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Anyone with solar battery inverter experience? I have some questions.

Discussion in 'Fred's House of Pancakes' started by TheForce, May 12, 2019.

  1. TheForce

    TheForce Stop War! Lets Rave! Make Love!

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    So I'm getting a 11.4Kw solar setup here in a few weeks. I eventually want to have a big enough battery to run my house for a few days if the grid goes down or be off the grid completely.

    Here is what I would like to do.

    I would like a high dc voltage inverter that can run in parallel with more inverters of the same type. I will be paying more up front for a setup like this but my idea is that if I have 3 or more inverters and battery banks if one inverter fails I have 2 others that can pick up the slack. This way I have redundancy. I can take a pack off line and replace it with another pack. Or I can start out with 1 inverter and battery pack then upgrade to a second pack and inverter next year and do the same the following year.

    I'm looking for a 96v 5Kw inverter than can run in parallel with lets say 5 inverters. Does one of these exist?

    I'm looking for a 320v 10Kw inverter than can run in parallel with lets say 3 inverters. Does one of these exist?

    Higher DC voltage in preferred to keep cable size as small as possible and reduce heat and cost.

    I could do 48v but thats a lot of amps on the DC side for 5000W. 96v is more manageable. 320v would be perfect as that would result in 100 LiFePO4 cells in series. A nice round number and the wires will be manageable.

    I would need at minimum 10Kw continuous for starters. 1 inverter this size would do but I would have to make sure I dont use more power. Plus 48v just isnt going to cut it with the wire size at 10Kw. I would like to have 20Kw continuous just for safety margins.

    I'm having a hard time finding out if some of these 96v inverters can be put in parallel and have them sync up correctly. They are mostly Chinese made with basic documentation.

    Does anyone have any experience in this area? Is there another terminology used when putting inverters in parallel that I'm unaware of?
     
  2. Leadfoot J. McCoalroller

    Leadfoot J. McCoalroller Senior Member

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    You should talk to the guys at Exeltech. Their MX line of inverters is pretty close to what you're talking about. You add 1kw modules to a rack until you have enough for your application. They build them to work on a variety of DC voltages, and they are very open to custom work. Top notch gear. Made in USA, great support too.

    I've been using their inverters in an off-grid vacation home for many years. We have a much simpler system here utilizing one of their basic 2kW units.
     
    #2 Leadfoot J. McCoalroller, May 12, 2019
    Last edited: May 12, 2019
    Raytheeagle likes this.
  3. TheForce

    TheForce Stop War! Lets Rave! Make Love!

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    That looks like a good start for what I'm looking for. I will keep them in mind when I eventually go to build a setup to see if they can make something more to my needs.

    I would like to stay above 5Kw or more per inverter to help keep costs down but their gear seems to be on the right track for what I'm wanting to do.

    Thanks for your input.