Fieldlines.com || Make your electricity from scratch!

Front Page - [Homebrewed Electricity-- (wind) (solar) (hydro) (steam) (controls) (storage) (mechanical)] - Classifieds - Site News
Everything - Newbies - [Remote Living-- (housing) (heat) (light) (water)] - Reviews - Diaries - Our Products

Everyone has one
By gizmoguy, Section Controls Posted on Mon Oct 26, 2009 at 11:27:22 AM MST
Looking for opinions on inverters. I know everyone here has both. :)

I am setting up my first off-grid power system and have most everything except for my inverter. I have a 48v solar grid with 530 watts max output, a PMA turned by a creek out back that ranges from 200 watts to 1100 watts depending on flow that is wound for 24v and I have a 24v string of 4 Energizer GC2 220AH batteries. The solar panels hook up through a Blue Sky Solar Boost 6024HL 60A charge controller and the PMA is not hooked to anything yet.
I want to know what inverters you guys love and why. I am looking to get an pure sine wave inverter between 2KW and 3KW. I would also like to spend less than $1,500.00 in the end.
What does everyone here think of the inverter/charger combos?
Thanks for your opinions!
Gizmoguy
PS - I've heard the solar charge controller is overkill for my system, but the deal was too good to pass up and I can upgrade my solar down the road.

Everyone has one | 12 comments (12 topical)

Re: Everyone has one (3.00 / 0) (#1)
by Jon Miller on Mon Oct 26, 2009 at 11:39:36 AM MST

Hi there,

I would say get a large APC UPS and cold start it, they are cheap and the 2kW - 3kW range runs at 48volt DC input.

Any pictures of your creak and setup?

Regards
Jon M

www.otherpower.co.uk "I am certainly not a perfectionist, the thing is to know where you can take short c

Re: Everyone has one (3.00 / 0) (#2)
by Jon Miller on Mon Oct 26, 2009 at 11:39:39 AM MST

Hi there,

I would say get a large APC UPS and cold start it, they are cheap and the 2kW - 3kW range runs at 48volt DC input.

Any pictures of your creak and setup?

Regards
Jon M

www.otherpower.co.uk "I am certainly not a perfectionist, the thing is to know where you can take short c

Re: Everyone has one (3.00 / 0) (#3)
by SparWeb on Mon Oct 26, 2009 at 11:42:30 AM MST

I am wondering how you're going to mate the 48v and 24v sides of your system.

I have an old Xantrex SW4024 pure sine inverter. They aren't on the market any more, but still common enough to find "used". I got mine for 1200$US so it might be in your price range. The SW4024 is grid-capable, but no longer grid-legal, if you get my meaning, not that it matters since you say you're off-grid.

I do not have any comparitive experience, so I'll leave that to the many others who frequent this site.

Welcome to Fieldlines!
Steven Fahey

Re: Everyone has one (3.00 / 0) (#4)
by gizmoguy on Mon Oct 26, 2009 at 11:51:05 AM MST

Excellent question on mating the 48v and 24v. I may be doing it the wrong way, but the Blue Sky outputs 24v from the 48v input. I was thinking of using one of the inverter/charger systems like the Samlex s-2024A 2KW inverters to feed the rectified PMA power into the batteries. But maybe the inverter/chargers are for charging your batteries on 120v a/c! Didn't think of that till now.

[ Parent ]

Re: Everyone has one (3.00 / 0) (#5)
by kurt on Mon Oct 26, 2009 at 12:03:42 PM MST

that charge controller you referred to is an mppt device that requires 48v nominal input and outputs 24v nominal to the batteries.

yes the charger part of an inverter charger is for charging your batteries from 120v AC power

i do believe that when you hook up your hidro system to your battery bank you are still going to need a diversion controller and a dumpload unless it is some kind of unusual hidro setup with self regulation.

http://www.reresource.org/

IRC
[ Parent ]

Re: Everyone has one (3.00 / 0) (#6)
by gizmoguy on Mon Oct 26, 2009 at 01:27:42 PM MST

Yes, I believe that I have the solar side of things right. I have 4 24v panels that are wired series/parallel to give me a 48v input into the Blue Sky. The Blue Sky then outputs 24v into my battery bank.

Thank you for clarifying on the inverter/chargers. I do not need the charger function then.

I don't have a dump load or diversion controller for my hydro setup yet, but they are on my list of things I need.

I haven't figured out what you do to feed multiple sources of power into a single battery bank yet, but I'm sure that I'll be able to get the help I need from this awesome board. I look forward to when I can help others on here!

[ Parent ]

Re: Everyone has one (3.00 / 0) (#7)
by Ungrounded Lightning Rod on Mon Oct 26, 2009 at 04:55:35 PM MST

You can use the charger function with a gasoline generator occasionally if your RE sources aren't enough just then.

(Of course you could also hook the generator to the batteries with a suitable battery charger for the battery voltage so there's no point in getting a charger function in the inverter if it drives up the price.)

[ Parent ]

Re: Everyone has one (3.00 / 0) (#8)
by ghurd on Mon Oct 26, 2009 at 05:37:42 PM MST

Multiple sources is pretty easy, as long as you do not get lost in over complicating the situation.

Part #1
A solar controller controls the solar.
The solar runs through the controller to the battery.
When the solar controller thinks the battery is 'full' it stops sending solar power to the battery.

Part #2
A dump load controller controls the battery, using dump load.
In normal systems, The hydro, or wind, always sends power directly to the battery.
The battery just keeps charging and charging.
The diversion (dump) controller 'controls' the dump load, and it does this by sensing the battery.
When it thinks the battery is full, it sends power to the dump load. It does not care where the power comes from. It simply drains the battery a tiny bit so the battery does not over charge.

PVs to controller, controller to battery.
Hydro to the battery.
Dump controller to the battery.
That's all there is to it.
G-

[ Parent ]

Re: Everyone has one (3.00 / 0) (#11)
by wooferhound on Tue Oct 27, 2009 at 07:46:27 AM MST

This is how I hook all of my stuff to the batteries . . .
http://www.fieldlines.com/images/scimages/231/HookUp.GIF

W o o f -={(
Huntsville Alabama U.S.A.

[ Parent ]

Re: Everyone has one (3.00 / 0) (#12)
by gizmoguy on Tue Oct 27, 2009 at 10:00:57 AM MST

I love the picture....and I really love that you have a long wire gen. tied with hydro and perpetual motion! How much excess energy from the perpetual motion, do you have more than a megawatt?

Thanks for the help, and the chuckle.

[ Parent ]

Re: Everyone has one (3.00 / 0) (#9)
by dbcollen on Mon Oct 26, 2009 at 07:59:21 PM MST

I wouldn't go with the samlex inverter, I have one here, returned by a customer. it has 100 watt standby use, that amounts to 2.4KWH a day just to have the inverter on. If you insist its what you want I will sell this one for $500. used one week, in original box

Dustin
madriverwind(at)gotsky.com
Mad River Wind and Hydro
[ Parent ]

Re: Everyone has one (3.00 / 0) (#10)
by ruddycrazy on Tue Oct 27, 2009 at 02:50:59 AM MST

Well I bought a Kipoint 24 volt 3kw pure sinewave inverter near 3 years ago. I use that for powering my off grid machineshop and it hasn't missed a beat in all that time.
I did compare the kipoint invereter against my selectronic inverter which cost 3 times more and the spec's are very similiar, only about 4 watts on standby 9 Kw surge and yes they do make inverters for 120ac aswell 240 ac. Dont bother with ebay just got striahgt to the website and deal direct with them via email.

Cheers Bryan

Everyone has one | 12 comments (12 topical)

Menu

� create account
� How to use the board
� FAQs
� search the board
� Google search the board

Login

Make a new account

Username:

Password:

Total Views

��97 Scoop users have viewed this posting.

Related Links

� Also by gizmoguy

You must be a registered user to post here. It's easy and free, and the link is on the upper right side of your page.
All trademarks and copyrights on this page are owned by their respective companies. Postings are owned by the poster, but may be deleted or moved at the ADMIN's sole discretion. The Rest � 2009 Forcefield.
You can Email the board ADMIN here. PLEASE include the username you signed up with!