3 microinverters: APSystems QS1 with 11 panels: HT-SAAE 380W HT72-156M

[ajoyce0830]

Greetings. I’m about to do a grid-tie microinverter system that I’m hoping to add batteries to later on but soon. I have the following sitting in my garage ready to be installed: 3 APSystems QS1 microinverters with 11 HT-SAAE 380W HT72-156M panels (and the associated unirac, wiring, etc). How can I effectively make this a hybrid system and add batteries?

 

[patdown45]

Greetings. I’m about to do a grid-tie microinverter system that I’m hoping to add batteries to later on but soon. I have the following sitting in my garage ready to be installed: 3 APSystems QS1 microinverters with 11 HT-SAAE 380W HT72-156M panels (and the associated unirac, wiring, etc). How can I effectively make this a hybrid system and add batteries?

I believe you cannot without using another completely separate system that will charge up the battery bank when the power is up. Then if grid power goes down you would need a automatic discovering circuit to prevent backfeeding the grid. This system is quite costly and complex for a minor occasional power outage, it is hardly cost effective.
Also unless your inverter that is powered from your battery backup needs to be outputting the same as the grid in order to fool the QS1 to think it has grid power.
Long and short if doing battery backup, don't use microinverters, just get the hybrid grid tied central inverter that can perform on or off grid.
Be prepared to spend quite a bit more on that part of the system. If power rarely goes out it is much cheaper to just use a generator with the correct mechanical isolation breaker box so if the generator is online the main house breaker is off so you cannot backfeed the grid and injure or kill any workman thing to restore power.
Also if your generator is producing the same power pure sine wave that the QS1 needs to see after the 5 minute delay they will come back on, if you have them in that circuit.

 

[newbostonconst]

I have 3 QS1's and 24 Enphase on a grid tie system with a Outback Radian GS4048 inverter. Many hybrid inverters will work with what you have. With the GS4048 you have to put the micro inverters on the critical loads side so the GS4048 can frequency shift to shut them down.

I only have the QS1's in the critical loads panel so they can be regulated. Though anymore then the 3k from the QS1's is supplied to the GS4048 with my charge settings they are shut on and off a lot. The QS1's don't throttle back, they just shut off for 5 minutes. I do have a bypass to back feed my main panel if needed in an extended grid down but haven't needed to do that.

The Enphase inverters are in my main panel so if the grid was down and I bypassed power from the GS4048 to the main panel then the Enphase invertors will also be throttled by the GS4048. I have not tried that yet though. I do hear that the Enphase inverters throttle up and down with the frequency shifts but haven't witnessed that myself.