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I take advantage of the fact that a solar panel is a current source and will maintain a certain amount of current throughout the day. By placing it in a location where it gets no direct sun, I limit the current to less than half an amp. That is enough to counteract the internal discharge current...

I got my $60 cable/connector today, and made up my interface to MC4 connectors. I incorporated a 150A diode in it to prevent reverse current flow at night. The panel will sit out of direct sun, so it will produce about an amp of charge current to keep the starting battery topped off. Will hook...

From what I can tell reading the label, it appears I need only 0.1oz of biocide per 10 gallons of diesel. Stuff's expensive, but when you realize one bottle treats almost 2000 gallons, that's pretty good. I'm on the lookout for either a good clean 55 gallon drum, or a used oil tank for this.

What do you recommend for a biocide? I'm building a shopping list.

Would that be this stuff here?

Looks like DF2 and several others listed here; DF2 = #2 heating oil?

Those tanks must be hard to find and expensive! I wonder how #2 heating oil works in this genset? That's what I plan to run. My 2000 gallon main tank for heating has probably got some oil in there from 20 years ago, as I top off the tank every other year, so I never use up all the old oil, it...

Since I use home heating oil number two fuel oil I am wondering if this is pretty much ideal to run the generator on? I run it in my excavator and I have no issues with the engine running on that. So would it be the same for the MEP 803a?

Yes I am aware of the auxiliary fuel input and I actually tested it with a 5 gallon container and ran the auxiliary pump and got the last gallon out of the tank. So what I'm interested in knowing is where I can get a recommended auxiliary fuel tank that's low profile and safe to store next to...

I got a temporary ground hooked up to the generator trailer now. (Still waiting for the crane to come and lift cab off excavator so I can get that repaired and use it to move this to a slab permanent installation). Was cloudy all day and the air conditioning prevented battery charging with weak...

My second EG4 Chargeverter arrived today. The company originally had the older yellow version listed as in stock. When I ordered, it said out of stock, so I e-mailed them and they said they have a few scratch and dent units left and they'd sell to me for a 20% discount. So I bought the new one...

I have spare solar panels laying around and use them as battery tenders, such as on my pickup, which will kill a battery stone dead in just a week of sitting. My plan is to set one up and connect to the slave port. It may not be elegant, but it will offset any phantom load that may be on the...

A nearby lightning strike or any big static discharge will generate an EMP. Devices within a certain radius will be affected or even damaged. The solar panels were isolated by the charge controller and 80' of underground wiring from panels to charge controller. However, items NOT connected to...

I've been shopping around for a slave connector, as I plan to use it with a solar panel to create a battery tender/trickle charger. Some of the connectors go as high as $199. I found this one at about $60, but it still seems high. Are there any less expensive sources for this connector?

The only time I would remove a panel is for an upgrade. So the grounds will be continuous. All panels have to be present for the series connection to carry current. Those lightning stories are downright crazy. I'd heard such stories of "it was just overcast, then the dog got hit by a bolt of...

The genset was here for a matter of hours (was just delivered this weekend) and I am awaiting repairs on my excavator so I can complete the permanent installation of the generator, which is temporarily sitting on a trailer. Not great timing for this storm, that's fer sure! My ground mounts are...

As it turns out after inspecting the damage, it was not the charge controller that failed, but the bypass diodes in the array. When I went back there to look for visual signs of damage, I could smell burnt electronics. So I popped the covers off the junction boxes. Found many exploded diodes...

This particular array was the remaining last of the used, old panels. I was to replace them in May, but had replaced the south array and found abysmal electricity production with the new panels. Sungold and I are tussling over trying to get those replaced and in the delay, I never finished the...

He sure did.. I have a long document with all the troubleshooting and maintenance items that he sent me. I have to deal with some lightning damage to my solar power system right now.

Glad to be here! We just had a bad T-storm. Lightning struck my east solar array, took out the 6kW inverter (being used as a charger), and the the solar charge controller for that array, plus scrambled the display on our 18kW inverter. Generator is still running the Chargeverter so that part's...