I'm still contemplating my somewhat difficult installation options and am looking for some advice. I've mostly settled on using one of the two major AIOs (Sol Ark 15k or EG4 18kpv), but there's really not a good place to put it, especially the connected batteries. I believe one or both components need to be located in a garage, which is 20+ feet away, and I'm trying to decided if it would be best to run the AC wires there and back, placing the inverter in the garage, or just run the DC wires and mount the inverter outside. I'd like to do a whole-house backup, but adding a subpanel is not out of the question.
My questions are:
My questions are:
- Is installing either of the AIOs outside, where the temperature gets to 110+ going to be an issue? The Victrons show specific derating temps, but I haven't found that information for these units yet. We need the most power when it's hottest, so I'd rather keep it cooler if it might be an issue.
- If you had the choice of running 40-50 feet of 200A AC mains (20-25 feet to the garage and back), or 20-25 feet of 4/0 (or larger due to length?) DC cable, which would you choose? Another option (maybe the best one) might be just running a 100A circuit and adding critical loads panel, so 40-50 feet of 100A AC wires.
- Just for fun, there's a gas meter along the way as well. Does that change the calculation?
- My main panel box holds both the meter and breakers, and the meter connects to the main breaker using bars rather than wire. Is it even possible to tap into that without replacing a significant portion of the panel box, or replacing the whole thing? The original installer was very efficient with wire length as well, so moving anything in the panel can be some fun.