Eg4 18kpv

[beginner345]

I've been reading online but have not seen a concrete answer. Im very interested in that model and am avoiding having to get mytiple 6000x version

My question is if i need AC from my grid power WITHOUT selling back to grid is it something it can do or does it automatically will sell/backfired to grid once the grid AC is wired

Eg. Grid AC-> 50amp breaker->18kpv grid connection-> load connection

Basically I'm looking for confirmation that once the 18k is setup with getting power from grid as a way to charge battery when there's no sun, will it backfeed or attempt to send power back to the grid. I just want avoid thay from happening.

 

[RyGuy]

Yes you can do as you are planning. You can hook it to a grid input to charge batteries etc. There is a setting to not sell back to grid.

 

[Bananaman321]

These are my current settings on my 18Kpv I am These are my running in off grid mode with utility connected

I have not messed with any of the peak shaving settings

You may want to set your charge settings differently I haven't charged from utility yet

I will see if I can't find you a video to help explain the settings I will upload it here

Good luck hope this helps

 

[Bananaman321]

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These are my current settings on my 18Kpv I am These are my running in off grid mode with utility connected

I have not messed with any of the peak shaving settings

You may want to set your charge settings differently I haven't charged from utility yet

I will see if I can't find you a video to help explain the settings I will upload it here

Good luck hope this helps

 

[wpns]

Basically I'm looking for confirmation that once the 18k is setup with getting power from grid as a way to charge battery when there's no sun, will it backfeed or attempt to send power back to the grid. I just want avoid thay from happening.

Yes, you can set up "Zero Export" or "Fast Zero Export" and it will not send any (appreciable) power back to the grid, though there may be a few watt-hours over the course of a month due to load dumps. Some smart meters can detect even tiny grid exports, and some power companies care so very much about those few watt-hours that they'll raise a stink. In that case you can use something like a ChargeVerter to charge your batteries from the grid and be guaranteed to never push a single watt-hour back into the grid. The other advantage of the ChargeVerter solution is that it isolates you from grid instabilities.

 

[timselectric]

It's not that the utility companies care about a few wh's of export.
It's that they care about people connecting equipment in parallel with the grid.
And if you try to do so without approval, those few wh's will get you busted.

 

[Quattrohead]

Yes it can be set to zero export and off grid mode. It will then only draw power from the grid if it absolutely has to due to overload or very low battery. I ran one like this for over 6 months and it was perfect.

 

[beginner345]

It's not that the utility companies care about a few wh's of export.
It's that they care about people connecting equipment in parallel with the grid.
And if you try to do so without approval, those few wh's will get you busted.

so i guess thats why @timselectric suggested the charge verter.

 

[beginner345]

thank you alot everyone, you have given me some great things to think about, i didn't know about the charge verter but seems like it will be the best fit in my case , especially if there's a possibility that i might send a few watts back to the grid if i have the AC grid connected to the inverter and since i don't plan to go through my utility company then charge verter is definetly a great option and plus i also have a Westinghouse-WGen9500DF generator

 

[timselectric]

so i guess thats why @timselectric suggested the charge verter.

That was @wpns , but I agree.

What I wouldn't do, is spend the extra money for a hybrid, if I wasn't going to use the extra functionality.

 

[Bananaman321]

You can enable Micro Grid function and connect the grid power to the generator port it cannot export power through this port on this mode Generator can still be use through the Grid port just set limit below generator capacity.

This is a training video on this model it explains the functionality of the generator port if you can tolerate it.

 

[timselectric]

Well crap, I watched the whole video and didn't see anything about connecting the grid to the gen port.
And I'm not going to watch it again, it was painful. lol

 

[Bananaman321]

Well crap, I watched the whole video and didn't see anything about connecting the grid to the gen port.
And I'm not going to watch it again, it was painful. lol

I have read about this in multiple locations Including a couple of manuals I downloaded there is more info available on the Lux branded version if I come across the documentation I will upload it here.

I took a photo of the settings on my EG4 Electronics web interface and it describes the functionality of the Gen port.



I may try connecting my inverter in this manner in the future. Problem is no seamless switch and no blending of power.

 

[Bananaman321]

Well crap, I watched the whole video and didn't see anything about connecting the grid to the gen port.
And I'm not going to watch it again, it was painful. lol

Check this video out lot of good information on setup and functionality of the 18kpv for the micro grid function start at 18:45 in video.

I hope this was helpful.

 

[timselectric]

Check this video out lot of good information on setup and functionality of the 18kpv for the micro grid function start at 18:45 in video.

I hope this was helpful.

This one describes setting to micro grid and still connecting the grid to the grid port.
I don't see any reason why you couldn't connect the grid to the gen port.
And leave it set as a gen port, to avoid export.
You would be limited by the gen port relay size. But, you could use generator boost functionality. And blend the grid with inverter.