SolarUKWM
Solar Enthusiast
Could someone give me a sanity check here?
I have an Ecoworthy 5000 (SRNE HF clone) which makes _no_ mention of being able to feed energy back into the grid.
To be clear, I don't need or want that facility. But ...
The manual makes no mention of that being a feature. It says it has "back filling protection" which sounds good. Although, that could mean "it won't grid-feed if the grid goes away (anti-islanding, thumbs up!). But if the grid is there, sure, I'll feed into that ... (umm?)"
Does this model have the ability to grid-export?
[It gets longer here, puzzle along with me!]
My first doubt crept in when I found "setting 34". This is not in the manual, but exists on the unit. On other SRNE inverters, says "In Bypass mode, what to do with excess PV energy: DISable (nothing), LOD -- use it to run the load alongside grid, GRD -- feed it to the grid". Ummm? I went with "LOD" as the best option, and thought, well, at least it can't export to grid, might as well run the load.
My second doubt crept in when _something_ triggered my in-home-display for the electricity meter to stop saying "xxx W used now" (on a 0-10kW dial scale) and change to "xxx being imported now" (on a Negative-Something-watts - 0 - 10kW dial scale). As if it had detected "oh, exporting are we? Let me represent that!"
My smart-meter shows no export, although it could have been a _tiny_ export that woke it up. Not enough to meter as "1 unit" yet, but enough to alert it.
The conditions I _think_ this happened under were :-
1) Unit in bypass mode, running loads.
2) Battery charging from (grid and PV mix) from SOC 80% to 100% (Loads + charger absorbing all PV)
3) Charging stopped (PV now supplying more watts than the load used)
4) A little excess PV may have gone to grid _despite_ LOD setting.
I can understand the DIS/LOD/GRD logic: If there is PV left over -- in DIS, do nothing, it's wasted. In LOD -- allow _only_ enough to exactly balance GRID draw, no more. In GRD -- allow everything. In this way, it can help support the load (until the grid is not being used at all), or it can support the load AND export to the grid.
I think I've seen in Dave/EEVBlog's videos where this balancing act of trying to keep export at zero can fail by small amounts, as the system tries to measure and react to changes. "Mostly zero".
But this is all theoretical, and predicated on one thing -- that this device is even capable OF exporting. And I didn't think it was ... ?
Either that, or the internal current transformer for "grid" measurement is reading wrong, and it didn't know it _was_ exporting. (I already have issues with Solar Assistant reporting 'grid' readings that are significantly higher than I _know_ them to be, so I hope that's not indicating a problem where the inverter really _is_ mis-measuring!)
So, it thought it was "pushing back" against a 900W grid load, when in fact the load was only 350W. Shoulda stopped pushing at 350W of PV (you are running the load single handed!) but in fact would have pushed all the way to 900W (running the load and exporting).
If anyone can make sense of that lot, please chip in. Not sure quite what to test or measure at this point, or whether I'm chasing something that is a figment of something's imagination.
I have an Ecoworthy 5000 (SRNE HF clone) which makes _no_ mention of being able to feed energy back into the grid.
To be clear, I don't need or want that facility. But ...
The manual makes no mention of that being a feature. It says it has "back filling protection" which sounds good. Although, that could mean "it won't grid-feed if the grid goes away (anti-islanding, thumbs up!). But if the grid is there, sure, I'll feed into that ... (umm?)"
Does this model have the ability to grid-export?
[It gets longer here, puzzle along with me!]
My first doubt crept in when I found "setting 34". This is not in the manual, but exists on the unit. On other SRNE inverters, says "In Bypass mode, what to do with excess PV energy: DISable (nothing), LOD -- use it to run the load alongside grid, GRD -- feed it to the grid". Ummm? I went with "LOD" as the best option, and thought, well, at least it can't export to grid, might as well run the load.
My second doubt crept in when _something_ triggered my in-home-display for the electricity meter to stop saying "xxx W used now" (on a 0-10kW dial scale) and change to "xxx being imported now" (on a Negative-Something-watts - 0 - 10kW dial scale). As if it had detected "oh, exporting are we? Let me represent that!"
My smart-meter shows no export, although it could have been a _tiny_ export that woke it up. Not enough to meter as "1 unit" yet, but enough to alert it.
The conditions I _think_ this happened under were :-
1) Unit in bypass mode, running loads.
2) Battery charging from (grid and PV mix) from SOC 80% to 100% (Loads + charger absorbing all PV)
3) Charging stopped (PV now supplying more watts than the load used)
4) A little excess PV may have gone to grid _despite_ LOD setting.
I can understand the DIS/LOD/GRD logic: If there is PV left over -- in DIS, do nothing, it's wasted. In LOD -- allow _only_ enough to exactly balance GRID draw, no more. In GRD -- allow everything. In this way, it can help support the load (until the grid is not being used at all), or it can support the load AND export to the grid.
I think I've seen in Dave/EEVBlog's videos where this balancing act of trying to keep export at zero can fail by small amounts, as the system tries to measure and react to changes. "Mostly zero".
But this is all theoretical, and predicated on one thing -- that this device is even capable OF exporting. And I didn't think it was ... ?
Either that, or the internal current transformer for "grid" measurement is reading wrong, and it didn't know it _was_ exporting. (I already have issues with Solar Assistant reporting 'grid' readings that are significantly higher than I _know_ them to be, so I hope that's not indicating a problem where the inverter really _is_ mis-measuring!)
So, it thought it was "pushing back" against a 900W grid load, when in fact the load was only 350W. Shoulda stopped pushing at 350W of PV (you are running the load single handed!) but in fact would have pushed all the way to 900W (running the load and exporting).
If anyone can make sense of that lot, please chip in. Not sure quite what to test or measure at this point, or whether I'm chasing something that is a figment of something's imagination.