Alright, I have to move my battery box and that involves unhooking and rehooking up the entire bank. That wouldn't be a big problem, but I don't like power! It scares me. I understand plumbing (shit rolls downhill) and carpentry (bigger wood and more nails = good), but I don't have a real understanding of electricity. ohms, amps and volts are all greek to me.
Small aside - in my first house, I added a gfi plugin outside with a new circuit in the breaker box. Cause I don't really understand what Im doing, I'm absolutely meticulous about safety and following all the steps. So once I get it all wired up, it's time to flip the main back on. I'm in leather gloves as far away from the box as I can get and still flip the switch. Wife is nearby with a 2x4 to break me free if i'm getting shocked (did I mention that I don't like electricity?). Needless to say, I"m a little nervous. So when I flip the switch, there's a loud pop/banging noise and I fly back a few feet and need to change my shorts! Turns out my wiring was good, but you're supposed to turn all the breakers off, turn the main back on, then turn the breakers back on one at a time.
So now to the issue at hand. Here's a diagram of my battery bank.
What order should I disconnect things? And then what order should I reconnect? And when should I be expecting sparks? I do better when I'm expecting them - don't want a repeat of the shorts issue! 😉
Many thanks in advance!
I always go the safe route as much as possible,
breakers if you have them,
then disconnect the negative posts first, right from the main circuit negative first, since they are all connected, I am thinking disconnect every negative, make sure they do not touch, then disconnect the positives, if you need to.
Once you disconnect the negative, that battery is isolated, so on to the next then the next.
that is what I would do, but then again, I am only maybe a baby step ahead of you here.
I just recently changed my battery bank for a new one. Also, my dad was an electrical engineer, and had me wiring plugs when I was 5 years old, so I'm very comfortable with electricity. Electricity is like water - it flows from uphill (positive) to downhill (negative). Water can drown you, electricity can stop your heart. Both are treated with respect.
Main switch off, circuit breakers off. That means there's no 'draw' on the battery bank or inverter. (The mains tap / faucet is OFF.) Then power down the inverter (MOST important - you don't want any surges running through that - it's delicate!) Then disconnect the batteries. RED is positive, BLACK is negative. First disconnect the positive feed between the inverter and the bank. Then the negative feed between the inverter and the bank. Then unhook each pair of batteries - positive first, then the negative on the other end of the cable. Repeat until all batteries are disconnected.
Don't worry about electrocuting yourself with this task, this is all low voltage stuff - as long as you're respectful, electricity will be nice to you. Rubber gloves are a good idea.
Move the batteries to their new home. Try to keep them in the same order. Keep them upright, if they're acid filled - you don't want that spilling, and the caps have small vent holes to allow dissipation of gas.
Then hook up the individual batteries. Negative on battery 1 to positive on battery 2. Negative on battery 2 to positive on battery 3, and repeat for all 8 batteries, finishing with the positive on battery 8.
Once all of the batteries are wired up, then you connect the bank to your inverter. You should have a (very large) fuse between the battery bank and the inverter. This will be on the positive (uphill) cable between the inverter and the battery bank. Again, first you connect the negative, then the positive cable.
Nearly there! Power up the inverter. As it's the same battery bank as was there before, there's no need to change any parameters on the inverter. Check the battery charge, both in the inverter's readout, and with a multimeter (set to higher than 48V on the DC settings) if you have one. This will give you an idea of how accurately the inverter is reading the bank. It may take several hours for it to 'settle' to an accurate reading. this is normal.
At the distribution box, switch on the Main switch. Make sure all ELCBs (Earth Leakage Circuit Breakers, or breakers to you and me) are put in the 'On' position, and that nothing trips. If any of these ELCBs trip, it a problem with the house wiring, not the inverter or battery bank.
You're done.
Wild_E - I'm all about the safe route, it just isn't always clear to me when working with power
Downunderpom - Thanks! you make it sound easy.
Good advice from Downunderpom.
So far so good! Everything disconnected and batteries moved out of box. It was easy as pie. Next I have to move the box.
All done with no problems! Sure hate that spark when I hooked up that last positive!!!
If you observed a spark something was not turned off i.e. the breaker between the battery bank and the inverter. However all is well that ends well.
All done with no problems! Sure hate that spark when I hooked up that last positive!!!
Shouldn't have been any spark.... Did you have the inverter powered down? Didya? Huh? See, I told you! 😯
I had everything powered down - main breaker and each individual breaker flopped to off, and the inverter and solar charger powered down. There was NOTHING on that I'm aware of.
It did the same thing when the system was originally installed. I distinctly remember the electrician connecting that last cable, getting the sparks and saying "I hate that part". That's partially why I was nervous about this - I knew it was coming. Sometimes ignorance is bliss 😉
Sounds to me like the AC side of the system was all isolated, but the DC wasn't.. I have seen a few systems where the inverter is tied directly to the bank via a fuse ( no disconnect), would explain the spark (caps charging up).. as for the DC side being safe to work on, as it is low voltage...well not entirely, recently a co-worker of mine received a sever shock, while working on a 50 VDC system in a utility environment. He was kneeling and terminating a cable in a dc rack, his hand slipped and contacted the dc + bus. He was immediately thrown back.. He has now had a number of operations to repair ligament, and muscle damage, and he now suffers Nerve damage.. Is this typical.....NO. this was worst case.. He had been pulling cable prior to this incident, he was sweaty, his clothes were wet from perspiration, and he applied a great amount of pressure on the bus with his hand to stop his fall.. In his hand and out his Knee...
Chimo...
When All else fails--BIP--
....as for the DC side being safe to work on, as it is low voltage...well not entirely...
That's why I said :"Don't worry about electrocuting yourself with this task, this is all low voltage stuff - as long as you're respectful, electricity will be nice to you. Rubber gloves are a good idea."
The charge from an AA battery can kill you - if you short it across your heart. Treat electricity like a loaded gun - if you get careless or stupid it will have you for breakfast.
If the battery had been charging when there was a spark there could have been hydrogen gas present and a nice little explosion could result. Good ventilation is an idea .....
I saw someone once go to unhook the charger off a battery without turning off the charger first, nice spark = BOOM
Blew the top of the case right off into his face and splashed him with a lot of acid.
Chimo: I think the batteries are tied directly to the inverter, there's definitely no disconnect in between. Those new batteries should be good for another 10 years though- I don't foresee having to disconnect them again anytime soon!
Perfesser: the specs for my battery box to get past the inspection were overkill - the electrician figures they are industrial regs with no regard for a simple homeowner. Short version: I have good ventilation! 😉
Thats good news,BUT if you decide to do something with the Bank a simple marine battery disconnect switch (250 a cont.) and fuse will get you by safely.
Chimo...
When All else fails--BIP--