digitalabacus
New Member
- Joined
- May 3, 2022
- Messages
- 6
Hello all,
First time posting here, been lurking and learning.
I am a bit confused about when AC vs. DC coupling is better for a given setup. From what I have read so far, this coupling refers to the mode of energy ingress to the primary inverter from a battery backup or similar, either AC or DC. Makes sense so far. (side note: does anybody know what is being coupled in this terminology? Battery to primary inverter, battery to grid, grid to household via battery, etc?).
What I can't wrap my head around is why you would prefer one to another. AC holds the advantage for power transmission efficiency, sure, but trying to sync up transfer between AC sources sounds like a real bear when considering things like glitching and phase differences between the two AC waveforms. Given that just about every picture I have seen (a comparatively small sample size, sure) each has all of the various system components mounted right next to each other, it seems that transmission losses are minimal anyway. Why wouldn't you just DC couple and save the cost of the extra inverter?
This confusion is further compounded by items like the Sol-Ark 15k brochure (link) which shows both a DC battery input and a 24kW AC coupled input. My gut is telling me that this product is all about options so you can choose either or perhaps wire up the AC output of a generator or something.
So, in short, why would a given installation choose DC coupling vs. AC coupling?
First time posting here, been lurking and learning.
I am a bit confused about when AC vs. DC coupling is better for a given setup. From what I have read so far, this coupling refers to the mode of energy ingress to the primary inverter from a battery backup or similar, either AC or DC. Makes sense so far. (side note: does anybody know what is being coupled in this terminology? Battery to primary inverter, battery to grid, grid to household via battery, etc?).
What I can't wrap my head around is why you would prefer one to another. AC holds the advantage for power transmission efficiency, sure, but trying to sync up transfer between AC sources sounds like a real bear when considering things like glitching and phase differences between the two AC waveforms. Given that just about every picture I have seen (a comparatively small sample size, sure) each has all of the various system components mounted right next to each other, it seems that transmission losses are minimal anyway. Why wouldn't you just DC couple and save the cost of the extra inverter?
This confusion is further compounded by items like the Sol-Ark 15k brochure (link) which shows both a DC battery input and a 24kW AC coupled input. My gut is telling me that this product is all about options so you can choose either or perhaps wire up the AC output of a generator or something.
So, in short, why would a given installation choose DC coupling vs. AC coupling?