Brand New to battery backup and have a question...

[SunshineFlame]

Hello everyone!

I live the mountains outside San Diego and have been experiencing an increase in power outage due to fire risks. I chose to go with the Jackery 5000, mostly due to my proximity to Jackery headquarters and their size in the market. I currently have the 5000 unit with 1 expandable battery (10kwh battery backup) connected to my main panel with a manual transfer switch (all bought and installed within the last month). I have about 5.6kw of roof mounted solar through Enphase (micro-inverters) feeding into the grid for net metering...it came with the house .

My question is... would it be viable to try to use my grid tied solar to charge my battery backup, through AC coupling or hybrid inverters (from what I've tried to understand on my own)...or mount more panels solely dedicated to charging my batteries like the 400w bi-facial Hyperion panels that I can get locally?

I have reached the point where my own understanding has maxxed out, and I no longer have a feel for what my next option is for using my grid tied solar and I'm open to feedback on best practices. Charging from my gas generator, when the grid is down, worked through a 5 day outage, but that gets expensive and loud, so moving forward with a solar option to recharge is my future even if just for peak shaving and getting rid of the ridiculous "delivery fee" of .25c per kw even on super off-peak hours.

Thank you for any thoughts, comments and questions.

 

[sunshine_eggo]

Hello everyone!

I live the mountains outside San Diego and have been experiencing an increase in power outage due to fire risks. I chose to go with the Jackery 5000, mostly due to my proximity to Jackery headquarters and their size in the market. I currently have the 5000 unit with 1 expandable battery (10kwh battery backup) connected to my main panel with a manual transfer switch (all bought and installed within the last month). I have about 5.6kw of roof mounted solar through Enphase (micro-inverters) feeding into the grid for net metering...it came with the house .

My question is... would it be viable to try to use my grid tied solar to charge my battery backup, through AC coupling or hybrid inverters (from what I've tried to understand on my own)...or mount more panels solely dedicated to charging my batteries like the 400w bi-facial Hyperion panels that I can get locally?

I have reached the point where my own understanding has maxxed out, and I no longer have a feel for what my next option is for using my grid tied solar and I'm open to feedback on best practices. Charging from my gas generator, when the grid is down, worked through a 5 day outage, but that gets expensive and loud, so moving forward with a solar option to recharge is my future even if just for peak shaving and getting rid of the ridiculous "delivery fee" of .25c per kw even on super off-peak hours.

Thank you for any thoughts, comments and questions.

The Jackery MUST be capable of AC coupling/frequency shifting. If it is not, it is not possible.

You would need to use an 6000W+ inverter capable of AC coupling/frequency shifting.

It is also unlikely that there is a useful way to use a separate system to charge your proprietary batteries, in other words, you'd need to completely replace everything Jackery with a frequency shifting inverter/charger and batteries.

Do you have a 5000W+ Generator? It appears the Explorer 5000 can utilize 240V/16.7A. This means that it would only take about 2.5 hours of generator run time to replenish your 10kWh battery capacity.

Another option would be to divert a portion of your existing array exclusively for the Jackery. In great solar conditions, about 1600W would be enough to replenish your 10kWh battery via all-day unshaded southern exposed panels.

 

[SunshineFlame]

My gas generator is 6500 running watts and charges the battery to full in under 4 hours. I have thought about taking a few panels off my grid tied solar and dedicating them to the jackery...bypassing the micro inverters to run the DC from the panels directly into the high PV port on the Jackery. From Will's testing I know I'll need to get the volts up higher to get the most from the high PV port (closer to 200v instead of the min of 135v as listed).

Knowing nothing about how to do this...I assume I'd need to detach specific panels or can I take any panels off the enphase micro-inverter system?

My array is mounted on the second story with little to no access apart from the panels near the crest of the roof. Would the panels continue to produce if I removed say the #6-10 panel MC4 connections from their inverters in a 16 panel setup...or would I need to remove starting at the #1-5 panels to leave a continuous connection? If this makes any sense of course....

 

[sunshine_eggo]

My gas generator is 6500 running watts and charges the battery to full in under 4 hours.

That feels like longer than it should, but if you're powering loads at the same time, it's probably about right.

I have thought about taking a few panels off my grid tied solar and dedicating them to the jackery...bypassing the micro inverters to run the DC from the panels directly into the high PV port on the Jackery. From Will's testing I know I'll need to get the volts up higher to get the most from the high PV port (closer to 200v instead of the min of 135v as listed).

With the 15A input limit, yeah. You'll want to push the voltage up there.

Knowing nothing about how to do this...I assume I'd need to detach specific panels or can I take any panels off the enphase micro-inverter system?

I can't say for certain. Enphase micros can typically be installed on any panels, so it's possible you might be able to simply remove them from the microinverter string and detach them. Then string the bare panels in series to the Jackery.

My array is mounted on the second story with little to no access apart from the panels near the crest of the roof. Would the panels continue to produce if I removed say the #6-10 panel MC4 connections from their inverters in a 16 panel setup...or would I need to remove starting at the #1-5 panels to leave a continuous connection? If this makes any sense of course....

It depends how they're wired. Guessing at how they're wired, removing them from either end of the string is probably the most sensible.