Edit: Adding TL;DR;
TL;DR: I'm in the US, and I'm looking for somethign in 3 phases, though I may never get past the first phase
1) 5 second UPS to handle blips, powering a critical loads panel; 2) Generator input to that critical loads panel for longer outages; 3) Lots of batteries along with the generator so I can recharge the battereis with the generator, and pull power from generator or batteries down the line.
Because I want to leave this installed full-time, to handle the power blips, I would much prefer something that is ETL/UL listed.
The electricity where I am has an unsolved problem, every couple 6 weeks, we have a blip for about 1 second, where all my smart devices reboot, and they are spread out across my house; the ceiling fans turn off when the power goes out and stays off; the lights turn back on when the power gets restored ( they see it as someone flicking the switch ), my air purifier turns off, and my microwave clock gets reset.
These are not life-altering problems, but I am looking for a way to handle this without breaking the bank.
Currently, I happen to own 3KW of lifepo4 batteries, along with a 100A generic BMS, which shoule be able to handle these blips in the middle of the night, when they are the worst ( lights turning back on while I am asleep ).
My house also has grid tied solar using Solaredge se10000h-us inverters. This is the version that cannot connect to batteries. the installer for that when I called them said that even if I get the ESS version, that it wont switch to battery for a few seconds, which would not handle these blips, but could be used for storm outages. I'm unsure if this handles A/C coupling vie a frequency watts ( relevent to 2 of the more expensive options I look at farther down the line )
What I would like to do to start is find an inverter that I can put between my main breaker panel, and a critical loads panel, so that I can handle these short blips gracefully.
I have tried looking at second hand or refurbished UPS modules, but I have not been able to find much documentation on one I can run 120/240 for a load panel like this ( used 240v while grid tied, and supplying a load panel, while staying fairly balanced ), because I will want to put my air handler and A/C on this circuit a the next step. [ If we have any long storm outages, I want to be able to run those from battery, but cannot justify the expense until them ]
I have used an Emporia Vue to identify my loads, and measure them over the past several months, and I have 99% of time under 3800W, with about 10 minutes total ( not consecutive ), between 3800 and 4200W.
I would like to be able to move my A/C into this critical load panel in the future, and when I run my measurements, that would be a 7200W continuous load at the peak measurement I took, but that time was measured while I was using the microwave and air-fryer circuits.
I do not want to spend all the money up-front, but I also do not want to buy things that I would need to discard as I move forward.
Because I want this connected to my grid system, I want listed equipment?, but some of them are hard for me to understand what is required beyond just the inverter, to allow it to work with small generic batteries, or larger DIY batteries. ( if this would even be allowed, if the batteries are not listed ). The batteries direct from SolarEdge are WAY more expensive than DIY or the likes of the server rack batteries, where if I wanted several 10KWh of power, I would not want to get it from SolarEdge if possible to bypass.
I have looked at the Victron kit from Current Connected ( 6kva ), but that does include the UL listed versions yet, though the kit does have a list of all the things I would need, so I could buy the UL listed versions and all the other parts. ( 2x multipls 2 )
I have also looked at the Schneider 6.8 kit from signature solar, that also seems to include all the things I would need to get started.
Both of those could grow, and the Schneider looks like it would support all of my power needs, without even paralleling it, because of the surge ratings it has, but the reported issues of how it starts up I think would not work with my small battery.
Both of those options are significantly more than I want to pay just for this blip that occurs though, I am hoping to find any recommendations for more bare-bones inverters I could use to backup a critical loads panel for 1 minute now, and several hours in the next couple years;
I've looked a little at the samlex evo 4248 and the Schneider SW4048, but both of those seems to need specific control panels, and aren't sold to consumers with all the bits and pieces needed, unlike the above newer inverters.
I have no idea if this is code compliant, but my thoughts for a temporary system were to use a 50A receptacle from the main breaker to the "UPS", and plug the critical loads panel into the "UPS" with a 50A receptacle. This would also allow me to power the critical loads panel from a generator, or a separate off-grid inverter that has larger batteries, if I do end up needing a sperate device for these blips. OR if I should even worry about UL listing in this configuration.
Or recommendations on finding a proper UPS that could be used just for the blips. I've stumbles across a website anmed Excess UPS that sells refurbished ones, but the documentation on them is pretty light in some cases, and it can be hard for me to tell if they are 120/240 split phase, or allow wiring in plugs like I mentioned.
Any guidance on these topics would be appreciated. Thanks for reading this wall of text.
TL;DR: I'm in the US, and I'm looking for somethign in 3 phases, though I may never get past the first phase
1) 5 second UPS to handle blips, powering a critical loads panel; 2) Generator input to that critical loads panel for longer outages; 3) Lots of batteries along with the generator so I can recharge the battereis with the generator, and pull power from generator or batteries down the line.
Because I want to leave this installed full-time, to handle the power blips, I would much prefer something that is ETL/UL listed.
The electricity where I am has an unsolved problem, every couple 6 weeks, we have a blip for about 1 second, where all my smart devices reboot, and they are spread out across my house; the ceiling fans turn off when the power goes out and stays off; the lights turn back on when the power gets restored ( they see it as someone flicking the switch ), my air purifier turns off, and my microwave clock gets reset.
These are not life-altering problems, but I am looking for a way to handle this without breaking the bank.
Currently, I happen to own 3KW of lifepo4 batteries, along with a 100A generic BMS, which shoule be able to handle these blips in the middle of the night, when they are the worst ( lights turning back on while I am asleep ).
My house also has grid tied solar using Solaredge se10000h-us inverters. This is the version that cannot connect to batteries. the installer for that when I called them said that even if I get the ESS version, that it wont switch to battery for a few seconds, which would not handle these blips, but could be used for storm outages. I'm unsure if this handles A/C coupling vie a frequency watts ( relevent to 2 of the more expensive options I look at farther down the line )
What I would like to do to start is find an inverter that I can put between my main breaker panel, and a critical loads panel, so that I can handle these short blips gracefully.
I have tried looking at second hand or refurbished UPS modules, but I have not been able to find much documentation on one I can run 120/240 for a load panel like this ( used 240v while grid tied, and supplying a load panel, while staying fairly balanced ), because I will want to put my air handler and A/C on this circuit a the next step. [ If we have any long storm outages, I want to be able to run those from battery, but cannot justify the expense until them ]
I have used an Emporia Vue to identify my loads, and measure them over the past several months, and I have 99% of time under 3800W, with about 10 minutes total ( not consecutive ), between 3800 and 4200W.
I would like to be able to move my A/C into this critical load panel in the future, and when I run my measurements, that would be a 7200W continuous load at the peak measurement I took, but that time was measured while I was using the microwave and air-fryer circuits.
I do not want to spend all the money up-front, but I also do not want to buy things that I would need to discard as I move forward.
Because I want this connected to my grid system, I want listed equipment?, but some of them are hard for me to understand what is required beyond just the inverter, to allow it to work with small generic batteries, or larger DIY batteries. ( if this would even be allowed, if the batteries are not listed ). The batteries direct from SolarEdge are WAY more expensive than DIY or the likes of the server rack batteries, where if I wanted several 10KWh of power, I would not want to get it from SolarEdge if possible to bypass.
I have looked at the Victron kit from Current Connected ( 6kva ), but that does include the UL listed versions yet, though the kit does have a list of all the things I would need, so I could buy the UL listed versions and all the other parts. ( 2x multipls 2 )
I have also looked at the Schneider 6.8 kit from signature solar, that also seems to include all the things I would need to get started.
Both of those could grow, and the Schneider looks like it would support all of my power needs, without even paralleling it, because of the surge ratings it has, but the reported issues of how it starts up I think would not work with my small battery.
Both of those options are significantly more than I want to pay just for this blip that occurs though, I am hoping to find any recommendations for more bare-bones inverters I could use to backup a critical loads panel for 1 minute now, and several hours in the next couple years;
I've looked a little at the samlex evo 4248 and the Schneider SW4048, but both of those seems to need specific control panels, and aren't sold to consumers with all the bits and pieces needed, unlike the above newer inverters.
I have no idea if this is code compliant, but my thoughts for a temporary system were to use a 50A receptacle from the main breaker to the "UPS", and plug the critical loads panel into the "UPS" with a 50A receptacle. This would also allow me to power the critical loads panel from a generator, or a separate off-grid inverter that has larger batteries, if I do end up needing a sperate device for these blips. OR if I should even worry about UL listing in this configuration.
Or recommendations on finding a proper UPS that could be used just for the blips. I've stumbles across a website anmed Excess UPS that sells refurbished ones, but the documentation on them is pretty light in some cases, and it can be hard for me to tell if they are 120/240 split phase, or allow wiring in plugs like I mentioned.
Any guidance on these topics would be appreciated. Thanks for reading this wall of text.
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