brainwashed
New Member
Hi all, new here.
I've been studying the market a bit but can't seem to find out if someone else did this before, for a reasonable price.
I'm looking for a small-ish solar system, let's say 1kW of installed power, 2kW inverter, one-phase, grid-tied, hybrid. The main purpose is to generate what I usually use, a background consumption of 150-250W, feed some of it into some batteries and use it at night and for backup. Backup means short interruptions of less than 3 seconds. When these happen, I don't usually draw a lot of power and high-power consumers are usually off.
My house connection is rated to 6.5kVA but my total consumption never exceeds 5kW. I have a DIY energy monitor connected through MQTT to Home Assistant.
I think legally (in EU) you can backfeed up to 800W into the grid, without having to apply for a cogeneration permit.
The first reason for a small system is that electricity is currently pretty cheap (paying about 0.16c) and will take a long time for a larger system to pay for itself, at least 8 years when looking at something like 5kW. Second reason is that there are subsidy plans available and might use those to install a second (larger) solar system. Third reason is that many people in my area are installing solar and the grid is quite limited in how much it can handle. Not to mention they might put pressure to bring the electricity prices lower or just cause your backfeeding to be remotely disabled when there is a lot of generation.
Back on question: what kind of (cheap) hybrid inverters can work off-grid in case of a blackout? How would the connection to the main house wiring be done, I assume there is some sort of disjunctor that can disconnect the house while the grid power is down, start the off-grid mode on the inverter and do the reverse when the grid power is back up. My search efforts have not yielded any DIY solution yet.
It's hard for me to separate loads into backup-priority ones and disposable ones (e.g. oven, garden pump), as they are all over the place and in a lot of circuits (about 12). A rewiring of the house is currently out of the question as everything is inside brick walls and the existing conduits cannot be easily refitted with additional wires.
I've been studying the market a bit but can't seem to find out if someone else did this before, for a reasonable price.
I'm looking for a small-ish solar system, let's say 1kW of installed power, 2kW inverter, one-phase, grid-tied, hybrid. The main purpose is to generate what I usually use, a background consumption of 150-250W, feed some of it into some batteries and use it at night and for backup. Backup means short interruptions of less than 3 seconds. When these happen, I don't usually draw a lot of power and high-power consumers are usually off.
My house connection is rated to 6.5kVA but my total consumption never exceeds 5kW. I have a DIY energy monitor connected through MQTT to Home Assistant.
I think legally (in EU) you can backfeed up to 800W into the grid, without having to apply for a cogeneration permit.
The first reason for a small system is that electricity is currently pretty cheap (paying about 0.16c) and will take a long time for a larger system to pay for itself, at least 8 years when looking at something like 5kW. Second reason is that there are subsidy plans available and might use those to install a second (larger) solar system. Third reason is that many people in my area are installing solar and the grid is quite limited in how much it can handle. Not to mention they might put pressure to bring the electricity prices lower or just cause your backfeeding to be remotely disabled when there is a lot of generation.
Back on question: what kind of (cheap) hybrid inverters can work off-grid in case of a blackout? How would the connection to the main house wiring be done, I assume there is some sort of disjunctor that can disconnect the house while the grid power is down, start the off-grid mode on the inverter and do the reverse when the grid power is back up. My search efforts have not yielded any DIY solution yet.
It's hard for me to separate loads into backup-priority ones and disposable ones (e.g. oven, garden pump), as they are all over the place and in a lot of circuits (about 12). A rewiring of the house is currently out of the question as everything is inside brick walls and the existing conduits cannot be easily refitted with additional wires.
