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Sun 2000 GTIL and 3 phase power.

RangerGress

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Aug 25, 2020
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Bottom line: How might I make the grid tie inverter aware of the power feeding the house thru all 3 phases?

Details. I'm a month into a total DIY effort. I source used panels cheap and put 3KW on the roof. The GTIL sensor is on only one of the 3 legs feeding the house, so it only sees about a third of the house's power consumption at any moment. I'm reasonably competent at electricity but I never noticed that the house gets 3 phase power from the pole. The issue just never came up. I contacted the seller but their tech spt is just a couple script readers that don't understand 3 phase from a hole in the ground.

So here's what I'm thinking. You guys have any additional ideas?

No way the Sun 2000 GTIL is going to talk to 3 sensors. That will never work.

I could just suck it up. The house uses a lot of power. The 3KW of panels, oriented in various directions to get sun thru-out the day, rarely produce enough power that the GTIL backs off because it's producing as much power as it's sensed leg wants. That makes the whole problem kinda small. Yet, every time I do see the GTIL back off a bit because it only senses 1/3rd of the power consumed, it makes me grind my teeth.

I could get 2 more Sun GTILs. They can be found pretty cheap. Seems like a kinda inelegant solution tho.

I could swap out for an inexpensive GTIL that is aware of 3 phase that someone is going to mention in this thread.
 
Please excuse my ignorance here but I am trying to understand your dilemma.

You have a hose (residence) with 3-phase power; where are you located?

So you have 3-phase power and 3000 watts of solar panels and a house which uses a lot of power; and you're concerned about a 2000 watt inverter?

Please explain more.
 
Please excuse my ignorance here but I am trying to understand your dilemma.

You have a hose (residence) with 3-phase power; where are you located?

So you have 3-phase power and 3000 watts of solar panels and a house which uses a lot of power; and you're concerned about a 2000 watt inverter?

Please explain more.
In Savannah, GA. Cute little historic tourist town on the GA coast.

The GTIL inverter came with one limiter sensor so it's only aware of one leg. So if the house is using 3KW of power at a certain moment, the GTIL inverter's sensor is only aware of ~1KW. If the panels are providing 1500W at that moment, the inverter won't provide it all, it will only provide 1KW.
 
I found a you tube video where a guy wired 2 sensors in series for US single phase center tapped. So maybe I can just add sensors to mine in series. Ok have to think about the difference between 3 phase and single phase tapped. I'm not used to 3 phase so am low on intuition.

I'm thinking that the sum of 3 phases might be 0. That would be a step backwards.
 
In Savannah, GA. Cute little historic tourist town on the GA coast.

The GTIL inverter came with one limiter sensor so it's only aware of one leg. So if the house is using 3KW of power at a certain moment, the GTIL inverter's sensor is only aware of ~1KW. If the panels are providing 1500W at that moment, the inverter won't provide it all, it will only provide 1KW.
With the equipment you presently have it may be most expeditious to rearrange your loads (possibly move refrigerator/freezer) to the other leg of your panel box. That is, to arrange loads so one side/line is always the highest current draw.
 
With the equipment you presently have it may be most expeditious to rearrange your loads (possibly move refrigerator/freezer) to the other leg of your panel box. That is, to arrange loads so one side/line is always the highest current draw.
Yes, I was thinking along those lines too. It made me wonder if doing that might "unbalance" the load on the 3 legs and cause a power company visit I'd like to avoid. Your thoughts?
 
Not something they would or could monitor in the grand scheme of things, IMO.
Cool. Scheming re. how much is on one leg is a little tricky because the big items are on 2 legs. I do think tho, that with a bit of cleverness I can reduce the draw on 1 of the 3 legs and that will help.
 
This is an interesting post about GTIL's and standard residential 2 phase. https://secondlifestorage.com/showt...QV1gFw_LfQyCBgSqADt_6nDwfEO3BrnVPYYU#pid51923

I think I need some real electricians or an electrical engineer in this thread. The more I think about it, the more I come to the conclusion that my 2KW GTIL is not going to properly sense how much power it should be producing. The inability to sense the 3rd leg, even if I jury rig 2 sensors, and the inability to put power on that leg just seem to me like war stoppers.
 
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