I’m inclined to buy a 6048 from watts247 and do a totally independent system for the shop (except for a 12ga feed from house for two light switches, one outlet as I would leave the 6048 turned off except when needed; sortofa use it like a generator but without noise or gasoline.)
Interesting idea, never tried this. Would cut down on the idle consumption.
I believe the 6048 uses a low frequency inverter. That’s a benefit.
Not the MPP LV6048 - I have three of these, they are HF. The low frequency version is the LVX 6048 - even higher standby consumption, but you will avoid mostly buy shutting off when not in use.
But ‘some’ say the 6048 is junk and won’t last. I’m not convinced that’s true.
I have three, from 2021, 2022, 2023 all work together right out of the boxes, I run them hard at times (although try not to!) I can't see any problem with them - they do what they say they will do. String PV voltage max 150vDC is the weak aspect against other inverters up to 600vDC. I don't mind for the PV panels that are 20-30 feet away, not a big deal for me.
Therefore I wonder: should I just close my eyes and do parallel LV6548’s?
The older ones that are 250vDC PV strings are better than the newer ones - See
@LithiumSolar 's video comparing them.
I think Watts247 has these at reduced price still - check his website. You need two 6548's to get 120-240volt. I don't have this model, but from the guys on here like
@EastTexCowboy they are good solid units. To expand you can't do three, you need 2 or 4 units IIRC.
For your shop set up: do you need 240volt? You can set up the MPP 6048's for 120 only (and get full 6500W output) OR you can set up just one MPP 6048 and have 120-240 with just one inverter, 3250W per 120v Leg, or 6500 on 240.
Expansion is easy since they just parallel up 1 to 2 to 3 (three is max).
Before someone chimes in "The 6048 is only 6000W" they are incorrect. On the unit it has max continous output of 27.3A x 240v = 6552W, in split phase you get half of this per leg. I can tell you I normally shoot for 75-80% of max output to treat the inverters gentle, but there are times when they need to output full capacity and they handle it.
You need 200A capacity battery behind the MPP6048 for it to perform to it's rated max. With three inverters I needed 600A behind them. This is called out in the manual, and they need it.
If I was you today, knowing everything I learned over the last three years, I would also consider the EG6000XP and compare features you want with the prices. If you know you need more than 6000W output, hard to beat the price of a dependable pair of older MPP6548's (the 250v PV input ones).