zanydroid
Solar Wizard
DC?AC couple
DC?AC couple
1741-SA - Frequency Watts and Volt-Watts in general do have parts of the response curve that are designed for storage DER (EG absorbing active power from the grid). But if you're hacking up a SB it won't have that profile because it's not a storage DERWhat I'd really like is something like SBS, AC coupled lithium battery, but sourcing or sinking according to frequency shift. I don't find parameter documentation from SMS to see if it does that, only that it is UL-1741-SA. This wouldn't be for generator input, rather add-on lithium storage, which would try to keep primary batteries at float, and absorbing any surplus GT PV which would otherwise be curtailed.
or UL 1741 SB
- SB supplemental power controls can throttle PV production must faster
FW, VF and VV does not require PLC at all! Otherwise it would not be allowed by utilities. UL 1741 SA is done passively by the microinverter to monitor grid voltage, amperage, phase and impedance to adjust power production and provide reliable anti-islanding.For Enphase, the UL1741SB comms are done via network to Envoy then via PLC (slow) to micros so I doubt power control would be any faster than current export limiting power control using similar comms path, which has typical response times of several seconds.
In the Schneider XW-Pro, it has a single "Aux Relay" which can be programmed to do several things, but only one function that you choose. If you add the Schneider AGS "Generator auto start controller" it adds far more control to the system. It even has 4 levels of charge with separate time delays. If you are still at 50% SoC, but for 4 hours, it can start the generator, but if you dropped to just 20% SoC, it will start in 2 minutes. This function can also be used to trigger load shedding, and it frees up the XW-Pro Aux relay to do a different function. Some of their other devices also contain another Aux relay that can be set for another function. They can be triggered by voltage, power, temperature and a few other things as well. But making a multi level load shed and generator start does become a bit of a mess. And I can't think of any way to use just Schneider gear to make it able to shut down from low battery and still dark start when the sun rises unless you have a DC Solar charge controller. And that is what Schneider recommends. Of course, they want you to use one of theirs, but my cheap BougeRV charge controller will work. In fact, since it is NOT on the Schneider Xanbus network, I think it may end up working better in that situation. It does not care at all what the Schneider system is doing, it will just push power directly into the batteries. No data needed, just sunlight. Once the battery voltage recovers, the XW-Pro just turns back on.Can it be told to shut down at SoC, wait until the sun ought to be up, then make AC again so GT PV can produce? SI has some such features, although I haven't tried to implement.
When it is producing AC and GT PV is producing power, is there a load-shed mechanism to automatically disconnect excessive loads that exceed production and cause SoC to continue decreasing instead of increasing?
Load-shed should also prevent reaching too low SoC. I have one stage (all loads disconnected) but plan for 2-stage which will disconnect large loads sooner.
Could feed a charger, of course, but I would like to rectify AC and feed PV (or turbine) input of GT inverter, AC couple that. This allows SI to remain the voltage and frequency source.
IMO both approaches require enough diagnostics for you to commission and troubleshoot properly, since they're shared medium and inherently more complex than twisted pair dedicated RS485 or whatever which have some way of plug & pray working 99% of the time.zanydroid: Wireless versus PLC: probably fear of violating Enphase patents. PLC patents have long expired and Enphase does not have patents that would prevent publicly available PLC communications with micro-inverters in general. If you read the patents they are very specific.
In case it wasn't clear, I was not referring to FW, VW, etc. I was referring to the UL1741SB required network communication based controls.FW, VF and VV does not require PLC at all! Otherwise it would not be allowed by utilities. UL 1741 SA is done passively by the microinverter to monitor grid voltage, amperage, phase and impedance to adjust power production and provide reliable anti-islanding.
That may be the case under ideal conditions but in reality lots of people have problems with Enphase PLC. Just search for reports from Enphase owners about Envoy not able to communicate with micros via PLC for monitoring sometimes for days.Direct power control of micro-inverters can be done very efficiently and very fast with broadcasting technology via PLC to all attached micro-inverters simultaneously.
Hmm OK but you still need to transition from Q-cable to other wiring methods, right? Unless you're supposed to use that cable all the way down to the combiner.2-Wire Micro-Inverter Communication: I wasn't suggesting running 2 additional wires in addition to the power lines. Something more along the lines of a combination power/signal cable with a plugin tap for power and communications. Would be more expensive than a Q-cable, but save all the extra hardware for PLC communications or wireless and would/could be more open too!