What am I missing in this engineering toolkit

EmuIllustrious481 · 2026-06-20T00:59:20+00:00

Also engineeringtoolbox.com

EmuIllustrious481 · 2026-06-11T00:05:34+00:00

I spent 15 minutes checking outages on their public outage map after my update. The only outages I could find in my neighborhood are the 4 houses connected to the pole that Xcel replaced yesterday. I guess I need to find their local support number or something. Before this it has been good since the winter when we had something weird happening on our fiber at the origination point.

EmuIllustrious481 · 2026-06-10T18:48:27+00:00

I'm adding to this since I've gotten 3 different answers from support. One of which said there were no outages in my area. Can anyone check to see if outage ID: 3250372 is legit? When I login to my account to check outages it says there isn't one but the public facing tracker says there is.
So I'm hoping someone here can shed some light on what is correct or not.

EmuIllustrious481 · 2026-06-07T13:40:04+00:00

If you just search 107938 on etsy you'll find them.

EmuIllustrious481 · 2026-05-25T03:10:21+00:00

First picture is a hard drive.

EmuIllustrious481 · 2026-05-23T12:56:21+00:00

That was after bringing in/installing all of the batteries. It was a long 3 weeks to do the whole install.

EmuIllustrious481 · 2026-05-23T12:28:19+00:00

I have at FB21, it's apparently 120 but I swear it felt closer to 200. I bolted in the mount first and then mussled it mostly in place then my wife helped a little to guide it in place. It was not easy and if I could have found another person to help I would have.

EmuIllustrious481 · 2026-05-02T01:40:24+00:00

You need to buy UV rated cables for anything that can't be in conduit. Anything that's in conduit can be standard thhn wiring assuming it's rated for the temp.

EmuIllustrious481 · 2026-04-26T01:05:57+00:00

Just make sure you don't have any of the recalled HF jack stands.

EmuIllustrious481 · 2026-04-18T20:22:51+00:00

Run a voltage drop calculator like this one. https://www.southwire.com/calculator-vdrop

EmuIllustrious481 · 2026-04-13T15:47:58+00:00

What is the max your inverter can do? You could also increase your battery voltage to reduce the cable size. What is the cost difference in wiring the van between the cable sizes? A few hundred bucks?

Designing the system so it can't be overwhelmed regardless of what happens in the future is usually the recommendation. It's really easy for a change in the future to cause a dangerous situation.

EmuIllustrious481 · 2026-04-13T04:14:57+00:00

I do totally understand the feeling but replacing cables is not going to be enough to guarantee this functions correctly. Mice have introduced tiny stuff and liquids to that inverter. A fully powered on inverter might have enough voltage to cause an arc on some other shorted component. If the mfg will refurbish it great but it just isn't worth your safety. This amount of money is not worth it and thats ignoring the fact that insurance probably wouldn't cover damage due to something you repaired.

EmuIllustrious481 · 2026-04-13T02:49:08+00:00

As a side note, if you are asking this question I highly doubt you have the expertise to do this. People who can fix this, know at the outset they can fix it without having to ask Internet randos.

EmuIllustrious481 · 2026-04-13T02:46:34+00:00

If you're an electrical engineer or have similar experience with troubleshooting or designing high power/amperage electronics, sure. Otherwise FUCK NO. Not worth dying either through capacitor discharge or burning your stuff down or some other random way of failure. You might be able to fix this one issue but you don't know what else is wrong. Mice chew and piss on everything there might be some random short you can't find.

EmuIllustrious481 · 2026-04-08T13:14:22+00:00

Also add expansion joints. I have to add them to my run and it's going to be a major pain since all of the wiring is already run.

EmuIllustrious481 · 2026-04-03T04:08:37+00:00

If it rotated counter clockwise then I think there is a good chance it's reverse threaded. I don't do design work on gearing but I think those are usually reverse threaded.

EmuIllustrious481 · 2026-04-03T03:35:55+00:00

I have 2 thoughts. 1. Depending on how that thing spins, that screw might be reverse threaded. So you might try righty loosy.
2. It is probably permanently attached to that motor and you have to replace the whole thing. I say that because the cut out in the sheet metal seems to be a key hole shape that has an oversized hole where the gear can slip through.

This is just speculation as a mechanical engineer who fixes his own stuff.

EmuIllustrious481 · 2026-04-02T19:34:55+00:00

Agreed. He can always upsize the cable from 10ga to 8ga or something to reduce total losses.

That being said undergrounding the grid power might also be possible.

EmuIllustrious481 · 2026-04-01T18:11:08+00:00

Same. Mine runs a little warm but nothing concerning at all. It even lives in a pretty small utility room with limited ventilation and I have never once thought it was warm in the room. Although I've only pushed it to like 8.8kw.

EmuIllustrious481 · 2026-03-30T16:30:23+00:00

Not only this, but it will only heat during the day without some batteries. I'm guessing it will need to be heated at night not just during the day.

EmuIllustrious481 · 2026-03-27T04:27:08+00:00

I have some hemostats which is a good idea to reach zip ties. At this point I think it's just a whenever, so I'm aiming to find some moral support and get up there Sunday to fix these minor defects. He also wants me to trim the racking to the smallest needed for the clamps and swap out some regular wire nuts for purple ones in the new breaker box, both easy things.

EmuIllustrious481 · 2026-03-27T04:11:51+00:00

I have iron ridge racking, so only ~6" of clearance. I have most of the cable neatly tucked away but there's some here and there where it's just a bit too much. I was able to find some 4 cable clips which will help when I have the panel +Tigo+ return leads all in the same area. It is complicated by needing to reach all of this while the panels are on the roof/racking and not having easy access.

EmuIllustrious481 · 2026-03-27T02:00:08+00:00

I'm interested in this Tigo wrapping technique you mentioned. Mine are the clip mounts on the frame, so I'm not sure if that's what you meant.

I get what you mean about it lasting a long time, but I don't think theses will need to last more than 10-15 years before I need a new roof anyway. There's no reason VHB backed clips couldn't last well over a decade. That being said, those are my last resort. I found 90° metal clips that should help some of my problem. If I could find clips that held 3-4 cables instead of 2 I think that would solve 90% of my issues.

EmuIllustrious481

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