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+--- Thread: Grid Tie with Limiter (/showthread.php?tid=17349)
Grid Tie with Limiter - ericlp - 06-28-2016
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1000W-solar-grid-tie-inverter-with-power-limiter-prevent-extra-power-to-grid-/112008512079?var=&hash=item1a143a424f:m:m9Uhbj_zhhf9BqJf8OwCbLg
So what's to stop someone from buying this 300 dollar equipment Plus 4 250 watt solar panels for about 1,300 bucks.... Some wire, track and clips, breakers, disconnect ... say 2K bucks worth of equipment... Plug in the fridge and small AC window unit.... I know maybe the start up would be a bit high, but most small AC's produce about 500 running watts and maybe 400 running for the fridge but who cares even if you had a huge fridge that sucked down 700 watts you'd still on grid tie AC would obviously suck down more than what the panels could produce, but that is what grid tie is for!
the utility would pick up the slack.Anyway... from my understanding, the Limiter is a pretty cool device... Supposedly, from what I read... it monitors both, house load on the utility side, and the DC panel load. So, if it senses that the utility load is sucking up 500 watts when the fridge kicks on, than it will try to match that load. When the fridge kicks off, it will try to balance the incoming and outgoing load so that only 10 watts gets sent out to the grid.
Weather or not this is accurate or works well is another story, but cool nonetheless!
So, what's to stop an average DIY Joe, from buying this equipment and installing it with "NO PERMITS" ... to run a window AC in the day time? Saving a lot of money. Granted you'll only run the AC between 12-4PM when peak sun panel hours. The rest of the time it would just save some bucks on the power for the fridge. No Batteries... and no permits... I take it that this inverter senses the grid power at all times and turns itself off if no power (to stop any power from going to the grid) safety for power workers, and even if it failed somehow, it's only suppose to send 10watts out anyway. Rather be Zero.
Fun stuff coming out on the market. I'm gonna guess that you'll be lucky to get 800 watts from this chinese inverter, but they do sell higher wattage ones. Tho, the limiter is an interesting option.
Thoughts? What would happen if Helco somehow saw this system in your home working? Like if you were stupid enough to mount it on an outside wall next to the meter! haha Sigh. Can the new digital meters detect 10/20 watts being sent back to the grid? I'm not in the market for grid tie, but I think this is just an interesting question.
RE: Grid Tie with Limiter - kalakoa - 06-29-2016
what's to stop an average DIY Joe, from buying this equipment and installing it with "NO PERMITS"
Nothing; people have been doing this on the Big Island for a couple of years.
Can the new digital meters detect 10/20 watts being sent back to the grid?
They can detect, and will report to HELCO, but I'm not sure how sensitive they are.
RE: Grid Tie with Limiter - ericlp - 06-29-2016
I would imagine that 10/20 watts wouldn't be enough to report back... since, it's not nearly enough for any type of gain. According to some websites the limiter has only been around for 6 months or so. I did a quick google search for it, and only really get china websites, unless it was called something else?
RE: Grid Tie with Limiter - terracore - 06-29-2016
I think this is what I've been looking for. The price though... seems high for Chinese crap.
RE: Grid Tie with Limiter - ericlp - 06-30-2016
shrug, I think it's about right......considering it could save you thousands over a year's worth of operation. If you just used it alone for AC, you could run the AC without too much worry about power bills on a hot day. If somehow you could program it to turn off the compressor when the panels output aren't producing enough juice to justify running the AC.
I guess I'd hook up a nice big LED readout of what the panels are pumping out to monitor the situation at all times.
RE: Grid Tie with Limiter - terracore - 07-04-2016
My worry is that just when I get the $330 back in energy savings, the unit fails and there is no warranty.