Hello!

[Aeroslin]

Hello to everyone! Been studying this field for a while now and finally stuck my foot in. Was going to do a contracted installation but the more I learned the less daunting it all seemed. Top that with what appeared to be getting locked into a specific PV / INV system just wasn't to my taste. This quest has been pretty exciting and has me stretching my brain again like I was in college, relearning about electronics.
I currently own a home in Louisville Kentucky and have the fortune of a nicely south facing single gable roof that will easily fit 18 panels, 20 if I break the rules. I've been watching my electrical usage for just about the last year using Emporia (the octopus) and determined I don't need that much. I have a wood shop in my basement and even with my airflow system running with any one tool never crossed between 4-6k watts. I measured the inrush current for each tool combination to see how high it would get. I decided to get the EG4 8K because it was well above my needs and even allowed for some expansion of my power use for something like an electric car. I also installed 10k of battery backup in a 3 bay cabinet. I'll pick up another battery after I get the panels up. The panels are not up because I'm waiting on having my roof replaced, which is taking way longer than I like. Insurance is ready to pay but the roofer isn't. Just another problem to work through.
I installed my inverter and batteries a couple weeks ago and last weekend started hooking up critical loads into my subpanel. First circuit is my fridge. Now, since I don't have panels I'm just using the grid to keep things charged and running, basically a glorified UPS. It's all been a fun process learning about the inverter and batteries and how it all works, putting it all together and finally seeing it all work. I'm sure you all have similar feelings.
So that's my story so far.
o/

 

[timselectric]

Howdy neighbor. (From the Iroquois park area)
Welcome to the forum.

 

[Crowz]

Welcome to the forum !

 

[Hedges]

Welcome.

Is RSD something you'll need?
If so, you'll want to know that and get it before mounting those panels.

 

[houseofancients]

Hello to everyone! Been studying this field for a while now and finally stuck my foot in. Was going to do a contracted installation but the more I learned the less daunting it all seemed. Top that with what appeared to be getting locked into a specific PV / INV system just wasn't to my taste. This quest has been pretty exciting and has me stretching my brain again like I was in college, relearning about electronics.
I currently own a home in Louisville Kentucky and have the fortune of a nicely south facing single gable roof that will easily fit 18 panels, 20 if I break the rules. I've been watching my electrical usage for just about the last year using Emporia (the octopus) and determined I don't need that much. I have a wood shop in my basement and even with my airflow system running with any one tool never crossed between 4-6k watts. I measured the inrush current for each tool combination to see how high it would get. I decided to get the EG4 8K because it was well above my needs and even allowed for some expansion of my power use for something like an electric car. I also installed 10k of battery backup in a 3 bay cabinet. I'll pick up another battery after I get the panels up. The panels are not up because I'm waiting on having my roof replaced, which is taking way longer than I like. Insurance is ready to pay but the roofer isn't. Just another problem to work through.
I installed my inverter and batteries a couple weeks ago and last weekend started hooking up critical loads into my subpanel. First circuit is my fridge. Now, since I don't have panels I'm just using the grid to keep things charged and running, basically a glorified UPS. It's all been a fun process learning about the inverter and batteries and how it all works, putting it all together and finally seeing it all work. I'm sure you all have similar feelings.
So that's my story so far.
o/

Love me some Louisville

 

[Aeroslin]

Welcome.

Is RSD something you'll need?
If so, you'll want to know that and get it before mounting those panels.

Yes, I believe I will need this. I was looking at the Tigo system which will also help because I have 1 spot on the west side of the roof that will catch some shade at the end of the day in the summer. Ironically enough, in the winter months when the sun is further south, that tree won't be in the way.

 

[Hedges]

Yes, I believe I will need this. I was looking at the Tigo system which will also help because I have 1 spot on the west side of the roof that will catch some shade at the end of the day in the summer. Ironically enough, in the winter months when the sun is further south, that tree won't be in the way.

Dealing with shade would be possible reason for optimizer. In some cases, their benefit isn't enough to justify cost (vs. additional power produced or cost of more panels.)

RSD, Rapid Shut Down, is a code requirement for fireman safety. PV strings typically operate around 200V to 500V. Fireman is spraying water and may walk on the roof. I may hack a hole in the roof for ventilation. RSD involves a switch which causes voltage within array to drop to no more than 80V between any two conductors, also wires back to inverter. Couple generations of NEC have different requirements in terms of voltage and location where it exists.

If RSD is required, that is a box per panel (or per couple of panels.) Tigo has a box which is just RSD, also a box which is an optimizer. Maybe you can use one optimizer, the rest RSD, I'm not sure.

A keep-alive transmitter tells the RSD (or optimizer + RSD) box to deliver PV voltage. Without that signal it delivers something in the range 0.5V to 1.0V. I don't know whether your EG inverter includes the transmitter, or has a control switch for it. SolArk has a relay to enable, also power supply I think. Some of my SMA inverters have transmitter built in (may only be compatible with SMA RSD box), and some require external transmitter.

PV panels typically have 3 bypass diodes so if whole panel or a portion of it is shaded, dropping its current output low, the other panels can push current past. How well it works depends on array series/parallel combination and how smart the inverter's MPPT algorithm. It is not good to have shade on a panel when others are aimed at the sun, producing full current. Better if this only occurs with sun off-angle, to avoid overheating and failure of the diode. You may not need optimizer to address shade.