WZRELB split phase inverter house hookup

[chilly2]

Hello!

I recently purchased a WZRELB 48v split phase inverter [1] with the intention of using it for house backup in an emergency. The big sell besides price was that it was split phase and can allegedly be connected to the house panel. There's even a section in the manual about doing that.

However, there's one bit in said section that I'm unclear on.

"If the house neutral wire is combined with the ground, connect the N line with it, leave the G line alone. Do not connect the inverter's G line with the N line together."

Is it saying...

- if the house has a neutral ground bond, don't connect the inverter's ground wire to the ground bar in the panel? That sounds a bit screwy.

or

- if the house has a neutral ground bond, don't bond the inverter's ground and neutral. That makes sense.

There's a video knocking around on YouTube where the guy has connected L1 & L2 to a double pole, N to N and G to G just like you'd expect if you didn't read the manual and well.. it's working fine in the video. I reached out to see if he could clarify a couple of things on his setup. I also reached out to WZRELB. Hoping things don't get lost in translation there.

Any thoughts?

[1] https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BNPSV3WX/?th=1

 

[shopman]

Hello!

I recently purchased a WZRELB 48v split phase inverter [1] with the intention of using it for house backup in an emergency. The big sell besides price was that it was split phase and can allegedly be connected to the house panel. There's even a section in the manual about doing that.

However, there's one bit in said section that I'm unclear on.

"If the house neutral wire is combined with the ground, connect the N line with it, leave the G line alone. Do not connect the inverter's G line with the N line together."

Is it saying...

- if the house has a neutral ground bond, don't connect the inverter's ground wire to the ground bar in the panel? That sounds a bit screwy.

or

- if the house has a neutral ground bond, don't bond the inverter's ground and neutral. That makes sense.

There's a video knocking around on YouTube where the guy has connected L1 & L2 to a double pole, N to N and G to G just like you'd expect if you didn't read the manual and well.. it's working fine in the video. I reached out to see if he could clarify a couple of things on his setup. I also reached out to WZRELB. Hoping things don't get lost in translation there.

Any thoughts?

[1] https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BNPSV3WX/?th=1

sounds like they're saying not to bond the inverters neutral and ground together with the already bonded neutral and ground in the panel. They do say to leave the ground disconnected so my guess is that neutral and ground are bonded inside the inverter and that won't work correctly for the way you wish to connect it. Check with the manufacturer before connecting anything and see if there is a bonding screw inside the inverter that can be removed. If so then you can remove that internal bond and bond neutral and ground together in the panel as its supposed to be.

 

[chilly2]

To update, there was no internal bonding and the house connection worked fine, running the base loads, electronics, laptop, monitor and gas furnace blower.

There were some issues stemming from insufficient due diligence on my part as to how things worked. Here's how it went down.

Before hooking the inverter to the house I tested its built in outlets with an 1800W kettle and also an 1800W microwave. In each test that would have been 15A, which exceeds the 12.5A in the inverter's documentation, and yet there were no problems. Not even a beep.

After wiring to the house, I turned the heat off so the furnace wouldn't be running. The remaining load was 250W, so thinking I had 2750W to spare I attempted to boil the kettle, for a total around 2050W.

Instead, the inverter started beeping. It shut down 10 seconds later continued to beep until power cycled. I guess I overloaded the leg the kettle was on just enough to make it upset.

I was hoping to at least run base loads and use the kettle or microwave, so I think my options are...

- heat water and cook food the old fashioned way.
- buy a configurable wattage induction cook top.
- run an extension cord to the outlet with the least base load and hope for the best. Will need to experiment.
- return it and spend more money on something bigger.

It was only $430 and will technically handle grid down, just not the way I had hoped. I didn't and still don't really have the $1600ish for a 6000XP or SRNE 10k, but the return window on this is 1/31.

Ah decisions, decisions.