chmod 744

When building my home power system, I bought a 10′ section each of black and red welding cable, totaling 20′ of wiring. Welding cable has very small individual copper strands versus larger diameter strands. While this cable is significantly larger than fits my needs, it allows me to scale my system if need be.

Once the wire is obtained, I used Milwaukee 10″ cable cutting pliers to cut the wire to the length I needed. Next, I used a straight edge blade to cut off enough of the sheath to fit inside my copper lugs.

I’ve been quite pleased with Wirefy 3/0 Gauge 3/8″ Wire Lugs from Amazon. The container comes with red and black shrink tubing. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BB7PYBHF?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title&th=1.

Once the wire is stripped, I used a hammer battery lug crimping tool to compress the copper lug around the wire. At around $20, this seems like a no-nonsense way to create your connections. Here is the product on Amazon – https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07DBQZPNJ?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title.

Once your connector is attached to your wire, use the sections of appropriately colored shrink tube to protect your connections. I used a small propane torch for the shrink tube. The final product should look similar to these images.

I started out buying pre-made wire sections which is super expensive. Buying bulk wire and making my own cables and lengths was super easy, fun, and cost efficient.

When I first started thinking about building a DIY home power station, I didn’t understand why each battery type needed different charging programs. The material characteristics of each battery composition require current and voltage variations throughout the charge cycle.

Lead Acid Battery Charging Mode

There are three charging modes with lead acid batteries.

T1 – max current applied and a steady voltage increase.

T2 – Max voltage is attained. The current gradually decreases.

T3 – Voltage normalizes to a constant level while current adjusts to variable maintenance level.

LiFEPO4 (lithium ion)

There are two charging processes and modes in lithium ion batteries.

T1 – Battery charged with a constant current and steadily increasing voltage.

T2 – constant voltage applied while the current decreases to 2A (tail current).

As you can see from the visual and then the written descriptions, each battery type requires different voltage and current programs to achieve full charge, maintenance, and to optimize battery lifecycle.

Images photographed from Grener Power’s Product Manual.

The Soyund 3,000 Watt step power inverter doesn’t seem like a reasonable piece of electronics. It draws 3.56A at idle, likely attributed to the two fans than run continuously whether loaded or not and poor conversion efficiency.

Testing to determine if I could power my UPS connected to a Starlink, the APC UPS kept clicking, cycling on and off power. The Soyund’s power output just isn’t of enough quality.

Living in Washington state, I experience a relatively consistent number of power outages annually. Here’s how I built my first home power system.

The Details

3 * 100Ah 12V batteries – wired in parallel

300A marine on/off switch – for safety and decreases energy drain

2 * bus bars – power distribution

Victron Energy BMV-712 Smart Battery Monitor with Shunt – monitors battery output and overall usage. Easy install and comes with Bluetooth connectivity.

Wires – 3/0 welding cable, 10′ of each color seemed to be the right amount for my setup.

Discussion

I started out with a step sine wave 3,000 watt Soyund inverter. It was purchased back in 2021. While this won’t operate electronics because of the poor power quality, I was able to operate my woodstove fans. Even the 3A power draw seemed to bog the inverter down a bit.

I have a Samlex 2,000 watt pure sine wave inverter on order to replace the Soyund.