Apex Solar Power

When you get to incorporate a hobby into your job that’s always a good thing. Drones have become a great way to map a location and aid in getting a aerial view of the site. Recently we worked with a Telecommunications company and they used a drone to layout all the antennas, buildings, arrays and generator locations on the actual site location using a drone footage.

We have been installing a number of lithium battery options over the last three years but this newest offering from Discover battery is one of the best so far. Unlike some of the other lithium batteries we have tried this one has an open communication between the inverter and the battery BMS (battery management system).This means that the BMS can change the inverter settings on the fly. This allows the battery to use most of its total capacity. In this installation we replace...d an existing lead acid battery with double the capacity, smaller foot print, faster charge rate, rose the battery efficiency from about 80% to 96% and higher discharge/load amperage. Oh did I mention more than twice the life span. Of course at this point the cost is about double compared to lead acid, but we expect that to continue to come down. In addition this battery works well in both grid tie battery backup and off grid systems. See more

With the recent utility shutdowns here in California, a reliable source of power for businesses and homes has been the topic of much conversation. One of our telecommunication clients who we have been supplying off grid systems to for many years contacted us with the request to develop a backup power supply (UPS) system for two of their sites. Each had grid power and had been using a commercial available UPS but these were failing after just a few years. We developed a robust system that should give them many years more of life then the ones they had been using, with much more off grid capacity. Doesn’t have a fancy case but gets the job done.

This week we started installing a ballast array. The advantage of this style of racking is no pits are dug, no concrete is poured and the array is removable if needed. In our case the ground had a lot of rock and using an auger would have been problematic.

Last month a brand new Boeing airliner was taken down by a insignificant glitch in the stall system. It’s the small things that can have big consequences that can get you. Recently we were called on to diagnose a system that was installed by another solar company that had gone out of business. What we ended up finding was one of those close calls that could have ended badly. We suspect it started when a installer forgot to tighten a single terminal screw. This lose connection... created heat, which in turn melted the insulation. At some point the insulation failed and a short was created. Not enough of a contact to trip a breaker, but enough to start an arc. These electrical arcs create intense heat which melted the other wires in the box creating additional arcs of electricity. We found three burn locations and one burn through in this junction box. This box was mounted in a attic on a wood stud. See more