PowerJack grid tied inverters, worth a damn?

[KillerWatts]

Hi there, I was just wondering if anyone has used these and weather or not hey worked well for you. It would be to make AC for a wood shop. Thanks!

[inetdog]

Hi there, I was just wondering if anyone has used these and weather or not hey worked well for you. It would be to make AC for a wood shop. Thanks!

There is an inherent contradiction in the idea of using a grid-tie inverter to make AC for a particular load.
Are you mentioning the wood shop because it has its own metered electrical service and you do not want to spend money which you could not recoup because net metering in your area will not allow you 12-month bill to go negative?

[russ]

Hi there, I was just wondering if anyone has used these and weather or not hey worked well for you. It would be to make AC for a wood shop. Thanks!

If you want a boat anchor they are OK - for anything electrical they are junk and the plug & play concept is not legal

[KillerWatts]

Thanks for your replies! Right now there is no power in there yet but will have a small service soon to run the shop stuff. For the AC (Air Conditioning) I was gone go with my DIY panels with 72 3x6 cells in each going to a PowerJack (maybe not if they suck) going in to the plug in the wall of my shop. The MAIN thing that concerns me about the whole thing is the posability of injury to a lineman during an outage. The PowerJack inverter is rated to take in 14-36 volts DC and output 120v 60Hz Pure Sine wave, it also will not work if it does not sense AC (Alternating current) from the outlet that it is plugged in to.Yes, no, FUBARed? How would be the best rout but still be worth it, and be safe for linemen.

[KillerWatts]

Would it be possible to run a 120v leg thru a blocking diode and then to the wall plug that the PowerJack (or some other inverter) and air conditioner are plugged in to? Then I would have current for the inverter to sense and thefor function, but in the event of an outage it would be a second line of defense against back-feeding the lines?

[KillerWatts]

If you want a boat anchor they are OK - for anything electrical they are junk and the plug & play concept is not legal

Is there a better quality version of this? Ill-Eagle is just a sick bird! lol! I will not be the only law getting broken in there.

[Sunking]

Screw the lineman safety, you are a biz man and number one priority is will it make you money. Answer is NO it will not. Between your home made panel, no credits, and poor efficiency it will never pay for itself. All it can do is cost you a lot of money in liability if you are caught with it or hurt someone.

[Sunking]

Is there a better quality version of this?

Not really. Th eonly possible scenario is to purchase a fully legal and compliant system installed by the pros in a Grid Tied System. If conditions are right in 8 to 10 years it might pay for itself by letting your neighbors pay for most of it. At the end of that time when you break even you net 0% ROI.

[inetdog]

Would it be possible to run a 120v leg thru a blocking diode and then to the wall plug that the PowerJack (or some other inverter) and air conditioner are plugged in to? Then I would have current for the inverter to sense and thefor function, but in the event of an outage it would be a second line of defense against back-feeding the lines?

Unfortunately there is no such thing as a blocking diode for AC. It would have to conduct current in both directions but power only in one.

[KillerWatts]

Screw the lineman safety, you are a biz man and number one priority is will it make you money. Answer is NO it will not. Between your home made panel, no credits, and poor efficiency it will never pay for itself. All it can do is cost you a lot of money in liability if you are caught with it or hurt someone.

Yeah, I do wish I would have got less DIY stuff to play around with. And no doubt it will be the last. But SOME free power has got to be better than none right? I mean the idea of a small air conditioner that STAYS on high whenever the sun shines sounds pretty good here in the south. But yes I agree that between the glass and high dollar Dow Chem goo, that I have lost my whole ass on this deal versus just buying panels. Thant being said, I plan to have fun with it. Safety is the main thing as lawsuits are no fun at all. Sooooo?

[KillerWatts]

Not really. Th eonly possible scenario is to purchase a fully legal and compliant system installed by the pros in a Grid Tied System. If conditions are right in 8 to 10 years it might pay for itself by letting your neighbors pay for most of it. At the end of that time when you break even you net 0% ROI.

You sound like you are the king of being AGAINST solar. Don't these cells last 20-30 years when denied oxygen? I still do not understand?

[KillerWatts]

Unfortunately there is no such thing as a blocking diode for AC. It would have to conduct current in both directions but power only in one.

ohhhh yeah... well it shuts down if it doesn't sense AC. So instead of the plug and play rout would I do better with batteries? Now THAT sounds like an expensive pain in the dangerous ass to me.

[Sunking]

Yeah, I do wish I would have got less DIY stuff to play around with. And no doubt it will be the last. But SOME free power has got to be better than none right?

Maybe, maybe not. If you spend $1000 on the materials and spend 200 hours building it and it only generates $100 worth of power before it fails.... Well all I can say is you really stuck it to the Man at the Power Company. That man is you with a $900 loss and a lot of time wasted learning the hard way. If your time is worth $10/hours then what?

[KillerWatts]

Maybe, maybe not. If you spend $1000 on the materials and spend 200 hours building it and it only generates $100 worth of power before it fails.... Well all I can say is you really stuck it to the Man at the Power Company. That man is you with a $900 loss and a lot of time wasted learning the hard way. If your time is worth $10/hours then what?

True, but IF it does NOT fail, and runs year after flawless year, THEN....I will have still lost my ass on the deal. lol! Oh well, it will not be the first (or last) time a poor choice has cost me a little extra time and money. So I have everything but the inverter, gota build something to keep from being a total loss so how should I run my air safely?

[inetdog]

ohhhh yeah... well it shuts down if it doesn't sense AC. So instead of the plug and play rout would I do better with batteries? Now THAT sounds like an expensive pain in the dangerous ass to me.

Your judgement on this one is good. Batteries would be a major expense on top of what you already have, and with an even worse chance of ever getting any return. Not really more dangerous than the plug-and-play, but a whole bunch of new problems to learn about.

You could either cut your losses by not investing time into construction of panels or else use them to directly power something with DC just when the sun is shining.
Or you could repackage them one or two cells each as starter solar experimentation kits and sell them.