Hybrid Inverters, Off Grid ?

[PatBarn]

I am building a Tiny House in Cornwall, England and am looking to put together a 3KW 240v off grid system; PV, Wind and generator backup.
The VICTRON EasySolar would be a fantastic option but I have also seen the HUAWEI Sun2000 series, GROWATT SPH series & GOODWE EM series which are all considerably cheaper and have a similar reputation.
My problem is that suppliers are giving me very conflicting advice about whether these systems are suitable and warrantyed for use off grid.
Any advice or links greatly appreciated.

 

[schmism]

The Growatt all-in-ones do not support selling to the grid. Which is one of the ways you can define off grid. While they do support a grid pass through they will run fine without a connection to the grid. Growatt even highlights how you can connect a generator to the "grid" side of the inverter and configure the generator to autostart so that unit can charge the bats off the internal AC ("grid") battery charger.

 

[MadElectrician]

I am building a Tiny House in Cornwall, England and am looking to put together a 3KW 240v off grid system; PV, Wind and generator backup.
The VICTRON EasySolar would be a fantastic option but I have also seen the HUAWEI Sun2000 series, GROWATT SPH series & GOODWE EM series which are all considerably cheaper and have a similar reputation.
My problem is that suppliers are giving me very conflicting advice about whether these systems are suitable and warrantyed for use off grid.
Any advice or links greatly appreciated.

Suggest you check into wind. Turbines only work in open areas with laminar wind-flow and they need to be massive to be efficient. The small ones are crap.

 

[PatBarn]

Thank you, I will look into Growatt further.
The wind is tricky , we are on an exposed windy hill but I have heard all sorts of horror stories about wind turbines so I will tread carefully.

 

[newbostonconst]

I think the best thing about a hybrid inverter is they usually switch between sources of power automatically.

My GS4048 has 3 inputs (grid, generator, and battery) so if you start the gen it will detect that and run off that with the option also of having the inverter assist the generator as needed for higher loads. It can run off and charge the batteries off micro invertor solar or you can have a solar charge controller charge the batteries to run off of. There are many more combinations.

here is a good list of my many of the good hybrids that can be bought anywhere.

Hybrid Inverter | Hybrid Solar Inverter | altE

Hybrid inverters, mostly used in grid-tie solar systems, can provide backup power when the electric grid fails. Call 877-878-4060 to size your system today.

www.altestore.com

Good luck.

 

[Zee]

have you considered something like this, its as cheap as chips ( I paid about £290 GBP for mine), off grid and dead easy to set up.

ISolar SPL 3K_Easun Power Technology Corp Limited

www.easunpower.com

 

[MadElectrician]

Thank you, I will look into Growatt further.
The wind is tricky , we are on an exposed windy hill but I have heard all sorts of horror stories about wind turbines so I will tread carefully.

I was thinking to myself as I was writing, "unless you live on a windy hill." I would do this. Buy an inexpensive air flow meter and record some data. There are good videos on wind turbine designs out there. My understanding is that the physics requires them to be very large. But your hill will increase wind speed markedly. I'd base my decision on the data you collect.

 

[Nathaniel]

The Growatt all-in-ones do not support selling to the grid. Which is one of the ways you can define off grid. While they do support a grid pass through they will run fine without a connection to the grid. Growatt even highlights how you can connect a generator to the "grid" side of the inverter and configure the generator to autostart so that unit can charge the bats off the internal AC ("grid") battery charger.

What about manufactures who define off grid as a temporary power loss ( which has happened in the past). There are some Hybrid systems, even though they do not support the ability to back feed and sell to the grid, they are also not designed to run full time off grid. Rather they are designed as backup supply in the event you loose power from the grid temporarily. These type of systems don't last very long when placed in off grid applications. My concern is whether the Growatt 24V SPF 3000TL LVM which I am considering is able to run full time off grid long term. Almost all the videos online show it being used tied to the grid. No references of it being used standalone full time off grid. Need some advice.

 

[schmism]

These type of systems don't last very long when placed in off grid applications. My concern is whether the Growatt 24V SPF 3000TL LVM which I am considering is able to run full time off grid long term. Almost all the videos online show it being used tied to the grid. No references of it being used standalone full time off grid. Need some advice.

As they are new to the market I don't know that there is a large body of reliable data that says they are prone to fail within XXX years if running the inverters 24/7.
Mine are setup as "primary power" for "critical loads" of my house. Every day they switch to inverter and charge the battery off solar. Now my loads/solar/battery isnt well balanced at this point and even when I was fully charging my battery at the end of summer it still wasn't makeing it through the night (my goal) so each day it transitions back to grid pass through. These days I only spend about 6 hrs off grid (turns out I need to do do some tree trimming for better winter sun) , in the summer I was avg about 18 hrs off grid.

So currently my daily schedule is
grid pass through
grid pass through -sun up - charging battery
off grid- on solar - charging battery - inverter only
off grid- on battery (sun down) - inverter only
back to grid pass through when I hit my low battery transtion. (not low battery cuttoff)

My take on it is, you could buid a system out of brand name established components and for 3000w of xantrax or outback or midnite solar or victron your looking at a package of like $5-8K in equipment

That same package of equipment is wrapped up in a single $700 box. Buy 3 and keep 2 on the shelf. Even if they only last 2 years each your still way ahead on what you spent for the service you got. (and if the market continues to evolve like it has in the past 6-10 years you'll be wanting new equipment then anyway)

 

[45North]

I am building a Tiny House in Cornwall, England and am looking to put together a 3KW 240v off grid system; PV, Wind and generator backup.
The VICTRON EasySolar would be a fantastic option but I have also seen the HUAWEI Sun2000 series, GROWATT SPH series & GOODWE EM series which are all considerably cheaper and have a similar reputation.
My problem is that suppliers are giving me very conflicting advice about whether these systems are suitable and warrantyed for use off grid.
Any advice or links greatly appreciated.

I'm not surprised that Huawei is giving good deals. They have to try harder as many countries are turning against them because of their Chinese government/military connection:
- push-back for "bullying" of other countries in general
- concern about possible "back door" allowing data snooping

So deal with them if you must but recognize that they are living under a cloud at the moment.