Anyone used one fo these?

[JMaris]

I was wondering if anyone had used one of these grid tie inverters?
http://cgi.ebay.com/1200w-grid-tie-solar-power-inverter-28-52vDC-110vAC-/390246498369?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5adc810041
If so, how did it work out for you? Thanks

[ghurd]

Considering it is illegal to connect one like that, I doubt if anyone who tried it will admit to it.

They change them every few months.  The chances of finding someone using the same one that is for sale now is pretty slim.
G-

[Vanhook2]

Check out YouTube.
There are ALOT of videos about them. Type in "grid tie inverters".
These types of GTI's are NOT approved by by UL (if you are in the USA) or any other safety lab, use them @ your own risk.
Also, there seems to be a quality issues (or lack of) with all of these GTIs (buyer beware).
 

[ghurd]

What he said,
Plus some meters will actually count what you send back as KWH that was used.
Others will send a fault signal to the company, who will be out to see whats going on.

The US based sellers of the things are very careful NOT to show one connected, if that tells you anything.

[JMaris]

Well forget that. It sounded like a good idea... Why is it illegal to hook up that way? I need to learn some more about this stuff. At least I am at the right place

[JMaris]

Ok, after re-reading you guys posts, I think that you think I was going to hook it into my house. This isn't what I am thinking about doing. I am about to build a large shop and want to heat/cool via geothermal methods. I was going to use a small wind turbine to run a pump that would circulate the water when we have wind. Here in west texas we almost always have wind. When the wind doesn't blow, the pump doesn't pump... Something along those lines. It would be an off grid, closed system.

[ghurd]

You just need a simple inverter (arguably pure sine wave), though larger than most people expect.

And some provision for LVD that is superior to the typical inverter LVD, or it will ruin the batteries in short order.
G-

[dnix71]

The item shown is both illegal for gridtie in the US but won't work unless it is connected to the grid to have something to sync to. I reported the item and seller to eBay.

It's illegal because A- It has no safety/insurance certs (like UL, CSA,  ETL, CE)  http://www.crownaudio.com/amp_htm/certifmarks/certifmarks.htm and  B- It can't be certified anyway because the US National Electrical Code requires gridtie inverters to be hardwired (among other things). If you can just plug and unplug it, it cannot meet the NEC and as such cannot be safety certified for that application.

Plus if you actually connected this and somehow managed to backfeed the grid with it, the power company will find out and cut you off pronto. Most meters will set a flag if you try to run them backwards. Net use meters are only installed if you get permission to sell back, and they won't let you do it with that unsafe device you mentioned.

How big is the pump? How long do you want to run it? You'll need some batteries to store the turbine's output. Gives us some numbers to work with so we can better help you.

[JMaris]

Well I don't have numbers or pump sizes or anything like that yet because I am still researching that as well. This stuff is all still in the thought process. I wan't to make sure I have everything thoroughly thought out and planned out before I begin as to minimize unplanned expenses and/or materials.

[Capt Slog]

I'm UK based.

I have a similar one to this (in terms of operation) but a lot smaller, mine is 300w.

The one I have is certified and IS legal over here in the UK.  I can confirm that it does need the grid to be able to do anything because as was pointed out by dnix, it has to synchronise to something.

What you do have to know as well, is that you can't put batteries onto it with your panels/turbine (it does mention this, but not very clearly).  To do this will let out the magic smoke. 

Mine works quite nicely by the way, it was a good purchase and I'm pleased with it.