DirtybumOak
New Member
Hello.
I am at a tossup between the EG4 3kw all-in-one inverter and the MPP 3048. Let me give you a bit of background.
I'm grid tied, and currently I'm over producing ~150kwh/month. I recently bought an EV, and as a result my electrical needs will be going up. Due to being in California, I'm buying power for ~$.30, and selling it for $.08 - so there is a discrepency there. I typically am using power when my PV is not running, as nobody is home during the peak PV hours. My grid tied PV is grandfathered into a Net meter agreement, so my Off-grid setup is going to be on a "solar trailer" - and is very limited in terms of how many panels I can use. I think at most I could squeeze 4x 250w used panels (which I could get for nickels), or 4x 350w panels (which I'd have to buy new). I'm interested in two things...
1. selling less energy back to the grid (ie Storing it!)
2. Being able to charge my EV overnight (~12 hours of charge).
3. We get a brown-out a few times a year, and it would be nice to keep my deep freezer, a refrigerator and modem running. I don't need a lot of juice during a brown out ... 3kw would be excessive.
4. I'd like my standby/idle consumption to be low. Since my PV can't put out a lot, I'd rather not lose a ton of watts for the ~15 hours a day that sun isn't shining on my panels.
I'm on a very strict budget. This lends itself to the math I've been doing regarding battery size vs inverter size. I'm going to be using a 280ah 48w battery - so that gives me ~13kw. I can only produce 5-7kw/day.
1. I only need 3kw during a brown out, and 3kw (even at 75% for inverter health), is sufficient for my EV charging.
2. My Off-Grid PV size is only 1000-1200w/hr and so that means my main bottleneck is PV production.
3. My Excess grid production is only .2 or .4 kw, so again, my main bottleneck is PV production. Even with using the excess grid power, I'm only able to charge my battery to 100% every 2-3 days.
4. I can charge my car for ~12-15 hours a night, which means that I could drain my battery daily. Again, this points me in the direction that I don't need a higher power inverter.
5. If I doubled my battery capacity (+$2k), I'd only need a quarter of that to double my inverter capacity, so economically, my second bottleneck is my battery capacity. Doubling my batteries almost doubles my system cost, so for now I'd like to say that this is not a plausible scenerio.
So in conclusion,
I only need 3kw, I can only use 3kw, and I can't even charge 3kw.... so therefore a 3kw inverter is plenty. If I needed additional output, I could double my system output for $500-800, but doubling my battery capacity would be $2k+
So If I'm really only able to use 1kw constantly (15 hrs/day), whats the better inverter? I'd like to access the grid (to use the .2-.4 kw overproduction) but I don't need to sell back to the grid. I'm only using 3-4 panels, so I (think I) need a low VOC capable system. 120v, with 160v of panels is asking a lot of sun to even start my system, as opposed to 60v of a 160v system. The 3048LV does 60-115v. The EG4 3kw does 120-500v. I can't realistically see a situation where I'd be able to connect more than 4 panels to this system since its an urban off-grid system. I legally have to pull permits for anything attached to any sort of roof, and I'm in an area where they look at these sorts of things.
So far I'm looking at the:
EG4 3kw from signature solar
3048LV from watts 247
and maybe the Pip2424 Hybrid from Watts 247 (Although its 24v, it has a lower VOC of 30v to start my already limited voltage solar system, and technically satisfies my power requirement. Also my battery could be split into 2x 24v batteries as opposed to 1x 48v)
*huddles in the corner as he waits for replies, knowing he probably typed a ton of Newbie/halfThought/Ignorant questions....*
I am at a tossup between the EG4 3kw all-in-one inverter and the MPP 3048. Let me give you a bit of background.
I'm grid tied, and currently I'm over producing ~150kwh/month. I recently bought an EV, and as a result my electrical needs will be going up. Due to being in California, I'm buying power for ~$.30, and selling it for $.08 - so there is a discrepency there. I typically am using power when my PV is not running, as nobody is home during the peak PV hours. My grid tied PV is grandfathered into a Net meter agreement, so my Off-grid setup is going to be on a "solar trailer" - and is very limited in terms of how many panels I can use. I think at most I could squeeze 4x 250w used panels (which I could get for nickels), or 4x 350w panels (which I'd have to buy new). I'm interested in two things...
1. selling less energy back to the grid (ie Storing it!)
2. Being able to charge my EV overnight (~12 hours of charge).
3. We get a brown-out a few times a year, and it would be nice to keep my deep freezer, a refrigerator and modem running. I don't need a lot of juice during a brown out ... 3kw would be excessive.
4. I'd like my standby/idle consumption to be low. Since my PV can't put out a lot, I'd rather not lose a ton of watts for the ~15 hours a day that sun isn't shining on my panels.
I'm on a very strict budget. This lends itself to the math I've been doing regarding battery size vs inverter size. I'm going to be using a 280ah 48w battery - so that gives me ~13kw. I can only produce 5-7kw/day.
1. I only need 3kw during a brown out, and 3kw (even at 75% for inverter health), is sufficient for my EV charging.
2. My Off-Grid PV size is only 1000-1200w/hr and so that means my main bottleneck is PV production.
3. My Excess grid production is only .2 or .4 kw, so again, my main bottleneck is PV production. Even with using the excess grid power, I'm only able to charge my battery to 100% every 2-3 days.
4. I can charge my car for ~12-15 hours a night, which means that I could drain my battery daily. Again, this points me in the direction that I don't need a higher power inverter.
5. If I doubled my battery capacity (+$2k), I'd only need a quarter of that to double my inverter capacity, so economically, my second bottleneck is my battery capacity. Doubling my batteries almost doubles my system cost, so for now I'd like to say that this is not a plausible scenerio.
So in conclusion,
I only need 3kw, I can only use 3kw, and I can't even charge 3kw.... so therefore a 3kw inverter is plenty. If I needed additional output, I could double my system output for $500-800, but doubling my battery capacity would be $2k+
So If I'm really only able to use 1kw constantly (15 hrs/day), whats the better inverter? I'd like to access the grid (to use the .2-.4 kw overproduction) but I don't need to sell back to the grid. I'm only using 3-4 panels, so I (think I) need a low VOC capable system. 120v, with 160v of panels is asking a lot of sun to even start my system, as opposed to 60v of a 160v system. The 3048LV does 60-115v. The EG4 3kw does 120-500v. I can't realistically see a situation where I'd be able to connect more than 4 panels to this system since its an urban off-grid system. I legally have to pull permits for anything attached to any sort of roof, and I'm in an area where they look at these sorts of things.
So far I'm looking at the:
EG4 3kw from signature solar
3048LV from watts 247
and maybe the Pip2424 Hybrid from Watts 247 (Although its 24v, it has a lower VOC of 30v to start my already limited voltage solar system, and technically satisfies my power requirement. Also my battery could be split into 2x 24v batteries as opposed to 1x 48v)
*huddles in the corner as he waits for replies, knowing he probably typed a ton of Newbie/halfThought/Ignorant questions....*