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Idle 'no load' Consumption: Specs vs Your Personal Observation

Hello all

I have an Off-Grid inverter growatt spf5000 ES and it is connected to 4 655W panels without batteries so far, its idle consumption from the utility is arouns 2 amps, it is making my energy meter spin like crazy, this system was supposed to save money, now it is costing me money, is this idle consumption normal for such inverters?
 
Dzl said:
Joe Samra said:
my energy meter spin like crazy, this system was supposed to save money, now it is costing me money, is this idle consumption normal
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its own thread, I'd like to keep this topic uncluttered so people interested in idle consumption can quickly scan/read through others experiences, the more off topic convo, the less practical that becomes.
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@Joe Samra
Would you mind starting your own thread? Probably folks can help resolve and discover but as a moderator stated above this thread has a different purpose.
 
1. Schneider SW4024
2. 240V/120V split phase
3. 3400W continuous (4000W for 30 min, 7000W for 5 sec)
4. I've never measured it, but spec says 26W idle, which I probably trust
5. There is a power-save feature ("search mode"), but the 26W is in normal mode. Manual says it is 8W in search mode.
 
1. Victron Quattro 48v (model: 48/3000/35-50/50 120v)
2. 120v
3. 3000W
4. Measured idle power draw is 24W (the manufacturer's specification says 25W)
5. I am not using any of the optional power saving or search modes. This is just "regular" inverter-on operation.

With the inverter switched "off" the load goes down to 0w. These measurements were taken with a JUNCTEK shunt monitor and match the readings on another chinese generic shunt monitor.
 
REQUEST For those responding to this thread.

PLEASE indicate the Make & Model of the Inverter, Inverter/Charger or AIO and IF it is High Frequency (HF) or Low Frequency (LF).
Some people have the ideation that HF Inverters are more "frugal" (use less power on stand-by) than Low Frequency (LF) systems, which is INCORRECT as a "Broad Brush Statement". It does however depend on the Grade / Quality or Tier of the product.
Value-Grade can be anywhere from 84-88% Efficient,
Mid-Grade can be anywhere from 86-90% Efficient,
High Grade (Tier-1) can be anywhere from 90% to 95% Efficient.

YES you Pay for what you get and that includes Performance as well as the operational "overhead" power consumption.
 
Giandel 4000 watt 24 volt inverter
Pure sine wave
120 volt
Draw is "0" with unit off
Draw is 6 watts with no load at idle
May have a power saving mode but not externally seen,

Sigineer 6000 watt 24 volt inverter
Pure Sine wave
120/240 volt
Does have power saving mode, draws 1 watt when switched on.
With power saving mode off, draws 45 watts at idle, no load

Checked with shunt and also clamp on volt/ amp meter
 
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Newbie here, apologies if this is in the wrong place. Do high frequency or low frequency inverters tend to have the best idle consumption in hot countries? Thanks!
 
Prof.Heinous said:
Newbie here, apologies if this is in the wrong place. Do high frequency or low frequency inverters tend to have the best idle consumption in hot countries? Thanks!
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See post #45.

You still get what you pay for regardless of climate.
 
1. Aims PWRI200012120S 12vdc high frequency inverter
2. 120vac pure sine wave
3. 2000w
4. Idle/no load: .65a (7.8w)
Spec: .90a (10.8w)
5. No power-save/search mode
 
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1. Growatt SPF 12000T DVM MPV, low frequency inverter
2. 120/240 vac pure sine wave, split phase
3. 12 Kw
4. Idle/no load: 133 watts, measured 2.55 A @ 52.3 V
Spec: none published
5. No power-save/search mode in use, I'm always at least 500 watts
 
Keep coming back here so just thought I should add my own results:

1. Growatt SPF 12000T DVM MPV
2. 120/240 split phase
3. 12kW
4. Idle/no load: ~155W. Seeing .81 amps from each of my 4 48V batteries, but given my battery voltage is usually higher, we could probably say ~168W at 52V. Nothing connected except Growatt.
5. In power save mode, I see the current draw from the batteries drop to 0 for most of the time, with the pulses seeming to use a similar amount of power every 3 seconds. So maybe roughly a third but I can measure this better and edit this post. I never use this mode because often my loads are low enough (few LED lights, computer) that it shuts itself off. Super annoying. Also have a fridge that doesn't respond well to this, and I see pulsing from some of my bulbs so it doesn't seem good for the electronics.
 
Doing some initial testing on my inverter/battery setup I recently received...

1. Growatt SPF 3000 TL 48P. Advertises <50W no load power consumption.
2. 120V pure sine (parallel/split-phase capable)
3. 3kW
4. ~30W idle, based on observations today of a ~5% loss over ~9 hours on a 5.1kWh LifePower4. Low enough that the BMS does not register it as discharging. Need to run this test longer, but other testing I've done suggests it is indeed lower than the 40-50W+ some others have reported (maybe they had high ambient temps and high fan speeds?).
5. "Power saving mode" is disabled (it can shut its inverter off if it detects no load, but this also leads to not being able to get certain devices started without anything else running, e.g. devices with momentary or touch on/off switches)
 
corn18 said:
  1. Victron Multiplus II
  2. 120V
  3. 3000VA
  4. 20W (20W spec)
  5. Search mode is 8W
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I'm a bit confused by this idea of idle consumption. I understand if the unit is "on" that there would be draw but, if it is in the off position should there not be zero draw? Mine, thanks to @MisterSandals, has been found to be drawing 17-20W when in the off position. That just doesn't seem right.....
 
There will always be SOME amount of power draw unless you turn off the battery breaker switch.

This is because the internal auxiliary power supply powering the processor requires something to operate looking at the on/off switch and reporting or logging battery voltage data or whatever. This would account for OFF power consumption.

Same thing with cell phones waiting for your push of the on button.

boB
 
Exeltech XP1100 48 volt HF inverter
20 watt idle spec
11 watt idle after low idle kit installed
Verified with DVM and DC clamp meter.
 
Dzl said:
In this thread, I hope to consolidate personal observations/measurements on inverter standby consumption. Specifically whether your observations are inline with what is stated on the datasheet, along with anything else you consider relevant, interesting, good or bad. With time--if this thread gains traction--it could be a useful resource for those shopping for inverters, and help us calibrate our expectations.

At a minimum report (1) Make+Model (2) Voltage (3) Max continuous power (4) Observed/measured standby consumption compared to spec sheet (5) Indicate whether power save features are active or not

*Keep in mind, any individual datapoint (even when its your own experience) is just a datapoint, subject to measurement error, bias, etc, but with a handful of datapoints, we can begin to feel a bit more confident drawing conclusions/generalizations.
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Mine hasn’t been at idle in a long time but I seem to remember 60 watts?? So x 2 would be 120wattsx24 Hours = 2.8kw day.

Sol-Ark 12kw AIO HF
240vac
48vdc
9kw each from Battery
60 watt idle consumption
 
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Same on my Sol-Ark 12k. I measure 60W idle consumption.
Steve brings up some valid points but I am also wondering how relevant a one on one comparison can be without grouping them into categories like Grid tied and AIO etc.
A lot more stuff is happening with an AIO when it is idling.
You don’t get those 4-10ms reaction times to an outage unless a lot of circuitry is constantly monitoring the Grid and has everything ready.
 
SpongeboB Sinewave said:
There will always be SOME amount of power draw unless you turn off the battery breaker switch.

This is because the internal auxiliary power supply powering the processor requires something to operate looking at the on/off switch and reporting or logging battery voltage data or whatever. This would account for OFF power consumption.

Same thing with cell phones waiting for your push of the on button.

boB
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Interesting. It makes sense but, does 17-20w seem excessive? I'm not real good with my math on this stuff but, Mr. Sandals calculated it this way: 20W x 24hr = 480Wh (15% of battery!) That seems pretty significant.... The other parasitic draws (Watchmon, led lights on Blue Sea 120v panel, contactor, etc), seem to add up to about 3ish watts. I'm thinking I may pull the positive cable off the batteries to the MP, and then get a more solid sense of things but, all indications are from a clamp meter, and the shunt readings that the draw from the MP is real.
 
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