A new solar energy adventure for me. EG4 6000XP or Anker F3800

[JeromeP]

I’m debating between using the Anker F3800 power station (3,840WH/6000, 240V, and adding 1 Eg4-LL storage battery or an Eg4 6000XP inverter while adding 1 or 2 Eg4 server rack batteries.

The Anker power station has 1 major drawback for me being the 240v outlet cannot be used while charging with a 48v solar battery charger. The price for this system currently is $4500 which includes one expansion battery on Shop Solar. I’m uncertain if there is a work around to this 240v issue.

The second system, EG4 6K XP Off-Grid Inverter | 8,000W PV Input | 6,000W Output | 48V 120/240V Split Phase with two EG4®-LL-S 48V / 100AH Lithium Battery | 5.12kWh also for $4500 on Shop Solar. I know this is a no brainer but this inverter only accepts a 240v gas generator for the ac charging, at least to my understanding, correct me if I’m wrong.

I have no solar array but will have way down the road when money permits, retired and on fixed income.

I have virtually no solar experience but have watched many solar energy videos including many of Will Prowse videos. If I go with the Eg4 system, I’m sure with your guidance, with the help of my son which he had built a small solar system from scratch and I understand Shop Solar has excellent customer service, I can make this happen having a long term running solar system for when the grid is down for the long haul.

I know there is a 30% federal energy tax credit now; however, I don’t qualify since I don’t have any taxable income. Otherwise, I would go bigger.
House is 1100 sq ft

My current situation:

Live alone

I run an outdoor wood boiler for heat, very rarely use the a/c

Wattage usage during the day: on average is 10k

Usage consists of some led lighting, 700 watt fridge, medium size upright freezer, a few other light duty consumptions.

240 volts for a ¾ hp well pump, 4500 watt water heater, I will need the water warm in the mornings for my 10 minute shower and to wash dishes The a/c is not that important to me.

Currently have a Westinghouse 3500 watt dual fuel inverter generator.

Nearly full 500 gal lp tank for the last few years, I use my indoor wood stove on the shoulder heating months for heat.


Appreciate your help!

 

[sunshine_eggo]

"Power stations" are over-priced and will typically disappoint.

 

[solsearching]

"Power stations" are over-priced and will typically disappoint.

How many have you owned? My two sets of EF delta pro with two additional batteries each- so a total of 28.8 kwh- cost me approx 9 grand. I have other systems, and the experience to know that theres no way you get server rack batts to that capacity, a quality 240v inverter thats capable of 7200watts constant, cables, fuses, switches, and all else you need for what would be anything close to considerably cheaper. Whats an eg4 powerpro cost? whats the capacity? Or a sok? Or battleborns? Same with any other of the decent brands- their shit aint cheap to buy, and then the install is on you to make sure its safe and functional.

As far as disappointing, I run a transfer switch off of one set of deltas, and a heatpump dryer exclusively off the others. Did five full loads of laundry yesterday- didnt even use half of my 14.4 capacity, afternoon solar left me at 67% to start todays chores. I’ve been running the transfer switch with the other set of deltas for three days straight- oil furnace blower, clothes washer, lights, 2 fridges, 2 gaming pcs, hometheater, tea kettle, coffee pot, toaster oven, microwave and more all covered. This is all for a family of five, btw.

This has been a proven, viable and cost-effective solution to many of the same issues that most on this forum are working towards solving. Maybe something breaks at some point and I need to replace/reassess things, but what modern electronic gear doesn’t run that risk?

At least anecdotally I see your assessment as flat out incorrect and tainted by opinion at best. You seem to be very helpful on this forum all in all, but your advice in this case is wholly inaccurate and biased- which is certainly allowed also- as lurking this forum for over a year has taught me there arent any fact checkers working this gig.

 

[OffGridForGood]

Wattage usage during the day: on average is 10k

10kW/day

240 volts for a ¾ hp well pump,

The start up in-rush is the thing that you need to know, what max amperage to start the pump. There are pumps designed to minimize the in-rush, however you may not want to change your well pump. If the pump is pretty old, and due to be changed anyway, consider one of the Grundfos pumps designed with low (nearly none) in-rush start up current. Your 240v pump will equally load both 120v legs which is the ideal solution to prevent unbalanced load on the inverter.

4500 watt water heater,

There are ways to drop this, ie using 120 volt to heat the water instead of 240, cutting the power to 1/4 but taking x4 the amount of time to reheat.
The peak load on your system would be if the HWT is running 4500W and then the pump kicks on. This will not be a rare event: ie likely every time you want to use the shower, the hot water element is going to click on, and as your bladder tank starts to feed water, to the shower/HWT your well pump will come on.

So you even though your daily 10kW is very low, you would need a good sized inverter to feed the Hwt and supply the in-rush to the pump.

Options:
low in-rush Grundfos well pump - but requires buying and installing a new pump - costly.
HWT timer - like the ones Home Depot sell - program the timer to not allow the HWT element to power up during the time you typically use the shower/hot water in general. See: Intermatic 30A 240 progamable timer control. (I have two of these, and they work well)
The option to use 120v for the heating element may be better for you, since it will not requie knowing when the shower may be in use, search the forum for postings on how to do this set up if you like this option better.

In my own set up, I was able to start and run my well pump with a single MPP 6048, but not the HWT and the well pump together. When I had two MPP 6048's set up in parallel I added in the HWT and didn't bother with using reduced voltage to limit current. If your well water is like mine (cold) you will notice it takes a lot of power to heat up ice-cold well water.

 

[JeromeP]

10kW/day

The start up in-rush is the thing that you need to know, what max amperage to start the pump. There are pumps designed to minimize the in-rush, however you may not want to change your well pump. If the pump is pretty old, and due to be changed anyway, consider one of the Grundfos pumps designed with low (nearly none) in-rush start up current. Your 240v pump will equally load both 120v legs which is the ideal solution to prevent unbalanced load on the inverter.

There are ways to drop this, ie using 120 volt to heat the water instead of 240, cutting the power to 1/4 but taking x4 the amount of time to reheat.
The peak load on your system would be if the HWT is running 4500W and then the pump kicks on. This will not be a rare event: ie likely every time you want to use the shower, the hot water element is going to click on, and as your bladder tank starts to feed water, to the shower/HWT your well pump will come on.

So you even though your daily 10kW is very low, you would need a good sized inverter to feed the Hwt and supply the in-rush to the pump.

Options:
low in-rush Grundfos well pump - but requires buying and installing a new pump - costly.
HWT timer - like the ones Home Depot sell - program the timer to not allow the HWT element to power up during the time you typically use the shower/hot water in general. See: Intermatic 30A 240 progamable timer control. (I have two of these, and they work well)
The option to use 120v for the heating element may be better for you, since it will not requie knowing when the shower may be in use, search the forum for postings on how to do this set up if you like this option better.

In my own set up, I was able to start and run my well pump with a single MPP 6048, but not the HWT and the well pump together. When I had two MPP 6048's set up in parallel I added in the HWT and didn't bother with using reduced voltage to limit current. If your well water is like mine (cold) you will notice it takes a lot of power to heat up ice-cold well water.

My well pump is rated 230v, max amps is 8 which will give me 1840w.

For the water heater, I can allow it to warm up the water in the morning while the water pump is off, while taking my short shower, turn off the water heater for rest of the day, turning the water pump back on. A water heater timer would be ideal.

I would prefer to go with the EG4 6000XP and two EG4 LIFpo-LL 48v 100amph batteries to later expand, but the EG4 inverter requires a minmum 8000w to wake up the inverter, I only have the 3500w contious watts inverter generator unless if it's possible to still connect MPP to my generator using a 48v solar battery charger then connecting it to the pv inputs of the EG4 inverter. That may be a topic for a new thread.

 

[OffGridForGood]

My well pump is rated 230v, max amps is 8 which will give me 1840w.

FLA = full load amps is NOT the same as In-Rush. if you had a 2000W max output inverter, it will not start a standard 1840W well pump, because the in-rush amps can be 3x - 5x this load for the first fraction of a second. This is one reason why many people on the forum discuss the Grundfos pumps, or inverters with very high over-load potential to address this issue with motors.

A water heater timer would be ideal.

Yes, easy solution is the heater runs during times the pump will not.
Otherwise you will need enough Inverter output for the HWT element plus the start up current of the pump. A good quality Digital multi meter with in-rush capture will tell you what your pump needs to start up.

Also, check on the minimum battery input for your inverter to support it's max output.
My own 6048's needed 200A of battery each, to achieve max output of the inverters. Sould be listed in your manual.