Hey everyone, I'm looking for some advice and opinions.
Current setup:
2 Anker F3800s, Anker Home Power Panel, Anker Double Power Hub, 2 400W portable panels.
The panels are feeding a solar input on each F3800.
The F3800s are feeding the HPP. I do not have a sub-panel connected for critical loads. I'd rather do it manually.
The Double Power Hub is for grid-down feeding my panel through the generator breaker.
The primary purpose of the everything is to have backup power for the refrigerator and water system during grid-down situations (mostly hurricanes).
I can actually run the whole house as it is, so I consider that goal achieved. According to the app, I supply about 7% of my electricity usage with those 2 portable panels. More than I would have expected!
But, I figure I have these batteries. They're as good as they'll ever be right now. Might as well put them to work and be able to use the programming in the HPP to cycle them daily. I want to add permanent solar panels to the mix.
The dilemma:
Do I want to feed the solar inputs on the F3800s directly? Or do I want to run the panels to a grid-tied string inverter?
If I feed the solar inputs, I'm constrained to 4800W charging. But, it seems simpler.
If I feed a grid-tied inverter, it's rating would likely be higher. But, it would be useless during outages. So, I'd need a way to reroute some of the panels to the solar inputs in those situations. That adds complexity, but maybe it's worth it considering the grid is up 99.7% of the time.
What would you do?
If I could do it over again, I'd build a completely different system and not be locked into so much Anker stuff. But, I was about to pull the trigger on a whole home generator when the kickstarter went live. I had no idea there was anything other than a Tesla power wall before that. I discovered this forum while trying to find the best solar panels for this stuff. Now I see how big this market actually is.
But I won't let comparison be the thief of joy. This is still way better than a whole home generator+fuel management.
Thanks for any input!
Current setup:
2 Anker F3800s, Anker Home Power Panel, Anker Double Power Hub, 2 400W portable panels.
The panels are feeding a solar input on each F3800.
The F3800s are feeding the HPP. I do not have a sub-panel connected for critical loads. I'd rather do it manually.
The Double Power Hub is for grid-down feeding my panel through the generator breaker.
The primary purpose of the everything is to have backup power for the refrigerator and water system during grid-down situations (mostly hurricanes).
I can actually run the whole house as it is, so I consider that goal achieved. According to the app, I supply about 7% of my electricity usage with those 2 portable panels. More than I would have expected!
But, I figure I have these batteries. They're as good as they'll ever be right now. Might as well put them to work and be able to use the programming in the HPP to cycle them daily. I want to add permanent solar panels to the mix.
The dilemma:
Do I want to feed the solar inputs on the F3800s directly? Or do I want to run the panels to a grid-tied string inverter?
If I feed the solar inputs, I'm constrained to 4800W charging. But, it seems simpler.
If I feed a grid-tied inverter, it's rating would likely be higher. But, it would be useless during outages. So, I'd need a way to reroute some of the panels to the solar inputs in those situations. That adds complexity, but maybe it's worth it considering the grid is up 99.7% of the time.
What would you do?
If I could do it over again, I'd build a completely different system and not be locked into so much Anker stuff. But, I was about to pull the trigger on a whole home generator when the kickstarter went live. I had no idea there was anything other than a Tesla power wall before that. I discovered this forum while trying to find the best solar panels for this stuff. Now I see how big this market actually is.
But I won't let comparison be the thief of joy. This is still way better than a whole home generator+fuel management.
Thanks for any input!
