[HortiLab]

Very cool Big Sky! Keep it green!

[AnonMe]

Again Big Sky, great show and grow.

I just had a second look at your set up and have a few questions to satisfy my own curiosity.

I noticed you've got ventilation in the battery box which is good. Are you venting this to the outside of your grow room? I'm sure you've done this because of any potential Hydrogen gas build up. I think its important to note this for anyone else thinking of replicating your work.

Also, I can see in your diagram from the inverter there is a green earth although you guys probably call it 'ground'. I know that where I am from we use an earth protection system known as M.E.N. and requires you to stake the earth into the ground and make sure everything is equapotentially bonded. That is all the exposed metallic bits and pieces that are not designed to be a conductor connected together running back to the main earth. In my area it is a requirement for all generators or inverters to be staked unless they are located in a quarry or mining pit (they fear stray currents setting off explosives).

The M.E.N. and earth stake are an intrinsic part of making sure R.C.D's (residual current devices) trip out in the event of an earth fault. I believe you guys call them something other than RCD's. I cant recognize any of these in your AC panel but for your own safety they might be worth looking into if you dont already have them. I am not sure what your rules and regulations are in that part of the world.

Having said all that, the fact that you've done what you've done shows me you definitely know what your doing and your systems are different from ours. I just wanted to make sure you are looking after your own safety and those of your loved ones.

Keep up the good work!

[mellowfellow]

Great thread and way to go for thinking outside the box.

[Big Sky]

Originally Posted by AnonMe

Again Big Sky, great show and grow.

I just had a second look at your set up and have a few questions to satisfy my own curiosity.

I noticed you've got ventilation in the battery box which is good. Are you venting this to the outside of your grow room? I'm sure you've done this because of any potential Hydrogen gas build up. I think its important to note this for anyone else thinking of replicating your work.

Also, I can see in your diagram from the inverter there is a green earth although you guys probably call it 'ground'. I know that where I am from we use an earth protection system known as M.E.N. and requires you to stake the earth into the ground and make sure everything is equapotentially bonded. That is all the exposed metallic bits and pieces that are not designed to be a conductor connected together running back to the main earth. In my area it is a requirement for all generators or inverters to be staked unless they are located in a quarry or mining pit (they fear stray currents setting off explosives).

The M.E.N. and earth stake are an intrinsic part of making sure R.C.D's (residual current devices) trip out in the event of an earth fault. I believe you guys call them something other than RCD's. I cant recognize any of these in your AC panel but for your own safety they might be worth looking into if you dont already have them. I am not sure what your rules and regulations are in that part of the world.

Having said all that, the fact that you've done what you've done shows me you definitely know what your doing and your systems are different from ours. I just wanted to make sure you are looking after your own safety and those of your loved ones.

Keep up the good work!

yes, good question!
yes you want to have the battery bank chamber well vented and away from any potential hazards like electrical sparks etc-
mine vents the area away from everything in that chamber- it goes up and straight out of a flute on the roof-
so it stays really clean from any gas buildup-


With the electrical..
We have a pos, ground, and neutral wiring setup for AC current-
green is neutral-
we use "electrical breakers" instead of RCD's as you call them-
But there all there-
I can take further pics of the AC distribution panel if it helps-
But basically the AC/DC distribution panel accepts the pos,G,N wiring from the inverter-
these connect in place of where shore power"grid power" would normally come into the panel-
you just need a big enough extension cord to make it happen-
something that can handle 2000w since my inverter is only a PSW 1000w-
i appreciate any safety concerns for sure-
I did an extensive amount of safety when i designed the system-
i have quick disconnects throughout the main wiring to just push a button and shut down power if i want- i installed everything with fire in mind-
when i was 18 my first home i had burnt down so i'm real careful these days with stuff like that-

[Big Sky]

I didnt show it in the diagram and just went back and checked- the ac distriution panels are grounded through copper line and a copper rod about 6-7 feet long that i had to drive underground outside- so everything is grounded from the ac distribution panel wich is why i choose this rv panel-
it has a 12v converter built in along with full ac distribution -
just couldn't beat the versatility they have for the 250$

[Big Sky]

Originally Posted by HortiLab

Very cool Big Sky! Keep it green!

[trichrider]

wowser, you bringin a new day.
bigsky into a little box.
kewl...very kewl!

[LeafLady]

Very cool!

[Big Sky]

thanks to all you guys and gals for the kind words and support-
next bowl is for you guys

[AnonMe]

Originally Posted by Big Sky

when i was 18 my first home i had burnt down so i'm real careful these days with stuff like that-

Dude thats a bummer about your home burning down. I cant imagine that feeling. We had a big bush fire go through in my state and wipe out a few houses. I remember it because I was working away from home and I jumped in the work car in the morning with my work mate who was distraught. He was watching his house burn down on the nightly news. He recognized his roof from an aerial shot. A fireman was bashing on the door and his wife answered. He said "grab your kids, and go NOW NOW NOW!" she yelled at them to grab their shoes and he said there was no time. As a result, that day all he had was the clothes he was wearing and his family with their clothes minus 3 sets of shoes.

Originally Posted by Big Sky

With the electrical..
We have a pos, ground, and neutral wiring setup for AC current-
green is neutral-
we use "electrical breakers" instead of RCD's as you call them-
But there all there-

Yes I forgot you you guys were that much different to us!
In my country;
Red = Active
Black = Neutral
Green+Yellow (old standard all green, some still around) = Earth (ground)

I believe in your place white is active? I cant remember.

We still use Breakers here too. But also RCD's. Sometimes you get them in the same package which is known as a combo breaker. I am not sure if you call them the same things over there, or if your quick disconnects are our RCD's?

As you know, Breakers trip when the current goes above their rated trip point for too long a time. I believe your breakers come in different sizes to ours as well as your wire is refered to in 'gauge' where ours is refered to by cross sectional area. So as you know, if you have a wire of a certain gauge it can theoretically only carry so much current. Therefor you select a breaker that will trip out before the wire burns out. Thats how we do it in upside down world anyway. Our standard for power points is 2.5mm squared. Now this can handle something like 25Amp in theory but all the power points are rated at 10Amp (usually). So most houses have a 16Amp breaker for power points. Some people will whack in a 20Amp.

Along with this, they also put in an RCD. The active will go in the top of 16Amp breaker, then come out and go into the top of the RCD. Out of the RCD and out to the field. The Neutral will return to the bottom of the RCD, Come out the top and through to the main neutral. The RCD itself now has the active coming in and out as well as the neutral coming in and out.

As you know, the amps in a circuit is the only thing that is the same at all points. (ignoring places the circuit splits and runs parallel, but the sum of those should be the same). So if you have 8A running through your 16A breaker, and through the RCD you should have 8A coming back to the neutral to the RCD and back to the main neutral.

So the RCD monitors both of these two. If there is an imbalance, it trips. How much of an imbalance? Well standards here dictate 30mA. Which as you know is three fifths of fuck all. If there is 30mA difference in the balance then it can only be going one place. Through earth and back to the main neutral via the M.E.N. This means there is an earth fault somewhere. Imagen if it is the fridge. As soon as someone comes and grabs the handle they could potentially get an electric shock. But they should not with an RCD. If the fridge is WELL insulated from the ground. Like it has rubber feet and is not touching the floor etc and the RCD has not tripped, it will trip as soon as someone touches it and completes the circuit to ground. How fast? I cant quite remember what the standards dictate. I think its 200ms. Most will trip in something like 23ms. Thats fucking fast. You wont feel anything.

I suspect you already know all I have typed anyway, but I think its good to mention in case anyone is going to replicate your good work.

Peace.