diy solar

diy solar

using panels when power is out

mattbar

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Mar 29, 2021
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Hi, I am wondering if there is a way to use my grid tied solar panels to power a 120 volt ac wall receptacle or a regulated dc out put when our utility company is out of power or has our power intentionally turned off? (our controller is an abb pvi3.8outd-s-us-a)
thanks
 
Yes. You will need to explore battery backup options of your existing system, or you will need to install an inverter/batteries that can be AC coupled with your existing grid-tie inverter.

 
Hi, I am wondering if there is a way to use my grid tied solar panels to power a 120 volt ac wall receptacle or a regulated dc out put when our utility company is out of power or has our power intentionally turned off? (our controller is an abb pvi3.8outd-s-us-a)
thanks

Some grid-tied solar inverters can provide limited power from solar panels during utility grid outages. One example SMA Sunny Boy that has a Secure Power Supply (SPS) feature provides up to 2KW power from solar panels without batteries.
 
It really does seem like somebody could make a manual switch so you could go off grid during power outages. I haven't been able to find one, but maybe they are out there.
 
It really does seem like somebody could make a manual switch so you could go off grid during power outages. I haven't been able to find one, but maybe they are out there.
Our 11kWh solar system grid tied, but when the grid goes down, as it often does out here in the countryside for a week at a time, I just flip off the main breaker, flip on an aux breaker, and AC couple the battery system to the solar array. Takes about 3 minutes to activate it and provides full power to the house as if nothing was wrong.

When the grid comes back online, I just flip two breakers and we're back on grid power.

Our "off grid" input breaker is tied to a mechanical interlock with the main panel breaker. They can both be off at the same time, but they can never both be on at the same time.

If we get a string of dark cloudy days, a portable generator can be hooked up to the external plug outside the house and it will charge the batteries through the inverters.
 
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