The Solar Inverter is an integral part of the entire power system for both Grid Connect and Off Grid solar solutions. The difference in function between Grid Connect and Off Grid solar inverters are significant, as such we will only be discussing Off Grid Solar inverters.
Decision #1: Do you go with Pure Sine wave or modified Sine Wave?
What does this even mean? A modified sine wave solar inverter tries to make the AC output look like true AC mains power by producing it in steps. While a pure sine wave solar inverter produces output exactly as mains power looks (well its usually even better than mains power).
The choice is not really a choice. Modified Sine wave off grid solar inverters are very cheap, but they are not very good if you want to power lights and electronic equipment like computers and the like.
So the moral to this little story is you want your Off Grid Solar inverter to be Pure Sine.
All the EverExceed Off-grid inverter has a good characteristics of pure Sine Wave.
Decision #2: Does your Solar Inverter need to act as a battery charger as well?
There is usually a bit of confusion around equipment terminology when you first start looking at these things. An Off Grid Solar Inverter has the job of converting DC power coming from batteries (or some other storage source) into AC power (like the power we get from mains electricity).
In recent times the inverter manufacturers have added the ability for solar inverters to act not only as an inverter (converting DC to AC electricity), but they can also act as a battery charger. If an inverter acts like a battery charger then it means there is a way to plug a generator into it.
Why is it handy to have your inverter act as a battery charger? The main reason is cost and convenience, you won't need to buy a dedicated battery charger.
No Battery Charging.
These off grid inverters are a lot cheaper than the others because they are simpler. They also tend to be a lot smaller in size, again because of the reduction in complexity.
With Battery Charging.
The correct term for the solar inverters with a battery charge function are “Inverter/Chargers”. These Inverter/Chargers are highly intelligent machines; you plug a generator into the Solar inverter and turn it on. The solar inverter will automatically detect the generator and start charging batteries as well as supplying power to the house. The solar inverter/chargers we use can even be told how much power to take from the generator. So if you have a 6kVA generator but for some reason only want to use 3kVA for battery charging. This can be done.
EverExceed Freedom Series, EverExceed VPS-MS Series inverters are compatible with battery charging options.
Decision #3: Do you want your Solar Inverter to Auto Start a Generator?
WHAT!!.. why would that need to happen? This feature is the key to system autonomy. Let's go through an example:
“You have a 3kW Off Grid Solar inverter and it works beautifully.. It's a cold winters night (snowing outside) and you are entertaining. Unfortunately your batteries have almost been drained because the Juke box has been hammering all night.”
What do you want to happen next?
Option 1: The Solar inverter shuts down due to its low battery cut off and the lights (and music) all go out. You have to head over to the shed in your best going out clothes to start the generator so that power is restored.
Option 2: Your Off Grid Solar inverter has an Generator Auto Start feature, and the generator is wired in, so the inverter tells the generator to start up and run. The generator starts, the inverter switches over to the generator, which leaves the generator to start charging your batteries and keep power on at the house. Best of all, this all happened automatically.
EverExceed Freedom Series, EverExceed VPS-MS Series inverters are compatible with battery charging options.
Decision #4: Do you need built in redundancy?
Redundancy is a way to minimize the risk of equipment failure. If your entire premises is being run by a single 6kW Off Grid solar inverter and it decides to blow up (because even the very best equipment will sometimes fail) what are you going to do? Wouldn't it be better to have two 3kW inverters working in tandem, when one fails the other just automatically takes over the job.
This technique of “redundancy” reduces the risk of Off Grid power outage to being so small it becomes insignificant. The EverExceed Inverter/Charges have a feature called parallel operation and it works like this:
If there are two 4kW Outback
Inverter/Chargers (as an example) wired together for redundancy the following happens:
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One inverter will do all the work most of the time assuming you don't need any more than 4kW of electricity.
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If the house requires more than 4kW, the first inverter tells the second one to start up and help out.. giving the house a total of 8kW of available power.
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If the first inverter dies for some reason, the second inverter can take over the role of supplying power to the house.
If you want to know more about EverExceed Off-Grid Inverters, contact EverExceed today. Our team is experienced for more than a decade on the industry to provide you best solution for your needs.
