Greetings all!
TL;DR version of the question: how important is the THD rating of a generator when used to supplement solar for charging a battery bank through an all-in-one charge controller/inverter? Will 'harmonics' (more like modified square waves, in my case) on the input pose a risk to the charge controller? Im comparing generators with <5% and <20% THD ratings.
Detailed version:
I'm getting started on my offgrid project and need some power to get things going. I'm looking for a generator that meets the following requirements:
* An EFI generator (i'm at 8000' so carbs are challenging)
* High output (generator will run at around 25% rated output due to elevation)
* Enough output to run my welder (max 6,900 watt draw, so ~11kw output after efficiency and elevation losses)
* Safe as a backup/top-off generator for future solar system
This is pretty limiting set of requirements, unless I get into massively expensive commercial units. I've found two options:
* A-iPower SUA13000EFI
* Champion 100485
Any other good options I'm missing?
The A-iPower is very nice, but not readily available. It has slightly more output, runs pretty quiet, and has great THD (<5%). Besides being unobtainable, only other downside is the 6.6gal fuel tank that limits run-time to 8.5hr. The engine is from an unknown-to-me Chinese maker (a Senci SC460), but new engines are only $165 on Ali.
The Champion is cheaper, but has lower power and makes more noise. But it's available and has 35% longer run-time. But it has a THD of up to 20%!
I mentioned a welder -- it's an inverter-based unit so THD isn't as much an issue as on transformer-based units, but I'm still not sure what the threshold is. If that alone is a deal breaking, then score one for the A-iPower!
FWIW, this is possibly a short-to-mid term problem. Once I get a battery bank and some panels up, I'd like to run everything through the batteries and just use the generator to supplement their recharge, if i can get comfortable with that much draw. But this is a problem for Future-Me
Thanks all!
TL;DR version of the question: how important is the THD rating of a generator when used to supplement solar for charging a battery bank through an all-in-one charge controller/inverter? Will 'harmonics' (more like modified square waves, in my case) on the input pose a risk to the charge controller? Im comparing generators with <5% and <20% THD ratings.
Detailed version:
I'm getting started on my offgrid project and need some power to get things going. I'm looking for a generator that meets the following requirements:
* An EFI generator (i'm at 8000' so carbs are challenging)
* High output (generator will run at around 25% rated output due to elevation)
* Enough output to run my welder (max 6,900 watt draw, so ~11kw output after efficiency and elevation losses)
* Safe as a backup/top-off generator for future solar system
This is pretty limiting set of requirements, unless I get into massively expensive commercial units. I've found two options:
* A-iPower SUA13000EFI
* Champion 100485
Any other good options I'm missing?
The A-iPower is very nice, but not readily available. It has slightly more output, runs pretty quiet, and has great THD (<5%). Besides being unobtainable, only other downside is the 6.6gal fuel tank that limits run-time to 8.5hr. The engine is from an unknown-to-me Chinese maker (a Senci SC460), but new engines are only $165 on Ali.
The Champion is cheaper, but has lower power and makes more noise. But it's available and has 35% longer run-time. But it has a THD of up to 20%!
I mentioned a welder -- it's an inverter-based unit so THD isn't as much an issue as on transformer-based units, but I'm still not sure what the threshold is. If that alone is a deal breaking, then score one for the A-iPower!
FWIW, this is possibly a short-to-mid term problem. Once I get a battery bank and some panels up, I'd like to run everything through the batteries and just use the generator to supplement their recharge, if i can get comfortable with that much draw. But this is a problem for Future-Me
Thanks all!
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