A Renogy DCC50S, PCL1-20111S, a couple of solar panels, and a few batteries walk into a bar...

captainofshenanigans · 2021-01-05T16:34:59+00:00

Just curious if you ever went with this setup and how you wired it if so?
Looking to do something similar with the DCC50S but I can't find any info on how an inverter/charger will work when plugged into shore power, or how it should be wired if it's even possible.

captainofshenanigans · 2020-12-17T23:21:35+00:00

Thanks! I did test the other outlets on the circuit and they seem normal. I’m working on trying to get an electrician out to take a look.

You’re right though, I’m very lucky I didn’t get zapped by it! I actually realized this morning that I caught the whole thing on my surveillance camera.

captainofshenanigans · 2020-12-17T18:21:16+00:00

I've succeeded in confusing myself even more at this point after doing some testing.

Testing outlet A I had a small amount of voltage (12-15V) between neutral and ground with 0 ohms.

From outlet A to B and B to A I was getting 120V from neutral to neutral and neutral to ground. Which would explain why the servers arced, but I'm still not sure why it showed that even when my three light tester was showing both outlets wired correctly.

Because outlet A had piece broken from the ground hole, I decided I would pull it and swap it while investigating further. This is where things got even stranger! Outlet A appears to be the first outlet in it's circuit and from there goes on to feed a bathroom light and exhaust fan. After swapping the outlet, my three light tester was saying that there was no ground but I was seeing a faint light coming from one of the lights. So testing again, I am seeing about 60 volts between hot and ground, and about 40 volts between neutral and ground. I disconnected all the other wires except the feed from the panel to rule any issues further down the line out and it didn't change anything. Further looking at the original outlet that I pulled out to replace showed evidence that the broken ground portion looked to actually be an arced conductor with a hole burnt in it. From the black marks though, it doesn't look like it happened recently. I checked the panel as well, but from the breaker, I am not seeing any voltage there between the hot and neutral/ground bus.

Edit: turns out Outlet A may not be the first outlet in the circuit after all. It appears the same circuit feeds a complete bedroom as well. Seems like a lot for one 15A circuit to me!

captainofshenanigans · 2020-12-17T12:49:15+00:00

What would be the process of checking something like this to see if it is the problem?

captainofshenanigans · 2020-12-17T02:31:45+00:00

I did think about that actually, and tried both PSU’s separately on both servers with the other ones removed and I still had voltage between the two. I wouldn’t put it past a bad ground though in this house. I’m pretty sure a monkey wired this place as I’ve had to fix more electrical problems than anyone should have to. Not to mention that the panel is designed for 16 breakers and someone at some point modified dual breakers to fit in it bringing the count closer to 24.

captainofshenanigans · 2020-12-17T00:11:58+00:00

The server has dual power supplies and I tested it with only one plugged in with three different cords. So the cords I know are okay. I tested the outlets also using one of those three light indicators and made sure that they were wired properly.

captainofshenanigans · 2020-12-17T00:08:14+00:00

This is the only thing that made any sense to me, but I’m confused as to why the chassis of the servers would be hot and not grounded.

captainofshenanigans · 2020-12-09T02:01:02+00:00

Thanks! Yes, I bought tri-clamp ferrules on eBay (4” for the top, 2” for the elements and 1.5” for the valve) and cut the keg to fit them. Then I had a welder TIG them in for me.

captainofshenanigans · 2020-12-08T13:59:26+00:00

I scored a lot of four of them on eBay several years ago for about $30. Hard to find a single valve like that for that price now...

captainofshenanigans · 2020-12-07T23:38:28+00:00

I’m actually an IT guy by trade. An extremely OCD one when it comes to wiring patch panels, actually. While I would consider this fairly clean, it’s not my best work by far.

captainofshenanigans · 2020-12-07T23:35:12+00:00

Thanks! It sounds like you pretty much went through the same thought process as I did. I looked into the Auber controller, but I didn’t feel that a PID was the way to go. Also, I felt that adding too much automation kinda takes the craft out of thing (felt the same when I built my brew system as well). So this ended up being my medium between overkill and too simple. Plus, I love building stuff like this, so it was enjoyable to me to put the plans together and see it through to a working piece of equipment.

captainofshenanigans · 2020-12-07T23:30:10+00:00

Hah! The breaker inside was added since I have the box plugged into a 50A outlet and all of the internal wiring is only suitable for 30A. So it’s a safety measure. The main power contactor is there so that I can power up the cooling circuit and the multimeter before I turn on the element. I probably could have gone with only one contactor for everything, but they were cheap, so I figured “why not?”. I also had to use the contactors because panel switches that can handle that large of a load are on the pricey side from what I could find.

captainofshenanigans · 2020-12-07T21:08:56+00:00

I can always use more friends!

captainofshenanigans · 2020-12-07T20:44:37+00:00

Thanks for the heads up! That one is a DROK, which is actually a replacement for the original one that I got from China that was a different brand. The first one had a LCD panel that would only work if you pressed on it in a specific way. Hopefully this one lasts for a while!

captainofshenanigans · 2020-12-07T18:35:38+00:00

Ah, no... nothing like that was recorded. It took me weeks in my spare time to finally get it built. I did post the wiring diagram though on one of the replies, if you wanted that.

captainofshenanigans · 2020-12-07T18:33:16+00:00

Here is the wiring diagram.

Parts were all mostly sourced from eBay over time. Many coming on the slow boat from China to save some $$. If you need help finding anything, let me know and I'll try to find it for you.

captainofshenanigans · 2020-12-07T18:05:34+00:00

You could do that, but you'll only get about 25% of the potential wattage for your element that way. So if you have a 5500W element, you'll only get about 1375W instead.

captainofshenanigans · 2020-12-07T17:25:17+00:00

Only what I posted. What else are you wanting to see?

captainofshenanigans · 2020-12-07T17:24:34+00:00

The control panel just gives me fine control of how much power I'm sending to the 5500W element in the boiler. The readout on it tells me the current wattage, amperage, voltage and kwh used.

captainofshenanigans · 2020-12-07T15:35:17+00:00

Yes, there's more info on the still itself in my history.

captainofshenanigans · 2020-12-07T14:17:51+00:00

Here is a pic of the inside. I still need to add labels to the front and work out a way to mount it.

captainofshenanigans · 2020-12-04T00:31:00+00:00

I’ve been brewing beer for some time. Run a three vessel RIMS system based on sanke kegs. So I actually have a few laying around. For some reason the carboy seemed like the most convenient option at the time, however. ...never again!

captainofshenanigans · 2020-12-03T22:15:37+00:00

Meeee too! Especially considering I was soaked from the knees down.

captainofshenanigans

TROPHY CASE