Solar Combiner Box with 6 Strings, 80 A Circuit Breakers. This photovoltaic Combiner Box is Suitable for Off-Grid Solar Power

GREAT CUSTOMER SUPPORT! I had an issue with the main breaker being faulty. They were out of stock on main breakers but offered to ship me an entirely new unit as a replacement. They sent a follow up email to make sure everything was okay with my setup. Awesome customer service- the best in warranty customer service I've received from a company selling on Amazon. That alone makes this worth the money versus other boxes.On the functional side, it does what it says. I love the fact that, unlike other combiners I've had that use fuses, this one is entirely breakers making individual power disconnections a breeze. Even though its waterproof I recommend mounting the unit so that it gets shade from the panels as well as some rain protection so the inside doesn't cook. All in all a great unit. I'm pushing right on the edge of 60A so all those other units with 60A main breakers would keep tripping when I tried to populate the entire combiner. This one handles it like a champ due to its higher rated main breaker. The one picture here lets you see the inside when I'm just about done wiring it up except for the lightning ground wire.If you want a combiner box with outstanding customer support and doesn't use annoying fuses, pick this one up and call it a day.

This combiner works great, is made of metal, and has larger gauge wiring than most, which is what I needed.My old box, which was a standard unit, was burning the insulation on long summer days despite being below the rating. This one had no problem all summer

Mounted and torque the screws as they were a bit loose. Other than that it’s great. Easy to install and add cables as MC4 are readily accessible. Breakers works well.

Disappointed. Thermal design is challenged as unit seems dangerous. Temps measured at the diode rectifier wire connection nut@ 180-200 degrees F. Diodes mounted to a thermally isolated sheet metal (too hot to touch for long) with no significant thermal coupling seen to the outer chassis, so heat builds up. I'm in the process of replacing the diode connation wires to 8 AWG with a copper lug purely as a sort of heat sink just to try to get diode temps down to a safer level safety, which made ~ 10 degree improvement. Now I'm investigating installing thick thermal gasket material between the isolated sheet metal mount to the outer chassis, which I put a heatsink to help out. I thought I was getting a robust upgrade. In hindsight, if I was not pressed for time, I should have just designed a robust combiner box myself. [edit- I meant 16A, not 20A] circuit breakers sometimes trip in normal use, so I have to check them if it seems like power is down. Hot electrical smell for the unit. IN hot days I tend to open the door.

50K foot view...I'm a EE, many years designing and building power conversion and control equipment. From military to industrial.The build quality over all is pretty good.I think the layout is efficient (comparing to other listings and the wiring show).I think the overall summation is that this is a good value.I like the breakers over fuses (but can not speak to the quality of the breakers, never used the brand, but hoping the function and reliability is there).The one 50K foot view negative point, the MC4s are not labeled on the box as to which is positive and which is negative. So in digging into this, even before I got the box, I revisited the listing and pictures and realized after I bought it, but not received it, they aren't following convention with the MC4s.Which brings us to #1 if the nitty gritty...For then nitty gritty things..1) So the biggest detractor, and was trying to figure to take off one or two stars for it...They did not follow the convention for the MC4 connectors.To discuss the actual MC4 connectors....What others may think is a male connector , is really a female, if you look at the actual contact that is inside what looks like a "male connector" actually contains/uses a socket contact in there and that drives it's definition of "female" connector. Not the look of the housing.(see picture attached)The convention is that the larger bulkier MC4 housing, which uses a male contact, is the + input on the combiner for the PVpanel.The MC4 housing one assumes is a male , uses a socket, and is normally the - input on a combiner for the PVpanel.The normal convention is that that PVPanel itself, has a female on it's + output (and male on it's - output) (see picture attached).The extension cables have a male on one end and female on the other, that's the reason.So one can not use a normal extension cable to plug and play the PVPanels into this Combiner box, but needs to make up a cable with males on both ends for + (and females on both ends for the -). Sure , can be done, but for some making cables is not something they want to do. Pre-made quality extension cables are abundant. Convention should be followed.So not seeing it in the photo till after I ordered it, is my bad. I even asked after the fact, once I saw it.The OEM answered accurately and timely and box did arrived as advertised (was hoping not - lol). Got some funny answers from users too.If it was not shown on the listing, and came in to my surprise, it would be their bad and 2 stars off.But its my bad, listing pix do show the "issue", box came is per listing, but just not to convention, so split the star loss.I ordered new panel mount MC4 connectors and will be fixing the orientation of the connectors.2) I give the connections a once over. They went through the trouble of using thin copper barrels/sleeves on all stripped ends in the compression fittings. Nice touch considering the price point. In higher end industrial and control systems, real ferrules are crimped on. But for the price point, I don't expect them to be crimping ferrules.With the sleeving method they used, the torque of the compression fitting is important (it always is, but it seems they are using the fitting in the devices to "crimp" the sleeve/barrel onto the wire as being tightened). I suggest once you get one of these home, give each wire a tug test.. take a screw driver (or hex driver where applicable) of the correct size and check torque on all the screw for the wire connections.I had 3 that really need to be tightened, rest were just fine.Mind you, I note, I would do a tug test and check torque on ANY pre-built/wired panel I buy.3) The mounting hardware supplied and keys were in a real flimsy bag, and broke open during shipping.Make sure you find all the nuts, bolts, brackets, and keys before proceeding if this happens to you too.Once I get the panel mount MC4s to convention, I'll setup the combiner, controller, panels, and batteries for a test.There was another box I like, but it , most others, uses fuses.. buying the breakers is more expensive than buying new MC4 connectors. So I'm sticking with this box. I was trying not to build one, but seems I'm stuck working on one anyway, it's minor. The negative wires are long enough to reuse by moving them negative inputs to the lower holes. I'll use new red silicone wire for the new positive inputs while moving them to the top, and use real industrial crimp on ferrules on the breaker side of the positive/red wire.If I come across any other items worth noting, I'll provide an update.

I bought this as a combiner box for a solar array I am setting up. The description says "Safe and reliable circuit design: GX ELZK solar PV current converter box is equipped with 6 DC circuit breakers (16A), 1500V 80A main circuit breaker." None of the circuit breakers are rated for 1500 volts. All of them are rated for only 225 Volts. I was setting up a 550 Volt DC solar array.This could cause serious problems - system failure or fire. Unless you are using these for a 225 volt or lower curciut, DO NOT BUY!!!

This string box is by far one of the best I installed for my clients, so I’ve installed about 6 already and it’s pretty much a no brainer. But after installing I always go through and double check to see if everything is tight to prevent heat up or arks and so far of the 6 only 1 box had 2 semi loose connections other than that everything was good. Good job to manufactures hands down good product