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Rosie testing in Ohio

Started by qrper, March 02, 2023, 11:07:22 AM

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qrper

UPS dropped off several boxes, and now I can begin to rebuild my entire off grid system centered around Rosie.

To get some baseline dimensions, I opened the backplate to get some sort of idea how big Rosie and the epanel will be.
So first up was the backplate. I was hoping there would be at least a single sheet of instructions on the backplate, yeah, yeah, I know it's only a piece of metal. However, there was NO mounting screws for Rosie or for the epanel included. (Website states there is hardware) That's no big deal, hardware store less than a mile from me. IT would be great if I knew what size, thread pitch, and length of hardware I should use.

And while I know this sounds trivial, there's no way to tell which end is up. I had to open the epanel box, pull it out, and find out what holes aline on the backplate to the epanel.

I was impressed on how well the epanel was packed and shipped. That's three thumb ups! Most consumers don't take into account the cost of packing a product.

That's all so far. I'm hitting up the local industrial electrical supply house for pieces parts, and in the meantime, I'm going to need to hire someone to remove the old Trace SW5548 from the wall downstairs and move it to the garage next to Rosie.

Mike
System one: 7kWp w/ Trina 250 W panels @90 Vdc. Classic 150 to 16-6 V U.S batteries. Trace 5548 sine wave inverter.
System two: 6kWp grid tie with solaredge inverter.
System three: Midnite Brat, two 120 W Astropower modules, 100 Ah battery. Runs the LED streetlight in the back yard.

Vic

Hi Mike,

Congrats on receiving your Beta Rosie.

Please ask MN for proper screws for the backplate,  front covers, etc.

These serews are very often specialized forms of Self-tapping screws,  and some of them even have a bit of lubricant applied to the threads. [it is not the proper term, but to me they might be called Crowded Thread screws].

I doubt that neither McMaster Carr, nor Fastenal would have them in stock.

IMO, have fun,  do get help with the 5548!  Vic
Off Grid - Sys 1: 2ea SW+ 5548, Surrette 4KS25 1280 AH, 5.25 KW PV, Classic 150,WB, Beta Barcelona, Beta KID
Sys 2: SW+ 5548s, 4KS25s, 5.88 KW PV, 2 ea. Classic 150, WB, HB CC-needs remote Monitoring/Control, site=remote.
 MN Bkrs/Bxs/Combiners. Thanks MN for Great Products/Svc/Support&This Forum!!

qrper

Quote from: Vic on March 02, 2023, 01:01:16 PMHi Mike,

Congrats on receiving your Beta Rosie.

Please ask MN for proper screws for the backplate,  front covers, etc.

These serews are very often specialized forms of Self-tapping screws,  and some of them even have a bit of lubricant applied to the threads. [it is not the proper term, but to me they might be called Crowded Thread screws].

I doubt that neither McMaster Carr, nor Fastenal would have them in stock.

IMO, have fun,  do get help with the 5548!  Vic
Hi, vic,

Will contact support later on next week. I was hoping BoB might jump in with specs for the hardware. I triple checked the backing plate shipping box, and found no hardware.

Yup! I'm goin' need some help getting the old Trace off of the wall. When I was in younger man's clothing, I picked the beastly thing up and mounted it to the wall by myself.

I put the inverter downstairs 'cause it was closer to the electrical panel. Now the Rosie will go up inside the garage and cable run back and forth from the EP and Rosie. It's nice to have the bypass on Rosie, as it is now, I have to go down stairs and flip breakers to go from one grid to off grid.

Looking for a double pole double throw service switch to select either Rosie or Trace inverters. They're about $200. Next issue is the Trace is single pole, vers Rosie with split phase. Yeah, I know I can select single pole from Rosie, but I'm going to stick with split phase.
That means I can (at last) use the T240 transformer I have had sitting around for 20 years.
Like I said, this is going to be a total redo of the system.

mike
System one: 7kWp w/ Trina 250 W panels @90 Vdc. Classic 150 to 16-6 V U.S batteries. Trace 5548 sine wave inverter.
System two: 6kWp grid tie with solaredge inverter.
System three: Midnite Brat, two 120 W Astropower modules, 100 Ah battery. Runs the LED streetlight in the back yard.

boB


The authorities have been notified of this screwy issue !

ETA to come.

K7IQ 🌛  He/She/Me

ralph day

Those old Trace inverters were beasts!  When copper was king.

Wizbandit

The Barcelona Back Plate has an ARROW and the word UP or TOP stamped into the metal at the TOP.  I would think the Rosie Back Plate had the same... maybe not.

qrper

Quote from: Wizbandit on March 05, 2023, 06:24:56 AMThe Barcelona Back Plate has an ARROW and the word UP or TOP stamped into the metal at the TOP.  I would think the Rosie Back Plate had the same... maybe not.
Nope! Nary a word, arrow, or hunk of masking tape

mike
System one: 7kWp w/ Trina 250 W panels @90 Vdc. Classic 150 to 16-6 V U.S batteries. Trace 5548 sine wave inverter.
System two: 6kWp grid tie with solaredge inverter.
System three: Midnite Brat, two 120 W Astropower modules, 100 Ah battery. Runs the LED streetlight in the back yard.

qrper

Okay boys and girls. I've said it before and I'll say it now. When I screw up, it's usually magnificent!

When I first opened the backer panel for the Rosie and epanel, I mentioned there wasn't any way to tell what end was up. I called tech support last week for the missing mounting hardware, and asked Todd how do you tell what end is up? Todd said it was laser etched into the metal.

Don't you know! If you don't know it's there, it's almost impossible to see it. But once you do, it's like seeing the Virgin Mary's face in a piece of toast. If you put some light on the panel from the side, you can see it clearly.IMG_0422.jpgIMG_0417.jpg

I feel like a goof!

Mike
System one: 7kWp w/ Trina 250 W panels @90 Vdc. Classic 150 to 16-6 V U.S batteries. Trace 5548 sine wave inverter.
System two: 6kWp grid tie with solaredge inverter.
System three: Midnite Brat, two 120 W Astropower modules, 100 Ah battery. Runs the LED streetlight in the back yard.

qrper

Progress is slowly being made. I have the epanel and Rosie installed. I can say, having the pre-wired epanel will certainly save a lot of time.

I was put back a bit when I opened the Rosie shipping. While no damage to the box either external or internal, the front cover is gouged something awful. This is only one example. There are several other gouges on the front plate. They're quite deep!
It's not earth shattering, and I'l try a Sharpie to blend in the marks.



IMG_0434.jpg 

System one: 7kWp w/ Trina 250 W panels @90 Vdc. Classic 150 to 16-6 V U.S batteries. Trace 5548 sine wave inverter.
System two: 6kWp grid tie with solaredge inverter.
System three: Midnite Brat, two 120 W Astropower modules, 100 Ah battery. Runs the LED streetlight in the back yard.

boB

Quote from: qrper on March 21, 2023, 03:47:01 PMProgress is slowly being made. I have the epanel and Rosie installed. I can say, having the pre-wired epanel will certainly save a lot of time.

I was put back a bit when I opened the Rosie shipping. While no damage to the box either external or internal, the front cover is gouged something awful. This is only one example. There are several other gouges on the front plate. They're quite deep!
It's not earth shattering, and I'l try a Sharpie to blend in the marks.

IMG_0434.jpg 


This looks like the side plate !  Please take a picture of the other dings, QRP.

We can either send you clean plates or something else can be done about this I am sure.

We are still honing our production skills on the shipping and packaging but this should never have gone out to you !

boB
K7IQ 🌛  He/She/Me

FNG

Please email me ryan@midnitesolar.com I will get you a new front cover asap, Sorry about that

qrper

WILL  Do... I'm starting to think I should rename this Rosie as a 'Karen'!

Mike.
System one: 7kWp w/ Trina 250 W panels @90 Vdc. Classic 150 to 16-6 V U.S batteries. Trace 5548 sine wave inverter.
System two: 6kWp grid tie with solaredge inverter.
System three: Midnite Brat, two 120 W Astropower modules, 100 Ah battery. Runs the LED streetlight in the back yard.

qrper

Between running errands and getting the taxes done (which always puts me in a good mood!) I did some wiring inside the Rosie.

I found that the plastic bushing that are used to protect the AC in/out wires won't lock into the chassis. I played tug of wire trying to adjust those #6 gauge wires so the bushings wouldn't slip (get pushed) out of place. I'm thinking of a glob or two of some black RTV to hold them in place. From what I could tell, the bushings are a tad too thin to let the snaps get past the aluminum covers. They won't 'lock in' like they should.

Also.... and I looked everywhere, I didn't see the BTS. If that is an option, I'll get one ordered in.

The new/replacement MNGP2 arrived the other day. No Scotch tape! I'm impressed!

I almost had another heart attack when I stopped by the big box store for wire.
Holy snapping copper mines, Batman, when did the price of wire get so out of hand? $127 for 500' of #14 stranded wire.

Making progress!

Mike, wb8vge

System one: 7kWp w/ Trina 250 W panels @90 Vdc. Classic 150 to 16-6 V U.S batteries. Trace 5548 sine wave inverter.
System two: 6kWp grid tie with solaredge inverter.
System three: Midnite Brat, two 120 W Astropower modules, 100 Ah battery. Runs the LED streetlight in the back yard.

qrper

I've been busy!

 
Rosie is up and running. Some issues I've found:

With firmware 23.3.21

Running  high loads, such as a microwave, toaster, and  lights and so on, about 2500 watts plus, when the microwave stops, the lights go brighter for a second or so. Seems like Rosie lost voltage regulation for a few seconds.

If I turn on the AC in so Rosie is charging the batteries, and after  five minutes or so, when I turn the AC in breaker off, Rosie will shut down for a couple of seconds before powering back up.

With the newest firmware, April 16 release, I haven't seen the surge when the high loads dropped off.

Kilowatt in and kilowatt out displays are wrong. The kWh out, while grossly inaccurate, won't roll over. When the display shows .9kWh, you would think it would roll over to 1.0 kWh. Nope, resets to zero and starts over.

I had a terrible time figuring out where those taps go for adding SPDs. After I called tech support, and found out what they are actually called— They're pick offs. They need to be installed BEFORE you land the wiring into the terminal blocks. Instruction need to specify this.

SPDs need to be added to the epanel before it is married to Rosie. The top most left side SPD is impossible to add after the epanel and Rosie are attached.

This friday will be a week since Rosie went on line. So far so good. And with each bug smashed, things are only going to get better.

mike
System one: 7kWp w/ Trina 250 W panels @90 Vdc. Classic 150 to 16-6 V U.S batteries. Trace 5548 sine wave inverter.
System two: 6kWp grid tie with solaredge inverter.
System three: Midnite Brat, two 120 W Astropower modules, 100 Ah battery. Runs the LED streetlight in the back yard.

boB

Thank you very much Mike !

Every little bit of information helps. 

We knew about the kWh problem.  Might be as simple as the MNGP2 not displaying all of the digits.

boB
K7IQ 🌛  He/She/Me