entertained!
 
I'm a crusty old mechanical engineer who always took an interest in what the Sparkies were doing, but I'd always thought their jobs seemed boring.  Who would want to work with electricity, when I could play with stuff that moved, used heat, and could be welded?   Turns out, I did, I guess!  Interesting journey these last three years have been.

Now, after a butt-ton of learning, I'm pretty damn proud of figuring out how to design and build a brand new off-grid system; so proud, in fact, that when I retire, I want to teach people how to do what I did, just for the fun of sharing the knowledge!  I’ll share some pictures in a future post.

How'd a gear-head learn how to keep the magic smoke from coming out of electrical gadgets? Well, interesting you should ask....

My wife's late husband had built a vacation home in the New England woods back in the early 2000's.  (He literally carved it out of the woods himself!)   For various reasons, both practical and moral, they decided that the house would be off-the grid.  They started with just a generator during initial construction, then moved up to a 24V gel battery bank with an Outback inverter, then, after those batteries died, the house grew to full size, and they needed more juice for the really deep well pump, they traded up to a set of stacked Schneider Xantrax TRs and a new set of 12 FLA 2V Surrettes.   Their first 6 Spanish solar panels, really well-made but only 150W each, cost a King's ransom back then.  Later, they added 6 more 235W Kyocera's on the roof of a barn, and life was good for a weekend home.  Unfortunately, periods of chronic undercharging during the winter, when the Northern New England snow was too hard to get off the roof, took a toll on them batts.  Along comes Mr. Newby here on the scene just as good old entropy was beginning to take its toll on that precious battery bank...    Time to learn a whole new trade!

My wife is really smart but had mostly left understanding the workings of the system to her late husband.  When we began our courtship, I didn't know Jack about how any of the parts of the system moved all those electrons around, but I knew I needed to learn everything I could about Solar power if I was going to be a part of her life!

I did tons of web surfing, Wikipedia research, FoolTube watching, and I even pulled out my old EE textbooks.  (Yes, MEs have to take EE classes, thank God.)    Eventually I found this and a couple of other good forums.  I took all the panel covers off of everything, traced all the wiring, wrote magic marker on everything, and made notes.  After a time, I felt reasonably comfortable that I knew what needed to be done to take care of what.   I was at that stage I often see young engineers at:   I thought I knew what I needed to know (NOT!) and I didn’t know what I didn’t yet know….. 

About a year ago, after several winter weekends where the Trimetric was consistently showing a terrible battery SOC; after foot after foot after foot of wet white stuff on the arrays; after the inverters kept failing to recognize the generator power to charge the poor batteries; and, after we decided to get married and that we would make this house our retirement home…..we decided it was time to invest in an entirely new battery bank.  Since we were going to do that, it also seemed like the right time to jump to a 48V system, put up a ground array that we could easily get the snow off of, and upgrade to a bigger inverter with true sinewave power.  (The old TRs had 33%THD, and all the new LEDs we put in flickered so much I thought I was going to have an epileptic fit.)   Since the batteries were the starting point in designing the new system, it was time to go to school on everything battery!  Luckily, my wife and her late husband had become acquainted with the Great, Roy Earley Jr.  at the RAE Storage Battery Co, the original Godfather of everything battery! (RAE Battery is the East Coast distributor of Rolls Surrette batteries.  Mr. Surrette used to work for Roy, way back when.  Roy also sells his own brand of batteries that are just as good but less well known.)  Roy is a wealth of knowledge and has played and worked with batteries his whole lifeâ€"awesome, incredibly helpful guy.  His office is a time machine visit, if you ever make it there.

Wow, there was a lot I didn’t know during those prior two years!   

After all that research, I learned about battery chemistry and charging profiles, about proper load-vs-bank sizing, about how the arrays and charge controllers need to match the bank’s needs, about how to properly size wires, about how to make proper electrical connections, etc., etc…    When I’d gotten a handle on all that basic design parameter stuff, I had to decide on the right set of matched components.  I wasn’t too concerned about the PV panelsâ€"I chose 24 new Winaico 310W based on the recommendation of a local dealerâ€"but after the prior years’ web and forum crawling, I learned to sort the wheat from the chaff of this industry on the balance of system side, and there was a lot of chaff!! Several names just kept coming to the top:  MidNite, Outback, Trace/Xantrax/Schneider, Magnum, TriStar, Rolls, Trojan, Crown.  (I didn’t know until I read Robin’s story how the beginning of that list was all started by the same DNA!)

I settled on MidNite Classics 200s as my MPPT units (why, in a minute…), a rock-solid Schneider ConextXW 6048 inverter pre-wired with a MidNite E-panel, 24 1000 Ahr Rolls 1400EX L16 2V batteries, and MidNite SPDs, breakers, and NEMA 4 combiner boxes.  (Yep, there’s a theme thereâ€"I like the MidNite stuff…)   I designed and built my own new ground array structure welded out of 3” Schedule 40 galvanized pipe, and trenched 3 sets of 150’ of 2AWG into the house.  (Building and wiring that was its own adventureâ€"story for another day!)   I bought some really useful new tools along the way, and even learned to crimp all my own cables, incl 4/0!  We built a new shed addition onto the main house to put it all in, and I ran every wire through conduit and gutter boxes (except some comm lines…).  I hired a local solar installer to come do a complete wire check (consult) with me before light-off, and everything was wired correctly.   We lit it off, and virtually everything went perfectly on the first try.  (It turned out the old generator needed a new voltage regulator…that’s why the old TRs weren’t recognizing it!)  The system has now been up and running continuously since the end of March, and now I will fart around with computer setting so I can see all of my system (including the Conext Combox) remotely when I’m not here.  (Want to port-in directly vs use the MyMidNite access.)

In concluding my introductory story for tonight, I want to pass along a compliment to Robin, boB, and all of the rest of the crew at MidNite:  You guys sold me on your products by the sheer engineering of your stuff and the wonderful details in your manuals, videos, and literature.  (I know Ryan’s moved on to other endeavors, but his videos were fantastic.  I felt like I knew everything about the every part and program before I ever installed a wire. ) I read every one of your manuals before I decided what to buy. From one old engineer to another, yours is an >>Engineer’s<< Company!

Thanks for the dedication to your product and your customers!!!

-SeaDog (an ME in EE Land…)

Welcome SeaDog

Wish I'd been able to give you this link before you made the ground mount.
https://www.solarpaneltalk.com/forum/solar-panels-for-home/solar-panels-for-your-home/13861-sun-hours/page10
covers a gentleman who installed a ground mount in snow country, and leaves a gap between rows of panels for snow to fall through, and how he uses a scraper to clear panels as needed when the steep angle does not self-clear
and this  https://www.solarpaneltalk.com/forum/solar-panels-for-home/solar-panels-for-your-home/13595-snow-removal?p=206768#post206768

Hello,  my name is Ben.  My house was off the grid for 8 years, 24 volt system with 1800 watts solar and a Bergey XL1 wind turbine., and am now grid tied.

We are just starting our exploration into the off grid world. Our hand is being forced by the fact that we do not want a "Smart Meter" on our house. The state has decided not to let us opt in or out of this "feature". So the electric company has disconnected us from the grid, unless or until we decide to accept the "Smart Meter". Accepting the "Smart Meter" is not an option we see in our near future.
This company and this forum seem like good places to get good, up to date, information on what is available and how to best use it.
We are looking forward to any and all input as we move along in this new adventure.

If you have a cell phone, or use wi-fi, a smart meter is much less emissions, if that is your concern.

you can install a 6' x 6' metal (24 ga steel) panel inside the house, opposite the meter, to block it's energy from the house

Hello there,
I'm Alex, from Ukraine. My grid line was shitty and unstable for years. That was a problem since I'm a self-employed programmer and I need little bit more stability for my work. So few years ago I soldered my own 180W solar panel and bought few cheap controllers. Now it's somewhere in the closet and I have three solid 250W panels, 2x300Ah batteries + 2x120Ah secondary bank (waiting for Xantrex Echo Charge for them), Xantrex SW1524 inverter, lots of crap Chinese devices and shiny new Midnite KID, that outperforms even higher rated EPSolar 40Amp BN Tracer. It's a rather small setup but still I'm able to run my fridge, laptop, 2 server mini-pcs and bunch of cameras/routers with zero grid power usage.
I'm going to write quite a few scripts and apps for Midnite devices and share them with this community. Well, that's what programmers do :)

Hi all, my name is mulligan. I am new to solar and just want to setup a small system to power my lights and small appliances.

Quote from: mulligan on February 16, 2019, 08:28:53 AM
Hi all, my name is mulligan. I am new to solar and just want to setup a small system to power my lights and small appliances. 

Welcome.  Powering LED lights is usually no problem.   Adding appliances starts to get tricker and more expensive

Greetings all! I've been lurking here as a guest for a few weeks. I'm interested in building/designing a solar power system for a  small hunting cabin. Something that will handle about 1800WHs for 2 to 3 days of usage a dozen times of year.
I'm seriously considering a Midnite Classic 150 MPPT.
I recently have been given most of the major components for a 12 volt system (less the CC and solar panels). The components I was given will work in my application but are probably much better suited for an RV or a boat (the 2 inverters are Xantrex SW3012).
I've been trying to sell the the Xantrex 12v inverters so I can move to a 24v or a 48v system. At this point I've not had success.
So, a 12volt system appears to be in my future.       

The best for you would be 24V but as you say you have some components  already.
I use on average 1500W per day , see system outline at bottom, main draw is the fridge, vacuum after that, rest lights a few hrs. TV and internet through the day... tested that and it is ! 1.4 A constantly .... would think you need  ~2000W of panels off the getgo... remember LOADS ALWAYS GROW!
Suggest you start another post so you can tell us more about the lay of the land, shade patterns etc.

Hi,

New member. My name is David and I'm currently living in Puerto Rico. Owner of a MidNite Classic 200 and setting up a small solar power backup system.

Hi David,

Welcome to the forum.
Lots of good info and helpful members here.

Doug

Hi All. Nice to be a part this community!

My name is Eric.  Been living off-grid for 26 years.  I am looking for an Ananda Power Center, circa mid 90's to salvage some parts.  I have one that is still functioning, but I have "created" some parts over the years that I would like to replace with original equipment.  If anyone here has or knows of someone who does, I would greatly appreciate hearing from you.  Thanks!

Quote from: Eric H. on January 16, 2020, 01:53:47 PM
My name is Eric.  Been living off-grid for 26 years.  I am looking for an Ananda Power Center, circa mid 90's to salvage some parts.  I have one that is still functioning, but I have "created" some parts over the years that I would like to replace with original equipment.  If anyone here has or knows of someone who does, I would greatly appreciate hearing from you.  Thanks!

Hi Eric !

Well, maybe some of the guys at   http://www.solarcowboyz.com/  might know ?   There are some APC roots there.

Maybe Sam Vanderhoof ?  Or Christopher Freitas ?

Wouldn't hurt to ask them if you haven't already.

hi names ron just a mechanic trying to figure it out 

In NW Ohio.

Had my system running for a year now 4k solar and 2k wind running through a Midnite 150, 48v Schneider pre-wired box. 12 Trojan J2000 batteries. Istabreeze 2000 wind turbine with 4k controller. (Both suck don't by from them)

Still working out some learning curve issues.

Just wired up generator backup and charger capability to recharge batteries during low light times. Most of Jan, Feb, Mar.
Need to set up laptop or tablet to monitor energy data and access from elsewhere.

Want to set up better wind turbine and upgrade to 4K clipper. 

Hello:
I am Urayoan from Puerto Rico. I own a Midnite Classic since 2017, and in this days i was connecting the device to MyMidnite portal. Searching for info (firmware update, etc), one thing lead to another and here i am. Reading info like crazy and more active in the forum.

Quote from: Urayoan on September 09, 2020, 08:51:02 AM
Hello:
I am Urayoan from Puerto Rico. I own a Midnite Classic since 2017, and in this days i was connecting the device to MyMidnite portal. Searching for info (firmware update, etc), one thing lead to another and here i am. Reading info like crazy and more active in the forum.

Hi Urayoan !    I was in PR 3 or 4 years ago after the big hurricane.  Loved it there !   You guys have good sun !

Hey boB, glad you like it here.

Yes, we have good sun here, but poor education about solar systems (something is changing since hurricane María). I have my system installed after María hit us and i never coming back.

Newby with a portable off-grid setup in AZ.  Stopped generating power, though, so starting troubleshooting with my Classic 250. 

Stay healthy and energized!

Quote from: tranders on October 14, 2020, 02:37:08 PM
Newby with a portable off-grid setup in AZ.  Stopped generating power, though, so starting troubleshooting with my Classic 250. 

Stay healthy and energized!

Uh Oh.  Our service/support guys should get you going.

Are you near Phoenix ? Great area !

Hello,

Been here for more than a few years now and thought it might be time to say hi.

We have an off the grid cabin in Northern WI that we spend about ½ our time at year around.  Winters in Wisconsin are beautiful. We built the cabin ourselves in 2012, it was built as a solar home.  It is SIP construction with 140 ton insulated sand mass under the slab for heat storage from solar water heaters on the roof.  The water panels help with DHW also. We have about 6K in panels and a 1.5K Bornay wind turbine that we put in last year. We are only a few miles from Lake Superior so a turbine was a great addition.  There is a masonry heater centrally located in the cabin that was built by a friend that works unbelievably well even in the coldest weather up here, it has a pizza oven in it that we use often. 
What's not to love.

P.S. We love Midnite Solar equipment!

I was going to attach a couple pictures but I could not get it to work.

Hi everyone. My name is Doug (not Gerald) and I have an off-grid solar power array in eastern Ohio. It is used to power a pair of yurts that are occupied year-round.  I'm hoping to learn how to manage the solar installation for maximum power and battery life. 

Hummmm

AF7XT

Dennis

Kopcicle

Reprobate , grumpy old man.

Hello the forum!

We are a retired couple...sort of ...in NW West Virginia. I am fully retired and she is a business professional with a few years to go. Before I retired we bought a nice piece of land and over the past five years we’ve established an off-grid homestead with a splendid cabin that is powered by solar with rainwater keeping the cistern full. It’s still a work in-progress but we love the land, the area, and the lifestyle. We both grew up outdoors hunting, fishing, camping, etc., and I’d expect we’re like a lot of folks here - independent types who value self-sufficiency and the ability to provide for ourselves. We have a few discrepancies, skills and abilities we’ve not quite mastered, and are joining this site looking to improve in those areas as well as be in touch with like-minded folks.

C & H

Hello. I am an off grid solar user who knows next to nothing. I have been following instructions provided by the tech that set up my system 8 years ago. This year I have been getting seemingly random breaker trips to my MidNite. I have tried maximizing loads to attempt to drive Amperage beyond the 100A rating but could not force a trip. Could the solar input be surging above 100A causing the trip?
Any help or suggestions welcome,(my 'guy's retired)

Hello Whissellr, Welcome to the Forum.

We could use a bit more informaation about your system.

What Charge Controller is being used?
Is the tripping breaker between the Charge Controller (CC), and the baattery?  ...  or?
What is the type of breaker is tripping,  perhaps a photo of the system,  or at least the breakers?
What are all of the sources of power into the CC (PV, Wind, Hydro, etc)?

Thermal breakers can tend to have some variability in trip point,  and many of these types of breakers, can trip at successively lower currents,  the more times that they trip.

Thanks for the added info, about your system,  Vic

Thank you so much for your response Vic.

Attached is a picture of my Magnasine and Midnite Classic.
My system is 24V solar only with 3 arrays of 3 panels each that deliver ~1500W.
The breakers in question are the twinned 100A breakers in the middle of the Magnasine that seem to supply power to the Midnite...when the breakers trip the inverter continues to run until battery power is exhausted.
Any suggestions for a diagnosis or fix would be greatly appreciated!

Hi Whissellr,  thanks for the added info.

Think that the attachment of the photo,  did not work, could you please try doing the attachment again?

The "twinning" reference could be the DIN rail breakers,  that were two parallel breakers,  which are available in 100 Amp,  and 80 Amp ratings,  or,  perhaps it could possibly be a 100 A GFCI breaker.  The photo should help determine what breaker you are referring to.

You might have a loose connection, where cables connect to the breaker that is tripping.  You could try re-torquing these screw terminals on this breaker, and all others.  BUT you should be very careful in doing so.  Use a screwdriver with insulation on its metal shaft,  and wear safety glasses.  Be very careful about shorting the battery breaker terminals to ground/negative,  and that you do not touch the PV breaker terminals,  as there may be high voltage DC on this breaker.  Wear some good gloves while re-torquing all of these breaker terminals.

More later,  off to work, now.  Please let us know how you are doing.
More later,  Vic

Whissellr,

FYI,  in the following Link,  are three GFCI breakers (from Outback Power),  one of which is rated at 100 Amps,  does the tripping breaker look like, or similar to this  (?):

https://outbackpower.com/downloads/documents/integration_products/system_accessories/ground_fault/groundfaultbreakers_datasheet.pdf

Later, Vic

20230530_092237.jpg

Hi and thank you again Vic,

Hopefully the attachment is in order.

When the problem first occured I disconnected the batteries and solar input and tried to tighten all connections. This has not rectified the issue.

Hi Whissellr,

Thanks for the pics.  This looks like a good, high quality installation.

That dual DIN, 100 Amp breaker should be good for 100 Amps continuous current.

Even if your PV are producing 1500 Watts of output power, on your 24V system, this should not produce 100 Amps of output from the Classic.

It may be a bit of trouble to pull the front cover of the conduit box, where the tripping breaker is located,  if you could do that, it would be interesting to know if the cable that connects to the input and output of that breaker is Fine Stranded cable,  AND,  what is the gauge of the cable.

When the breaker trips,  do you know what that the battery voltage is?

What are the ratings of your PVs? Or, if you have it, what is the manufacturer and model number of the solar panels?  IIRC, you have three strings of PVs, each string has three PVs, and they appear to be identical?

Are you in the Southern Hemisphere?

When the breaker trips, is it early in the day, and is it cold outside when it trips?

Back to work, but, may ask another question, or two.

Thanks, Vic

There was a batch of those that were defective.  The plastic between the two terminals didn't get broken out to allow the copper horseshoe/box lug to be inserted all the way in the two saddles (terminals).  Might need to tear down and inspect that.  Also one loose saddle will cause nuisance tripping as that unit is just two 50 amp breakers in parallel.  If after inspection all looks good then it is just a defective unit fixed by replacement. 

Thank you, Jim,  did not know of the batch of bad ones   ...

Vic

Hello Forum readers!
I'm new and ignorant! I'm an off gridder in SW Colorado using a system the former owner set up. I have a Midnite Classic 200 with a Victron Energy Phoenix inverter. I just upgraded my 2 panels and bought new batteries.
Everything was going great all summer since the upgrade.
This month we have had a bunch of cloudy days/weather.
The other day we saw a low battery warning on the inverter and plugged in our generator to help charge the batteries.
Now, periodically the inverter will say low battery, the Midnite will show low voltage for the batteries and the system shuts down. Sometimes it resets automatically and sometimes I need to flip the inverter breaker. What we've noticed is that the inverter will occasionally send erroneous battery voltage info to the Midnite. I know this because I have independently tested the batteries or had the generator on for a few hours.
The inverter is about 8-10 yrs old.
Is it time to replace?
Or is my SOC setting on the Midnite wrong (I barely know what this means but it seems the inverter is not reading the battery charge level correctly and shutting down)?
The inverter just clicked, as i was writing this, and the low battery warning came on even though the Midnite says i have 11.5volts in the battery. The inverter shut down for a couple of minutes, power went out, then it came back on.
What's up with that?

Hi Jjbart, Welcome to the Forum.

OK,  please tell us the brand, and model of batteries that you are using, and also how many parallel strings of these batteries. Are the batteries all new?

11.5 VDC is a fairly low state of charge, although, this depends on system loads, etc.  But,
this appears to be a 12 V system

Victron products are generally regarded as being high quality,  so, the inverter might be OK.

Does the Classic have the optional WbJr current measuring module?

What is the brand and model number (or what is the Vmp and Voc of the panels,  and how are the panels wired (Series, or parallel)?

As you know, clouds can significantly reduce the PV output.

More later,  TIA, for as many answers as you can provide.  Vic

Hi Vic! A HUGE Thank you for your help!
I have 3 of these: CONTINENTAL CBEV-31-DT 12 VOLT GROUP 31 AGM BATTERY, 118 AH.
The batteries were just installed by a local solar guy (he came out and looked at the issue yesterday and said it is probably the Victron inverter that needs to be replaced).
Panels: Q Cells, Q Peak Duo BLK ML-G9+ 380. We have 2 and they look to be wired parallel. Not how to attach a picture!
I am not sure if I have the Whiz Bang module but I have seen that term in the Midnite screen.
Our system load is very low, we run a modem and charge 2 laptops, sometimes run an extra monitor. At night we have some LED lights.
Since yesterday, the Victron seems to shutting down more frequently. What started as a once in a long while issue, has now become every hour and sometimes multiple times in an hour.
For example, the batteries have a charge
of 13.4 or 13.5, then Victron blinks low battery and the Midnite screen will drop to 10v or 9.5v shutting all the power off. I will trip the breaker and the Midnite will show 13.5. Then I turn the Victron back on and everything reboots. Sometimes it stays on for an hour or two and then the low battery starts blinking again.

Jjbart,  Thanks for the added details of your system.

In a quick search,  did not find your Continental battery.  But the DT, in the model number might imply that they are a Marine style Dual Terminal battery.

Did your solar person give you specific charge settings, for the Classic,  and the Victron?
what are your loads on the system during the day,  when the Classic shuts down?

I forgot to ask what is the Vin to the Classic around noon.  This reading is on the top left of the main status screen/s.  Even if it is cloudy,  am still curious about this value.

The Classic needs about 9, to 10 V from the battery to run.

More,  in a bit, need to finish something before our sunset,  Vic

Quote from: Vic on September 14, 2023, 09:30:50 PMThe Classic needs about 9, to 10 V from the battery to run.

This made me think of something....    The Classic will start up at about 9.5V or somewhat less maybe but if the battery is any good at all, the Classic should continue running down to about 5 volts input before it shuts off.  MAYBE 6 V....

What this says, if I read that the Classic shuts off at around 9 or 10 V is that the battery may be toast.  OR maybe the connections need checking.  There should be enough current to allow the Classic to run a bit lower in Vbatt.  I think I remember that it took around 3 amps at that 5 or 4 V input right about as it is ready to turn off.

boB

Hi boB,

Thanks for the clarification on the Classic operation vs battery voltage,  AND interesting thought about the higher current drawn by the Classic, as it is about to quit.

Jjbart,

Here is a Link to the MidNite WbJr current measuring accessory  --  it is a small module that mounts on a Shunt, which is in the negative battery connection.  It is a PC board with a clear cover on it,  and one green LED which flashes every 5 seconds or so:
https://www.midnitesolar.com/productPhoto.php?product_ID=519&productCat_ID=21&sortOrder=9&act=pc

Thanks for the info on your solar panels,  those should keep the Classic happy,  and could supply about 45, or so Amps of current,  in max direct sun, toward the batteries/inverter.

Good Luck,  please DO let us know, how you are doing,  Vic

Hi Vic
Things have gotten worse! I think the Victron is shorting out the Midnite and hence the system. Midnite works great and at night as soon as the Victron is turned on it shuts the entire system down. During the day when the sun is out, the Victron will stay on until I plug the low-load modem into a socket. Then the system shuts down. I'm looking for someone else to come out and take a look.
Also, this only started happening when our batteries were low from some rainy days and we started the generator and connected it to the system.
At wits end!
John

Hi John,

Questions:

Does the inverter have a charger, built-in?  Else, how are you charging from the generator?
What is the inverter model number?

Does the inverter show Fault codes?

DO you have a MultiMeter, to measure AC/DC voltages?  You might check the AC output voltage of the inverter, to make sure that it is close to 120 VAC.

Do you have a 12 V battery charger?

When the inverter shuts down, it might default to its 230 VAC/50 Hz (EU) settings.

I know nothing of Victron gear

What loads does the inverter feed?
Are you in Lightning Country  --  any chance that you have had a close lightning strike?

Check the Configuration switch settings, verses what the manual suggests for USA.

You may be having trouble getting on the internet, if the Modem you referred to, will not run ...
   Later,  Good Luck,  Vic

Good news Vic!
A new local solar guy came out and did some troubleshooting on our system.
He quickly detected that we had a loose cable from the inverter connecting the inverter with the Midnite Classic.
Embarrassment aside, the system works great.
And we have a new local solar guy to help us.
Happy ending indeed.
Thanks for your help!
John

Hi John,

Great news!  Thanks for the update,   and nice that you have contct with a new, capable solar teck.

Vic