Yep, EG4 is definitely listening to installers and building out a complete line of products. There is no denying that. I was an early detractor for this DIY focused manufacturer, but that has quickly changed.
Even the modern and venerable Enphase has their ridiculous System Controller with a tapered enclosure and 1" offset backplate from the wall. It's infuriating trying to get in and out of that thing. I do like the Midnite AIO prepunched holes, but the plastic bushings they provide don't work with my knockout punch set. They are too big. I have resorted to carbide bits to match the hole size, but getting those lined up / centered is not easy. Jason Szumlanski Principal Solar Designer | Florida Solar Design Group NABCEP Certified Solar Professional (PVIP) Florida State Certified Solar Contractor CVC56956 Florida Certified Electrical Contractor EC13013208 On Sat, Jul 26, 2025, 6:57 PM MDElectricSolar via RE-wrenches < [email protected]> wrote: > The Discover Helios battery can be purchased with a pre-built gutter box > that mates it together with a Solark 15 K. The problem is most of our > installs are at least two of the Helios batteries. > > Michael D Nelson > MD Electric & Solar, Inc. > 707-684-0064 mobile > 707-884-1862 office > www.mdelectricsolar.com > www.facebook.com/mdelectricandsolar > > > On Jul 26, 2025, at 2:56 PM, jay via RE-wrenches < > [email protected]> wrote: > > > > What to me this thread shows is the lack of complete engineering from > these OEM's to be able to actually install their equipment to NEC > specifications by not providing the needed BOS equipment. > I respect the ingenuity that has been shown here in creating the products > the OEM’s should have available. > > Whether it’s OEM conduit bodies/box to fit specific batteries or inverters > or how to run cables or even mount cables to their batteries or battery > combiner box/breakers etc improvement is way overdue. > > I mean in the 90’s Trace had a fully integrated power panel with all the > parts, or Outback, or Magnum or Midnite. > Why have we gone backwards such that we the installers are having to do > custom work to create products to install the system? These companies > can buy expensive equipment from china but can’t supply a conduit box that > has the same KO pattern as the inverter or integrate to the battery? > I don’t know about you all but I always install a bypass switch, why don’t > they have one that integrates into the system? > > It’s one of the reasons i’ve been buying EG4 products. They are providing > a complete set of parts all from 1 OEM: inverters/batteries,conduit > bodies, battery cables. For example they have a mounting jig that comes > with the battery so you can mount the inverter bracket exactly where it > needs to be so they can be attached together, that is slick. It saves me a > ton of time/hassle and the customer money. They have touch safe quick > connect battery connectors and they sell the parts to make them yourself, I > like that. > Oh believe me there is any number of things I’d have them > change/modify/upgrade but to me they have been thinking like an installer > with providing all this equipment. > > In the mean time I”ll wait for the others to bring the parts that make it > easy and code to install. > > Jay > > > > > > > > > > > On Jul 26, 2025, at 8:18 AM, Jason Szumlanski via RE-wrenches < > [email protected]> wrote: > > I use 10x10 gutters for Midhite AIO and 12x12 for Sol-Ark. It works great. > > I attached a pic of a recent Midnite installation. Note that the hack job > flex conduit is not mine. That was the builder's electrical contractor. > > > Jason Szumlanski > Principal Solar Designer | Florida Solar Design Group > NABCEP Certified Solar Professional (PVIP) > Florida State Certified Solar Contractor CVC56956 > Florida Certified Electrical Contractor EC13013208 > > Jason Szumlanski > Principal Solar Designer | Florida Solar Design Group > NABCEP Certified Solar Professional (PVIP) > Florida State Certified Solar Contractor CVC56956 > Florida Certified Electrical Contractor EC13013208 > > > On Fri, Jul 25, 2025 at 6:43 PM Zeke Yewdall via RE-wrenches < > [email protected]> wrote: > >> I noticed this on a SolArk job -- I think I bought out all of NW montana >> of 1" offset nipples to get 3 of them mounted to an 8" gutter once. >> >> On the Midnite AIO's a 10" gutter is perfect to not need any offsets. >> But you can mount smaller gutters on various levels of unistrut to space >> them off the wall. An 8" gutter on standard unistrut works fairly well, >> and I think you could space a 6" off with two or three levels of unistrut >> to get it to line up well. Of course then the gutter is too far from the >> wall to easily mount other equipment on top of it, and it can be harder to >> do rear entries into the gutter from the wall. That's where the 10" gutter >> is nicer, because it can catch the front of the inverter, as well as an AC >> panel or such mounted off to the side of the inverter, and catch pass >> throughs into the back of it. I'm not sure about the SolArk and Fortress, >> but I imagine they'd be pretty similar. >> >> Zeke >> >> >>> Message: 1 >>> Date: Fri, 25 Jul 2025 15:19:29 -0700 >>> From: William Miller <[email protected]> >>> To: RE-wrenches <[email protected]> >>> Subject: [RE-wrenches] Knockouts far from the backplane. >>> Message-ID: <[email protected]> >>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" >>> >>> Friends: >>> >>> >>> >>> I have noticed increasingly that inverters I have been using (Soul-Arc >>> and >>> Fortress Envy) have knockouts that are far in front of the backplane on >>> which the inverter would be mounted. Connecting conduit from these >>> inverters into standard gutters, load centers and pull boxes is quite a >>> hassle: Offsets can eat up a lot of vertical space. Pulling elbows >>> (LBs) >>> don?t really work in this situation. >>> >>> >>> >>> See diagram below: >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> One solutIon is to stack pull boxes or gutters, althouigh this eats up >>> vertical space and increases the labor and parts count: >>> >>> >>> >>> How are the rest of you handling this backplane problem? >>> >>> >>> >>> Thanks in advance. >>> >>> >>> >>> William Miller >>> >>> >>> >>> Miller Solar >>> >>> 17395 Oak Road, Atascadero, CA 93422 >>> >>> 805-438-5600 >>> >>> www.millersolar.com >>> >>> CA Lic. 773985 >>> -------------- next part -------------- >>> An HTML attachment was scrubbed... >>> URL: < >>> http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org/attachments/20250725/5dd8985c/attachment.htm >>> > >>> -------------- next part -------------- >>> A non-text attachment was scrubbed... >>> Name: image002.jpg >>> Type: image/jpeg >>> Size: 164770 bytes >>> Desc: not available >>> URL: < >>> http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org/attachments/20250725/5dd8985c/attachment.jpg >>> > >>> -------------- next part -------------- >>> A non-text attachment was scrubbed... >>> Name: image006.jpg >>> Type: image/jpeg >>> Size: 167762 bytes >>> Desc: not available >>> URL: < >>> http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org/attachments/20250725/5dd8985c/attachment-0001.jpg >>> > >>> >>> ------------------------------ >>> >>> Subject: Digest Footer >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> List sponsored by Redwood Alliance >>> >>> Pay optional member dues here: http://re-wrenches.org >>> >>> List Address: [email protected] >>> >>> Change listserver email address & settings: >>> http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org >>> >>> There are two list archives for searching. When one doesn't work, try >>> the other: >>> https://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ >>> http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org >>> >>> List rules & etiquette: >>> http://www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm >>> >>> Check out or update participant bios: >>> http://www.members.re-wrenches.org >>> >>> >>> >>> ------------------------------ >>> >>> End of RE-wrenches Digest, Vol 18, Issue 283 >>> ******************************************** >>> >> >> >> -- >> Zeke Yewdall >> PV Engineer >> NABCEP #031508-89 >> [email protected] >> 303-523-3592 >> _______________________________________________ >> List sponsored by Redwood Alliance >> >> Pay optional member dues here: http://re-wrenches.org >> >> List Address: [email protected] >> >> Change listserver email address & settings: >> http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org >> >> There are two list archives for searching. When one doesn't work, try the >> other: >> https://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ >> http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org >> >> List rules & etiquette: >> http://www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm >> >> Check out or update participant bios: >> http://www.members.re-wrenches.org >> >> <118017.jpeg>_______________________________________________ > List sponsored by Redwood Alliance > > Pay optional member dues here: http://re-wrenches.org > > List Address: [email protected] > > Change listserver email address & settings: > http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org > > There are two list archives for searching. When one doesn't work, try the > other: > https://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ > http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org > > List rules & etiquette: > http://www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm > > Check out or update participant bios: > http://www.members.re-wrenches.org > > > _______________________________________________ > List sponsored by Redwood Alliance > > Pay optional member dues here: http://re-wrenches.org > > List Address: [email protected] > > Change listserver email address & settings: > http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org > > There are two list archives for searching. When one doesn't work, try the > other: > https://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ > http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org > > List rules & etiquette: > http://www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm > > Check out or update participant bios: > http://www.members.re-wrenches.org > > _______________________________________________ > List sponsored by Redwood Alliance > > Pay optional member dues here: http://re-wrenches.org > > List Address: [email protected] > > Change listserver email address & settings: > http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org > > There are two list archives for searching. When one doesn't work, try the > other: > https://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ > http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org > > List rules & etiquette: > http://www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm > > Check out or update participant bios: > http://www.members.re-wrenches.org > >
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