Renogy Solar Kit 400 Watts of panels and a 2000 Watt inverter

[@dab34rs]

So, for the inverter, that wired switch is a wired remote control. Renogy systems are common in RVs, so that control switch is panel, or flush mounted, to a central control center in the RV to turn the inverter on/off. You don't have to use the remote at all. The inverter has a switch (ON/OFF/REMOTE). If you plan to use the wired remote, just make sure the switch is set to remote. If you just want to turn the inverter on/off directly, you can ditch the wired remote and just use the local switch on the inverter. Hope this helps.

[@christillman850]

It sure does! Thanks so much!

[@jimbor2279]

Nicely done, although, those fancy fuses as you called them should not be hooked up to any positive wire. They are not fuses! They measure the resistance of power, going into the battery and out of the battery and will accurately give you the state of charge of the batteries. The.” fancy fuses” as you’ve called them need to be correctly run from the negative lead of the batteries to the inverter negative lead on the inverter. The other box that you said might be an alarm, is actually an on off switch that you can use remotely to turn on and off the inverter. Go back through the instructions. I might also recommend that you hook up a DC fuse, breaker box, for the solar panels, so you can easily shut down the connection if you need to work on the system. One other thing I noticed is that you may want to connect the solar panels in series instead of parallel, in other words with your solar panels, connecting positive to negative, positive to negative and so on until you have only one positive and one negative wire from the solar panels to run back to your charge controller. As long as you don’t exceed the voltage of the charge controller, it will work a lot better for you. I hope this helps and Happy journey discovering solar.

[@mikerootz5935]

Hey, I was an electronics technician for a while (retired now) and I really like your installation and cable management. Very well done.. Perfect cable management. Also like your panel support structure.. It looks like a very good kit.. so many times DIY guys don't construct safe systems (no breakers between panels and charge controllers/no breakers between batteries and inverter/too small of wire.. ) You did a good job! Keep encouraged- . BTW, That looks like a great kit and complete! Very good price for all of that.. good day, be safe. The old man.

[@JackDavies-ge4nn]

Thanks i understood what you are talking about im also a electrician my system is 400 watts 4000 wat inverter and i have 3 1000 anp batterys i understand ac volt i understand dc but dc to ac confused the hell out of me. All i have is solar and im lucky if i get a cup of coffee in the am was overcast in nc today i mad 12.8 volts today no coffee in the am but i can watch the news.

[@rebbar64]

The battery monitor shunt that you have on the positive wires is not installed correctly. That shunt goes on the negative battery terminal of the battery's. The switch on the inverter is a on/off remote switch. That is nice to have system, I have renogy products in my camper van.

[@acuratltypes6694]

Not a bad video. You have a decent small system that is not really complicated. I run 1400w in solar panels to 3 separate mppt charge controllers, 1 40a and 2 30a charge controllers. 400ah/ 5120Wh of battry capacity. And just a 1000w inverter. My panels are all series parallel to get the best voltage for my charge controllers. My shunt is on my negative side/ which also helps control 3 Solid state relays to shut down my solar if any problems arise. All in all you did well. Shorten up your cable runs from your battery bank to your inverter. And a shorter connection between your batteries. Also incase it helps, each of my batteries are wired individually to busbars. Hope to see the next video and the changes you make.

[@richeastmain4031]

The “fuse block” on the positive cable feeding the inverter looks more like a shunt to me. Those are usually installed between the battery negative and all loads and chargers.

[@christillman850]

Not sure what it would shunt? There isn’t anything for the shunt to trip. Every shunt device I’ve ever installed was wired to a trip unit on a breaker. Elevators, gas pumps, safety equipment and so forth. Besides the battery monitoring there was one other terminal block. Zero information in the packet.

[@daemoncan2364]

@@christillman850 Current monitor. Measures DC current by measuring the voltage drop across the terminals. DC equivalent of a current transformer.

[@budmartin3344]

That is not a fuse block, it is a shunt for measuring the cuurent flow, the small wire goes to the display and it will also have a small positive wire to power the display, one end of the shunt goes to the negative of the load, the another end of the the shunt goes to negative of the battery. You should look at the Renogy wiring diagram.

[@NYCamper62]

I also use the Renogy li controller. Good unit. Not crazy about the app it's functional but sluggish.

[@christillman850]

Awesome! Thanks for the heads up!

[@jmalinowski1000]

Nothing like watching a video of someone who has no idea what they are doing. How long is tons and tons of wire?

[@dab34rs]

tons....

[@christillman850]

@@jmalinowski1000 Yep I can build 60 million dollars buildings but this $2000 solar kit is just way out of my wheelhouse.

[@jalpa9642]

The little black box w/the push button is a remote Inverter ON/OFF SWITCH, it can go into another room to turn ON or OFF the Inverter when it needs to run, or to turn it OFF so its running for nothing...!

[@christillman850]

I was wondering. There was zero information on some of these parts. Thank you!

[@reddog7069]

You have wired it wrong. The shunt installs on the batteries negative side between the battery and the inverter. this tells you how much power you are using and how full the battery is. The main fuse will need to be connected on the battery positive side close to the power from the battery out to the inverter. you should have another small fuse from the charge controller to the battery 40 amp fuse. battery fuse should be 200 amp. The way you have it now has no protection for any of your equipment.

[@christillman850]

I’m this kit there were two fuses. Your calling one a shunt? I don’t understand what it’s shunting? A shunt sends a signal to trip a trip unit. Most times on a breaker. I don’t doubt that is in the wrong place because it’s not working right. It’s not even shown in the line diagram that came with it. The other fuse was in the line diagram. I have it installed in between the charge controller and battery. It didn’t come with three. The installation instructions were pretty bad. I appreciate the help.

[@mikerootz5935]

If you have any questions on solar systems- Ask. I can reply.. Also, see Will Prowse's videos on Solar systems. He is the internet champ on such stuff. www.youtube.com/@WillProwse

[@Ayzee5363]

Instead of getting 4 ancient panels, you were better off with a single 400w panel and no spaghetti of wires and mc4 branch connectors

[@christillman850]

@@Ayzee5363 agreed. Dad bought the kit. I just put it together.

[@CheesusTheDon]

Not nearly enough watts of panels.

[@christillman850]

What all do you think we are running?

[@CheesusTheDon]

@@christillman850 then why have a 2k inverter?