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Utility company visited me for exporting from my solar Off-grid growatt LVM-ES SPF 3000TL

Subdood said:
I ran my 120V critical loads sub panel in SUB mode (no batteries then) for about 8 months last year, and this was also when the Poco came out and changed my meter. I'm sure the tech saw my array in the yard while he changed out the meter, but he didn't ask any questions nor did I offer any info. Anyways I never got a visit from them then telling me I was back feeding.

If I am feeding this sub panel from my inverter (EG4 6500) only, should I be worried about any back feeding?

Since I added a second 5kwh battery in March, we have been pretty much off-grid (and SBU mode) since then. I still have the grid hooked into the inverter input, but really haven't used the grid since we added the second battery. So, I probably should just shut off the AC input breaker on the service pole panel..
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Not an issue in SBU mode.
Only in SUB mode.
 
Did some thinking about it and for the Off grid AIO's that have a spurious export at rare times during inverter operation I would think this could only occur when not running in AC bypass. If the inverter is being used as a charger it could not parallel with grid for any export. it would be annoying to have to lose the automatic transfer to grid feature but it could be a work around.
 
Someone brought up HF inverters. We know (now) they can do backfeed by accident here and there. Do we know of any case of a LF doing it?

I suspect it doesn't matter LF or HF, but maybe it does.
 
SparkyJJO said:
Someone brought up HF inverters. We know (now) they can do backfeed by accident here and there. Do we know of any case of a LF doing it?

I suspect it doesn't matter LF or HF, but maybe it does.
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Someone cited a victron test above that I believe was LF. I agree, shouldn't matter, it's about the reaction time to a change in CT current. The electrons will always be faster then the microchip.
 
ricardocello said:
Victron tells us to set the ESS Grid Setpoint in watts to some wattage to help prevent feedback. They recommend like 50 or 100W.
I set mine to 500W. It won't matter, because the shedding of large inductive loads is larger than the offset.
In other words, it helps, but isn't sufficient to cover the feedback.

I don't know if Victron is better or worse compared to others, because the measurements would need to made independently to test that.
What it comes down to is the speed of the control loop inside the bidirectional inverter.
Victron is really conservative. Deye and Luxpower may be more aggressive, I don't know.

If you want absolutely no grid feedback, you've got to get rid of ESS on Victron.
My long term plan is full double conversion with chargeverters. Totally undetectable.
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From what I remember it was a deliberate choice by Victron to control/slow the slew rate and maintain "stability" in case you were on the far end of a bunch of poles and wires or something like that.
 
zanydroid said:
But this is an AIO, why would it allow the relay to allow the inverter to parallel grid?

It is not doing zero export

Now one question here is, why does S to U or U to S transition cause a transient? Are these AIOs set up as momentary parallel and nobody ever checked the receipts until the POCOs instituted aggressive checking? (Which required an agreement if you are under PG&E).
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SUB mode the AIO will draw some from grid so the transfer switch is not open.

The purpose is to allow quick changeover when used as a UPS so AIO and grid are in phase.
 
I think the problem we might be having with @Mark- is that he has a Lawful Good alignment.

Many of us here might have a Chaotic Good alignment, or at least fancy ourselves that way. He probably views us as Chaotic Evil though.. just thinking of ourselves.
 
A blip of an amp here and there isn't going to hurt anyone, at all.

Heck, it will just feed into the neighbor's usage (especially if off a shared transformer, I share with 2 or 3 houses around me), and they get to bill them for that teensy bit of power that they didn't have to generate, and pay nothing for it, so in essence they make a few pennies here and there! What's not to like?!
 
zanydroid said:
I thought SUB/SBU meant it does NOT mix and does NOT do grid assist/peak shaving and does NOT have the necessary inverter control to achieve this. Just a transfer switch to lock out the grid vs the inverter
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Don't confuse SUB with SBU.

zanydroid said:
And when I say SUB/SBU I mean only one AC source can carry the load, with no blending. If the inverter cannot carry the load then the full grid can carry the load.
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zanydroid said:
Otherwise, how the heck is everyone getting away with parallel operation?

However since these are inverter/chargers, when charging from grid the inverter hardware is connected albeit configured in charging mode
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When grid charging occurs, the inverter is off and in bypass mode. All loads are powered by grid.
 
cs1234 said:
I think the problem we might be having with @Mark- is that he has a Lawful Good alignment.

Many of us here might have a Chaotic Good alignment, or at least fancy ourselves that way. He probably views us as Chaotic Evil though.. just thinking of ourselves.
Click to expand...
Not Evil.
 
Zwy said:
Don't confuse SUB with SBU.
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Ok so just so I’m sure.

SUB is battery less operation. For whatever reason it allows user to select a mode where utility fills in for the flakiness of solar, DESPITE these things being marketed as off grid inverters. That is offensive to me legalistically speaking. Well you get what you deserve if the Poco nabs you, just as with zero export buccaneers. Live hard die hard

SBU is battery operation, it fills in flakiness of solar with battery. Only on inverter capacity overload or battery depletion will it transfer to grid. This does comport with my legalistic understanding of what an offf grid inverter is.

But, were all these people that got caught really doing SUB and not SBU?
 
zanydroid said:
SUB is battery less operation. For whatever reason it allows user to select a mode where utility fills in for the flakiness of solar,
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Correct
zanydroid said:
SBU is battery operation, it fills in flakiness of solar with battery. Only on inverter capacity overload or battery depletion will it transfer to grid.
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Also correct
zanydroid said:
But, were all these people that got caught really doing SUB and not SBU?
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Yes, they would have to be to get caught.
 
We could start calling them SU/B and SB/U modes if that's really how they work. But I'm wondering if this is standardized across "off grid" AIO's or it's just specific to some growatts, and we'll find that others offer 3 way blended SBU modes.

Is this true of a 6000XP for example, does it never parallel in SBU mode?

And would it actually be more like SU/SB mode? But not SB/SU mode, just SB/U mode.
 
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