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Thanks!

Did you contact Weize? I'm curious how they responded. How cold was it? Did the batteries have cold temp charge protection when you bought them? I'm seeing more and more batteries with that feature now. I'm not sure if these batteries always had that or they recently added that feature.

@@proficientprepper No, and I do not know if it had cold protection. but at almost 400 each it should have.

Thank you very much!

I may try that

Yes, please keep me posted. I'm curious if it can handle it.

@@proficientprepper I was able to test it today and worked like a champ! Ramped up to 70% output and held for several minutes. Now I'm going to start planning on getting everything setup and in place for permanent setup.

The panels are 58.27"L x 27.76"W x 1.38"H. However, I don't think BougeRV makes these exact panels anymore. I ordered a couple later and they were longer. Now, I don't even see them anymore on their website. Renogy and Newpowa both are also good 200w panels that I've used in the past.

I've noticed that also.

Yes, the communication port is a nice feature to have. With every additional feature, I'm guessing the price will go up. Thanks for commenting!

An expansion port for another battery pack would be nice too. They could re-work one of their other batteries or design a matching enclosure with a 24v / 50Ah battery for a nice jump in runtime.

I bought my 8 gauge PV wire from Windy Nation. www.windynation.com/collections/8-gauge-solar-cable I would recommend getting their wire with the MC4 connectors included. In the past I've searched a lot for MC4 connectors for 8 gauge wire and could not find them.

I remember trying different ways. I may have tried that already. Next time I use that inverter, I will give that a shot.

Connecting the positive before the negative is rule of thumb I grew up with and I've followed most of my life. I don't always remember to do that. But I'm not sure it matters with a solar system. I've seen several debates over that very subject. I read once that connecting the positive first comes from from working on automobiles and may not apply to solar.

Thanks for commenting. No, you can add more solar. The amount of solar you can have is totally up to the solar charge controller. The one in this video allows up to 600watts for a 12v system. Here are the max wattage allowed by battery voltage for the charge controller in the video - 600W/12V; 1200W/24V; 1800W/36V; 2400W/48V. But you can get different solar charge controllers that will allow more wattage for 12v systems. One of the most important things to consider for solar charge controllers is that they accept a minimum and maximum voltage. The charge controller in the video lists the maximum voltage of 150v. If you go to 150v or over you will most likely burn up the controller. I can't find the minimum voltage, but if its under the minimum, it just won't charge.

Thanks for commenting. Just going off what you mentioned, yes. That should work. I would check the recommended charge current for the batteries. A lot of them recommend 20amps to preserve the long life of the batteries. A 100amp mppt controller would push 50amps into each battery. Which should be fine. But your batteries might not last as long. Just check the recommended charge current for those batteries. Its ok to go over a little, you just don't want to push 100amps into a battery that recommends 20amps. Even though that may be within the battery specifications.

Thanks 👍

Yes they do. I have several Power Queen products.

Yep, I've seen about 4 inverters that look very similar to this one but different brands. They only have slight differences. It would be interesting to open them up side by side to see if they are the same inside.

Neither, just straight connection to battery

Watch this video about at the 11:55 mark - czcams.com/video/lQ_3_9nPYFM/video.html

The breaker in between the mppt charge controller is there for multiple reasons. One reason is that I occasionally need to isolate the charge controller from the rest of the system. Of course, you must shutoff power from the panels to the controller first. If you have power coming from the panels to the charge controller and you shut off the breaker to the battery, you can burn up the controller. Another reason is in case there is some kind of short in the controller or panels. Or maybe even a lightning strike. In those cases much more current could flow towards the rest of the system. A fuse may be better for those reasons, but that is the basic reason for that breaker there. Another thing I've learned since this video that I still need to add to my system, is a fuse that sits right on each positive battery terminal. That will protect against something damaging the wires that run to the fuse or battery switch.

Thanks!!

5000 watts is right up there at the limit for a 12v system. For 5000, you would need the largest wire readily available which is 4/0 wire. 5000watts / 12.8v = 390amps. Windynation is where I buy most of my wire and their 4/0 wire can handle a max of 440amps according to their website. But personally, I would never build a 5000watt 12v system for normal use. 1/0 wire is difficult to work with. I can't imagine building a system with 4/0 wire. It is very thick. For 5000 watts, I would at least use a 24v system if possible.

Do you have an inverter powered on an connected to the battery? That drop would be normal if you have a powered on inverter because it draws some current while sitting idle. But what does not make sense is that if you use 200W for 1 minute, the voltage does not drop over time. Something does not seem right about that. Without knowing more, it seems that something may drawing power from the battery. But if nothing is drawing power, then it might be a defective battery. I've not had a defective battery or a battery acting strangely yet. So I don't have a lot of experience with troubleshooting battery issues.

@@proficientprepper Thank you for your answer. Exactly, the battery behaves suspiciously (there is a gradual voltage drop) when the battery is charged and nothing is connected to it. The seller wrote that this is the protection of BMS. But nothing is said about this on ebay.

Yes, next time I review an inverter, I will definitely do that. Brad Cagle is another youtuber that reviewed the 2000watt version of this inverter. He opened up the inverter if you wanted to take a look at his video - czcams.com/video/KLdEr6SdgFI/video.html

Very true, its hard for me to watch that video now. This was very early on my CZcams channel and I've gotten much better at that since filming since I did this one.

I have learned that since. I do plan to show that going forward.