This Page is here to show off several dumb things people have done to their poor solar systems.
These pictures are here to show you what NOT to do. Be smarter than this. DO NOT ATTEMPT TO INSTAL LIKE THIS. All of these things are a very bad idea.
I sell “DIY” equipment to folks that hopefully have some foggy idea of basic electrical concepts. I send this equipment out hoping that all is well and hope I dont get too many upset phone calls about how “You sold me junk and nothing works” only to find out horrible things have transpired.
Dusty Environment Not so Great for Electronics
This equipment does not work well in a dusty environment
This battery looks like it is very dirty or dusty. This equipment does not work really great and dirty or dusty environments because the fans get filled up with dust and the heat sinks inside will become caked with dust as well.
Your equipment and batteries should be kept in a clean environment that does not get too hot or cold.
A lithium battery should be protected from freezing. The battery should be in a temperature controlled space that protected it from freezing over the winter.
Straight 240 into breaker box
This customer decided to install a double pole breaker but only connected one wire to it.
Called me complaining that he had burnt up a bunch of electronics in the house. Yeah, that is what happens when you feed your breaker box with straight (European) 240.
This SHOULD have been Line1/Line2 (White/Black) going into the double pole breaker.
In the US, we do not use “240”. We have what is really called “Split-Phase” because it is two legs of 120 volt that feed into a double pole breaker.
Disaster System
Had a customer call me, upset because his new system “Did not work”. Here are some of the photos he sent. A little piece of me died inside.
A summary of what he had done:
1. Busbar sharing the negatives from the batteries AND the solar panels
2. Busbar ALSO had the neutrals from the AC Input AND the AC Output
3. Busbar was connected to some very undersized grounding wire.
4. DC power does NOT ground and should be connected to ground
5. Battery cables were WAY undersized. These would have started a fire under load.
6. They used DC rated breakers on the power feed from the AC output on the inverter
that feeds out to the transformer. You should only use AC rated hardware with AC
power and DC rated hardware with DC power. You will start a fire if you mix.
Cheap Junk Melting Down
Cheap solar equipment will only cause issues down the road.
The Charge Controller in the top photo says that it is rated for 90 AMPS. This is a really bad idea. The Chinese sell a lot of tiny little Charge Controllers like this and list random current capabilities that are far beyond what is reasonable.
Sure you can get one of these things for $15, but is it worth burning down your house?
Can’t Use a Multimeter
The customer who sent this photo was trying to test the amperage going into his batteries. He texted this photo to me upset that he was not getting much amps going into his battery.
AC power and DC power are very different and are metered differently.
If you call me up all pissed of that nothing works when you test with your multimeter, but it turns out that you have no clue how to use your multimeter, then I will not have much sympathy for you.
