EG4 3000 (Generator to the AC In or the DC In?)

[50ShadesOfDirt]

Some AIO's have restrictions on generators as shore power (vs the grid), because they want to sync with the incoming electric power source, and provide "0ms time switchover". There is one MPP Solar unit that has this restriction in their manual for that model ... could be some/many other AIO's with similar restrictions, as only a few manufacturers for all the brands.

You'll need to read the manual for your inverter, and see if perhaps the same restriction applies ...

They'll let you feed in "grid power", but not gen power, not even inverter-gen ...

You may have to switch to something like a chargeverter (48v only at this time), and charge the battery-bank directly. Or come up with your own charging scheme involving your generator charging the battery-bank.

Hope this helps ...

 

[MikeRI]

References please.

This video provides a good explanation of the problem (start 30 seconds in).

 

[MikeRI]

I wound up trying to charge with the generator connected to the inverter's 'AC IN' while under load, and the EG4 3000 did not like it at all; it threw an error message. But when I disconnected the inverter from the load it charged fine, with the inverter's AC IN capped at 10 amps. BUT, I want to run the generator with the inverter under load, so the home can have power while the batteries are being charged by the generator. Gonna try a Plan B (not sure what it'll be at this point). It seems the Chargeverter -- or something else that will charge the batteries directly -- is the easiest and best route to go.

 

[Vigo]

BUT, I want to run the generator with the inverter under load, so the home can have power while the batteries are being charged by the generator.

That is fine, as long as your load wattage is less than your charging wattage!

Since you are about to add another layer of energy conversions (from 120vac to 48vdc for example) there will be losses to account for. So if you have a 2000 watt generator and run an 85% efficient charger off of it, you may only get 1700w of charging and have to keep your power consumption under 1700w or else you'll be at a 'net loss' and be draining your batteries by however much over 1700w your loads are. You may already fully grasp this but im pointing it out anyway just to be safe. In my small home i found that i could more or less live normally with about 2500w of charging because even if i did require some ac or heat, or even run my electric drier, those things 'cycle' on/off and it averaged out to less than 2500w, so i was able to break even or charge a bit even with only 2500w in even though my consumption would sometimes go over 5000w for brief periods.