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UTILIZING GRID TIE INVERTER OFF GRID - $100 REWARD FOR SOLUTION

For anyone reading this thread and looking to get into solar/off grid living/van life etc, the lesson is:

You cannot trick a grid tie inverter with a fake mini grid cheaply/easily

People have done it with more complicated setups

the next step:

Here's a list of all the inverters mentioned in this thread that will work for my situation:

POWMR

MidNite Solar​

Schneider electric, make sure hv input
Sol-ark
Voltronics
SUNNY BOY STORAGE 3.8-US / 5.0-US / 6.0-US

Some of these are very cheap quality, others are very high quality but very expensive

I now will start the search for the proper inverter

If anyone has one laying around, let me know

Also I probably have to sell the PVI6000 to try to recuperate some damage
 
joesmith123 said:
For anyone reading this thread and looking to get into solar/off grid living/van life etc, the lesson is:

You cannot trick a grid tie inverter with a fake mini grid cheaply/easily

People have done it with more complicated setups

the next step:

Here's a list of all the inverters mentioned in this thread that will work for my situation:

POWMR

MidNite Solar​

Schneider electric, make sure hv input
Sol-ark
Voltronics
SUNNY BOY STORAGE 3.8-US / 5.0-US / 6.0-US

Some of these are very cheap quality, others are very high quality but very expensive

I now will start the search for the proper inverter

If anyone has one laying around, let me know

Also I probably have to sell the PVI6000 to try to recuperate some damage
Click to expand...
And the award goes to @ImAnIdiotPleaseBePatient in post 129.
diysolarforum.com

Search results for query: Sell

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@joesmith123 I hope you learned a lot and thank you for your testing.

Be sure to post updates on what you choose. We are here to help, even if you don't listen the first time. (I'm stubborn too, when someone tells me it's not possible it makes me want to try that much more...)
 
42OhmsPA said:
And the award goes to @ImAnIdiotPleaseBePatient in post 129.
diysolarforum.com

Search results for query: Sell

diysolarforum.com diysolarforum.com

@joesmith123 I hope you learned a lot and thank you for your testing.

Be sure to post updates on what you choose. We are here to help, even if you don't listen the first time. (I'm stubborn too, when someone tells me it's not possible it makes me want to try that much more...)
Click to expand...
But he's also saying to sell the prius, which is insane

It is literally the best bang for the buck generator, ive been living on it for 6 months straight no interuption (just the 12 volt side)
 
justgary said:
I'm still holding my breath for you to try this option. No need to send me $100; save it for the hospital bills!
Click to expand...

This idea I have been pondering

The problem the inverter wants to push out power at ALL time when it is functioning properly

Meaning, even if I go through the trouble of finding the signal, figuring out how to tell it to turn on, and then finally hooking it up, and it wont work, will be lost time/effort/more of the same of what I am dealing with now

At this point I am just waiting until something pops up that will work

I might even look around this forum for buy/sell/trade, and detail what I need, and hopefully someone has one laying around that they upgraded from etc

But I am not buying anything until Im 100% sure the inverter is appropriate for my unconventional setup
 
400bird said:
Did you read my post before responding? Your "smart" (not smart, it is a bog standard grid tie PV inverter) has a 5 minute timer. In the seconds the little inverter was powered up the PV inverter never even got to the point of producing power.
Click to expand...

But we know that the tiny inverter got "power" because it went into protection mode

That means that the 240VAC current did go from the PVI6000 to small inverter

Elaborate more on what you mean
 
sunshine_eggo said:
Wow.

I'm sure it's been covered, but I feel the need to say something.

Your Aurora is dumb. no offense, but it has one job: deliver as much power as possible to the connected grid. Period. It's not going to moderate itself in any way if an acceptable grid is present.

In order to use it, you need to AC couple it to a grid. You can do this with an inverter capable of frequency shifting. These work by sensing the surplus power at their output and using that surplus to charge the battery (which you will need to buy as well). Once the battery is full, it moves the grid frequency far enough off of 60Hz to cause the Aurora to effectively decouple from the grid.

The inverter selected needs to have the same power rating (sometimes 20% higher) than the output of the Aurora.

Your 2011 Prius HV battery is likely no more healthy than 50-60% of it's 1.3kWh rating. A new 12V battery for the Prius has about the same capacity (45Ah * 12V = 0.54kWh). Additionally, the Gen3 eat engines. Make sure you change your oil every 5k mi and check it regularly. Most burn it. If you ever have your head gasket warp on you, do not replace it. Get a new engine. Lastly, your fuel efficiency is going to be way worse than a suitably sized generator AND the car will run almost constantly. It will be nice and quiet though.

IMHO, between what I know about solar, and what I know about the Prius, what you are doing is pointless. Your Aurora is more of a burden than a solution.
Click to expand...
Yes the aurora is not suitable for my situation

To the run the prius for one week cost me about $20-25, and it doesnt run constantly, I have been living on it for 7 months now, not one issue
 
sunshine_eggo said:
Not sure about the OP, but for those that do this regularly, the DC-DC on the Prius is about 70A, so peak "generator" output is about 700W after car loads.
Click to expand...

So how about this @joesmith123

the Prius can do 700ws an hour from it's 12v ,if it can do it constantly, thats 16.8kw a day

I'd go:

A boosted mppt from the Prius, 12v >24v ,

24v battery bank of your choosing, and a normal bog standard inverter to run your loads

Simple easy viable solution.


Depending on inverter/ battery choice ect.. (I'd go AGM), . I reckon you could do it for less than $1,000


.... that's not including my $100 of course ?
 
Last edited:
SamG340 said:
So how about this @joesmith123

the Prius can do 700ws an hour from it's 12v ,if it can do it constantly, thats 16.8kw a day

I'd go:

A boosted mppt from the Prius, 12v >24v ,

24v battery bank of your choosing, and a normal bog standard inverter to run your loads

Simple easy viable solution.


Depending on inverter/ battery choice ect.. (I'd go AGM), . I reckon you could do it for less than $1,000


.... that's not including my $100 of course ?
Click to expand...
With that setup, it would be going from 220VDC -> 12 VDC -> 24VDC -> 110VAC
The better route: 220VDC-240VAC

Its better on the car for the long run, because for the car to from 220VDC down to 12VDC will be the throttle
 
joesmith123 said:
The better route: 220VDC-240VAC
Click to expand...

It might seem like the better route on paper but if you can't make it happen, can't get the right equipment, then it's not a good solution..



But that said there are plenty of charge controllers that can take that 220v input from the Prius battery


220v Prius > MPPT 100a @ 48v > 4s 12v batteries > inverter > loads


100amp @ 48v gives you 4.8kw to use continuously, the 4s 12v batteries act as a float so they wouldnt degrade cause you'd never actually be cycling them ...

Problem solved !



Or what about an AIO inverter with batteryless mode? not too hard to find
 
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