Lt.Dan
Solar Wizard
Granted, the LV6548 has turned out to be a pretty well built machine. I understand they are still relatively new though, so we will see.
MPP-SOLAR LV6548
- Thread starter jasonhc73
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Sanwizard
Solar Wizard
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DMI inc is using 4 of them and 3 DIY batteries to power his entire house. No grid tie. He monitors everything via raspberry Pi. 26KW of AC is not bad for $4400 worth of inverters, that also include a transfer switch, battery input, multiple 120a MPPT outputs, 32KW of PV input, and very simple cabling.
I am thinking of removing my SMA grid tie and doing what DMI is doing instead with the MPP LV6548's. It seems like a much better solution, as your solar is always available, even in grid down, and you can always just plug in the grid or a generator as an extra input to the LV6548's if there is no sun for a few days.
What am I missing?
Lt.Dan
Solar Wizard
That's exactly what I am doing, but I'm slowly expanding my system. I saw it as the most feasible without grid tie
Thats what I am struggling with getting at least one of his LV5048 s or all 3 and sell one or going ahead and change out to 2 LV6548 s now and ? add 2 more later another choice would be 2 LV6048s One could go with 2 or 3 LV6048 s if you can get by with 18 Kw or so continuous and you dont have as much PV input but the PV voltage is also lower at 145 V Already have 70Kw battery bank. The other difference is if you use LV6548 s one goes out then you basically have 2 units functioning except maybe for 120v instead of US split phase 240v
jasonhc73
Cat herder, and dog toy tosser.
It used to be a thing where you built a computer. Motherboard, Video Card, hard drive, etc.
It is no more complicated than building a desktop.
This is what kind of forum? Oh, yea that's right, DIY! ?
jasonhc73
Cat herder, and dog toy tosser.
You can't add just one LV6548 at a time like you can the LV5048.
I went from two LV5048's to two LV6548's. You have to have two LV6548's for 240V split phase.
If you do all 120V, then you can add one at a time.
If two LV5048's can power you and what you need, that's 16kW of PV possible. I ran my entire house with it and a big battery for a few hours a day every day for a year. I switched to the LV6548's for the feature of being able to set the battery charging to not use any grid power for a specific time.
It is all moot though when you set up for off-grid.
In hindsight, I should have just stayed with the LV5048's. It has two MPPT's in every box, just like the LV6548. The biggest difference to be mindful of is the need to have a battery or not, that by itself is the biggest feature to consider.
4000 watts is 4000 watts, either way, you add it up, more Volts and fewer Amps or Fewer Volts and More Amps, your battery doesn't care when it is getting charged.
yes I am aware the LV6548 s have to be paired thats why I said if you have 4 and one goes out then you only have 2 for 240 split phase and once you pair them you have to have battery anyway. With 3 Lv6048s or 3 LV5048 s one goes out you still have the other 2 so lose 1/3 of power not 1/2. i was referring to the PV voltage input of the LV6548 s being around 230v vs 145 for the LV split phase units. That makes for more panels per string and smaller wiring needed etc. Now if it was 400v PV input I would definitely change out to 2 LV6548 s but I dont think I can justify it at the present 16,000 watt PV is what I plan to increase to. I currently have 12,600 but I have different battery banks one bank charges with 5048MG used as charger only and I can swap the LV5048 from one bank to the other and I have 2 of the MG units (got used cheap) so right now I can support well over 16,000 watts PV anyway. I have 70Kw of battery a 40 Kw leaf bank and 30 Kw of new Bolt cells.
Not sure if this has been answered but is the LV6548 compliant with whatever California Rule 21 is? I know they are UL certified and I asked Peggy about Rule 21, she said she was looking into it but no response yet.
What I'm trying to figure out is the cheapest but code compliant way to have an off-grid system, I don't even think off grid system must be Rule 21 complaint but you never know what an inspector may say. My county has a minimum design criteria to accept building an off grid home, but equipment must be "UL listed or similar". I can go the easy but way too expensive Sol-Ark 12k, or I can go with 4 LV6548 like DMI inc and still have around $2k leftover for UL listed or similar batteries. Sol-Ark is amazing and I would love to just go that route but $6.9k for a Built in China inverter sounds like a lot of money compared to 4 Built in China LV6548.
What I'm trying to figure out is the cheapest but code compliant way to have an off-grid system, I don't even think off grid system must be Rule 21 complaint but you never know what an inspector may say. My county has a minimum design criteria to accept building an off grid home, but equipment must be "UL listed or similar". I can go the easy but way too expensive Sol-Ark 12k, or I can go with 4 LV6548 like DMI inc and still have around $2k leftover for UL listed or similar batteries. Sol-Ark is amazing and I would love to just go that route but $6.9k for a Built in China inverter sounds like a lot of money compared to 4 Built in China LV6548.
jasonhc73
Cat herder, and dog toy tosser.
The LV6548 cannot grid-tie(backfeed the grid). It can only take from the grid.
Technically it is Rule 21 compliant.
That is what I thought but you never know what an inspector may say. I can easily see one saying it must comply with Rule 21 when there is no grid connection to begin with.
Once the electric company gets back to me with the estimated price for a new service I will make the decision to either be grid tied or off grid. Right now I'm leaning heavily towards off grid with a couple of LV6548 because they do Public Service Power Shut-offs events 2-5 times a year, they last for a day or more, my home will rely on well water for domestic and fire sprinkler use, and I don't qualify for their Self Generation Incentive Program.
I will go into more detail in a new post once I get they finally get back to me with a more accurate estimate, their website just says "$2000 to more than $22,000" and I'm guessing I will be closer to $22,000 than $2,000 because it's a rural area and roughly 500' away from the power lines.
Once the electric company gets back to me with the estimated price for a new service I will make the decision to either be grid tied or off grid. Right now I'm leaning heavily towards off grid with a couple of LV6548 because they do Public Service Power Shut-offs events 2-5 times a year, they last for a day or more, my home will rely on well water for domestic and fire sprinkler use, and I don't qualify for their Self Generation Incentive Program.
I will go into more detail in a new post once I get they finally get back to me with a more accurate estimate, their website just says "$2000 to more than $22,000" and I'm guessing I will be closer to $22,000 than $2,000 because it's a rural area and roughly 500' away from the power lines.
Sanwizard
Solar Wizard
- Joined
- Feb 2, 2021
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- 2,729
Off grid means screw the grid rules!
You might want to consider the MPP LVX6048. They say they are grid injectable where allowed so they should meet your code but who knows .This would be similar expense and 450V PV input . In my above post I neglected the X in LVX6048.
I actually asked Peggy about the LVX6048, her response was "We are sorry that LV 6548 is the only model that has UL certification ready at the moment , Not yet for LVX 6048 or LV 6048"
The county said "All equipment shall be listed (UL) or by another recognized testing/listing agency" so as much as I would prefer getting the LVX6048 because of the higher voltage, it lacks the certification right now.
The county said "All equipment shall be listed (UL) or by another recognized testing/listing agency" so as much as I would prefer getting the LVX6048 because of the higher voltage, it lacks the certification right now.
Noted . Did she happen to comment on the availability of the LVX6048? I have not found it for sale unless its directly through MPP website/Peggy
Looks like the LV6548 just came back on the watts247 website, 3 left. I was thinking about one for the no battery option as a replacement for a propane generator as emergency power during sunny days.
Seems like a good start and then I can get dragged down the rabbit hole to build the system up for whole house power when I can afford the batteries, extra unit and more panels. Most of the other inverters in this price range ie growatt don’t seem to be as flexible.
Can you add a set of these downstream of a manual gen trans switch but pull in the grid power from upstream of the gen trans switch for grid backup battery charging feature or bypass/overload feature? This way you use the grid as needed when its there, but the power to the house panel won’t back feed the main service panel from L1/L2 and the ground/neutral is still bonded back through the MTS?
Lt Dan and jasonhc73 both said they were using as off grid application and can switch back to grid power?
Seems like a good start and then I can get dragged down the rabbit hole to build the system up for whole house power when I can afford the batteries, extra unit and more panels. Most of the other inverters in this price range ie growatt don’t seem to be as flexible.
Can you add a set of these downstream of a manual gen trans switch but pull in the grid power from upstream of the gen trans switch for grid backup battery charging feature or bypass/overload feature? This way you use the grid as needed when its there, but the power to the house panel won’t back feed the main service panel from L1/L2 and the ground/neutral is still bonded back through the MTS?
Lt Dan and jasonhc73 both said they were using as off grid application and can switch back to grid power?
Lt.Dan
Solar Wizard
I'm using mine off grid as in no grid tie. But I am still plugged into the grid in my RV. You can see my build thread link in my sig, but the gyst is I have the trailer powered off of solar priority, then battery assist if solar can't keep up, and grid as a last resort after the battery falls below a set voltage.
This way I use as little grid power as possible, and when the battery gets over 40% it will switch back to battery power and disconnect from the grid.
I dont know how the batteryless option will do if you have no grid power to supplement with. I only ran mine for a day batteryless, and if solar was bringing in 1000 watts, but my load was 1200 watts, it would supplement with 200 watts from the grid. Im not sure what it would do if you didn't have the grid to supplement with. Maybe just power down and you would have to reset?
This way I use as little grid power as possible, and when the battery gets over 40% it will switch back to battery power and disconnect from the grid.
I dont know how the batteryless option will do if you have no grid power to supplement with. I only ran mine for a day batteryless, and if solar was bringing in 1000 watts, but my load was 1200 watts, it would supplement with 200 watts from the grid. Im not sure what it would do if you didn't have the grid to supplement with. Maybe just power down and you would have to reset?
