Friday, October 14, 2022

How to Understand High Limit Reset Switch, and The Simple Reset -- What To Do If You Have No Hot Water

 The High Limit Reset Switch is a safety device that shuts off ALL POWER when the water gets too hot, like around 170F.    It is to prevent a runaway tank in which the thermostat has failed and is continuously heating the water. 

That case would result in the water getting to boiling and maybe even blowing up the tank. 

Sometimes under solar operation the water can also get super hot, especially if the house has been vacant for weeks.

So before you call for a pricey troublecall, try to see if this switch had been activated by trying the RESET

You open the door as shown in image 1.    You should turn off the breaker because there is live 240V inside here.    The breaker will always be a 2-Pole 30 Amp breaker (a double breaker). 

Then as in image 2, press the Reddish / Burgandy button and pay close attention to any click. 

The click will be faint, but it will be there if it was activated into safety shutoff mode.    If you got the click, you probably solved the problem.

Turn breakers back on, flip the Little Gray Box (Timer Box) to the right which is the on position.    

In 20 or 30 minutes you should have hot water.    If not, there is still a remaining problem.

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Saturday, October 1, 2022

Off Grid "Mad Max" Power Systems

 There is a noted interest in creating off grid power systems.

And especially in utilizing older equipment that can be gotten nearly for free, or free.

We are now in the age of EV batteries ending up in junk yards and no way to recycle them or dispose of them.   These can be useful for an off grid power system even if they are not much use to propel a car anymore.    The Honda's have many voltage taps so you can pull various voltages from 12 up to 72 from the batteries.

Here is a thread from DIYsolarforum that has very interesting discussions. 

In using older microinverters, the trick is to have an AC Sine Wave of appropriate Voltage and Frequency to that the microinverter find it acceptable to follow. 

Modulating the power of the microinverters to match the facility load is important.

Having a series of microinverters with varying trip out points could be a way to partly turn off a set of micros, while leaving a group of micros with a wider looser grid profile to keep going.


DIY Site

https://diysolarforum.com/

Specific Enphase / Offgrid Scenario

https://diysolarforum.com/threads/building-off-grid-system-to-fool-enphase-inverters-without-grid-connection.8028/

Download the pamphlet at link below the image

 

https://app.box.com/s/ebyywlcpa9jd5geytyr17xfislaie2g0 

 

https://app.box.com/s/rz064s1zd1nnotxdeq9umwi60fv8fcjy

 

Outback frustration with getting details on the M215 Grid Profile Settings. 


https://www.reddit.com/r/solar/comments/2jx2cy/enphase_m215_issues_poor_ac_grid_detection_anyone/