Idle Consumption: Is It Standby or Overhead?

[chess-equality]

@forbin , I see that you are really searching for this low idle "Holy Grail / Shangri-la", based on the other thread

I've been checking this Chinese company TBB Power; they claim to have products that are "transformer-based, extremely low self-consumption power". Some are also capable of 3-phase parallel. Might also be worth a look. They have installations mostly in the EU, Africa, and Asia (many here in the Philippines).

This Apollo Maxx for example, has a 3kw 48v model (surge 9kw) that claims "14w zero load power (W)" (sic), and a 5kw model (surge 15kw) on "18w".

TBB POWER

A new Flutter project.

www.tbbpower.com

 

[chess-equality]

@forbin , I see that you are really searching for this low idle "Holy Grail / Shangri-la", based on the other thread

I've been checking this Chinese company TBB Power; they claim to have products that are "transformer-based, extremely low self-consumption power". Some are also capable of 3-phase parallel. Might also be worth a look. They have installations mostly in the EU, Africa, and Asia (many here in the Philippines).

This Apollo Maxx for example, has a 3kw 48v model (surge 9kw) that claims "14w zero load power (W)" (sic), and a 5kw model (surge 15kw) on "18w".

TBB POWER

A new Flutter project.

www.tbbpower.com

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They will have a booth in the 2022 All-Energy Australia:

All Energy Australia

The largest gathering of renewable energy professionals in Australia offering a premium free-to-attend business-to-business conference and exhibition.

www.all-energy.com.au

Exhibitor Details

www.all-energy.com.au

 

[Mattb4]

@forbin , I see that you are really searching for this low idle "Holy Grail / Shangri-la", based on the other thread

I've been checking this Chinese company TBB Power; they claim to have products that are "transformer-based, extremely low self-consumption power". Some are also capable of 3-phase parallel. Might also be worth a look. They have installations mostly in the EU, Africa, and Asia (many here in the Philippines).

This Apollo Maxx for example, has a 3kw 48v model (surge 9kw) that claims "14w zero load power (W)" (sic), and a 5kw model (surge 15kw) on "18w".

TBB POWER

A new Flutter project.

www.tbbpower.com

Been reading through their manual and it has some nifty features although it is a 240v single phase unit. I will note that a claim of 14w at zero load may not mean what people think it means. The maximum efficiency claimed for inverter is 94% or 95% depending on model. So lets say you have the 3000w model with max of 95%. 5% of 3000w = 150w. The word maximum used before the word effiency can also mean that a lower efficiency can happen. It is like being told you can can see "up to" this amount.

There is also the what constitutes the definition of "zero load".

 

[chess-equality]

claim

"We'll put their name to the test"

 

[sunshine_eggo]

Ultimately, the question I'm trying to answer is, do I need to add panels to account for idle consumption? I like EG4's new 6000EX AIO, but it has high idle consumption in the 130W range. If I run it 24 hours, that works out to 3120Wh. That means I'd have to dedicate 2 or 3 panels just to satisfying the idle draw, which is awful since I only have room for 16 panels total.

Yes. Battery too. Inverter consumption is a line item on the Energy Audit you completed... Right?

That 130W is just like any other load. You need to account for it in your daily energy consumption. You'll need 3120kWh of extra battery capacity to power your loads for 24 hours and about 600-700W of additional PV to replenish it on a daily basis.

This is the hidden cost of these units. You still come out ahead cost-wise over Tier-1 hardware, but it's not as dramatic as the price of the AiO suggests.

3120kWh of unusable battery capacity is 3120/5120 * $1449 (EG4 battery) = $883 of battery dedicated to feeding the unit.

 

[forbin]

Yes. Battery too. Inverter consumption is a line item on the Energy Audit you completed... Right?

Yes. I'm just unwilling to give up that power and money without a fight.

 

[sunshine_eggo]

Yes. I'm just unwilling to give up that power and money without a fight.

You either:
1) pay for higher idle consumption
2) pay for Tier-1 hardware
3) waste lots of time cobbling together a franken-system that saves you a wee bit, but will have other compromises.

 

[chess-equality]

So it's only Victron then

 

[chess-equality]

OP is getting confused now!?

The effect of Will's review...

 

[sunshine_eggo]

So it's only Victron then

Only if you don't need UL.

 

[fafrd]

Got curious; taken a few days ago.

Can I ask what inverter that is? Is that a special standby mode is that the base idle draw?

 

[fafrd]

It's only powering the PC, so turned off when I'm not using it. Wife says turn that damned thing off!

No argument

Could it be that it has a standby mode by default and that your PC consumption alone is below the threshold to get it to wake up?

Have you tried powering your PC + some other loads through a power strip to see whether a higher ‘turn-on consumption’ avoids the issue?

 

[chess-equality]

Can I ask what inverter that is? Is that a special standby mode is that the base idle draw?

5000 Watt Converter nverter Pure Sine Wave with LCD Display

5000 Watt Inverter Pure Sine Wave DC to AC | Warranty: 2 Years | Brand: OEM | LCD Display | Peak Power: 10000W | Universal Socket

meindchina.com

It's a basic dumb inverter, non-AIO, no fancy features. I just turned it on without any loads connected. I only need it to mainly power my AC, but oversized it.

 

[chess-equality]

Could it be that it has a standby mode by default and that your PC consumption alone is below the threshold to get it to wake up?

Have you tried powering your PC + some other loads through a power strip to see whether a higher ‘turn-on consumption’ avoids the issue?

See my post before this.