I have to say, living where electricity is just a flat rate is rather nice. I'm not going around saying NO NO don't run the dryer now don't run that other thing there now, do it later when we want to be in bed or any such stuff.
Utility company visited me for exporting from my solar Off-grid growatt LVM-ES SPF 3000TL
- Thread starter vallesj
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Haha... yes I had to persuade family to wash and dry laundry on weekends. Later I will have to change it to nights.
Contracts historical prices are higher on summer than winter. So still I may get a good number by then... also enough time to continue testing my setup
cs1234
Solar Wizard
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I just had to renew in summer.. blech. I'm waiting until I find lower rates and I'll still probably save money canceling and paying the fee. I got gouged.
going full solar is like obtaining freedom. For electric companies it is just monopoly business looking for their profits.
If some body runs into a utility pole down your road when your away from your place and your inverter is connected in any possible path to the grid
it's a big liability issue when there is any current detected. On the other hand with a written utility agreement in the same scenario the utility will know it's off because they have inspected it for all the safe guards and your inverter disconnected it's self through detection of the situation automatically as they check the line.
it's a big liability issue when there is any current detected. On the other hand with a written utility agreement in the same scenario the utility will know it's off because they have inspected it for all the safe guards and your inverter disconnected it's self through detection of the situation automatically as they check the line.
cs1234
Solar Wizard
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If one doesn't trust the UL1741 functions of their grid tied inverter / GTIL.. you can always install a manual reset GFCI on the AC line.
I've used this one for 120vac and it works great. If power goes off, it cuts off until you manually reset it.
Here's an inline one for 240vac. I haven't tried it, but I'm thinking about it.
Clearly this is not a "code approved" solution to UL1741 functionality. It does work though.
I've used this one for 120vac and it works great. If power goes off, it cuts off until you manually reset it.
Here's an inline one for 240vac. I haven't tried it, but I'm thinking about it.
Clearly this is not a "code approved" solution to UL1741 functionality. It does work though.
dougbert
Solar Addict
by the time the ac is cut on my automatic control, amperage is down and they are not working that hard, so no
timselectric
If I can do it, you can do it.
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Same here.
It's no different from turning it off, or shutting off a generator, or unplugging it, when you are done charging.
wpns
Solar Joules are catch and release
Ah, good point. I’d want to charge (say) 25-50 percent overnight if the batteries got low and hope the sun came out the next day.
timselectric
If I can do it, you can do it.
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I don't charge at all.
I only float the loads until the sun comes up.
I only float the loads until the sun comes up.
wpns
Solar Joules are catch and release
Oops, I thought you had a ChargeVerter, sorry.
cs1234
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If you set it low enough, it would essentially just float / supply voltage whenever the batteries dip low enough. Technically it would be "charging", but not very "charging", "charging".
wpns
Solar Joules are catch and release
Not that I trust voltage->SOC calculations, but I want more control over it than “Don’t let the SOC drop below 25%”. Maybe the min(SOC) should be based on time of day (don’t charge just before sunrise?) or configurable on the fly (there’s a hurricane coming, charge to 100%). I mean the major advantage of the GC version is the comms, no?
timselectric
If I can do it, you can do it.
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I do
But I just use it to float the battery at 48v (just covering loads), until the sun comes back.
timselectric
If I can do it, you can do it.
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It's basically just a power supply.
dougbert
Solar Addict
same here, I set to 43v (tesla model S, 36v is empty), and just run loads, waiting for the real battery chargers to come alive again with the sun
since low battery "usually" occurs at 5am in the winter, not much of a load in the house then. Have not had a low battery event since early March
Chargeverters are cool
I probably post this pic too much, but it explains alot
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timselectric
If I can do it, you can do it.
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Yeah, mine was only needed in January.
wpns
Solar Joules are catch and release
Doh! Now I get it!
John Hutch
New Member
Back in March, I also received a call from my utility company, Kentucky Utilities, that I was occasionally backfeeding the grid. I had decided last year to put in an EG4 3k 48 volt system as a backup for a couple of critical load circuits, and had been running in the Solar/Utility/Battery mode since that time. I chose this path since I did not want to go through the process of getting approval to sell power back to the utility company, only to have emergency power when the grid went down. Earlier this year, smart meters were installed in our area, and the call came a short time after that. I use Solar Assistant on my system, and was able to look back over six months worth of data and was able to see negative numbers on my grid usage intermittantly. With further experimenting, I found this only occurred when the batteries were fully charged, solar was producing power in this mode, and not in Solar Only or Solar/Battery/Utility modes. I was not able to measure any voltage coming from the input wires with a meter when grid power was not applied.
I worked through my supplier with EG4 technical support for a few months, and after I finally sent my unit back under a warranty claim, I was told by them that there was nothing found wrong with my unit in their testing and that it must be my wiring. When I found this thread on your forum, I realized that all of these 3k inverter family of products is going to set off alarms for the smart meters. These are the same design, and are rebadged and sold under different names by several companies. If you have one of these, I would recommend that you stay away from smart meters if you have that option.
This leaves me with a set of solar panels and a set of batteries that I cannot use, unless I find a UL 1741 approved inverter that my utility will accept as safe. I had hoped to find a 120 volt unit that would do the job, as I wanted to keep things small. I did not want to have to rewire for 240 volts with heavier cables, larger battery capacity, more solar, and a 240 volt backup generator, but so far I have found only 240 volt units like the EG4 6000 XP that meet my needs. Before I go and spend more money to upgrade, is anyone aware of a smaller unit the will also be UL 1741 approved?
I worked through my supplier with EG4 technical support for a few months, and after I finally sent my unit back under a warranty claim, I was told by them that there was nothing found wrong with my unit in their testing and that it must be my wiring. When I found this thread on your forum, I realized that all of these 3k inverter family of products is going to set off alarms for the smart meters. These are the same design, and are rebadged and sold under different names by several companies. If you have one of these, I would recommend that you stay away from smart meters if you have that option.
This leaves me with a set of solar panels and a set of batteries that I cannot use, unless I find a UL 1741 approved inverter that my utility will accept as safe. I had hoped to find a 120 volt unit that would do the job, as I wanted to keep things small. I did not want to have to rewire for 240 volts with heavier cables, larger battery capacity, more solar, and a 240 volt backup generator, but so far I have found only 240 volt units like the EG4 6000 XP that meet my needs. Before I go and spend more money to upgrade, is anyone aware of a smaller unit the will also be UL 1741 approved?
Put something on the grid side before the inverter that draws power all the time and you won't have a problem. I estimated that the "minimum charge" they throw at you for the privilege of having power connected = x amount of watts used so since I was paying for that anyways I made sure to keep something on that side of the inverter. I use about 250 watts to sometimes 350 watts continuous on the grid side before the inverter.
Brucey
Solar Wizard
Can you use it in solar, battery, utility mode?
zanydroid
Solar Wizard
Can also look for a 120/240 unit that can have both legs paralleled for 120. Or able to run one leg at 120. Both modes will typically also allow 120V charging. Those exist (not on my shopping list so i don’t have a recommendation off hand).
If you want a recommendation I suggest making a new thread with a focused short request for equipment recommendation; you may be a bit lucky that I read your whole post.
If you want a recommendation I suggest making a new thread with a focused short request for equipment recommendation; you may be a bit lucky that I read your whole post.
John Hutch
New Member
It is a possibility, as it did not show reverse power in Solar Assistant, but I cannot be sure that the smart meter will not still detect something. My unit is still with the warranty service technicians (for over a month) so I could not try it if I wanted. Since I am now on the utility company's radar, I think the safest way for me is to try to get the approval from them with a UL approved unit, and then no more headaches.
Its actually easy to fix even if on their radar. Buy a chargeverter.
Run the thing in sbu mode so its solar/battery/utility and dont hook up the utility part.
Plug the chargeverter into the grid and connect it to your battery bank and set it to a semi low voltage so it maintains the battery and powers your loads and the panels will charge the battery up when the suns up and power your loads.
Same thing you were doing already with the grid its just the chargeverter doing it now. Impossible for them to detect your stuff now and impossible to backfeed.
Run the thing in sbu mode so its solar/battery/utility and dont hook up the utility part.
Plug the chargeverter into the grid and connect it to your battery bank and set it to a semi low voltage so it maintains the battery and powers your loads and the panels will charge the battery up when the suns up and power your loads.
Same thing you were doing already with the grid its just the chargeverter doing it now. Impossible for them to detect your stuff now and impossible to backfeed.
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