How hard do you push your inverters??

[crossy]

All in the thread title really.

Our 3 x 5kW Deye hybrids peak at about 80% rated when charging, nearer 40% peak when discharging (oven, microwave and Madam's 3hp irrigation pump) but we are in the depths of winter (a chilly 22C at night) so no significant A/C loading.

A/C load will increase massively when it warms up and we have UK family coming over in April which is going to kill our energy consumption.

I've always been one for running kit conservatively for long life, but what's the general forum opinion??

 

[BatteryBuff]

Here is my preferred plan:
Keep actual surge power within the rated continuous operating power.
Keep the actual continuous power below 50% of the rated continuous max most of the time.
Occasionally, stress the system for several minutes with a heavy load that it should be able to take. This makes sure that it hasn't degraded as can happen when lug bolts come loose.

 

[Zapper77]

I manage my loads to stay under 50% and I've pushed 100% for 1-2 hours. 18Kpv is my primary

 

[400bird]

I purchased a well regarded, reliable inverter (Schneider XW 6848). I push it for to it's max on grid inverter rating pretty frequently in the summer to sell to the grid and make some $

Then I've got the boring grid tie solar edge. It does what it does. On cool spring days it will occasionally clip and run at it's max, 6.5kw, for a couple hours per day. I don't get much say in what this one does.

 

[daklein]

I would be thinking also about how hard are you running the batteries and if that matters. 3x5kw @ 80pct is 12kw charging how large a battery? That sounds like a lot. My main FLA battery bank, a pair of forklift 48v 1000Ah flooded lead acid batteries, I charge at 125A which is on the order of 7kw, and usually it tapers down anyway from the battery.

 

[timselectric]

I have no problem running at rated capacity.
This is why they have ratings.
I would be more concerned about the environment it's in.

 

[crossy]

I would be thinking also about how hard are you running the batteries and if that matters. 3x5kw @ 80pct is 12kw charging how large a battery? That sounds like a lot. My main FLA battery bank, a pair of forklift 48v 1000Ah flooded lead acid batteries, I charge at 125A which is on the order of 7kw, and usually it tapers down anyway from the battery.

We have 1760Ah of 48V LiFePO4 on 7 * 200A Seplos BMSs, closed loop to the inverters

Max charge rate we see is about 270A.

 

[SunDave]

All out. Sol-Ark 15k. 15.9kW recently. Still technically not 16 so all good

 

[sumpower]

8Kw Radian, it runs for 4 months every summer during 5 daylight hours at 7.7Kw and intermittantly to 8.7 Kw. It is a conditioned room and all air flow is filtered. Basically in a "clean room".
The inverter gets to rest a little during the winter.

 

[timselectric]

All out. Sol-Ark 15k. 15.9kW recently. Still technically not 16 so all good

You must have had grid or PV helping. Because it can't do it without help.
Sol-Ark uses fuzzy math for their ratings.

 

[crossy]

I have no problem running at rated capacity.
This is why they have ratings.
I would be more concerned about the environment it's in.

Environment ratings for the inverters are -40C to +60C (derate over 45C).

Although everything is at outside ambient, we rarely get over 40C and the kit is in a very well shaded area. Now we have Solar Assistant (Deye dongles removed) I can monitor everything closely.

It will be interesting to see how warm the batteries actually get.

 

[SunDave]

You must have had grid or PV helping. Because it can't do it without help.
Sol-Ark uses fuzzy math for their ratings.

Indeed. Just slightly less fuzzy than EG4 and way less fuzzy than some of the most extreme.

I am also aware that brand bashing is a past time on this forum, so anyone posting their brand beware. It's good to some extent to set expectations lower.

Also, it can definitely pull way more than 12k from battery. I think it is just rated lower than actual on paper to make sure it performs to that with all battery configs.

 

[timselectric]

Environment ratings for the inverters are -40C to +60C (derate over 45C).

Although everything is at outside ambient, we rarely get over 40C and the kit is in a very well shaded area. Now we have Solar Assistant (Deye dongles removed) I can monitor everything closely.

It will be interesting to see how warm the batteries actually get.

My main Growatt (house) system is in a conditioned space.
I did put my Deye on the outside of the garage, but it's batteries are inside and kept cool. I expect to push it harder next summer. We'll see if it has to derate itself or not.

 

[timselectric]

Indeed. Just slightly less fuzzy than EG4 and way less fuzzy than some of the most extreme.

They didn't even bother with fuzzy math. They just deceptively name them wrong.

I am also aware that brand bashing is a past time on this forum, so anyone posting their brand beware. It's good to some extent to set expectations lower.

Definitely a thing.
I only take issue with company's that take advantage of the less informed customer. Honesty and integrity are not easy to find these days.

 

[Sonne]

I have cheap Chinese Offgrid inverters, ergo I only ever push them to around 40% of rating because that is in fact all they will do!

 

[robby]

With most consumer electronics the less you push them is the longer they last.
My Inverter rarely goes above 50% of rated.

 

[hwy17]

8kW briefly when I put the kettle on while the heat pumps are running, 5-6kW max continuous load, normally only 1-3kW most of the time.

That's on a 6.8kW Schneider. I wouldn't hold back on it, I'm pretty sure running one of them hard won't cost as much in the long run as buying two just so they're more lightly loaded. I want my money's worth out of it.

 

[J.H.]

About 35% unless it’s June July or August .. but if I use the 13,500 btu A/C 4 hours in the afternoon plus other random small loads ,it bumps inverter output to about 85-% …

it’s in a cool/cold place 9 months a year and the inverter case rarely gets over about 85-90 F when running 50-75% loads .( it can vary a bit)

Sometimes I will run it 100%++…just to make sure everything is runnin good under stress.

J.

 

[Daddy Tanuki]

Two magnums 4448’s and two 5kW sigineers.

The magnums see up to about 75-85% when the centrifuge is on and all the stops are pulled that’s usually no more than 5~6 hours then drops down to about 40%

The Sigineer’s are unknown as the water heater dump load is not finished. Once finished they should be running up to 50% for 1-5 hours depending upon battery SOC and harvest conditions

 

[Suijkerbuijk]

And here i come with my Victron 12/1200 model.
Push about 130% load with a microwave for 6-10 minuut.
After that it have only the load from a freezer.

Jip i push that baby hard.
She can thake it .

 

[Daddy Tanuki]

And here i come with my Victron 12/1200 model.
Push about 130% load with a microwave for 6-10 minuut.
After that it have only the load from a freezer.

Jip i push that baby hard.
She can thake it .

thumbody gotta thay it, you thound like Mike Tython!

 

[robby]

I have no problem running at rated capacity.
This is why they have ratings.
I would be more concerned about the environment it's in.

So many Chinese companies have now swapped Rated capacity for Peak capacity and Peak capacity has been replaced by Ludicrous capacity, that is the power level where the MosFets are cooking, so at some point a temp sensor says okay, it has suffered enough and Trips the inverter.

 

[peufeu]

When I had only one Solis S5 inverter, it ran maxed out often. The poor 6kW inverter had 9kW panels on it. There were no issues, it often maxed out the panels, but it was too close to the MPPT voltage limit; Now I have two (total 11kW) and I split the panels between them with 6kWp on each so they rarely max out.

Heat is the problem, so I added more fans blowing on the heat sink. Does wonders to the internal temperature.

 

[houseofancients]

If need be 100% , but as I have oversized my inverters ( 1 shouldn't come over 80% in normal operations, so with the second one I have plenty of space left) , they are barely working, which I prefer, and was calculated, as I want to keep a "spare" in case 1 should fail for what ever reason

 

[42OhmsPA]

When I was running my single SRNE ASF, 10KW output and 11KW PV, I frequently ran ~8KW on the output and ~9KW often. I overloaded it a couple times, it shutdown and rebooted just fine. 1 MPPT was maxed out for hours at a time, the other ~90%.

I upgraded to parallel ASPs for 20KW output and 22KW PV and typically don't run above 50% but have pushed them up around 85% while fast charging and running heavy loads in the rest of the house. A couple MPPTs still run near max for hours a day.

Ambient temp normal range is 60F-70F with a low RH, extremely low when the coal stove is burning.

Batteries rarely exceed .2C since I have 4 packs in parallel, with more planned.