running into issue getting most out of 18kPV

[Jdcarrol]

There are a couple of significant differences between the two loads.

Surge: An electric watter heater has essentially no surge on start up. A 5-ton AC has a huge surge on start-up
reactive power: The 5 tone AC is an inductive load that can have a large reactive power. Even though the unit is only doing 4500 watts of real work, the inverter has to satisfy the reactive power as well.

As others have mentioned, a single battery is really not enough for your application.

Do you thinking adding another powerpro would solve it?

 

[wpns]

Do you thinking adding another powerpro would solve it?

At a minimum, you need to do that, or you won't even get the 12KW output of your single 18Kpv. Note that your 30A (7.2KW) startup surge is a big fraction of your inverter capacity, and starving it of battery power isn't going to help.

 

[FilterGuy]

Do you thinking adding another powerpro would solve it?

It might. A lot of it depends on what the underlying issue is.

Before adding the 5-ton unit, my system worked fine even when running the 2-ton AC, clothes dryer, water heater, and a portable AC unit at the same time. This configuration used about 10,000 watts of power. I knew adding the 5-ton unit would push me past the 12,000-watt limit of my system, so I installed a timer on the water heater to prevent it from running at the same time as the AC units.

It sounds like the system is maxing out the capabilities of the inverter.

Lets do a little math.

A 12000W inverter running at 95% efficiency on a 48V system will will draw (12000/.95)/48=263A (When the battery is low). When the battery is in the flat part of the charge curve it will be closer to 243A. The PowerPro will allow a surge but will only do 200A continuous. Consequently, the system does not have enough battery and adding a power pro is advisable.

However, that may not be the problem. An 18Kpv can usually start a 5 tone AC, but if the system is already running a heavy load, the inverter may not be able to handle the existing load and huge surge a 5 tone might have.

 

[Jdcarrol]

Thank you all for the help and expertise. I’m going to get the additional powerpro and also finish my 4th/paralleled series before the end of the year.

What I just don’t conceptually understand yet is why a fully charged powerpro+7kw of PV isn’t enough to handle all that.

Also, I’m curious why the grid bypass didn’t kick on, but I can call SS to learn more about the settings.

 

[BKY2003]

is the grid going through the 18Kpv having a hard time running the 5 ton? I thought it could pass through 70 amps.

What size wire do you have on your loads panel?
Maybe a CT problem?

 

[Jdcarrol]

is the grid going through the 18Kpv having a hard time running the 5 ton? I thought it could pass through 70 amps.

What size wire do you have on your loads panel?
Maybe a CT problem?

I'm curious about that idea, between the 18kpv and the breaker box we have a 60amp fuseable disconnect. from the disconnect to the breaker box we are using 6 gauge wire which is the minimum. Should we size up the wire as well? @BKY2003

 

[BKY2003]

Probably the first thing I would do is what DIYrich suggested on post number six. That should reveal if the wire or box is under sized. Also to make sure the soft start is working properly.

 

[BKY2003]