Homestead Solar System Challenges: What Do You Do When the Power Goes Out
And you're the one who has to fix it?!
And there are several hundred pounds of food in the freezer!
All the food we put away this summer plus 2 and a half deer!
When it's all sunny, everything's good....
But what about when there's a 5 inch snow load on your panels
And after the snow melts, the system isn't working!?
Such was our fate the past few days.
The batteries had gotten down to dangerous levels. They shouldn't drop below 50% and they were getting close. Meaning we were going to have to go to town and charge them or to a neighbor's.
(Really Bad! Shouldn't be resting the sun is out!)
That meant unhooking the entire system! And leaving the freezer OFF! Not what we want!
I spent time in the morning troubleshooting. Ini was off the property at his part time job.
I changed the mode, read the user manual, googled, called the solar company... Nothing, no leads!
So I finally got on the roof. Now we have some unspoken rules like
- No playing with energy when you're home alone
- Always have someone hold your ladder
That meant that I had to get up there alone and break one of our rules. But I had to troubleshoot!
Luckily Ini had put a board and stakes to hold the ladder stable from the ground. I crawled up there and found THIS:
Holy Cow! A broken MC4 connector. And not only broken, but completely MELTED!
Ok Houston we have a problem and I think I know what it is!
The only problem is, we don't have any extra MC4 connectors (the parts that connect the PV wire from the panel to the rest of the system)! And the solar place closes in 45 minutes and doesn't open til Monday (and we live an hour and a half away from it anyway).
Things are looking bleak at this point. So I call the company, Missouri Wind & Solar, and something miraculous happens....
I tell the man my predicament. He agrees that the MC4 connector melted because of an arc in the line, meaning there was a poor connection or moisture got in.
I need an MC4 connector, I tell him!
We're closing in half an hour, is his reply...
Okay, panic mode?
Not so fast
Wait a minute, he says.
I feel that something magical is going to transpire.
And it does!
Hey, one my coworkers lives close to you. He says he can drop off the parts in an hour for $10. If you want to do that, I'll send you an email invoice and he can leave in 10 minutes...
WHAT?!
Glory Almighty! As it turned out, the place his coworker could meet was really close to Ini's work and Ini was just leaving then. It was literally perfect timing.
So when Ini got home and after we ate some dinner, on with the headlamps and out under the stars (now you know why I was inspired to write this post last night ;))
Ini was on the roof, fixed the MC4 connector and made sure to tighten it really tight this time!- no loose connections.
And this morning, the system starting pulling in Wattage - the problem was simple and the timing to get the part nothing short of miraculous. So much gratitude!
But it gets better!
What I haven't mentioned is that half of the solar system hasn't been working. We have two series of 4 275 watt panels and only one has been working. This has actually been abundantly enough power coming in for us so we've been lazy in getting around to fixing it.
This morning, encouraged and with momentum from our miraculous fix, Ini just took a look around the other series of panels.. and lo and behold, found another disconnectd mc4 connector!
Wow! Again, an easy fix just by changing the the MC4 connector... and now
All of the panels are bringing in watts! What a glorious day and cause for celebration. A homestead task we've been putting off for over 6 months fixed in a minute! LOL Isn't is just like that sometimes?!?
System pulling in power to the charge controller, this is before the sun is really even out! Fantastic!
Major props to the open hearted guys that came to our aid last night from Missouri Wind & Solar.
Our Saturday would have been a lot less relaxed without them!
And in case anyone is thinking it, yes we may be crazy trying to do this all on our own, but we like a challenge and it sounds a lot more complex than it is!
We're always very safe when working with electricity and check everything 5 times over and ask for a lot of help!
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I first thought this was a joke, just connect these cables without connector!? MC4 is luxury :-)
Shucks, Didn’t even think of that, the arcing has me on guard. Also didn’t have anyway to seal union.
Seal union, another luxury :-) Wont't go further into this but if you have any urgent problems/questions on solar, don't hesitate to contact me or Alex on Slack, we are doing this stuff for +20 years in India (read:without any tools), much love.
Awesome thanks @bubke! You guys must’ve learned a host of tricks! Will do. We’re newbies with access to all the tools (don’t buy many of them), but troubleshooting can be challenging still! Will take ya up on that if the case arises ;) thanks!
Aw, that's so wonderful when you rely on nature, She takes care. :-)
So true, we are indeed blessed and provided for. it’s the human technologies that are prone to failure.
Yet, it's also Her terrain she takes care there too, that you get your part as you are depending on natural resources like solar power.
Master Electrician here...Licensed, Bonded, Insured...
Do your thing man! Do your thing!
Good post
Thanks for the encouragement. Doing our thing is our #2 priority, secondly only to safety.
It is always a relief when we find out it's something simple. Glad it was an easy fix.
For sure. It’s not always easy, but grateful when it is.
It is amazing what we can do when we put our minds to it (and remember not to panic)!
Yup, as the queen said; keep calm and carry on.
Nice repair steemian. Where is this perfect and alone house?
Thanks. This is actually our solar shed/storage building on our homestead. It’s in the Ozarks of Missouri
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It's awesome someone was near by and had a connector. Solar is something we want, but we are on the grid. Just curious, can you scratch the panels so they aren't as efficient when you're sweeping them off? I mean obviously you have 0% with snow on them, I'm just asking how fragile panels are.
Great post. I know that joy that comes only after the dismay and toil. I would have a hard time getting up on my roof but I always wonder if I would detect a malfunction very quickly since I don’t have any sort of monitoring software, just my average monthly production which varies quite a bit. Are you going to do something to prevent arcing in the future?