I am leaning towards the SunnyIsland. I assume it backs off the SunnyBoy via RS485 communications and the factory 240 xformer is a plus. The Outback setup might be a little less expensive, but as you say a bit of a kludge. I guess I still need the charge controller for the new PV, as the SunnyIsland doesn't regulate that.
Kirk Herander VT Solar, LLC dba Vermont Solar Engineering NABCEPTM Certified installer Charter Member NYSERDA-eligible Installer VT RE Incentive Program Partner 802.863.1202 From: re-wrenches-boun...@lists.re-wrenches.org [mailto:re-wrenches-boun...@lists.re-wrenches.org] On Behalf Of David Katz Sent: Friday, October 05, 2012 2:11 AM To: RE-wrenches Subject: Re: [RE-wrenches] AC coupling and Outback inverters Hi Kirk, All of the Outback inverters will work AC coupled (GT and FX) as will any bi-directional H-bridge type inverter. I have used old Trace SW's, SunnyIsland, Apollo TSW, Magnum AE and now I am using an Outback Radian to do exactly what you are talking about. I have 6 kW of grid tie inverter and an additional 4kw of modules running through a Xantrex 600 volt charge controller to the batteries that the Radian runs on. It all works flawless as long as you have a provision for protecting the batteries when the gid is down and the grid-tie PV system is making more power than the loads are using. If the customer has SMA inverters, I would recommend using a SunnyIsland because the battery control when the grid goes down is so elegant. Everything else is a bit of a kludge. David Katz CTO & Founder AEE Solar Inc P: 707 825-1200 F: 707 825-1202 dk...@aeesolar.com www.aeesolar.com From: re-wrenches-boun...@lists.re-wrenches.org [mailto:re-wrenches-boun...@lists.re-wrenches.org] On Behalf Of Kirk Herander Sent: Thursday, October 04, 2012 2:11 PM To: RE-wrenches Subject: [RE-wrenches] AC coupling and Outback inverters I have AC-coupled an Outback quad-stack with multiple SunnyBoy 6000US inverters and it's been running fine for 4 years. I used the off-grid version of Outbacks. Now I have an application where a customer wants to add battery backup to an existing SunnyBoy 5000US system. And expand his array by a couple KW. So I'm thinking of using a GT Outback w/ batteries to handle the critical loads and feed the extra 2kw of PV (charging the batteries through an MX60) to the grid. And I'd like to AC-couple the SunnyBoy so the original 5 kw array can also charge the batteries, BUT I remember, at least I think so, that the GT inverter cannot be AC-coupled, only the off-grid version. Is this correct? Thanks. Kirk Herander VT Solar, LLC dba Vermont Solar Engineering NABCEPTM Certified installer Charter Member NYSERDA-eligible Installer VT RE Incentive Program Partner 802.863.1202
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