Day #4 come and gone!
OK, yesterday I was whining about it getting old, me being ready to move on…and especially getting rid of the generator sound.
Well, it is the morning of Day #5 and the generator is still running and yesterday wasn’t another 12-hour day…was a 13-hour day! The good news is…I actually slept almost 7 hours last night. Oh, and do you have any idea how heavy 205ag LifePO4 batteries are!!!!
So how did it go yesterday? Oh man, it sucked!! The project ground to a snail’s pace.
I did get my inverters wired in early and without a problem. Then I added the Victron Lynx Shunt to the Lynx PowerIn that I had converted into a Distributor. That was very easy other than having to move the combined unit down about 4 inches to allow for more wire duct space.
Then came the 2nd Victron Lynx PowerIn that I am using as a busbar. But, between that unit and the Lynx Shunt that it gets added to I installed a Class-T fuse for high over-current protection. And I loved how that turn out…tight! And I built my first “bar-style” connection vs using 4/0 cable with terminals…loved it!
Then everything came to a complete stop. I moved 2 of the 3 batteries into position and was working at the placement of a circuit breaker box…and found out I had bought the wrong breakers. The breakers in my hand were polarity sensitive…not suitable for use as I had intended. How in the world did I make that mistake?????
I went back to the website where I purchased them, the product description clearly stated they were not polarity sensitive. Multiple phone calls later…and 1-1/2 hours of delay…I can’t used the breakers. Then a trip to town to visit with the solar shop I do contract work occasionally…1/2 hour later…not viable/affordable option on the shelf. So back to my place with “Plan B” 🙂
Well, I started making the cables for the 2 older batteries…yeah, the cable lugs I was going to use ended up being to wide for the battery terminals. My 2/0 cable between the batteries and the PowerIn busbar ain’t going to work. But, parallel 2AWG cables from the battery to a battery switch, then 2/0 cable to the PowerIn busbar will work.
Spent a couple hours figuring it out and building 4 sets of cables…exhausted, dinner waiting for me. A great supper by my loving great wife!
Did I mention that my two LifePO4 batteries are heavy? Yeah, 209.5 pounds each. They were a pain to get into place. Not to worry…only 1 to move today. But, I should have the system up and running today…maybe by noon.
At the beginning of Day #4 –
At the end of Day #4 –
Related Articles –
- Great Solar Upgrade – Day #1
- Great Solar Upgrade – Day #2
- Great Solar Upgrade – Day #3
- Great Solar Upgrade – Day #4
- Great Solar Upgrade – Day #5
- Great Solar Upgrade – Day #6
- Great Solar Upgrade – Day #7 – IT WORKS ! !
- Great Solar Upgrade – Day #4