Tweet
I have a solar backup system - 1.2kw of panels, 4 lead carbon 150 vah batteries, and a cheap chinese invertor. The invertor _can_ prioritize "renewables" over grid, but it doesn't distinguish between solar and batteries in this mode, so that means that it decharges the batteries every night, which then recharge from the grid. This isn't ideal, because a) it means that if we have a grid outage (which is common where we live) that our backup capacity is much reduced and b) the constant cycling on the batteries obviously impacts their lifetime.
I would like to replace the invertor, and am looking for recommendations. My requriement is that it should be able to be programmed to follow two rules:
1) solar power should go to charging batteries if needed; otherwise it should contribute to the house load;
2) grid should be used in priority over batteries; i.e. if grid goes down, we want to draw from solar + batteries, but if solar is not producing and grid is up, we want to use grid
We would save approximately $100/mo with it running like this, and ideally am looking to keep pay-back under 3 years, so ideal budget is $3500 and under.
Thanks!
I would like to replace the invertor, and am looking for recommendations. My requriement is that it should be able to be programmed to follow two rules:
1) solar power should go to charging batteries if needed; otherwise it should contribute to the house load;
2) grid should be used in priority over batteries; i.e. if grid goes down, we want to draw from solar + batteries, but if solar is not producing and grid is up, we want to use grid
We would save approximately $100/mo with it running like this, and ideally am looking to keep pay-back under 3 years, so ideal budget is $3500 and under.
Thanks!
Comment