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PowerJack 30000Watt 48volt LF SP PSW 2 box inverter 2021 model 189 pounds

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(@sid-genetry-solar)
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Just now, pilgrimvalley said:

so one really never knows what any of the powerjack manufactured transformer core of a is made of either, let alone the chokes....some supper cheap concoction to same 2 bits...🤣🤣

not like anyone is going to take them apart and find out either...

I already have unwound several PJ transformers.  Very tedious process.

They have a laminated iron core, with cylindrically wrapped sheets forming the core.

 

Ferrites' composition specification is technically known as MnZn PC40, with a green enamel coating for electrical isolation (as ferrites are quite electrically conductive).  Not rocket science to find--if you dig around Aliexpress for ferrite cores, that's predominantly the specification that you'll find with a green coating.


   
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(@sid-genetry-solar)
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Posted by: @dickson
I check every battery connection with a infra red thermoneter and it is under 120 degree F .

You'd better be able to hold your hands on any connections without burning your fingers...or there's a problem.  (But if you're at 450vDC, that'd be a fatal test to run...)

 

Posted by: @dickson
Some of my bus bar are steel and seem to work .

Don't recommend this if you're running high amperage--steel has a high resistance.

But I can't say that too loudly, because my DIY home battery bank (LFP) has battery end plates cut from a projection TV chassis...steel as the day is long....


   
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pilgrimvalley
(@pilgrimvalley)
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Posted by: @sid-genetry-solar
Ferrites' composition specification is technically known as MnZn PC40, with a green enamel coating for electrical isolation (as ferrites are quite electrically conductive). Not rocket science to find--if you dig around Aliexpress for ferrite cores, that's predominantly the specification that you'll find with a green coating.

yes  I have seen that but they do not disclose their proprietary mixture... of the ferrite....not real important 

and yes the green wrap is to isolate it kind of like shrink wrap...or electrical tape to hep prevent direct electrical contact with the ring...

thanks for telling me about the laminated sheets in the powerjack toroidal core...as i will not unwind one ever...


   
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pilgrimvalley
(@pilgrimvalley)
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yes I saw the home-made makeshift power supply with steel bars....at sean's ...it works but not as conductive as copper..

I only use copper bus bars... copper is quite expensive now though...

kind of interesting to repurpose things though....

 


   
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(@dickson)
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ferrite just means it is a magnetic ring of some unknown proprietary mixture... a secret formula..                  at least it (ring of the choke) will become magnetic once you run AC electricity thru it...                chokes are made of either iron, steel, or ferrite according to the engineering mindset YouTube videos.

Ferrite is not a secret formula .       Ferrite ring  should be use for the transformer  primary .   I use large  ferrite ring  on  the   input 4/0  DC  cable  also  .     My scope show  the high frequency  noise is  elimanated  by  the ferrite ring  .     Otherwise  there  are seller of  fake choke .      I  think if Sungold  put  a real  choke  on their transformer  primary  but there is NO  room  so the high  idle draw .     Choke  can be put on the AC output  and it will  act like a suppressor  I think  but not necessary  .     I  use a whole house  suppresor for  voltage  surge  like on thunderstorm  day on the AC  side .   


   
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(@dickson)
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You'd better be able to hold your hands on any connections without burning your fingers...or there's a problem.  (But if you're at 450vDC, that'd be a fatal test to run.

I  got my finger burn  many times  with  60 volts  and can not do with 450v DC  .   I use a infra-red thermometer  now before  touching  the battery wire .      


   
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pilgrimvalley
(@pilgrimvalley)
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Posted by: @dickson
it never said why his friend (Mike G) building burned down. I thought Mike G say it was his friend BATTERY business building that burn down . Mike say he use aluminum bus bar so the connection is tight and is the first one to use aluminum and say copper bus bar come loose . Some of my bus bar are steel and seem to work . I check every battery connection with a infra red thermoneter and it is under 120 degree F . IF 200 degree F then for sure it is loose everytime and the smell of insulation melting .

yes, he (Mike G)said his friend had a battery business..

not sure about copper vs aluminum busbar.... off grid garage had a number of videos about busbars and ultimately the nickel plated copper busbars provided by the LiFePO4 cell vendors showed to work better.....I think the aluminum had to be a lot thicker to pass the same amount of current as it had higher resistance.....the advantage of aluminum was the lack of dissimilar metals reaction (galvanic reaction) but the nickel plating was/is the solution to this problem....

most commercial LiFePO4 builder weld the aluminum connections to their batteries.....you can never replace a faulty cell ...at least not without a lot of difficulty...

I only use copper busbars,,,and avoid aluminum...i wish they were all nickel plated (but they are not) all the ones with direct battery contact are nickel plated but the distribution busbars are not...

I did acquire some large thicker nickel plated busbars used to repurpose...(( I think they came off some industrial equipment tear-down salvage off eBay))

copper is a far superior conductor with less resistance than aluminum.....

aluminum is cheaper than copper....but take a lot more volume to get the same ampacity...

Nickel belongs to the transition metals and is hard and ductile.

but at some point one has to make the transition from aluminum to copper so the need for a plated busbar or plated cable lugs to prevent the galvanic reaction....

aluminum quickly develops a resistive layer (oxidized layer)when exposed to oxygen

he (Mike G) seemed to indicate he had better luck/success using studs and serrated nuts to hold the battery connections tight (vs using bolts)...many people have problems getting the torque correct assembling LiFePO4 batteries.....I use 25mm long set screw/grub screws and serrated nuts to assemble the LiFePO4 batteries... I bought lock-tite but never used it(for the threads of the set screws)....I have never had any connections come loose...only the initial tightening....makes me want to go check them now that i say that🤔🤔

the bolts never worked for me .... i quickly went to replacing all bolts to LiFePO4 cells with 25 mm long set screws and serrated nuts and have had no problems using the nickel plated busbar connections (knock on wood)...

have a great Sunday....and 4th of July tomorrow...😎


   
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pilgrimvalley
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a inverter of 12000 watts output at 48 volts would be drawing 250 amps through the DC battery wires and the connections would be getting hot pulling that many amps....from the battery bank...

12000 watts at 60 volts would be 200 amps

12000 watts at 240 volts would be 50 amp draw from the battery bank (1/5th of the heat through the wire at 240 volts DC vs 48 volts) ....

i should utilize the infrared thermometer more to check heat at the connections....thanks for the reminder!


   
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(@inphase)
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Posted by: @pilgrimvalley
a inverter of 12000 watts output at 48 volts would be drawing 250 amps through the DC battery wires and the connections would be getting hot pulling that many amps....from the battery bank...

BUT, I say again, that is just wide open throttle. In other words that number of amps only happens when the inverter is maxed out, which is rarely and only for short periods. I think I'd rather deal with high DC current than high DC voltage. The current goes away as the load decreases but that high voltage is always on just waiting to arc over.


   
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(@dickson)
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 off grid garage had a number of videos about busbars and ultimately the nickel plated copper busbars provided by the LiFePO4 cell vendors showed to work better.....I think the aluminum had to be a lot thicker to pass the same amount of current as it had higher resistance.

I watch   off grid garage youtube  when he use FLIR to show  the heat when the busbar come loose .    Nickel plated copper  stay  flat on the battery terminal  and Mike G use aluminum  so it also stay flat on the battery terminal .  BMW  also  use aluminun  bus bar  for thier battery .  I use the BMW  bus bar which is  1/2 inch thick and  copper pipe flatten wirh a hammer and steel angle bar .   Any loose connection  and the temperature jump to 200 degree F  and the smell of insulation  melting .    Any visible arcing  and the temperature  I  measure after shutdown is 350 degree F  and the battery will blow up at  450 degree .      NO  450v DC  system  for me unless  prebuilt  LiFEpo4 .     I am staying with my  60 v system   for another  year running  under 4000 watts   and sometime  checking  battery temperature  every hour  during the  summer  when the temperature  is 100  degree even  at night .    IT cost 500 dollars to run the 4 ton heat pump  a month  on  grid  power  .       This is chicken feed  compare  to what Sean say he uses .     


   
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pilgrimvalley
(@pilgrimvalley)
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2 hours ago, dickson said:

IT cost 500 dollars to run the 4 ton heat pump  a month  on  grid  power  .       This is chicken feed  compare  to what Sean say he uses . 

yes, I think a 12k 48-volt inverter is not adequate for his needs (Sean) and since they are not parallelable >>> he would have to run multiple inverters, each on its own breaker panel and not interconnected. 

that is why a larger inverter makes sense....

if he (Sean) looked at his peak draw, that would tell him the size of inverter needed without over-loading the inverter....

a Texas YouTube man "Ray Builds Cool Stuff" has three 8000 watt HF inverters (similar to the Solark) in his newly expanding system to produce a peak of 24000 watts but has a 112k battery bank...for a 4 day reserve... he said his peak was 19000 watts, but one does not want to run at full throttle... and has gas hot water, gas cooktop, and a gas grill...

an interesting thing he (Ray Builds Cool Stuff) did was add a soft start to reduce the heat pump draw from 50 amps to 19 amps ...maybe that would help a bit with your heat pump.....

the battery is still likely the most expensive part of a fully functional off-grid solar PV system....😎

I can't wait to see the 4 12k inverters running on Sean's wall with the dozen or more el cheapo MPPTs...🤔 4 inverters wasting 1000 plus watts an hour as heat would be the equivalent of running two 2000 watt electric space heaters in the small space he is talking of enclosing....that will help the efficiency...ok with cold leaky walls in the winter but a big problem in the summer.....getting rid of the excess heat is the problem with multiple big inverters...🤔🤔😎


   
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pilgrimvalley
(@pilgrimvalley)
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if the 12k inverter is 90 percent efficient and wastes 1000 watts or more per hour as heat due to the inefficiency.....

it is most efficient at full throttle correct???

at half throttle>>> say 6000 watts in the 12k inverter>>>> is the wasted power of the inverter still 1000 plus watts of waste heat or is it some number/amount less???

have you measured this at all??? just curious.....

the hermit with a 3000 watt continuous draw in a tiny off-grid house who can not air condition, cook, refrigerate the food, and dry clothes at the same time is one thing >>>> but the modern typical spoiled American home is another thing.

many YouTube folks utilize several inverters in parallel of various different makes/brands to meet the normal family life household need

I  have 3 LF inverters connected 24/7 and a 4th in ready mode. but not 30KW equivalent yet...🤔🤔😎


   
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pilgrimvalley
(@pilgrimvalley)
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A side note:

i worked off-grid in the mountains of Bolivia for 18 years so I know how spoiled the American home is.....

we used kerosene lights and candles after dark and noisy generators only very sparingly as the gas or diesel had to be trucked in in 20 liter containers at great difficulty...2 to 2,5 hours to the nearest small town with fuel...

as I also have a house with all the electrical doo-dads one could ever want and waste lots of power with light running 24/7 although more efficient lights than in past years...in rural South Dakota at my off-grid farm...1840 to 1880 year vintage...

in Bolivia we saw all the lumber with large Stihl chainsaws and haul down out of the mountains, fence posts are cut this way 500 at a time also....(fence post labor cost about 2 dollars per post now...5inch x5inch xnine feet long)

I bought a front wheel assist Ford tractor about 110HP to help some...still done the hard way....

we gather rocks and mix the concrete with a electric cement mixer now have grid vs the Yanmar diesel motor powering the belt drive generator... so advancing in leaps and bounds....and have WIFI that I communicate to the seclude remote Southern Bolivia mountain people most days for free via WhatsApp....gas and diesel is still about 2 dollars a gallon there though...

building a retaining wall for flood protection of the Molino at present...the river rose 26 feet in the year 2001.... a 100 year flood but caused a lot of damage rebuilding/ re-engineering of the Molino and new additions since then...

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pilgrimvalley
(@pilgrimvalley)
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Four 12000 watt GS12k inverters at half throttle would still pull 24000 watts and more than 500 amps from his battery bank in Sean's Michigan house...from his proposed solar wall or more...perhaps that would be his peak load.... hard to say????

that is what Sean says he want on his solar wall in his basement....🤔

he needs a lot more batteries and more solar panels....😎

be a great income tax write off....26 percent federal tax credit this year still....


   
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(@dickson)
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a Texas YouTube man "Ray Builds Cool Stuff" has three 8000 watt HF inverters 

Thank you for this  youtube  on what charger  to use for LiFEPO4 battery  .     A good  charger is what I  have to get  before  I will use LiFEPO4 battery again  .      I  will not  use 8000 watt HF inverter  and I  can not use  450v DC  IF     inverter  as I  will only do DIY off-grid  and no permit needed .    I  tell those solar door to door salesman  that I  use  harbor freight  solar panel  and my electric bill in the summer is less than 90 dollars .     They know to look at  my main entrance  and  see no  transfer switch  and scratch their head   and leave .        Those  solar salesman is the most stupid people in the world  as they sold  5000 watts solar system  to my  friend  when his  usage is  20000 watts  .   He is stupid also and that is  how scrammer make  money from all  the stupid  in the world   .        

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