Schneider Conext SW 4048

[Nimrod5]

I have an off grid 40 that I put my camper on and built a barn. I live there summers. Cabin as soon as I can afford it. I currently use a 3000 watt generator to run a 1/2 hp well pump, a 5000 BTU AC, a table saw, and assorted tools. I was gifted six 265 watt solar panels and a Midnite Solar Kid charge controller. I will buy a battery bank and inverter and set up a system this summer.

I am fascinated by the Schneider SW 4048. I have found only this inverter (and the bigger SX) that can take the output from my 3000 watt, 120 volt, generator and add it to the output from the batteries to produce a higher wattage than the inverter alone and do it in either 120 volt or 240 volt mode. Does anyone have any real world knowledge of the total watts available when the 3000 watt genny and the batteries are feeding the inverter. Is the output in 120 volt the 3000 watts from the genny plus the 1900 watts from the batteries for a total of 4900 watts? For a 240 volt load is the total 3800 watts from the batteries plus 3000 watts from the genny equals 6800 watts?

The SW 4048 probably does not have enough output by itself to start the table saw or the well pump. The 3000 watt genny alone just barely does. I would have to run the genny plus the inverter to start these loads. I have a small 240 volt stick welder that runs just fine on grid power with a 20 amp breaker. That's 4800 watts. Could the SW 4048 plus the 3000 watt genny run the welder? I don't know what the start up draw is for a stick welder.

 

[DIYrich]

Assuming sufficient battery, the SW can surge to 7000w for 5 seconds, enough to start ONE of the motors at a time.

20a welder at 240v is 4,800 watts. The SW 4048 can output 4,400 watts for 30 minutes. However, it should only take 80% on a continuous basis, or 3,840 watts. It may be able to run the welder without any other load. Don't know if SW 4048 can supplement Gen Input power.

 

[400bird]

I'm not sure the XW (or SW) can sync and connect to a 120v gen while outputting 120/240 split phase. I'm pretty sure it needs to see the same input voltage as output.

When set up for 120v output only, it should connect to a 120v gen.

 

[Nimrod5]

From their brochure

Conext SW inverter/charger features
•
The integrated auto-transformer allows the use of an on-site single phase (120Vac) generator to provide input power to the Conext SW inverter and create a split phase output power (120/240Vac North America only).

This is what I find fascinating.

Does the welder have a startup surge?

The well pump has a switch to set 120 volt or 240 volt. If I had 240 volt available I could flip the switch and rewire the pump for 240 and use smaller (cheaper) wire between the inverter and the pump.

The SW 4048 needs a control panel to access functions other than the basic ones. The Schneider system control panel SCP has been discontinued. The replacement is the Insighthome device. It requires a hook up to a computer and allows you to access all the functions. Also it allows you to monitor the system from a computer via the internet.

https://solar.se.com/us/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/2021/10/InsightHome-Quick-Start-Guide_990-6342.pdf

My off grid 40 has spotty cell service, no fiber optic, no hard wire internet connection and no computer. Could the Insighthome get on the internet through the cell signal? I could buy a cheap laptop.

My brain hurts.

 

[MisterSandals]

The replacement is the Insighthome device. It requires a hook up to a computer and allows you to access all the functions.

The InsightHome connects to the SW with a basic ethernet cable. The InsightHome creates a wifi zone that can be accesses with a phone, tablet or computer within the wifi range. Its got a lot of bugs and is not very user friendly. The concept is good

If you want to access it remotely, it can be connected to the internet and accessed via Insight Cloud. I've not done this but I'd strongly suspect that if you have spotty internet I would expect it to be unusable as such as the connectivity is very poor. I've had Schneider connect to mine 9 times now and more often than not they experience problems accessing data and seeing settings.

 

[BentleyJ]

My off grid 40 has spotty cell service, no fiber optic, no hard wire internet connection and no computer. Could the Insighthome get on the internet through the cell signal? I could buy a cheap laptop.

Pages 29, 30 & 31 in the manual describe the InsightHome WiFi Access Point and WiFi Station set up. As MisterSandals mentioned you could also use an Ethernet cable to connect the InsightHome to a router (router does not need internet access) and the router could be connected to a computer.

 

[hwy17]

To expand on that: the insighthome can also join a wifi network for wireless access from your LAN, and it can continue broadcasting its own standalone wifi connection at the same time.

Schneider warns that if you plug the xanbus ethernet cable into the network port of the insighthome that the 48v on the xanbus can fry the network port. Luckily they are confused, and the network port is standards compliant and magnetically isolated up to <1000VDC. I have accidentally plugged live xanbus into the network port many times.

 

[Nimrod5]

Thanks for the help. I can hook the Insight home to the SW4048 by a cable and use WiFi to hook my cell phone or tablet up to monitor ans set up the system. Just needed a translator to explain.

Anyone know of any other inverter charger that can input 120 volt from a genny and output 240 volt to the load?

 

[hwy17]

Anyone know of any other inverter charger that can input 120 volt from a genny and output 240 volt to the load?

I'm not sure if any inverter can do that. I guess if it's internally auto transforming the 120 to 240 maybe I see it.

Anyway the easier solution would probably be to just get a separate 120v 48v battery charger and run that while the inverter is running the 240v load.

 

[400bird]

From their brochure

Conext SW inverter/charger features
•
The integrated auto-transformer allows the use of an on-site single phase (120Vac) generator to provide input power to the Conext SW inverter and create a split phase output power (120/240Vac North America only).

This is what I find fascinating.

Wow, I learned something new today! Let us know how it works.

 

[Nimrod5]

from their user's manual

Split-phase output during invert mode and AC bypass The Conext SW always
yields a split-phase output when inverting and during AC bypass.
• A split-phase input through L1 and L2 yields a split-phase output of L1
and L2.
• Single-phase input through L1 yields a split-phase output of L1 and L2.
• A single-phase input through L2 does not produce any output. Only the
input in Line 1 is capable of qualifying the AC coming from the power
source

Not anything I've found that really details how to hook up a genny and get this to work. Schneider is not promoting this feature like they should. Looks like the SW4048 could run some really heavy loads with addition of a genny. Really important to us off gridders. Haven't found anything comparable from the competition.

 

[Gttnsun]

Anyone know of any other inverter charger that can input 120 volt from a genny and output 240 volt to the load?

My old Magnum 4448 inverter will take 120v power and output split phase 240v.
When the Magnum inverter is connected to a generator it is in Ac pass through mode, and can be charging the batteries at the same time or not.
The Magnum inverter will only supply as much as power as the generators max output, it will not supply more power from the batteries to compensate for the load, it will blow the breaker on the generator if too much power is used.
The Magnum inverter could run a table saw, compound miter saw, pretty much anything that uses a 120v plug.
I have upgraded my system to a Schneider XW Pro system now. The XW pro has a function called generator support where it can pull extra power from the batteries to not overload the generator.
The Schneider SW inverters also have generator support and should function the way you want. Although the SW 4048 should run all the things you mentioned without a generator.