I need some real world advice on choosing a new hybrid inverter for my situation. This is my problem:
1. My PV array is 8k in size.
2. My lithium battery bank is 40 kW in size
3. My grid tie is only 50 amps @ 240 volts
4. MY LOADS ARE ALWAYS LARGER THAN MY PV PRODUCTION.
5. My generator supply is about 40 amps @240v.
6. My electricity plan is based on Time of Use with rates cheapest Midnight till 6 AM weekdays, until 2PM weekends and costly 4PM till 9PM.
7. I have an electric car too on this circuitry as well as an electric dryer.
My 24 hour day of PV and load use looks like this:
Midnight until 6AM, I like to charge the EV and try to AC charge my batteries and my baseline load aside from these is about 2 kW. If running the AC, this adds about 1.5 kW to baseline. I can change the EV charging amperage on the fly in real time so I usually set it for 15 amps and never go above 25 amps. I try to keep the total load pulled from the grid to 8.6 kW so as to avoid tripping any breaker. At a draw of 8.6 kW, the AC voltage drops from 240 to about 233.
At 6AM, charging stops on weekdays. The system can use either AC or battery until PV starts at around 9AM now. The load from 6AM until 9:30 AM is about 2 kW. At 9:30 AM until 4 PM, pool pumps operate and go through their cycles. They add about 1 kW to base load and then the cycling pumps for spa, slides run for 10 minutes daily and add about 2kW. So during those periods, load is 5.5 kW. Any AC running during the day adds about 1.5 kW to baseline load.
During the daytime, PV ramps up on sunny days to about 6kW. Sunny day PV runs from winter lows of 24kW to summer highs of up to 50 kW.
At 4PM until 9 PM, I want the system to run off batteries to avoid high time of use rates.
From 9 PM until midnight, I am okay with batteries or grid use or a mix of both.
My old inverter was an Outback Radian and it would allow me to use grid power and battery power to my critical loads panel at the same time, so the inverter could output up to 8k with the batteries and add grid too. I would be able to run loads of up to 12k with this passthrough setup. Never a hiccup or any loss of power. As the batteries discharged, the AC grid tie increased to meet demands.
What I found in trying to use a popular hybrid inverter on this sight that it was grid + PV to loads, but never could combine grid and batteries to load. It was a switch back and forth from one to the other. And this was causing power outages. And it had all kinds of problems if trying to charge batteries from PV and AC source at the same time. This type of inverter limited me to no more than 8.6 kW to be safe.
SO I AM LOOKING FOR A HYDRID INVERTER THAT CAN COMBINE OUTPUT TO LOADS FROM GRID AND BATTERY AT THE SAME TIME SO THAT SWITCHING POWER OUTAGES THAT RESULT FROM ONLY BEING ABLE TO USE GRID OR BATTERY SEPARATELY DO NOT HAPPEN. MY RADIAN DID THIS. ARE THERE ANY OTHERS THAT CAN BE USED?
1. My PV array is 8k in size.
2. My lithium battery bank is 40 kW in size
3. My grid tie is only 50 amps @ 240 volts
4. MY LOADS ARE ALWAYS LARGER THAN MY PV PRODUCTION.
5. My generator supply is about 40 amps @240v.
6. My electricity plan is based on Time of Use with rates cheapest Midnight till 6 AM weekdays, until 2PM weekends and costly 4PM till 9PM.
7. I have an electric car too on this circuitry as well as an electric dryer.
My 24 hour day of PV and load use looks like this:
Midnight until 6AM, I like to charge the EV and try to AC charge my batteries and my baseline load aside from these is about 2 kW. If running the AC, this adds about 1.5 kW to baseline. I can change the EV charging amperage on the fly in real time so I usually set it for 15 amps and never go above 25 amps. I try to keep the total load pulled from the grid to 8.6 kW so as to avoid tripping any breaker. At a draw of 8.6 kW, the AC voltage drops from 240 to about 233.
At 6AM, charging stops on weekdays. The system can use either AC or battery until PV starts at around 9AM now. The load from 6AM until 9:30 AM is about 2 kW. At 9:30 AM until 4 PM, pool pumps operate and go through their cycles. They add about 1 kW to base load and then the cycling pumps for spa, slides run for 10 minutes daily and add about 2kW. So during those periods, load is 5.5 kW. Any AC running during the day adds about 1.5 kW to baseline load.
During the daytime, PV ramps up on sunny days to about 6kW. Sunny day PV runs from winter lows of 24kW to summer highs of up to 50 kW.
At 4PM until 9 PM, I want the system to run off batteries to avoid high time of use rates.
From 9 PM until midnight, I am okay with batteries or grid use or a mix of both.
My old inverter was an Outback Radian and it would allow me to use grid power and battery power to my critical loads panel at the same time, so the inverter could output up to 8k with the batteries and add grid too. I would be able to run loads of up to 12k with this passthrough setup. Never a hiccup or any loss of power. As the batteries discharged, the AC grid tie increased to meet demands.
What I found in trying to use a popular hybrid inverter on this sight that it was grid + PV to loads, but never could combine grid and batteries to load. It was a switch back and forth from one to the other. And this was causing power outages. And it had all kinds of problems if trying to charge batteries from PV and AC source at the same time. This type of inverter limited me to no more than 8.6 kW to be safe.
SO I AM LOOKING FOR A HYDRID INVERTER THAT CAN COMBINE OUTPUT TO LOADS FROM GRID AND BATTERY AT THE SAME TIME SO THAT SWITCHING POWER OUTAGES THAT RESULT FROM ONLY BEING ABLE TO USE GRID OR BATTERY SEPARATELY DO NOT HAPPEN. MY RADIAN DID THIS. ARE THERE ANY OTHERS THAT CAN BE USED?
