South Florida 11.5KW Solar Enphase Ensemble with 13 KWH Battery Install

[Thebravo]

Hi Everyone,


I'm new to the Solar Forum, but I am staff on an electronic countermeasure forum so forum life isn't new to me

After years of fending off the solar salesman doorknockers, the ever rising energy cost coupled with the state or the world around us, I decided gaining some energy independence for cost savings and self sustainability was a good idea. Originally I was going to DIY a system, however trying to build a DIY system that meets all the codes/pass inspections and manage that whole install process myself, while not beyond my abilities, it was beyond the amount of time and effort I could afford. I also needed to replace my roof as it was approaching 17 years and was starting to reach end of life. I researched and selected a FL based company to do the roof and solar install after getting several quotes. Ultimately I settled on a full size tier 1 system which based on my energy consumption covers 96% of my yearly use. FL has two tier's based on size of the residential PV system, the larger tier has more requirements and some extra costs involved, it made no sense to add a few more panels to cover that last 4% as that would bump me into tier 2. Going to the max tier 1 size allowed gave me ~11.5KW worth of panels on the roof

I liked the option of microinverters from the standpoint of redundancy (one inverter/panel hasa problem won't impact the other panels). I wanted battery backup too... even though power failures aren't super frequent in my area, if you do have an extended one it can be problematic. When a hurricane threatens FL chaos and food/fuel shortages are plentiful, with the influx of people moving here I can't imagine that situation will improve. I couldn’t comprehend spending the money to install the solar panels knowing that if the grid went down my solar panels would not provide me any power, so batteries were a must. I also wanted a system that would automatically transfer to backup/solar when the grid goes down. We have a small quail farm running here and the incubating eggs and very young quail require strict temperature control, so even a few minutes being without power could be lethal to them. After weighing the options from the various companies Enphase seemed to be the closest match for system for my needs. While their batteries are expensive and the lifespan isn't the best I did really like the fact that the batteries are modular and each contain multiple micro inverters, even if part of a battery unit fails the remainder of it can keep working.

I ended up with 32 365w QCells Q.Peak Duo panels on the south side of my roof on a Iron Ridge rack (I have zero shading over there too) with Enphase IQ7+ microinverters and ~13Kwh of Enphase batteries (10+3). If I have good conditions and my microinverters are producing their max continuous output then it would be about 9500 watts, obviously hitting those numbers consistently may not happen in the real world but the setup is decent so I expect good output.


The install was just completed on friday of last week, but I'm still waiting on FPL to get the new meter installed and grant us permission to produce so I'm not online yet.
Now the way Enphase wants a system like this (partial home backup) installed (and the way the installer installed it) is with a subpanel with a few circuits you want to have run on backup when the grid is down. I do get why, as most folks aren't going to be careful about what they are turning on and when, and having the system overload and shut off frequently would be a bad customer experience... I tried to get them to at least do "cheater" or double breakers to get more circuits but they installed it with singles leaving me only 8 circuits (two of which are the 240volt wastewater grinder) meaning I have 6 circuits running in the house which isn't going to cut it. My house has a lot of circuits (19 of them for lighting and outlets), and with the advent of LED bulbs and energy efficient appliances, many circuits have only a couple hundred watts at max on them so there is plenty of capacity on the Enphase backup power side especially during daylight hours to power significantly more and still recharge the batteries as long as one is conscious of what larger loads are running concurrently.

So once the inspection is complete I intend to embark on the rewire of the system to work the way I want it.

My plan is to install a 200 amp breaker into the Empower on the backup loads circuit (yes this is supported, and whats done when you have more batteries for the "whole home" option) and wire that into my main panel. I will take the 100 amp breaker thats currently connected to the backup side of the empower and switch that to the grid throughput section and connect that to the current 8 circuit "backup loads" panel which is a 125amp max panel. This will effectively swap the function of both circuit breaker panels, the backup loads panel will now be the "unbacked up" loads and the main panel will be backed up. I will simply move the loads back from the current backup loads panel back into the main panel and all circuits will be available, albeit with limited quantities of power due to only having 13KWH of batteries.

The challenge is what to do with the large loads in the main panel. While during good sunlight I can probably run at least one of them at a time, but I don't want them all immediately trying to power up after the system switches to backup as that would overload it and cause a shutdown. My thought is to automate the large loads to automatically disconnect when the system switches to backup, then I can override them manually to use them if I have enough sunlight power. I'm curious if anyone has tried anything like what I'm about to describe before and if it switches fast enough to keep the backup system from seeing the large loads when the system switches from grid to backup.

The thought would be to install contactors between the circuit breakers and the large loads and use those to open the circuits for the large loads automatically on grid failure. I would install a small breaker into the small now non backed up load panel which would supply power for the coil voltage on the contactor, when the grid is live the contactors will be pulled in and the loads will be live, when the grid goes down the coil voltage will go out and the contactors open "instantly" cutting the large loads. The question is do the contactors open quick enough to keep the enphase backup system from seeing any large loads? This setup however only solves part of the problem, cutting the large loads automatically on power grid failure. I would need to install a small manual transfer switch on the circuit that provides the contactor coil voltage to allow me to switch contactor coil voltage supply from grid to backup power so I can manually power up large loads when needed (and I can select which loads by turning off the breakers in the panel, when the contactors pull in only the breakers that are on will actually come alive). This accomplishes the basic need of automatically killing large loads on grid loss and allowing a manual override to run selected large loads on backup if power available allows, however this will still leave one issue that is significant: when grid power returns.

The issues with what I have described above is what happens when the grid comes back. The enphase system instantly switches to backup on grid loss, however it takes several minutes (5 if I recall) after the grid comes back to switch back to grid power. The setup I described above would instantly re-power the contactor coils for the large loads (if the coil voltage transfer switch is still set to grid) when the grid comes up and bring the large loads online before the enphase system transfers back to grid power, likely causing a overload and shutdown. Most of the time when we have a power failure it's a short little blip, so the system will go to backup but then the grid is back up a second later meaning the large loads would get cutout but then come right back before enphase is back to grid power. The solution I have in mind would be to install a time delay relay between the grid power that's feeding the contactor coil voltage and the coil voltage transfer switch, and set that time delay to greater than 5 minutes, say 10 minutes. This means that when grid power returns, if the contactor coil voltage transfer switch is still set to grid the time delay relay will start a 10 minute timer, the enphase system will transfer back to grid in 5 minutes and then when the relay hits 10 minutes it will energize the contactor coils and restart the large loads on grid power. This will also solve the power "blip" where the grid drops and comes right back. If the grid is cutting in and out, each time it drops and returns the relay would start the 10 minute delay again so there won't be a situation where the large loads would be powered up automatically again until after the enphase transfer to grid is complete. If the manual contactor coil voltage trasnfer switch is set to backup, then when the grid returns the large loads won't power back up automatically, but thats not a big deal.

Now I'm a mechanical engineer by trade, so while I have some understanding of electrical stuffs I'm not an expert. So anyone with any experience on the automatic large load transferring process I described above, I'd love to hear your thoughts on my plan, or alternatives if there is a better solution out there. I might look for some support for the relay selection as well making sure I get the right type and configure it correctly so it works they way I need it to.

I have read through @svetz 's Enphase install as he's just a little south of me here in FL and has a very similar setup. He's done some cool things with his system so I'm hoping to do some cool stuff with mine too once it's up and running

-thebravo

 

[svetz]

Congratulations on your system! Post some photos!!!

Now the way Enphase wants a system like this (partial home backup) installed (and the way the installer installed it) is with a subpanel with a few circuits you want to have run on backup when the grid is down.

Enphase has a whole-home backup option and that's the way I'm installed. Guessing that wasn't realistic for you as you have "real" critical circuits (e.g., quail power) that have to remain up or the installer got confused about it. Enphase supports it either way. Worse thing that happens here is the inverter resets until I flip a big breaker and it can start powering stuff.

The challenge is what to do with the large loads in the main panel. While during good sunlight I can probably run at least one of them at a time,

Enphase has two solutions for this, both look at the available amount of sunlight power and then figure out what to turn on or off based on your instructions. The first is a totally in-home solution that uses their hardware called Load Controller. It's super expensive IMO. The second is a remote internet of things that works with HomeConnect IoT hardware and here's a link to it.

I keep meaning to get around to automating my system, doesn't look hard or expensive (have two threads: RF & Smart Battery) and quite a few others have IoT threads. I like the IoT approach, but prefer it local so it works even when the internet is down.

The thought would be to install contactors between the circuit breakers

Contactors are needed for big loads. But those 15 amp circuits you're running LEDs on could get by with inexpensive wifi switches (I'd use 30 amp ones for a 15 amp circuit that really pulls 15 amps, but I'm not very trusting of some things). Control it all with Alexa for both individual things and groups of things (e.g., Alexa, power only the bare minimum, Alexa, power up the TV circuit).

and the large loads ...

I'm not sure you need to worry about speed in general. Either you have the power or you don't. Where it makes a big difference is inductive loads (e.g., compressor) which can have enormous inrush demands. A Soft Starter might help with those. But if you're coding it up you might want those to come on first, then power on the piddly stuff.

The enphase system instantly switches to backup on grid loss, however it takes several minutes (5 if I recall) after the grid comes back to switch back to grid power.

That 5 minutes is basically to weed out the on/off/on/off you get with grid restarts. A lot of times when the utility detects a short it resets the power two or three times to see if the fault will clear. The 5 minutes is to ensure the grid is up reliably. When it cuts back over it's pretty quick (the micros do have to resynchronize).

Hope that helps! If you haven't seen them, you might find some of these of interest:

• CoolRoof
• Predicted Accuracy: Sam Vs. Reality
• Why there are no Critical Circuits here
• SoC degradation of LiFePO4
• Adding an ESS to Enphase Enlighten System
• Generator Hookup

 

[Thebravo]

Congratulations on your system! Post some photos!!!


Enphase has a whole-home backup option and that's the way I'm installed. Guessing that wasn't realistic for you as you have "real" critical circuits (e.g., quail power) that have to remain up or the installer got confused about it. Enphase supports it either way. Worse thing that happens here is the inverter resets until I flip a big breaker and it can start powering stuff.

I actually had a great installer, he was actually getting ready to move out of installs into a more management role in the company as he was one of their very seasoned guys. He knew what I wanted but due to the battery sizing I had vs the size loads I had their engineer wouldn't spec it to be run as whole home backup, If I had purchased more batteries they would have configured it as whole home backup.

I think the reasoning behind it is customer experience, if you think of the average non-technical customer, if they want whole home backup they probably want their house to be able to run the same way it does when off grid as when on grid. This is possible if you have a large set of batteries, as even if you have a cloud pass overhead or it gets into a non-peak sun time of the day, the batteries will seamlessly fill in any needed power as they have sufficient current output to run/start even large loads. If they have enough batteries they can even support intermittent large loads overnight without ever having the system shut down on overload or running out of power. In theory if you had a large solar array and a small battery you could still probably run large loads with good sunlight, however every time a cloud comes by the system may trip off as the amount of power the small battery can supplement to maintain a large load is small.

I am in the same boat as you, I can deal with the system tripping and having to turn off loads and reset, and I will be monitoring my usage vs my output. Your average homeowner probably would be very frustrated with the system cutting out, having to think about what the current solar output is, and what loads are running before adding a new load. So to have happy customers they spec them as partial home backup when they are under 20kwh for battery so there is little chance of a homeowner firing up anything that could overload the system when they only have a few basic circuits. I think if you use the system calculator on the enphase website it's setup the same way, when you start adding large loads they tell you to get 20+ kwh for batteries. They do the same thing for the IQ8 sunlight backup only systems with no battery involved, the installers limit the loads connected to the system at 30% of the total PV size because even when a passing cloud comes by the reduced output will still be able to power that 30% load. He said for most homes that 30% equates to the refrigerator and maybe one other circuit of lights/outlets as there is no battery to help with larger load startup and they don't want the system constantly shutting off on the customer. people get mad when they buy something thinking it will power everything and then finding out in reality it doesn't, that said in putting in those limitation so customers don't trip the system often you do leave some extra capacity the system could support on the table when the sun is good. Obviously it very much depends on the size of the home and the loads, I have 2400 sqft home, with very high ceilings throughout so I have a 5 ton A/C to cool that. My ability to run that large A/C off solar is probably lower than someone that has a lesser ton A/C on a smaller home with the same size battery system.

Enphase has two solutions for this, both look at the available amount of sunlight power and then figure out what to turn on or off based on your instructions. The first is a totally in-home solution that uses their hardware called Load Controller. It's super expensive IMO. The second is a remote internet of things that works with HomeConnect IoT hardware and here's a link to it.

I agree their load controller is very expensive (I didn't get it for that reason), it's a cool concept and it certainly would help prevent overloads by shedding larger draws when the sun is behind a cloud. The remote internet of things is another good concept by them, for my situation though I'm really only concerned about cutting large loads like the water heater, dryer, range, and A/C when going into backup, as those really are the main draw, the battery alone could handle the other loads I typically have running so I don't think at least for the transition to backup I'd need to shed anything other than the large loads. During a normal day I'm running a couple average computers, a couple fans, a couple lights, the refrigerators cycle on and off, but don't draw that much when running and the quail stuff which is pretty low draw. (I have used my Kill-a-watt to figure out roughly what my loads draw) The bulk of my power consumption is the hot water heater, the central A/C and probably the dryer.

I also have specifically limited myself on smarthome devices that require internet to work, and for more critical things that are smart home I won't allow them internet at all so having Alexa control things is not something I'm willing to do. I don't want my ability to operate my house to be dependent on the internet


The reason I was concerned about contactor speed is for the situation where say we are having the daily late afternoon thunderstorm we get here in FL. If we get a power loss due to the storm we are probably getting minimal solar power from the panels, if there happen to be larger loads running on grid power at the time when the grid drops, say the A/C, water heater etc then the enphase transfer to backup will immediately overload and shut down, if the contactors for the large loads disconnect the loads quickly enough on grid loss then in theory the enphase transfer to backup power which is occurring simultaneously won't have to try to power those loads at all and won't immediately shut down due to overload. The rest of the house loads can be fully supported off the battery if the transition occurs when there is limited or no solar as we would rarely be pulling close to the 5000 watts on non large load devices. Basically the goal is to shed the large loads instantly when transferring to backup automatically so it will not shutdown on transfer, then I can evaluate the available power and manually add back in larger loads if there is enough power to do so. Me and my wife both work outside the home a few days a week so there are some days no one is here and I wouldn't want the system to transfer to backup immediately into an overload state with no one here to go turn off breakers. Which is why they have it wired as a partial home backup so this transfer to an overloaded state won't ever happen, but I want all my circuits darn it! I'm in this boat cause I didn't want to (or have the ability to) spend more on batteries but I still want to run my large loads when there is enough power to do so. (this is the problem with being an engineer, we always have to push the envelope and find a way to make the system do what we want for less money)

I am planning to add a softstarter to the A/C (actually the same one you used on yours) and see if I can get enough juice to run the A/C, if not I can either add another battery (for $$$) or the cheaper option is I have a couple Window A/C units that I can use in a longer outage to keep it relatively cool in the house, and honestly would probably still put in during an outage so I can have some A/C overnight in the bedrooms as the draw is small enough the battery can support it overnight.


Thanks for all the links, I will keep reading up as I have been, once I'm actual live and running I will be able to actually try out the stuff and see what happens!

 

[Thebravo]

I will grab some picture in the AM, I can't get a good shot of the roof in the afternoon as the only place I can stand to get a good shot is facing west and then the sun is glaring into the camera

 

[svetz]

...I think the reasoning behind it is customer experience, if you think of the average non-technical customer,...

Explaining to them that you understand it and are willing to live with that should be sufficient, it proves you're not the 'average' homeowner. My opinion is I'm the customer and I'm knowledgeable enough to know what I want and if they won't do it I'll find someone else. It's a privilege of being old and cantankerous. Now you have rewiring to do because they wouldn't do what you want. If nothing else, they should have upsold you the load controller instead of just trying to upsell you the 20 kWh system. ; -)

Just noticed you have 32 panels with IQ7+s... 13 kWh of IQ batteries can only handle something like 26 IQ7+s... are the other panels setup for PV shedding (e.g., no power from them when off the grid)? One of the reasons I haven't added additional panels is I'm waiting for Envoy patch that will let it handle IQ7s & IQ8s on the rooftop (right now you have to buy another Envoy for the IQ8s or set them up for PV Shedding). If I put IQ8s on the roof I can bypass the limits.

Here it is... from https://enphase.com/sites/default/f...Planning-Ensemble-Technology-System-EN-US.pdf



Since you have IQ7+s, the limit is 26 microinverters. Possibly that's old... heard they were going to up the limits. Let us know what you find out.

The reason I was concerned about contactor speed is for the situation where say we are having the daily late afternoon thunderstorm we get here in FL. If we get a power loss due to the storm we are probably getting minimal solar power from the panels, if there happen to be larger loads running on grid power at the time when the grid drops, say the A/C, water heater etc then the enphase transfer to backup will immediately overload and shut down.

The nice thing about a grid outage with Enphase is the cut-over speed is so fast devices won't notice it. So if the grid goes offline while my air conditioners are running no problem. But, if the grid is down and they both try to start at the same time, it resets.

There are dry contacts you can use to fire relays, they're used for things like PV shedding or turning off the AC when off grid. Personally I like being able to run the AC when the sun is shining so that's not for me, but it would solve your away from home issues. ; -)

...Basically the goal is to shed the large loads instantly when transferring to backup automatically so it will not shutdown on transfer, ...

Makes sense. It's a few minutes to restart. I don't always know when we go off grid, but figure it out when the inverter resets.

... I'm in this boat cause I didn't want to (or have the ability to) spend more on batteries

It would be crazy too, prices are still falling and new tech is just starting to hit the market. You can also plug an inverter generator into it.

I am planning to add a softstarter to the A/C (actually the same one you used on yours)

Enphase is now partnered with the other guys (Hyperion I think), probably doesn't make a difference but thought I'd mention it. I did get excellent service from Micro-Air and I saw them running a $60 off CyberMonday special (probably over now). The code was CMEASY368 for the 368 Home starter, might be worth trying. They might do something for Christmas/New Years' too.

 

[Thebravo]

There are dry contacts you can use to fire relays, they're used for things like PV shedding or turning off the AC when off grid. Personally I like being able to run the AC when the sun is shining so that's not for me, but it would solve your away from home issues. ; -)

See this is why forums are great, I didn't realize it had the dry contacts, I was going to do this same thing but manually... this might work better. In reading through the PDF you linked it looks like when setup you can adjust the load shedding of the items connected to contactor controlled via those dry contacts in the enlighten homeowner app based on a few options, including battery SOC. So in theory you can have it shed the load when it goes to backup, but at any point you can simply disable "smart control" for an items it it will stop being "shed" or change modes and allow it to run when battery SOC is between a set of values. This would work well for being able to have the system auto shed the large loads when going to backup, and then if I decide I want the load and have enough power for it I can just turn off smart control for that load in the app or toggle it to the battery mode option to get it to run when off grid.

I wasn't told of there being a limit for the IQ7+'s in backup mode, I don't see any place with whats mounted were they would have been able to stash the transformer/contactor for the PV shedding anywhere so I don't think it going to shed things, I will have to take the cover off tomorrow and see if anything is connected to the dry contacts indicating they are shedding PV loads in backup.

 

[kendive]

We want pictures... We want pictures...

Yea I am pretty sure they use those load controllers to shed you solar too. Good luck with that. One reason we opted for two IQ 10T batteries. I have 26 IQ7A's and I did not want them added another sub panel in the house for critical loads. Just went whole house with load controllers and a soft start for the HVAC Heat Pump.

All I had to do is pay cost for the extra battery and install was free. The load controllers were at cost also. Not extra cost to install.

If we to add one more battery and a few more panels I could kiss the grid goodby but our electric bill is only 26 a month after we use up our credit they give us which last most of the year. It's not cost effective yet to do that.

I'm trying to get them system installed without them screwing up stuff. I just stopped the entire job for now.

https://diysolarforum.com/threads/enphase-iq-battery-enphase-ensemble-installation.52354/

 

[Thebravo]

Sorry It's been a bit chaotic here the past couple weeks.



So here is the update, FPL approved us to generate and they installed the meter on Wednesday. The enphaser App is however showing an error with the metering device, so it's not showing me my total production. It showing power exported, and my array is showing the KWH for each panel and my batteries charged today with the incoming weather front triggering a weather alert so I know the system is generating power. The install company has a tech coming Tuesday to resolve that issue, and they are connecting me with someone on their team to discuss my wiring changes.



The nice thing is as an engineer I know how to actually wire the system the way I want so if they don't want to support that change, then I will do it anyway. They will however have to give me installer access or such to configure the empower contacts for load shedding, I'm hoping that won't be a challenge to get. The link here is literally how I planned to load shed and wire it, it's the first configuration: https://enphase.com/sites/default/f...Planning-Ensemble-Technology-System-EN-US.pdf

I can definitely use some basic contactors to do what I want...they list some Eaton/SquareD contactors in that PDF that are already known to be supported for shedding loads (like A/C, water heater and such) via the empower contacts. Just need to wire it and configure it in the installer app and then the large loads connected to the contactors will be able to be controlled via the empower contacts/App. The nice thing is the empower has four contact that can be individually controlled via the App and I have four large loads I need to shed (my A/C, dryer, Range, and water heater). They will shed instantly on power loss so they system doesn't overload and shut down while leaving the rest of the hosue up and running. Then if I want to run them I can uncheck them in the app from smart control and they will come back on (presuming there is enough available power to do so. Alternately I can wire in a two position low voltage switch to bypass the empower contacts manually to override loads back into the system when off grid which I might just do anyway so I don't have to rely on my network/phone to reengage them as who knows the status of those items if there is a disaster that took us off grid. The little sub panel they gave me is already connected via conduit to my empower and my main circuit panel, so I can simply replace that small loads panel with a box to house the contactors and then run the low voltage wires for the contactor coils into the empower, and the wiring for the loads will come in via the conduit from my main panel. Need to change a few wires around between the mains and the empower and the empower and my main panel and change some wire gauges to handle the loads in the new configuration but it's an easy change. Then a quick bit of undoing of the loads in the mini loads panel to put those circuits back in the main panel, but I could have it all done in an afternoon. I will see what my installer says, if they are willing to reconfigure the way I want and wont charge me much to do so, then I will have them do it as I so rarely have time for such things these days... if not I will book an afternoon and have at it.

I did check and there is nothing hooked to the contacts in the empower right now, so they aren't currently shedding solar when I go offline, there are no contactors or anything installed to do that currently... unless the IQ combiner does it (they do have two circuits for solar coming off the roof , however they are both the same size and I don't think the combiner has that functionality)... perhaps Enphase has upped the limits for how many IQ7+'s are allowed in backup? I very clearly confirmed when talking to the company that I would have full power from the solar panels and the battery available when off grid, so if they lied about that and are actually shedding part of the solar they are going to have a very unhappy customer. I'm waiting for them to fix my metering issue and then I can try pulling the main breaker and going into backup mode and see what is alive on the roof and how much power I can pull. I don't want to play too hard with it right now since I can't see some of the live numbers I need to see to understand what it is doing.

And now for the pictures:

 

[svetz]

Wow! I think you have the cleanest installation I've seen so far! I'm jealous!

Don't forget to turn the batteries off as well as the grid before you start re-wiring... ; -)

I'd call Enphase tech support directly and ask them if they can double check about the panels to battery. @kendive just had his done and he had to worry about the limits (or perhaps Ken should call them to see if his gold installer messed up again). But if you don't have to worry about the limits that would be very welcome news.

 

[kendive]

Removed

 

[kendive]

Removed

 

[Thebravo]

So Update:

The tech just left, I haven't been showing any power production since it was installed. It turns out the metering device clamps came from the factory with the labels on backward, they were installed correctly according to the labels, but in fact were backwards so once they swapped them to be backwards of the labeling it started reading correctly and my batteries started charging. He was on the phone with Enphase tech support for more than an hour as they were trying to figure it out, he sent them full pictures of how it was wired and they rung it out to come to the conclusion that the clamps were labeled wrong. they finished the install after dark so there was no production so they wouldn't have noticed there being an issue at that point and the techs installed per the labels.

I looked and I have two runs coming from the roof, Two sets of wire coming out of the conduit coming from the roof and into the IQ Combiner each one going to a circuit breaker in the combiner and then out to the empower, I don't specifically know whats on each string, but I can probably figure it out if I switch off one of the circuit breakers in the IQ combiner as that should power down the IQ7+'s on that circuit. There are no other boxes that I'm aware of, no load controllers (unless there is something on the roof or attic) There is nothing wired to the contacts in the Empower.

Again the folks at Tech support have pictures of how it was all wired and went through all the wiring with the tech that was here as they were trying to figure out why I wasn't showing power production, so I hope if there was something wrong they would have caught it. I don't know if it makes a difference, but I have IQ7PLUS-72-ACM- US inverters that come preinstalled to QCell's 365 watt panels straight from enphase (enphase sells them as a bundled kit). I guess we will see how the system behaves when I do a simulated power grid failure and see if anything sheds or what errors the system may throw.

At least I'm producing and things are coming alive here finally. I will have a chance to play with it some this week and do some testing of how it works as I am not doing much for work this week.

I also got the name of the lead electrician for the install company so I can talk to him about my desired change, I'm pretty sure he's actually the guy that did my install.

 

[Thebravo]

Ok I did a mock grid failure by killing the mains breaker. System transferred smoothly, got push and text notifications that we switched to backup.

Initially all the microinverters threw an error, but after a few minutes they were all back to normal. I was a little concerned at first as it wasn't showing any production and it was discharging the battery, but after a little bit once the battery dipped to 95% the system started producing enough to cover the load and start to recharge the battery.

I then ramped up my load using some space heaters and hair dryers until I was pulling 6.2kw's. For a few moments the battery started to discharge again as the solar incoming was only 3.5kw, but after a few minutes the system spooled up more production to 8.2kw which covered the load and began to recharge the battery which was at 94%.

Based on my calculations, if the system was indeed generating 8.2 kw then with each microinverter running about 290w max output (presuming it was indeed operating at max output) I would have to have had at least 29 online and producing power.

Once back on grid I was producing 8.9kw out of a theoretical maximum of 9.5kw continuous. So I think it's pretty safe to say when on backup I wasn't shedding solar at all, had the load on the system been a little higher it might have brought the output all the way to 8.9 kw like I am making on grid as it would have needed a little extra to charge the battery while supporting say a 7kw load. Due to my small subpanel configuration, I only had a few circuits to plug heaters into without popping breakers so I couldn't really get the load higher to see what I could realistically pull before the system shut down on overload. If I rewire it to my main panel then I can try even higher loads and see what it can do, theoretically I could pull just over 14kw on good sun which should be enough to run some larger loads as long as the inrush current isn't too great.

 

[agillis]

Enphase is a great system and it has a lot of cool ways to configure it. The best thing about the load center is it only sheds the load when the system is starting to be overloaded. So you can run big loads during the day when the sun shines and it will turn them off if a cloud comes by.

It really is a true micro grid with all the solar, batteries, and loads working together.

If you don't want to by their load center you can build your own. It's just a bunch of relays. nothing complicated. Enphase used to have a doc that told you how to build one before they started selling the load center.

I also have a big 200 Amp "A/B" switch it got from China that can make the Enphase "in" into an "out" so I can backfeed may main panel during an extended outage.

 

[kendive]

If you don't want to by their load center you can build your own. It's just a bunch of relays. nothing complicated. Enphase used to have a doc that told you how to build one before they started selling the load center.

The load controller is not just a bunch of relays.

It has one Mean Well 120VAC to 24VDC DIN Rail Power Supply to control the ABB Contactors turn the load on and off.

The IQ Controller has 4 points two NO and two NC switches to control them.

https://new.abb.com/products/1SBL237001R1100/af26-30-00-11

How to program the IQ Controller below...


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The IQ System Controller has 5 relays rated for pilot duty at up to 24Vac/Vdc and 1A continuous current.
One is dedicated for generator function while the others are available for general use. The
contacts/terminals of the pilot relays are not energized by IQ System Controller i.e., they have no voltage
on them and are “dry”. When these contacts are connected to a voltage source, they are “wetted”. In this
document, we will be referring to these as auxiliary relays or contacts. The configuration of the relays is as
follows:
1. Two Normally Open (NO)
2. Two Normally Closed (NC), and
3. One NO relay used for starting a generator (optional)
While the auxiliary contacts have NO and NC electrical configurations, the Enphase Installer App
overrides this behavior when configuring the contacts. Once configured the contacts are closed when
on-grid and open when off-grid. In special load control modes, the contacts may be closed when off-grid if
battery charge exceeds a threshold or if a generator is running. Due to this IQ System Controller can
only be used with NO-type external definite purpose contactors or power relays to implement load
control or solar circuit control as described in this tech brief.






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