The essence of solar panel setup.

The panel, Inverter, plug.

Right now I am "off-grid" in my house.

I have MPP-Solar inverters running my house through the main loads-panel wiring (back-feeding as any generator would).

I connected one panel to one microinverter, the microinverter light turned red. (Island protection, meaning it doesn't sense 60hz)
I connected the inverter to the plug (a 15 amp wifi switch and monitor).
I plugged the switch into the outlet.
From my phone/app, I turned the switch on (from a safe distance).
The inverter light turned green. (Microinverter in generating.)

Nothing exciting happened other than the free flow of Photons captured by the solar panel, inverted into A/C by the micro-inverter, measured by the smart wifi plug, and ever so slightly reducing the load of my MPP-Solar LV5048's, 12 off-grid panels angled at a terribly acute angle to the sun this time of year, and just ever so slightly reduced the load if any on the tired old BYD LiFePO4 battery bank.

It simply works.



Panels:
Used panels on Ebay.

Micro-Inverter:
MPPT Solar Grid Tie Micro Inverter on AliExpress

Smart Plug:
BN-LINK Smart Plug on Amazon

As long as you have something putting 60 Hz or 50Hz, the inverter from AliExpress comes in 120v/60hz or 230V/50hz flavors, it works. It does not matter if the frequency is from the utility or the off-grid inverter.

195W AC going into my house, at this time of day I am "grid-tied".

Same plug, same connection, nothing but the aim of the panel at the sun has changed.

How much did cost you to ship that panel to where you live?

jasonhc73 said:

I have MPP-Solar inverters running my house through the main loads-panel wiring (back-feeding as any generator would).

Click to expand...

So, I'm assuming you've thrown the main breaker off? Nothing from the grid to the house?

I'd be curious if/when the utility starts charging you a minimum use fee.

Congrats on being able to do that.

Very interesting.
One question- How would the LV5048 react if the grid goes down with the micro-inverter activated since it will still be receiving a ac signal??

sunshine said:

Very interesting.
One question- How would the LV5048 react if the grid goes down with the micro-inverter activated since it will still be receiving a ac signal??

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Rider said:

So, I'm assuming you've thrown the main breaker off? Nothing from the grid to the house?

I'd be curious if/when the utility starts charging you a minimum use fee.

Congrats on being able to do that.

Click to expand...

My setup when the LV5048 is powering the house, I am off-grid. I have the main grid switch thrown off, then I flip the LV5048 circuit breaker on.

With the LV5048 supplying power to the house at 240V/60hz, the micro-inverter just sees 120V/60hz and works.
When I am grid-tied, the LV5048 is not sending power to the house. The micro-inverter just sees 120V/60Hz and works the same.

And to add to the whole switch back and forth mode, I can switch the LV5048 to be "grid-connected" to charge my batteries, just in case I go through a few days of cloudy weather. I do this by unplugging the output of the LV5048 and plugging in the input of the LV5048 to the house. I do not actually unplug the plug, but switch the input side to the output side with a giant Frankenstein knife switch.

This has happened two or three times since I got my off-grid panels setup. I have about a 14 kWh battery and it isn't enough for a week of no good Solar.

The lowest I've seen on my utility bill was $5.86. The basic connect charge is about $14.80. I had a lot of surplus going to the grid that month.

Bud Martin said:

How much did cost you to ship that panel to where you live?

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$299.96 for 4 panels, delivered at a nearby trucking terminal. I got pretty lucky in that the nearest one to me is 1/2 mile away. $139.96 for the panels, $ 157 for shipping. I imagine the shipping price would have been the same price for up to about 20 panels.

Is there a way someone could accidentally have the grid on as well as the inverter from your solar?

wade0000 said:

Is there a way someone could accidentally have the grid on as well as the inverter from your solar?

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My "off-grid" setup, no. The LV5048 is a one way A/C system, A/C input, and A/C output only. I mean you could literally connect the output to the input, but that would just turn the LV5048 off, or fry it. The Solark 8 and 12k can do A/C input (usually a generator), A/C output (usually the critical load's panel), and A/C Bidirectional (ie-grid tied)

This "grid-tied" setup, absolutely.

1 Month update.
one of the microinverters kaput after one day use.
I plugged two panels into one microinverter. It's working fine.
The 4 panels produced 64.75 kWh for February. 10 days were very cloudy, and during the Great Deap Freeze of 2021, with less than 0.5 kWh produced for the days.

The best day of the month was 4.75 kWh.

4 panels pointing 180°, and set at 76° incline. (leaning against the wall.)


These panels are going on my cargo trailer build, sometime this week.