More panels on the way

I ordered a 10 panel pallet from santan solar today. Will add another 2900 watts to the system. Should cover all of my needs for now.

Next Ive got to get off my butt and order the system for the house beside the one I live in. Luckily on that one I can mount them to the roof so it should be cheaper not having to buy free standing mounting stuff.

I just have to decide if I'm going the tp6048 low frequency route or the 10kw high frequency one.
The old style central air on the other house probably would be less of a headache with the low frequency setup.

Crowz said:

I ordered a 10 panel pallet from santan solar today. Will add another 2900 watts to the system. Should cover all of my needs for now.

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NICE!

Crowz said:

Next Ive got to get off my butt and order the system for the house beside the one I live in. Luckily on that one I can mount them to the roof so it should be cheaper not having to buy free standing mounting stuff.

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Hope the roof is not too high up...and hope it is shingles not metal roofing !!

Crowz said:

I just have to decide if I'm going the tp6048 low frequency route or the 10kw high frequency one.
The old style central air on the other house probably would be less of a headache with the low frequency setup.

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For all the talk, I really don't think it matters that much, as long as the in-rush current is within the limits of the inverters. My HF inverters just hum along running shop equipment, Elect Dryer elec HWT, deep well pump, and most recently (drum roll) finally put the double oven on the system, the last hold out! LOL.
From my experience: try to keep loads below 80% of the inverter output rating, and be sure to have at least 200A per inverter (my AIO are each 6kW) so the in-rush loads are easily supplied by the ESS even at low SOC. Do these two things and you will be fine. YMMV.

I agree
High frequency has come a long way.
There isn't much difference, anymore.

The other house has a nice low roof and a mild angle so it will be a breeze to put the panels up there. The main house is 2 stories with a scary pitch to it.

All my roofs are shingled so that part helps too.

The first step to my roof mounted arrays was new metal roofs.
I don't want to have to remove the array to replace the roof, ever.

timselectric said:

I agree
High frequency has come a long way.
There isn't much difference, anymore.

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Seems like its hard to get a good stable wave form without some good old fashion iron/copper mass, especially with some of the harmonics from motors.

sunsurfer said:

Seems like its hard to get a good stable wave form without some good old fashion iron/copper mass, especially with some of the harmonics from motors.

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I haven't noticed any problems at all.

sunsurfer said:

Seems like its hard to get a good stable wave form without some good old fashion iron/copper mass, especially with some of the harmonics from motors.

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do you have a scope to illustrate what you mean? - curious, since I am running a lot of motors on HF AIO's.

OffGridForGood said:

do you have a scope to illustrate what you mean? - curious, since I am running a lot of motors on HF AIO's.

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I don't have an HF inverter. If its a good quality unit, you don't need to worry.

sunsurfer said:

I don't have an HF inverter. If its a good quality unit, you don't need to worry.

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You stated "it is hard to get a good stable waveform". I thought this may mean you have an Oscilloscope to track the waveform - to know it is "not stable", otherwise from where does your comment originate ?
I have a picco scope for working on cars and tracking down ignition problems from secondary waveforms, I have thought about getting a general Oscilloscope to be able to see what the inverters are doing, but never looked into it seriously.

OffGridForGood said:

You stated "it is hard to get a good stable waveform". I thought this may mean you have an Oscilloscope to track the waveform - to know it is "not stable", otherwise from where does your comment originate ?
I have a picco scope for working on cars and tracking down ignition problems from secondary waveforms, I have thought about getting a general Oscilloscope to be able to see what the inverters are doing, but never looked into it seriously.

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I like Tektronixs and have used them for years but they are pricey. They are the go-to for serious work. I still prefer analog scopes, its what I grew up with. I use to do allot of work with radio also. I sold all my gear when I moved out of commieville. I don't do any work that requires a scope anymore. Maybe for radios again someday and I also do car repair so maybe I'll pickup a snapon scanner with a built in scope. Their scope presets are convenient.

As far as my comment, pop the cover off and HF and an LF inverter and do a parts count. All the extra parts is whats needed to keep the waveform decent in a modern HF. So yea, its harder to keep things stable without all the inertia you get from a large transformer and it shows in the design. Lots more filtering as example to deal with inductive kickbacks, harmonics, clipping, etc....

I would love to see an HF vs LF output on say a mill head doing some deep cuts or maybe one of the newer top load washers with the motor doing the back and forth agitate cycle. I don't think they are an ECM setup or the likes but a simple induction motor, my LF Magna sign was making some bad noise when I ran one of those washing machines on the agitate cycle. I returned the washer to home depot, not worth wearing out my inverter. I can't imagine how a cheap HF would do.

I know there are some good HF inverters out there but I guess I'm just old school. Its nice having the higher efficiency of an HF but I like the design better of the typical LF. The large transformer absorbs lots of "electrical debris". Its a tougher design just by the nature of it and less parts to fail.

My $700 HF AIO hasn't had any issues with my top load agitating washing machine, for the last two years. Or any other loads on my property.

Interesting, but we don't really know unless we measure it.
In my set up I am running three low-mid-tier MPP HF inverters in parallel. The inverter set up was/is for my business really but since it exceeded my expectations, and was just too much fun, I added in my home which is next door. Now powering both. I have VFD's driving shop equipment including a CNC machine, and a large air compressor, next door is a new top load washer with as you describe the agitation gizmo, I don't see any issues but I don't have a scope to see the waveforms either. What would it cost for an entry level Ocilloscope to be able to see the AC waveform and know the impact of various loads, and start up/shutdown impacts on the system?
Many of @Hedges comments in various threads about the differences between HF and LF and the possible benefits of a large transfomer go over my head, but seem to indicate at below max output there is not a lot of difference really. If I got this wrong maybe he will chime in to correct my understanding.

If everything is running smoothly. And you don't have any flickering lights, or weird noises coming from appliances or inverter. Your sine wave is pretty clean.

Yeah, I figure since the 6Hp Air compressor cycling doesn't dim the lights like the DeathStar powering up, then all must be ok in the Solar Power Plant output.

OffGridForGood said:

Many of @Hedges comments in various threads about the differences between HF and LF and the possible benefits of a large transfomer go over my head, but seem to indicate at below max output there is not a lot of difference really.

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Actually there is allot difference between an HF and LF inverter, not just surge capacity. For starters, LF are safer.

How deep do you all really want to go?

Those that know, go low. I would NEVER run my home on an HF, not even if it was free.

Always best to stay within your comfort zone.

timselectric said:

Always best to stay within your comfort zone.

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Exactly!

I sleep well knowing a shorted driver circuit component in my inverter would not be directly connected to the house mains because I was smart enough to buy an inverter with transformer isolation.

The problem is going to be the 5 ton heat pump that is on the other house. I will measure its startup surge before deciding. I'm more interested in reliability than efficiency at this point. My mother lives in that house and I don't want her to even know I converted it to solar so she won't worry about it. She knows I'm converting it but I don't want her to see anything different.

Last thing I need is lights dimming when the central air comes on

Crowz said:

The problem is going to be the 5 ton heat pump that is on the other house. I will measure its startup surge before deciding. I'm more interested in reliability than efficiency at this point. My mother lives in that house and I don't want her to even know I converted it to solar so she won't worry about it. She knows I'm converting it but I don't want her to see anything different.

Last thing I need is lights dimming when the central air comes on

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Same goal here.
I want the grid experience without the bill.