Inverters...

[Mary B]

Does anyone make a pure sine inverter in the 4kw range that has an automatic transfer switch that would drop back to grid when battery power drops to a set level? Xantrex XW kinda mentions it but I could not find that in the manual. I am not going to grid tie so want to setup most of the house circuits to use inverter until battery voltage hits 50% SOC(48.81 volts by one chart I have).

Water heater and dryer would not be on the inverter panel but the bulk of the house could easily run that way.

Main loads would be chest freezers, TV/surround system, furnace. TV/surround use about 2.4kwh a day, chest freezer probably 1kwh(need to replace that one with a newer more energy efficient model), rest of the loads are a few lights and whatever furnace draws(I have to put it on a killa watt meter this fall).

Lighting is going towards all LED(have a couple fluorescent fixtures in the kitchen to swap out yet) so negligible draw.

Living alone I do not use that much electricity and once I get rid of that power pig of a water heater it will drop even further. Water heater is being replaced with an on demand natural gas unit.

[dnix71]

The 6048 XW will load shave. That might be simpler. Shaving the peak by using batteries or a generator can save big money for those who are on grid, as there is a separate charge for peak use on all but the smallest residential accounts.

A church here in Fort Lauderdale installed 40kw of generators and uses them to run the a/c on Sunday because it was cheaper than paying FP&L the peak charge for using something only one day a week. The charge is about $8 per KW over 10kw for the max used during any 30 minute period during the month. Cut your peak by 40kw and you save $320 a month and if the power goes out you still have ac and the building remains usable in south Florida's heat.

If you are off-grid, then hooking up the grid to the aux input as a generator might work. Program the Xantrex to switch to "gen" if the battery voltage is low.

[Mary B]

I am on grid(sort of anyway, very unreliable) and will use it for my peak loads. Currently using about 500kwh a month but most of that is water heater and clothes dryer. Otherwise all that is on is the TV and 2 lights. Computer and desk lighting runs of my existing solar stuff as does my ham radio station. This will get tied into my existing wiring but I do not want to go through the pain in the ** crap MN requires to grid tie. The monthly fee will make it cost me money long run.