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Grid tie with underpowered hybrid inverter

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cornislandsolar

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Joined
Jun 29, 2024
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Corn Island nicaragua
I want to put a grid tie system in my house but I only need it to power the the refrigerator and the lights and outlets it's a very small house not a lot of electrical use and the power only goes out for short amount of time All I know I need to buy I know I need a grid tie inverter and batteries and solar panels. Am I able to buy a smaller inverter that's underpowered for the total house needs. I won't be running the air conditioner when the power's out or anything that is a high power draw only a refrigerator the outlets for the phone and security system it's under 2000 Watts Total
 
Why a grid-tied inverter? They shut down when the grid does.
A small off grid system would seem better for your needs.
 
Grid tie inverter is the only one that can't anyhow serve your purpose.
You need an UPS or off grid/aio inverter with ups function.
 
cornislandsolar said:
Off grid will tie to my electrical box and switch to battery power when the power goes out?
Click to expand...
Grid tie means that your inverter is connected parallel to grid and does whatever grid does (tied). If grid goes down, inverter shuts off, if grid voltage drops, inverter drop voltage as well etc.
You need UPS for blackouts. How many hours? Fridge and phone charger+alarm don't draw 2000W, not even 500W.
 
cornislandsolar said:
Off grid will tie to my electrical box and switch to battery power when the power goes out?
Click to expand...
Yes
An off grid AIO will take solar or grid power to charge the batteries.
When grid is down, it will power the loads from batteries.
If you have enough solar and batteries, it won't use the grid at all.
 
I would say get a Deye 5Kw from china
That's a hybrid and do exactly want you want.
I think they will ship to your country.
 
cornislandsolar said:
Off grid will tie to my electrical box and switch to battery power when the power goes out?
Click to expand...
Not so fast. You can not connect grid and off grid power supplies together to power loads you can however use grid or PV/battery in a Off grid with grid as backup approach. You could even isolate the grid from your electrical panel with a transfer switch or breaker interlock and feed it from either source. In the drawing below the transfer is not needed except for easy isolation of the AIO since an AIO has built in a AC bypass feature. .

Example with critical load panel:
Critical Load panel.png
 
Mattb4 said:
Not so fast. You can not connect grid and off grid power supplies together to power loads you can however use grid or PV/battery in a Off grid with grid as backup approach. You could even isolate the grid from your electrical panel with a transfer switch or breaker interlock and feed it from either source. In the drawing below the transfer is not needed except for easy isolation of the AIO since an AIO has built in a AC bypass feature. .

Example with critical load panel:
View attachment 225510
Click to expand...
So with the AIO inverter I don't need the transfer switch or the subpanel? I just need the AIO with the batteries?
 
Second not so fast. OP needs to think, if he needs a simple battery backup for blackouts or complete PV system to power his house.
 
kmin said:
Second not so fast. OP needs to think, if he needs a simple battery backup for blackouts or complete PV system to power his house.
Click to expand...
This is the diysolarpowerforum , not the UPS forum.
So, we should be able to at least assume solar will be part of it.
 
kmin said:
Up to you, you described that you want grid tie system for blackout backup. I tried to read between lines...
If solar, off-grid AIO is your way to go.
Click to expand...
I think that you replied to the wrong person.
 
cornislandsolar said:
So with the AIO inverter I don't need the transfer switch or the subpanel? I just need the AIO with the batteries?
Click to expand...
There are more than one type of AIO. The off grid type I showed in my post is not designed to feed your Main panel unless the Main panel is isolated from grid. Hybrid types that can grid tie (export or zero export) can be setup to feed the Main panel and/or a critical load panel but require an interconnect agreement with your power company.

If you isolate your Main panel with a transfer switch ahead of it you can power it with 2 separate power source since one is turned off when the other is turned on. You see this with full house backup generators frequently.
 
cornislandsolar said:
Yes. A grid tied solar system for blackout backup
Click to expand...
I think that you have a misunderstanding of terminology.
Anything grid-tied has the ability to export (sell power) to the grid.
And requires an agreement with the utility company.
An off grid system can use grid to charge the batteries and power loads.
And when the grid goes down, can switch to battery power.
Add in solar, and you can reduce grid usage even when the grid is available.
 
cornislandsolar said:
A grid tied solar system for blackout backup
Click to expand...
From post #4 I'm trying to tell, that grid tie is not your case.
Ok, you need about 500w backup for 2-6 hours. That would be 3kWh battery. If that's all what you want, solar doesn't have any role in the game. You only need good 3kwh UPS to guarantee that you always have that backup
 
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