Athena

[silverhorsefarm]

Has anyone had experience with an outfit called Athena Energy? They are marketing a hybrid grid-tie inverter called EnergyBridge for back-up power

[Naptown]

Never heard of them
Their system won't work with what you currently have installed from what I can see.

[silverhorsefarm]

Based on their website, they claim to have a UL-listed plug-and-play.

[Sunking]

Based on their website, they claim to have a UL-listed plug-and-play.

That would be enough to scare me away.

[Naptown]

From the system layout it seems to be a stand alone system that charges from a plug in charger and supplies power via a transfer switch to a sub panel or power strip. I believe the solar portion is not required and apparently does not feed back to the grid. So solar sits there doing nothing more than perhaps float when the grid is up

[Sunking]

From the system layout it seems to be a stand alone system that charges from a plug in charger and supplies power via a transfer switch to a sub panel or power strip. I believe the solar portion is not required and apparently does not feed back to the grid. So solar sits there doing nothing more than perhaps float when the grid is up

I did not bother to look, but that is about practically worthless. IF you are going to do something like that at least use a hybrid so you can recover some of your losses vs just throwing money away.

[SunEagle]

From the system layout it seems to be a stand alone system that charges from a plug in charger and supplies power via a transfer switch to a sub panel or power strip. I believe the solar portion is not required and apparently does not feed back to the grid. So solar sits there doing nothing more than perhaps float when the grid is up

Actually it looks like the Energy Bridge is set up as an off grid type installation that uses solar panels to charge batteries. In the event of a power failure the transfer switch will allow you to use the battery power through the "bridge" inverter to power an isolated power strip.

It would be cheaper to just run an extension cord from your inverter to a power strip but I guess the "automatic" transfer is cool for those of us that are lazy and want the system to do the work for them.

$1700 seems a little expensive for only a 1000 watt inverter/charging system.

[Naptown]

Not actually much more than a marine or RV charger inverter with a cheap charge controller perhaps thrown in
I agree about using a hybrid as it is a better choice

[russ]

Not UL listed - see the wording - Really hard to get interested in a company that has to play with words to try to make a product sound like something other than trash. The term UL compliant has no meaning either.

• Compliance: This unit is built on the same platform as our UL compliant Inverter. The software was slightly modified to give this unit backup power capabilities.

[inetdog]

..The software was slightly modified to give this unit backup power capabilities.

That is, "we took out the anti-islanding and put in a transfer switch"?
or maybe something like what SMA does with their UL-listed emergency power capability?

In any case, "plug-in" to an ordinary receptacle will not be compliant with UL, let alone listable. Plug-in in the same way that a generator may be cord connected to a transfer switch, maybe...

[russ]

They use the term UL compliant which to the best of my understanding really has no meaning. It is generally used by parties without a real product to sell.

The correct term is UL listed - if a company claims to have a UL listed product then they are making a legal claim.

all else are weasel words to try to confuse the potential customer into thinking they are getting something different than they are.