Was looking at a neighbors small grid tie setup. He has 3 250 watt panels. Noticed that the wattage and amperage on his inverter was not constant at all. It was clear out , no clouds. is this normal on all grid tie inverters?
Power Flucuations
Collapse
X
-
-
Well one problem might be that your neighbor does not have a legal "grid tie" system at only 750 watts. Most grid tie inverters start at 3000 watts unless they are very old. -
Comment
-
Comment
-
It is hard to determine the issue without knowing more about the panels, "grid tie" inverter and how the system is wired. If the values keep moving around more than likely the inverter is not high quality and the readouts may be based on an average over a period of time instead of a continuous measurements.Comment
-
Comment
-
Had another look at the panels, they are 24 volt wired in parallel, The inverter is a 1000 watt plug in the wall type that you all warned me about. It is in fact wired on its own breaker and the the panels are wired into a quick disconnect then to the inverter. What should they be putting out? panels are indeed facing south and he has them tilted about 30deg. When I looked again at the kill-o watt meter it showed 525 watts, then down to 490, back up to 515 ...etc. He says they have always done that. (I did warn him about using that inverter)Comment
-
Had another look at the panels, they are 24 volt wired in parallel, The inverter is a 1000 watt plug in the wall type that you all warned me about. It is in fact wired on its own breaker and the the panels are wired into a quick disconnect then to the inverter. What should they be putting out? panels are indeed facing south and he has them tilted about 30deg. When I looked again at the kill-o watt meter it showed 525 watts, then down to 490, back up to 515 ...etc. He says they have always done that. (I did warn him about using that inverter)Comment
-
Not to mention some POCO meters can only count up and therefore you may end up paying the POCO for power your solar panels generate. This is why you need a feedback agreement and why they deploy a special meter for solar generating customers.Comment
-
And if the meter detects power coming from the customer the POCO might blow a fuse, so to speak for an illegal grid tie.2.2kw Suntech mono, Classic 200, NEW Trace SW4024Comment
-
You need to seperate all the lives and most especially the neutral of the inverter loads from the non inverter loads. also be sure that the inverter is designed to stay on for very long periods. otherwise just giving it rest time for a 15 mins can improve its working conditionComment
-
Comment
Comment