Schneider XW pro 6k vs. Eg4 18k - need help deciding

[ohsolar]

hi,
I am in the process switching my current victron 3k units to either the eg4 18k or schneider 6k. I know the eg4 18k is an all in one unit but I am wary of buying new products. My main aim is to support couple of air conditioners with soft starts. Can the Eg4 18k handle them (4 ton & 3.5 ton)? LRA of 3.5 ton is 30 amps with softstart. I have not seen any load tests for the 18k. I have seen the sol-ark fail on inductive tests so not considering it for now.

thank you

 

[Quattrohead]

I think the 18K will handle your AC units fine, especially with your soft starts. It is an extremely sturdy all-in-one unit so it will be simple to install and they work very well, especially with the latest firmware update.

 

[SniperX]

hi,
I am in the process switching my current victron 3k units to either the eg4 18k or schneider 6k. I know the eg4 18k is an all in one unit but I am wary of buying new products. My main aim is to support couple of air conditioners with soft starts. Can the Eg4 18k handle them (4 ton & 3.5 ton)? LRA of 3.5 ton is 30 amps with softstart. I have not seen any load tests for the 18k. I have seen the sol-ark fail on inductive tests so not considering it for now.

thank you

In the same boat as you. I am leaning towards Schneider because I have power tools (going to be building a house, etc.) that I have to run. Prices have come down a lot.

 

[Solar Guppy]

The XW has been in the feild for 15 years, well proven product. Things with less than a year, no one knows if they are quality or not.

I personally would not recommend anything without a few years of history, there is a flood of products being introduced and year later discontinued, which will make support non-existent ( repairs, bugs fixes etc. )

 

[SniperX]

The XW has been in the feild for 15 years, well proven product. Things with less than a year, no one knows if they are quality or not.

I personally would not recommend anything without a few years of history, there is a flood of products being introduced and year later discontinued, which will make support non-existent ( repairs, bugs fixes etc. )

I didn't want to come out and say that, lol, but I totally agree. Bought the Toyota Sienna the first year it came out and it didn't even make it to 100,000 miles! SMH. Exactly why I am not buying the chargeverter. Waiting for version 2.

 

[SignatureSolarJames]

we really don't have a load, including 240v compressors that the 18kpv won't run.

the Schneider system is the most proven long life of any inverter company though.

the sheer volume of 18kpvs going out the door today and the very enthusiastic response will secure longevity of support for the unit.

 

[Philip53]

I have had an XW6048 for 12 years now with not a single issue. It had worked continuously, without being turned off, until a few months ago when I added another array/charge controller and swapped out the original AGM's to Trophy lithium batteries.

I want reliability, and the EG4, from reading the forum, seems (to me), to be lacking in that regard. And a newer version - well, that would send up alarm bells as well. I am certain there are many happy and enthusiastic EG4 customers, and don't want to disparage their product, just giving my XW review and thoughts.

 

[G00SE]

the sheer volume of 18kpvs going out the door today and the very enthusiastic response will secure longevity of support for the unit.

one could assume the same with the 6500 and 8k too if based off volume…

 

[G00SE]

Imo they are not in the same class. I would choose the schneider
I’ve yet to see an inverter released by SS be problem free

 

[ohsolar]

love this chart

 

[Scat]

we really don't have a load, including 240v compressors that the 18kpv won't run.

the Schneider system is the most proven long life of any inverter company though.

the sheer volume of 18kpvs going out the door today and the very enthusiastic response will secure longevity of support for the unit.

Please pass on any load test links,
I am also trying to decide which brand Inverter to purchase, not in any paticular order, 2 each Schneider XW Pro, Victron 2 each Quattro 10k, or EG4 18K.
Thanks
Scat

 

[Scat]

love this chart
View attachment 164363

I love that chart also, when a company produces on the web site and in the manual a chart stating what the power the inverter will deliver, 1) it shows their confidence in the product, 2) the quality of components used to deliver stated results. The reason I am confident in the results in the chart above I have see the load test that David Poz did when he Load Tested the Schneider XW PRO 6848 Inverter with the loads in the above chart.
If you want to see it here is the link:

I have include some screen shots that I saved when I watched all his videos on the inverter.
I thing I have just convinced myself what inverter to purchase.
All this is for your infomation to consider as you know your own power needs.
Thanks everyone for your real world responses.
Scat

 

[Solar Guppy]

No offense to Dave and a good informationally video, but he is 15+ years late to the party on the XW. SMA and Schneider ( designed by Xantrex which was purchased long ago by Schneider ) along with Outback, Midnite have been making quality products for close to 2 decade's.

 

[Quattrohead]

Look, you are not going to blow up a XW PRO 6848 with an overload, it will just giggle at you
But you can brick them easy enough with a firmware update.
How will the 18K do long term, no real idea at the moment.
But I will tell you this, to my electro-mechanical engineer brain, it seems to be very strong electrically and does well at everything several of us have thrown at it.
The price is good and the install is simple, it has not bricked during several firmware updates and each update improves it.

 

[SniperX]

Look, you are not going to blow up a XW PRO 6848 with an overload, it will just giggle at you
But you can brick them easy enough with a firmware update.
How will the 18K do long term, no real idea at the moment.
But I will tell you this, to my electro-mechanical engineer brain, it seems to be very strong electrically and does well at everything several of us have thrown at it.
The price is good and the install is simple, it has not bricked during several firmware updates and each update improves it.

Are you saying the XW Pros can already be bricked or the older Schneiders?

 

[G00SE]

Please pass on any load test links,
I am also trying to decide which brand Inverter to purchase, not in any paticular order, 2 each Schneider XW Pro, Victron 2 each Quattro 10k, or EG4 18K.
Thanks
Scat

One schneider is rated for 12.5k for 1 min and 8500 for 30 min
Solark 15k doesn’t even publish a 1 min or 30 min surge
2 schneider will exceed 1 18kpv or 15k in AC output, will handle inductive loads better, and I’d wager would last longer
2 18kpv or solark 15k would provide 100 amp off grid

 

[ohsolar]

I love that chart also, when a company produces on the web site and in the manual a chart stating what the power the inverter will deliver, 1) it shows their confidence in the product, 2) the quality of components used to deliver stated results. The reason I am confident in the results in the chart above I have see the load test that David Poz did when he Load Tested the Schneider XW PRO 6848 Inverter with the loads in the above chart.
If you want to see it here is the link:

I have include some screen shots that I saved when I watched all his videos on the inverter.
I thing I have just convinced myself what inverter to purchase.
All this is for your infomation to consider as you know your own power needs.
Thanks everyone for your real world responses.
Scat

yes, that was just amazing..saw it couple of days ago. Think I am leaning towards Schneider also

 

[ohsolar]

No offense to Dave and a good informationally video, but he is 15+ years late to the party on the XW. SMA and Schneider ( designed by Xantrex which was purchased long ago by Schneider ) along with Outback, Midnite have been making quality products for close to 2 decade's

Got a side question. Maybe you can answer since you have lot of experience with XW. I think from what I have read from other boards, TOU is supported but there might be some tweaks I need to do. Not as simple as turning it on/off

Basically, I want to just start charging the battery at 8 pm as I get free power and discharge starting at 7 a.m.

more here:

Schneider XW PRO 6k questions

It's still on the to-do list. I need to make it a higher priority. But it bothers the kids and wife if I do it when they are home and work's been busy...

diysolarforum.com

 

[n2aws]

Got a side question. Maybe you can answer since you have lot of experience with XW. I think from what I have read from other boards, TOU is supported but there might be some tweaks I need to do. Not as simple as turning it on/off

Basically, I want to just start charging the battery at 8 pm as I get free power and discharge starting at 7 a.m.

more here:

Schneider XW PRO 6k questions

It's still on the to-do list. I need to make it a higher priority. But it bothers the kids and wife if I do it when they are home and work's been busy...

diysolarforum.com

The XW pro supports time of use, as I mentioned in another thread.

One thing that *is* lacking, is the ability to have multiple TOU windows.
My energy provider has TOU as an opt-in program (it's not the default), and for 6 months, the TOU is 1 window a day, from noon to 9pm. But then for 6 months out of the year, it splits it into 2 windows a day (6am-10am, and then 6pm-10pm)

The second one, the XW won't do out of the box. That said, I've seen some others (400bird, and gxmnow) that are using 3rd party things to control the XW. 400bird is using a raspberry pi IIRC, and gxmnow is using a PLC.


As for your larger question, I have a single XW pro. it'll start my 4ton AC (without soft start) but, only if nothing else is drawing much power. After it's started, it can run other loads too..

The 18kpv looks interesting, I won't lie. But I *really* like that the schnieder is so modular. if 1 part fails, the rest keeps working while you aer securing a replacement or fixing it. inverter fails? batteries are still charged by charge controller. CC failed? the inverter can still harness the power from the batteries.. etc etc. You'd need 2 of them to provide the same continuous power as the 18kpv, but I'd personally look at it more like "redundancy" in case 1 inverter ever failed. I like redundancy and modularity.. the 18kpv DOES look simple to wire in, though.

 

[Quattrohead]

Would I be close in saying that by the time you have bought everything you need to make a single Schneider XW PRO 6848 setup that has the exact function of an AIO, you could just buy 2 AIO ?
I'll answer my own question !!!

https://signaturesolar.com/bndl-dc-coupling-with-single-inverter - $5587
XW Pro 120/240 V
XW Mini PDP
MPPT 100 Charger Controller
125A DC Breaker
InsightHome
6.8kw AC output, 8.5kw PV input

https://signaturesolar.com/eg4-18kpv-hybrid-inverter-all-in-one-solar-inverter-eg4-18kpv-12lv - $5599
12kw AC output, 18kw PV input