Schneider Conext SW4048 for grid-tie system

[magicsound]

My ancient Trace/Xantex STXR2500 inverter recently failed after yielding 68 MW-h in 22 years of service. My 28 PV panels are wired as seven 48 vdc strings, and low voltage (parallel) input grid-tied inverters are scarce nowadays.

It looks like the Schneider Conext SW4048 might work, but I need to confirm that it can be run without batteries as a grid tied only system. Anyone tried this?
I would retain the dc junction panel and the breakers from the Xantrex and replace the inverter section with the Schneider box.

 

[hwy17]

Any reason you're not considering just rewiring the panels for a modern grid tied inverter?

The SW4048 does not have a solar input.

 

[BentleyJ]

The Conext XW Pro requires a battery to operate. The PCB control boards use the battery as a stable power source. As far as I know the SW is the same.

@MisterSandals can you confirm the above??

 

[MisterSandals]

The Conext XW Pro requires a battery to operate.

My experience has been that it needs a battery to both startup and continue to operate. I'm running a house from the SW 4048 so trying to keep power from ever going out (its hard on appliances). The couple times that i had BMS cutoff of the battery, the SW 4048 shut down, even when grid powered.

I have 3.2kW of micro inverters that feed the AC Out. I have not had a battery outage/disconnect while producing power and feeding the SW. I would be surprised if it functioned without a battery even while powered this way.

The documentation is poor and woefully out of date so its hard to rely on the manuals. I am working hard on getting the AC coupling bugs fixed. I will make a note to ask the L3 tech that i am currently working with who is VERY good (the first L3 tech was terrible in so many ways).

 

[400bird]

If you don't have batteries, what's the point of a battery inverter/charger like the SW 4048?

It doesn't integrate a charge controller.