diy solar

diy solar

MPP-Solar LVX-6048

I tested this at around 3 pm . The panels were just laying on their backs on the ground . The load was 1.6 kw with the two ac units going , I’m not sure what it was with the skill saw going . The only problem i had is , without batteries, I had to start the 10 k btu unit first or it would kick off the inverter. I have some maxwell ultra capacitors that I want to test in place of a battery . The panel voltage was around 330 volts . I did not test like this very long because I was using a light duty cord wired into the inverter. I did run the 6k btu ac for most of the day however
Ah yeah the 10k AC unit would have the highest start up amps and would need to be the first thing loaded. More panels or maxing out to the 6kw solar limit is a fix to this.
If you look in to the car audio stuff you should be able to find a 12v capacitors batteries. Now I am not sure if you can turn them in to 48v or not. Though I am pretty sure this inverter is only for 48v. Maxwell DuraBlue car Audio Super Capacitor 48V 165F Cost about 700 bucks. It is rated at 54WH 48V 1.2AH which should be enough to keep stuff stable for the better part of the day. A 100% off grid setup and using this all in one inverter, max solar panels maybe enough. Though adding in a capacitor may help and it may not. Though I do not know of anyone who has tested this out short or long term.
I am super impressed that being able to run battery less and grid less works well even for ac units.
A set up like this can work for many people, though the only set back being battery less and grid less is needing to have a lot more solar panels for the smaller loads. Though this would allow someone to build out a starter system ( all in one inverter and solar panels ).
Now all I have to do is save my money up again as I had to use my solar budget to put in a new septic system. Which is kinda a bummer.
 
Anybody know what version this is?
Growatt 6kW 120/240V Split Phase 48V Solar Inverter with 80A MPPT ControllerF85F5CA4-7DA6-4D1B-905B-9EFA5DBF8A31.jpeg
 
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Ah yeah the 10k AC unit would have the highest start up amps and would need to be the first thing loaded. More panels or maxing out to the 6kw solar limit is a fix to this.

... or a soft start add on.
 
... or a soft start add on.
Yeah the mini splits or the inverter type ac units or the one that will uses in his bedroom is a inverter type ac unit witch draws small amounts during start up. Those ones would be better. The video I talked about for the euro version was a mini split. This is that video. He also has a couple of other ones that he shows it working.
Soft start can work for a lot of things as well. Though this newer inveter now works for us 110v and 220v. Which is really nice. I wish all of the all in one inverters would have this function.
The only bad thing is you can not stack them parallel and have them battery less. Now I can not be sure though I think if a capactor was added in tot he system one could run it that way. This would make things a bit better. Though you will get zero night time power from it. now in conjunction with grid power and solar one could reduce the consumption to next to nothing and the monthly fee. The only thing is that these are not certified to sell extra electric back to the grid. This could change in new versions. New versions that are cert approved would be ideal for someone who wants to sell back extra energy to the grid while still being 100% off the grid in a way.
 
Can anyone verify please if it is possible to communicate/ change settings on the lvx from a third party device such a plc ? It does not appear that the unit has these capabilities? Our utility has a peak/ off peak rate if the consumer opts in . Basically for 4 hours a day the rate is 11 cents and the off rate is 5.5 cents . I’m trying to figure out how to use batteries to carry my loads for the 4 hours but I need to change settings without having to physically be at the inverter twice a day .
It looks like there is a timer built into the lvx6048 that you can set for when the "Ac" powers the load.
 
Hi, I have my system with AGM batteries setting 48v, what will be 50% voltage setting or at what setting I should set back to grid voltage on my system. Thanks
 
I have been doing some experimenting with the lvx 6048 trying to use a 6 farad ultracapacitor in place of the battery to cover inrush . For some reason the lvx will not attempt to charge the capacitor. Is this because it is completely discharged to begin with ?
The other experiment that was neat to see was using a Honda 2200 watt inverter generator connected to the input of the lvx with a transformer to get 240v. The solar was disconnected to begin with and the idle control of the Honda was near full throttle to carry some loads in the house . When the solar was turned on the Honda would drop its rpms because the loads were being taken care of from the solar .
 
. When the solar was turned on the Honda would drop its rpms because the loads were being taken care of from the solar .
Yeah that is the goal of this inverter. Which is super cool because one can be connected to the grid and provided that you have some solar it will share the load with the grid. Solar is first then battery and then grid. That is how I understand it. For myself I will have to rebuild my entire electric box and figuar out which breakers I want to hook up to max out the system. As I am pretty sure that the max load is 6kw ( 5.5kw is better ) So I have to find the loads that will either match that during the day. I do not think I could add my central air on to the system, as I am not sure what the peak start up is yet. If I can run my central air and well pump along with my fridges/freezers and keep under the 6kw range then that would be golden. My electric bill last month was 375. Which was about 120kw per day. The only thing I do not like is that you can not parrel these with out a battery. Which is why I hope you cap testing works. Other wise I will buy a super cheap Lithium battery bank and allow the grid to back up the battery and the rest of the solar. I could run 3 or 4 of these and get away with no day time electric from the grid and only night time as the battery will not last long enough to run over night. Which ideally would cost me about 15k to set this up.
As for the capacitors it may not see the voltage so it will not try to charge it. So I wonder if you hit it with a 12v battery if it will charge up enough to get the voltage up. The main thing I would think is to set the settings for charging to what ever the highest the cap can go and then adjust the low voltage shut off to the highest that it can go. If this works then adjust as you test it.
I do hope you can get the cap working and see how it goes. It would be cool to see how it adjusts when you blanket half of the solar array and other testing.
 
Thanks for your reply , I will try to precharge the cap , one thought is use a diode on a power supply connected to the cap that would become reversed biased when the inverter charges the caps up to 48 v . I agree this inverter is difficult to adapt to homes that are already wired / finished . The inverter has a mode to source back to the grid from its ac input . It would me nice if it could accept CTs on the mains and only source enough to take care of the home loads . In the event of an grid outage it could signal a utility switch to open and keep power to the panel
 
Thanks for your reply ,
You only have one unit right?
If so for anyone else who has a parallel system how does the unit function after the battery dies? I was wondering if it would be possible to buy say 16 18650s or something along that line to use as a battery and this should allow the grid and the solar to work together. I wonder if there is a function to limit or to not use the battery. As far as I know you must have a battery connected in order to run the units as parallel. If so then when the battery dies when there is no grid connected does it maintain enough power to stay on over night yet provide no power. Much like an auto shut off when battery reaches a low state of charge? If this is the case then really the system can be run off grid with little to almost no battery. I think it must sense the battery there. Which is what we want to do with the cap to keep it running while also buffering loads. If it does work this way then it would work well too. I want to know more about the parallel function.
 
You only have one unit right?
If so for anyone else who has a parallel system how does the unit function after the battery dies? I was wondering if it would be possible to buy say 16 18650s or something along that line to use as a battery and this should allow the grid and the solar to work together. I wonder if there is a function to limit or to not use the battery. As far as I know you must have a battery connected in order to run the units as parallel. If so then when the battery dies when there is no grid connected does it maintain enough power to stay on over night yet provide no power. Much like an auto shut off when battery reaches a low state of charge? If this is the case then really the system can be run off grid with little to almost no battery. I think it must sense the battery there. Which is what we want to do with the cap to keep it running while also buffering loads. If it does work this way then it would work well too. I want to know more about the parallel function.
CTs? I do not understand this?
I wish it could grid tie with a current transformer ( ct ) on the mains coming into the home . The ct is to measure the current flow and provide the inverter a feedback so it can just provide the loads for the home . This unit can do this if the inverter is between the loads and the AC input but like you were saying earlier it’s difficult to retrofit this into an existing home .
 
Correct , I only have one unit . My understanding is the batteries are needed to allow the units to current share when paralleling inverters . I had hoped to use the capacitors to do this and to also store some energy for loads with inrush like AC compressors . When I purchase batteries , initially I will get enough for 4 hours a day . Our utility has an incentive that power during the off peak is 5.5 cents and 11 cents during peak . I want enough power to carry through peak so that the other 20 hr of the day the cost is only 5.5 Cents / kWh
 
Correct , I only have one unit . My understanding is the batteries are needed to allow the units to current share when paralleling inverters . I had hoped to use the capacitors to do this and to also store some energy for loads with inrush like AC compressors . When I purchase batteries , initially I will get enough for 4 hours a day . Our utility has an incentive that power during the off peak is 5.5 cents and 11 cents during peak . I want enough power to carry through peak so that the other 20 hr of the day the cost is only 5.5 Cents / kWh
With no grid or PV, when the battery dies, the inverters shut off as expected. If grid is available, the battery is charged, unless you have solar only set.
 
With no grid or PV, when the battery dies, the inverters shut off as expected. If grid is available, the battery is charged, unless you have solar only set.
So what you think would be the lowest amount of battery one might need to run parallel? The goal is to hook up enough of these to provide all of the power for the home yet with out the cost of the battery. The grid can back all of the night time or day time loads that exceed the solar. The only main thing is in order to run parallel you have to have batteries hooked up. So in the event of the grid failing the small battery will die out at night time and when the sun comes up the power will be restored until night time and then the battery will die again and so on and so on. One thing I wonder is if the battery does fail and no other battery can be found would a random voltage work. Being this is a 48v system I wonder what the lowest voltage it can detect or still function at? Which is why I think they need to work on a higher and lower voltage range.
 
So what you think would be the lowest amount of battery one might need to run parallel? The goal is to hook up enough of these to provide all of the power for the home yet with out the cost of the battery. The grid can back all of the night time or day time loads that exceed the solar. The only main thing is in order to run parallel you have to have batteries hooked up. So in the event of the grid failing the small battery will die out at night time and when the sun comes up the power will be restored until night time and then the battery will die again and so on and so on. One thing I wonder is if the battery does fail and no other battery can be found would a random voltage work. Being this is a 48v system I wonder what the lowest voltage it can detect or still function at? Which is why I think they need to work on a higher and lower voltage range.
The inverter is a 48V inverter, so somewhere between 48V and 60V is best, but I think 46V is the cold start voltage needed to power on.
 
The inverter is a 48V inverter, so somewhere between 48V and 60V is best, but I think 46V is the cold start voltage needed to power on.
that is a bummer that the lowest voltage is 46.
Is it possible when in parallel to set the on and off voltage of the battery so that it only uses a small amount? Also is there a auto shut off. Pretty much can one set the voltage to x amount and have the inverter shut off and then restart once solar is detected?
 
that is a bummer that the lowest voltage is 46.
Is it possible when in parallel to set the on and off voltage of the battery so that it only uses a small amount? Also is there a auto shut off. Pretty much can one set the voltage to x amount and have the inverter shut off and then restart once solar is detected?
Once in parallel, a battery is needed, so you would need to charge the battery first.
 
Once in parallel, a battery is needed, so you would need to charge the battery first.
So pretty much a battery with say around 500 watts would charge in moments once the sun starts to rise. Then as the sun comes up more the loads can be applied based on incoming watts, Well there really will not be incoming watts because nothing will be charging. So one would just have to turn on loads and then see if it can handle it. Though 500 watt battery may not be enough to buffer load? Either way it should still work.
 
So pretty much a battery with say around 500 watts would charge in moments once the sun starts to rise. Then as the sun comes up more the loads can be applied based on incoming watts, Well there really will not be incoming watts because nothing will be charging. So one would just have to turn on loads and then see if it can handle it. Though 500 watt battery may not be enough to buffer load? Either way it should still work.
If it were me, I would just get some inexpensive car batteries and hook them up in series to 48V. If you have some funds, then an inexpensive Lifepo4 can work. If the loads are light, you may be better off with a smaller 12V system.
 
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