OffGridInTheCity Build

[OffGridInTheCity]

Kudos for the monitoring. Do you also have an alerting system, how do you receive alerts (sms/email/app/else)?

Great idea. I don't have specific email/text alerts but I could. I have internet cards in the APS UPSs that do email. As an example, these rapid fire APC UPS emails are what alerted me to the AIMS failure.... + I could see the lights flickering. I could extend this idea.

 

[ziporah]

as a suggestion, you could try https://www.callmebot.com/
I use it in combination with home assistant and it allows me to send whatsapp messages for free to my cellphone when the wifi of my inverter is once again unavailable or my cats mess up with the monitoring probes of my central heating.

 

[OffGridInTheCity]

I offer this post as a cautionary tail - just bricked a brand-new 12,000w SUNGOLDPOWER Inverter....

My AIMS 12,000w inverter died in Dec and no control board or even an ETA available from AIMS support. Discouraging, so I decided to try another vendor. Ordered the cheapest ETL listed 12,000w inverter I could find - SUNGOLDPOWER 48v @ 12,000w US Split Phase 240v/120v


It arrived and at 175lbs it took me a few hours to get it leveraged / manhandled into place. Hooked up the battery and it turned on.... so far so good. In my setup, I need remote on/off so I tried plugging in the AIMS RJ45 jack (with wires 3-5 shorted = turn on) into the "Remote LCD" jack (same label the AIMS have) and....

It lit up, then buzzed, popped, died, and smoke drifting out the side. YIKES!!!!!!!! What an IDIOT I am!!!

Opened it up and found this....

I could just kick myself thinking it would work or do nothing - after all, it's just an innocuous RJ45 plug - it's not like a lot of amps could flow down that wire. Frankly, a really, really bad decision and a bit of recklessness - e.g. large powerwall / power production is a fairly serious business even at DIY.

Contacted SUNGOLDPOWER Support. Hopefully they have replacement parts better than AIMS does.... If they do, I can pretty easily replace this control board and hope that's all I damaged.

 

[bbbbrass]

I offer this post as a cautionary tail - just bricked a brand-new 12,000w SUNGOLDPOWER Inverter....

My AIMS 12,000w inverter died in Dec and no control board or even an ETA available from AIMS support. Discouraging, so I decided to try another vendor. Ordered the cheapest ETL listed 12,000w inverter I could find - SUNGOLDPOWER 48v @ 12,000w US Split Phase 240v/120v


It arrived and at 175lbs it took me a few hours to get it leveraged / manhandled into place. Hooked up the battery and it turned on.... so far so good. In my setup, I need remote on/off so I tried plugging in the AIMS RJ45 jack (with wires 3-5 shorted = turn on) into the "Remote LCD" jack (same label the AIMS have) and....

It lit up, then buzzed, popped, died, and smoke drifting out the side. YIKES!!!!!!!! What an IDIOT I am!!!

Opened it up and found this....
View attachment 29169

I could just kick myself thinking it would work or do nothing - after all, it's just an innocuous RJ45 plug - it's not like a lot of amps could flow down that wire. Frankly, a really, really bad decision and a bit of recklessness - e.g. large powerwall / power production is a fairly serious business even at DIY.

Contacted SUNGOLDPOWER Support. Hopefully they have replacement parts better than AIMS does.... If they do, I can pretty easily replace this control board and hope that's all I damaged.

Oh man, that stinks! Glad it didn't cause any issues to the rest of the system or home (or you).

 

[hbpowerwall]

I would pop the chip off the board and see if it fires up again, failing that if you can find the new chip send the board to me and i'll get it attached for you

 

[OffGridInTheCity]

I would pop the chip off the board and see if it fires up again, failing that if you can find the new chip send the board to me and i'll get it attached for you

Wow - what an offer - thank you very much for the idea and offer to help!

Sungoldpower support sold me a replacement board today. Not sure how long it will take to get, but hopefully this will fix things.

 

[OffGridInTheCity]

A couple small successes to help offset my Inverter debacle/ troubles.

I like lithium-ion / lifepo4 for scooters. ebikes, generators, and the trailer dry-flush toilet as they can sit for year after year and the battery remains stable (if temps aren't too extreme) compared to AGMs.

Scooter - success replacing 4 x AGMs 12v @ 20ah with 4 x Miady LifePo4 12v @ 20ah - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B089VXSBC6 in our E-Wheels EW-36 3-Wheel Scooter. They dropped right in size wise and the scooter operated at max load (me riding up steep hill at full throttle to a stand-still) without tripping the BMSs etc. Note: I had to buy a LifePo4 48v charger as the AGM one is not a compatible charging curve.

Generator - success trying one of the Miady LifePo4s 12v@20ah in our Champion generator (model 100297) wondering if cranking amps might trip the BMS or something. It worked great - both fit and cranking no problem. I've had a smaller Miady in the Honda eu3000is for several years with good success.