• Have you tried out dark mode?! Scroll to the bottom of any page to find a sun or moon icon to turn dark mode on or off!

diy solar

diy solar

Eg4 6000 XP with thd generator 23%

R

relayman

New Member
Joined
Oct 6, 2024
Messages
5
Location
38901
My small town mississippi was affected by a tornado. I lost power and was under the impression that it was going be a bit to get power back up. I went and bought a harbor freight predator 13k watt generator. After researching it the total harmonic distortion is 23 percent. I want to use this generator with a solar set up that am putting together. But the 6000 xp has to have a pure sine wave of 3%.

So basically should I bite the bullet and return the generator it was a 20 percent restocking few or should i buy a something that can clean the sine wave?
I was thinking of buying a 240 inverter and using a victron auto tranfromer and I think it could double as a sine wave compensator.

Thanks for all the help!!!
 
Agreed with chargeverter idea, but be aware that your inverter manual and/or vendor may have rules as to what *they* consider acceptable, wrt to keeping or voiding the warranty. Read the manual, talk to the vendor about what gen, or gen+chargeverter they would want.

Definitely don't tell them you have a high-THD gen already ... it might go into the customer records. Just ask what they recommend, and what "won't void the warranty".

In general, I'd use:
- an Inverter-Gen (closed-frame, all seem to put out about 3% THD)
- or a Westinghouse wgen11500tfc (less than 5% THD, and open-frame)
- or just add the chargeverter and don't tell your inverter folks anything at all

Whatever gen you pick needs to be spec'd/sized for its full intended use case ... chargeverter, other house loads if operating in inverter pass-thru mode, etc.). Don't yet know all your solar design, but I'd send the predator back, and focus on getting the absolute best spec'd/sized/featured gen that meets all your requirements. I use the wgen for a number of reasons, not the least of which is its "autostart" features, plus low THD, smartport (ATS), and more.

You could keep the predator (if you need something right now), use it lightly, and sell it later, hopefully not losing more than the 20% restock would've cost you anyway, then apply that toward the best gen for your final solar design.

Hope this helps ...
 
So the generator input on the 6000 xp doesnt go to batteries which then go to inverter thus cleaning up the output?
 
chamilun said:
So the generator input on the 6000 xp doesnt go to batteries which then go to inverter thus cleaning up the output?
Click to expand...
No the generator is 120/240v so it goes into inverter and what is not used for powering devices is then converted to DC and sent to battery … but it is input into the 6000xp it has to be clean .. so the chargeverter goes directly to the DC Bus and it cleans it up and is for that purpose .. to make dirty power nice and clean …
 
I have the 13KW Predator generator (which is rated for only 10KW continuous output) connected to two Chargeverters, which connect to a busbar (a Victron Lynx distributor, but any sufficiently sized bus bar will work). ONE of my paralleled EG4 Powerpro batteries also connects to that busbar. I have the chargeverters set to output 4000W each.

This allows me to run the Predator at about 80%, and recharges my system at about 8000W (I'm not accounting for efficiency losses, so the Predator may be running at about 85%). This approach works great AND bypasses the generator input on the inverters, which I find is better, at least for me.
 
relayman said:
My small town mississippi was affected by a tornado. I lost power and was under the impression that it was going be a bit to get power back up. I went and bought a harbor freight predator 13k watt generator. After researching it the total harmonic distortion is 23 percent. I want to use this generator with a solar set up that am putting together. But the 6000 xp has to have a pure sine wave of 3%.

So basically should I bite the bullet and return the generator it was a 20 percent restocking few or should i buy a something that can clean the sine wave?
I was thinking of buying a 240 inverter and using a victron auto tranfromer and I think it could double as a sine wave compensator.

Thanks for all the help!!!
Click to expand...
I'm kind of in the same dilemma. I have a great conventional generator - 7700 watts with a very large surge capability of 12.4K - if you believe the vendor. Typical THD - high teens. I have only a few circuits on a sub panel that my 6000XP feeds - heat pump being one of them. I still need a generator to power the water pump, heat pump blower, electric stove, water heater etc - if the power is out more than a few hours. With the price of the chargeverter being close to $800 I'm leaning toward just get a under 5% THD convention generator or a chargeverter. Any other options - or why one of these choices should be prefer over the other?
 
4romany said:
Thanks for the tip - they are on back order. I suspect that when it's available it will be the higher price. I'm close to popping on a lower THD conventional generator from Generac - less than 5% - that i bet would work for my needs
Click to expand...
Before buying something new, you might want to try your existing generator to see if it works for you. I tested a Westinghouse non-inverter generator (spec THD <= 23%) running almost my entire home over a span of an hour of so and didn't encounter any problem. I do wonder whether the THD of conventional generators have improved and might be better than the spec number seems to indicate.
 
I bought one from San Tan and it was only a couple weeks until their shipment came in. A nice feature about the charge-verter is the ability to program charging parameters.
 
4romany said:
Thanks for the tip - they are on back order. I suspect that when it's available it will be the higher price. I'm close to popping on a lower THD conventional generator from Generac - less than 5% - that i bet would work for my needs
Click to expand...
Last I looked, you were able to place in your cart. Would be interesting to see if someone could actually pay for it, even if it was on backorder.
 
uslsml said:
Before buying something new, you might want to try your existing generator to see if it works for you. I tested a Westinghouse non-inverter generator (spec THD <= 23%) running almost my entire home over a span of an hour of so and didn't encounter any problem. I do wonder whether the THD of conventional generators have improved and might be better than the spec number seems to indicate.
Click to expand...
The problem is the potential damage this dirty power is causing over time. Signature Solar has noted on more than one occasion that dirty power is the #1 reason for inverter failures. I don't want to damage my fridge, freezer or HVAC system so bought a Chargeverter. Works great and I'm happy plus I've found it doesn't set off my isolation transformer based battery backups like the inverter does. (loud humming noise)
 
macdaman said:
Last I looked, you were able to place in your cart. Would be interesting to see if someone could actually pay for it, even if it was on backorder.
Click to expand...
WHen I bought mine, I placed it in the cart, picked the method of shipping or pickup, then paid for it. I then got a tracking number for delivery after a couple weeks and it arrived in just 2-3 days after the tracking number was given, Best part, San Tan recognizes AZ as no tax on most solar item.
 
uslsml said:
Before buying something new, you might want to try your existing generator to see if it works for you. I tested a Westinghouse non-inverter generator (spec THD <= 23%) running almost my entire home over a span of an hour of so and didn't encounter any problem. I do wonder whether the THD of conventional generators have improved and might be better than the spec number seems to indicate.I
Oakley said:
I bought one from San Tan and it was only a couple weeks until their shipment came in. A nice feature about the charge-verter is the ability to program charging parameters.
Click to expand...
I went ahead and popped for a used Generac with the less than 5% rating - which I'll verify when I look at it. I strongly doubt a generator that has 2% higher than their advertised spec is going to damage anything...
Click to expand...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

J
EG4 6000 XP and Generator
Replies
7
Views
458
sunshine_eggo
sunshine_eggo
C
SRNE hyp vs asp etc vs eg4 6000xp
2
Replies
42
Views
901
42OhmsPA
4
R
EG4 6000 XP extended warranty
Replies
1
Views
272
Adam De Lay
Adam De Lay
G
Guidance please EG4 6000 xp off grid set up
Replies
10
Views
247
ScrodusGargleRotten
S
RStone13
EG4 6000 xp no load power
Replies
0
Views
149
RStone13
RStone13

diy solar

diy solar
Back
Top