Paralleling 3 inverters together, Growatt 5000w Solar System

[@lanfordmims5080]

David,, Thank you, Thank you, Thank you for showing how you connected everything to the main panel !!! Most you tubers show these all in one inverters how to mount them to the wall, then presto change-o it’s running the whole house, but never show how you connect to the main panel to get the inverter to run the whole house ! Cudos to you for showing the whole system connectablity! This has made my day! Of course anyone should know the final step is letting a certified electrician do the final hookup for safety. Otherwise famous last words, oh I can do this myself, then wake up in the middle of the night with the house fire alarm going off!!

[@DavidPozEnergy]

Your welcome. Thanks for watching.

[@rklauco]

You won't believe it - there is like 15 reviews of the Growatts all over the place. NONE of them shows you can multiply the charging by having more units, not only the AC output. This video answered my biggest question on the inverters. Thanks!

[@DavidPozEnergy]

Glad it helped.

[@easylooker]

Its good to finally see someone on the internet have a video on hooking up multiple units of a Euro style inverter. I on the other hand have 4 and use a transformer instead. All 4 go to a subpanel and from subpanel have 2 wires a neutral and hot going to the transformer, in goes 240 and out comes 2 legs of 120V. It can handle about 7x more current load than that autotransformer for just a little more money . From the transformer it goes to another subpanel that then distrubutes out to house, shops etc.

[@DavidPozEnergy]

Sounds like a good setup.

[@billjohnson3344]

It's generally not a good idea to do this in the US as the possibility of a 'floating neutral' is very dangerous. Given a fault or circuit breaker open which results in a disconnection of the autotransformer, either 120V leg could see up to 240V (double voltage) depending on the present imbalance of the phases. Say goodbye to any 120V rated electronics. Same scenario if David forgets to turn on the autotransformer breaker first - before the house/inverters. A few ways to do this correctly and safely. Autotransfer switches for home backup are wired in such a way such that the integral autotransformers can't be disconnected from the house when off-grid/grid down backup mode. Alternately, off-grid inverters have them integrated - same inability to ever disconnect. Some inverters like SMA make you use two 120V inverters instead, so you'll only loose one 120V phase given a fault (which is safe). Growatt also makes split-phase inverters with an integrated autotransformer, which are probably better for this US application (though still not UL listed).

[@danp762]

@@billjohnson3344 So, all he has to do is connect the autotransformer to L1, L2 and the neutral bar without a breaker? Maybe run all the wires from the autotransformer and breaker panel in steel conduit? just in case there is a fault? Where would you hook up earth ground?

[@MiniLuv-1984]

@@billjohnson3344 Very interesting Bill, in Australia we don't have this problem (I don't think), since we either have single phase 230V or 3 phase (380V). Can you point me to an article that describes this? Cheers.

[@billjohnson3344]

@@danp762 The SolarEdge autotransformer that David is using is designed to be wired directly to a SolarEdge StorEdge 'Connection unit' - no breaker in between. That configuration has been specifically designed, and safety verified by the certifying body (UL in the case of US usage). He is not using the transformer as it was intended. Connecting to the bus bars without circuit protection is also not a good idea. It solves the issue of the floating neutral, but an overcurrent fault in the autotransformer is now unprotected. To do what he is doing safely, the autotransformer breaker should be physically linked to all the other inverter breakers. This way a fault on the autotransformer will disable the supply voltage also. Possibly this could be linked only to the master inverter breaker, if the slaves shut down instantly when the master looses power. He'd have to test this. If linking all the breakers, he'd need to make sure they are rated to be able to trip the physical load of the multiple connected breakers. Regarding grounding, I'm not sure where he is linking neutral and ground - as well as if he has ground rods for the garage and house separately. The correct way to do this is to bond the ground and neutral at the 'main panel'. In his case here (providing power from the garage to house), his garage is his 'main panel' and his house is a 'sub panel'. So ideally the garage would have the bond, and the house would have ground and neutral separate. I suspect that is not how he has it set-up, probably left the bond to occur in his house panel so as not to disturb all that 'normal' wiring when connected to the grid.

[@backhoefred]

I like your videos, I have had solar on our ranch since 1999. Started with dual Schneider sw 5548s . Now i am totally off grid at the home with dual smas like i see on your wall in the video. I increased my capacity by ac coupling my smas with my old grid tied system. Simple, connected to the ac buss to the house. The smas frequency control my enphase array for load and battery charging. Many times, during the day i have 40 amps grid without taxing the smas, as they provide grid only and battery charging for nightime. Im an old time diyer in California. Fred

[@backhoefred]

Oh PS my main thing is heavy equipment and gold mining.

[@travisdjermyn]

We build 100 homes a year and, I use these batteries on all of the holes that come with solar and battery in the build.. we use single or duel Sol-Ark typically, however we just started trying grow watt. Great videos for sure. 👍

[@technoe02]

Your videos and others like you are how renewables become common household items. You're doing some of the hard work to make it easier for the rest of us. I really appreciate that.

[@HauNguyen-kj3mn]

⁷6⁸⁵55⁵5⁵⅚ 80

[@HauNguyen-kj3mn]

9 90 000⁰ ha t hữu ⁿ⁸ ngoài ⁶⁶⁶⁶⁶⁶⁶⁶⁶6 69 ⁶⁶5⁷⁶6⁶88ù6

[@lunatik9696]

David seems to be a genuinely nice guy. I enjoy watching your video's. Lots of good practical info.

[@kennethnwarache8562]

I have a couple of stringed inverters (up to 9units in parallel). Still I always enjoy watching you at the back ground.

[@markmyers454ss]

Signature solar recommended watching your videos before we ordered these inverters. Thank you for the video series on these so far. We ordered 2 and the transformer yesterday. Just ordered the watt meters off Amazon as well. Thank you

[@DavidPozEnergy]

Your welcome, and good luck with your build

[@RobAbdul]

You are living my dream. I cannot express the sheer excitement I get from seeing this kind of stuff. Going off grid is the ultimate; more so due to the astronomical energy prices due to Covid-19, global demand and the war in the Ukraine. You are very fortunate your wife is interested in this too. I was touched by words regarding your grandparent's screw driver (we call is Philips head in this side of the pond, UK) I discovered your channel on KZbin today. I hit the like, subscribe and the bell icon. Thank you for sharing. You've saved me thousands of pounds - I've learnt from your experience. Rob :-)

[@DavidPozEnergy]

Thank you for the kind comment. Good luck with your future projects.

[@dudleykruythoffdiy]

David it has been a pleasure watching you, it has helped me in making my the choice to use the 5000 220 volts, with a mid point transformer purchased them from signature solar and was over happy that i did not realize I didn't use the coupon code. I will be powering my entire home with this and hope to add another inverter later this year. looking forward to your updates on this installation. I think this will be the first solar installation using Growatt on the Island of St. Maarten the Dutch Caribbean.

[@MiniLuv-1984]

All the best with that project Dudley.

[@jefferyhickey7342]

Whats the cost I'm curious

[@eddietee6305]

The main drawback with auto-transformers and transformers are the efficiency. You gonna have losses. 80% efficiency is typical and decreases with increasing loads.

[@alanmainwaring1830]

Hi David, I have built my own system using the MPP Solar off grid inverters. . I have had two 240V 4000 W inverters in parallel running for 6 years, the only problem I have had is getting cooling fans for them. These Growatt inverters look very similar to the MPP Solar inverters, the user manuals are very similar. Recently I did an install recently with the Growatt inverters. I have heard some bad reports on the Growatt Off Grid Inverters . Personally I absolutely love them. I am envious of the design engineers that made these, they are reasonably priced and seem reliable of course time will tell. At my home in Australia in ten years I have had two Fronius Grid tie 1.5Kw inverters go faulty. Which is very disappointing. Luckily in Australia we don't need the auto transformer system. Anyway thank you for your clear and easy to follow videos. I really hope these Growatt inverters are reliable and that one can get parts for them to fix them, I hate the idea that they go to landfill.

[@CaptKirk1701]

Use 4 bushings under the cover of your auto transformer to allow air to flow behind cover.

[@sixoffive]

Stand offs

[@JasonWorksAlot]

🙋🏼‍♂️🙋🏼‍♂️🇺🇸

[@carpballet]

That is a nice thing you’re doing with your grandfathers tools. And thanks for mentioning it.

[@davestech6357]

You have come a long way. They make phase sensors that monitor your power and it can really save your day by tripping a disconnect. I would add one especially if you were to lose your neutral. Awesome setup you got.

[@nathaliamendes4794]

Hi Sir, I don't believe you are just a DIYer I believe you are a cook! 👍👍👍👍👍

[@williammeek4078]

Great video, but now i feel old for being able to instantly recognize a serial cable.

[@charlesrichards5389]

I had one on my first mouse, back when mice had balls.

[@feelingtardy]

you'd be surprised how much "modern" equipment still uses rs232 for downloading to/uploading from

[@davidchristensen1219]

True, but mfgs have switched to using RJ11 or RJ45 connections for serial communications. On top of that, most equipment these days are using RS485 for CAN and Modus communications.

[@igotedumacated]

LOL you are not alone in that comment.

[@carrieperez1618]

@@feelingtardy I thought the same thing! I immediately said, "that's just an RS232"!

[@captainobvious9188]

I'm glad I'm not the only one that breadboards stuff out on the wall before putting it in conduit.

[@scoleri]

I'd love to see the grid wired in as well. So we could see what happens at night or when the grid power gets cut. Also the same thing without a battery at all.

[@mikewhitlock1849]

Sounds like he has manual transfer switch or maybe ATS on his main grid service. He just manually overrides the ATS so he can test.

[@EwePeople]

I was on the phone with Signature Solar for about an hour and a half today. That are the most helpful solar company I've talked to. I'll be getting two 5kw inverter chargers and the auto transformer. I like how if one fails I can still get some electricity out of the other, I can use more panels, add more inverters down the road if necessary, and shipping is going to be a lot more reasonable than the big 12kw unit. I will use your discount code as well, just waiting for the invoice.

[@DavidPozEnergy]

Very cool. That will be 10kw of inverter power, and up to 12kw of solar PV. Nice.

[@popoyislife129]

Finally a video for old regular joe like me. thank you kid this video answer my question. You got a new subcriber👍

[@t.d.5804]

Got 4 MPPSolar Pip4048 each 4kW in 3phase setup (Europe 400V 3p and 230V 1p) for 7 years now. Running fine, House, HeatPump/AC, electric cars. Bought them because SMA were too expensive in 2014 and they did not offer the features I needed. greetings from Europe

[@oleksii.zagorskyi]

18:40 it's a DB9 connector, in most cases used for serial port communication.

[@DavidPozEnergy]

Thank you.

[@vkwong7569]

Robertson drives are the best, IMHO. As a guy from Sabah, Malaysia, prior to my studies in Canada (1987-1991), I have not seen any other type of screwdriver heads other than the "straight slot" & Philips, both prone to chipping/slipping. After I saw the Robertson drive (and used it), I absolutely love it. Extremely robust and will never slip! I brought the screwdriver back to Sabah, and still have it today. However, there are no screws using the Robertson drive here.....

[@LithiumSolar]

Very cool setup. I look forward to the efficiency testing! I'd love to hear what the idle/self-consumption is of running those 3 inverters.

[@DavidPozEnergy]

Hi LithiumSolar, Idle consumption is high. 70w per inverter, plus 18w for the auto-transformer. 5.5kwh per 24 hours. I am with you, in that I wish it was lower. My SMA inverters are lower, but also cost a lot more.

[@randybobandy9828]

@@DavidPozEnergy that is crazy! 5.5kwh just to idle for a day! How much power are you generating a day during winter?

[@DavidPozEnergy]

Hi Randy, I have not gone through a winter with all 3 solar arrays producing, so I can't say for sure.

[@charlesrichards5389]

@@DavidPozEnergy Don't Growatt inverters have a low-power mode?

[@Chuck.Henderson]

@@DavidPozEnergy Over 5kw per day seems like a lot of inefficiency. I am experimenting with using a small off grid pure sinewave inverter, and then putting many grid tie microinverters in parallel with the AC output of the off grid inverter. The grid tie inverters seem much more efficient than any off grid inverters I have tried and they seem to sync up just fine to the off grid inverter. This entire system being off grid, the grid tie inverters just think they are on grid. I seem to get a lot better efficiency doing it this way, rather than using a larger off grid inverter. I do not know how well my method would scale. I only have 1.5kw of solar to experiment with, but have fun trying different configurations to try to improve efficiency. I wonder if you or anyone else here has tried something like this?

[@coopernorman5016]

Thanks!

[@DavidPozEnergy]

Thank you.

[@ai4px]

Great video. Fwiw you can stack 120v growatts asymmetrically. Really love how you let us in on what you are thinking and doing as you go.

[@karikreps3513]

Have only once wired ceiling light. Am/was telecommunications, so understand most of what your saying. I have man who says he journeyman electrican so I am considering solar & What I need. I have read about a new type glass that is capable of replacing solar panels. Then there is another guy who says they can use a spray on regular windows that can also collect the rays & supply solar. ] I don't want to buy what will be outdated soon. Have u heard about that?

[@justinneill3888]

Bless your heart for not using drywall screws to mount things to your backboard.

[@DavidPozEnergy]

Not enough sheer in a drywall screw.

[@theradioweyr]

Looking forward to the autotrans floating neutral nightmare issue being addressed - I have seen how seriously a power company takes this because as they are responsible for failures on their end and how fires can occasionally be started. I recently bought the Victron 100A (still just 30A neutral capability really, not different from what you are using, just that it is a toroid and a wee bit more efficient and quiet) autotrans, mainly for potential hurricane use here in Florida and as a matching tool as I build out my PV/hybrid system to match alternate power/generator inputs to the inverters that have charge capabilities.

[@paulpierce2051]

I think your system is on par with how I wanna go. I’m installing a separate breaker box with separate “emergency” outlets in my house. From there I want to be able to run a generator or solar for the things I want on. So if the power goes out I just unplug my well and plug into my emergency power source.

[@charlesrichards5389]

I'm looking for a large toroid core to wind my own, but even the ones from China are too expensive.

[@CotyCondry]

I am building a similar setup to David's, with the Growatts and solaredge autotransformer, but using 1 breaker panel for 240v loads and a 2nd breaker panel just for 120v loads. The 2nd breaker panel gets its neutral from the autotransformer, and bonded L1 and L2 with it, and their shared power comes from the 240v panel via a single 30A double-pole breaker. This way, if the autotransformer breaker is tripped, all 120v power is disconnected and I won't have a floating neutral.

[@walkingthruyourdata-6019]

Very great!. I'm learning about Solar to build my own system. Yes, expensive, but I'm tired of depending on the grid. Great Vid.

[@digigamer7]

Looking forward for the next video. I'm planning in making an budget solar system for my parents here in Puerto Rico because we are right next to the hurricane season and we don't want a Maria or Irma part 2.

[@kingarthurthe5th]

Same here bro.

[@ahnafpiash]

I don't know since when but my subconscious mind has been waiting for this video since the last video update!!

[@jdjd1754]

The "old" pc connectors are DB9 and you can build your own custom RS-232 cables!

[@MiniLuv-1984]

Are you sure? They looked like DB15's to me. I could be wrong.

[@jdjd1754]

@@MiniLuv-1984 18:31 9 pins :)

[@chrisdeleo4574]

Also looks like it is RS-485 @ 19:28

[@daemoncan2364]

...and they're M-F cables to daisy-chain between units.

[@cetyl2626]

I too enjoy using my fathers and gradfathers tools. I look forward to passing them on to my son.

[@maxmilliah]

Great work, the stuff of legends. If you add a pdf of the wiring schematics that would be great for your fans.

[@dalehorne9316]

David the grey wire for paralleling the panels is a serial connector yes from the older times but still is functional

[@chriswaller4229]

If you haven't used the app, it has some really cool features. I'm running 2 of the new style 3kw 48v growatts rated for 250v pv and 120v output.

[@fisherman7633]

First time on your channel. Interested in Solar Power for future home use, but don't know anything about it. What i like about your video: 1. You share knowledge to us. 2. You explain in detail. 3. Close-up video shots 4. You are transparent. 5. You read the comments.. QUESTION: How do you know so much about Solar Power? Did you study on your own? Looking forward to watching more of your videos specially the update to this video in hopefully about a month. Thanks for sharing. And thanks also to the one who recorded the video. I Liked & Subscribed. Stay safe. God bless.

[@DavidPozEnergy]

Thanks for subscribing. I'm learning as I go. Sometimes the commenters share some cool experience. I love reading manuals, seriously manuals are tons of fun. I've been lucky enough to make some friends with electricians who are extremely helpful.

[@rawsonreyes9774]

I would like a basic hand drawn lay of the wiring diagram of this set if possible

[@Starkchris]

Send me your info if you need a drawing

[@hcclife425]

@@Starkchris I could use that drawing if you don't mind

[@REELAXJoor]

@chris stark I would also appreciate the drawing please 🥺

[@k4831]

@@Starkchris I would also love to have the drawing when it is convenient.

[@johnsamons1961]

@@Starkchris Could you kindly send me that drawing as well please.

[@cowboymcq6711]

Great job David 👍🏼 You did a video from Mountain Maine I actually have an off grid camp in the next town over. Living the good life ❗️❕🌞 Living off grid can be frustrating at times but is super rewarding at the end of the day as long as your batteries don’t die hahahahaaa

[@DavidPozEnergy]

Hi Cowboy MCQ6, I'd love to check out your projects in Maine if you are willing to show them off. I'm on Facebook at Davidpozenergy

[@robbonner]

Epic amount of detail. Good stuff

[@henrymendoza1150]

Es un gusto, saludando desde Guatemala... mi Ingles es muy basico y trato de entender tus videos, que son muy explicativos. agradecido por tanta informacion, acabo de tener mi primer trabajo en los INversores Growat. tengo unos años trabajando en la energia alternaitva, gracias de nuevo

[@carrieperez1618]

Really great videos, I really enjoy watching and learning! I only wish my property got enough sunlight to do this myself. I research it every couple of years, and I always give up on it because my property's too small, and just does not get enough sun :(

[@kennethalmond8922]

Congratulations! Its always so much fun to put things online and see them all work :)

[@jwsolarusa]

You have put in a lot of work into this video. Thanks for all the awesome videos and advices. Cheers

[@kikofras]

1.21 GIGAWAAAATTSSS. GREAT SCOTT!!!

[@SyberPrepper]

Thanks for all the detail. Much appreciated.

[@CDNguyen59]

David, very interesting to see you installed Growatt inverter, I gave been used MppSolar for about 5 yrs, currently I have 2 hybrid inverter parallel together that give me 10kw to use for my electric cloth drier and the water heater, I hoped these Growth work ok for you, watching your video man, they look exactly installation for PIP inverters

[@desertaip9137]

Really enjoy your videos. For this install, I'd recommend running the 240VAC lines in conduit, or using SOOW cable for safety. Or install a shield over the wiring bundle.

[@michaelspencer6523]

True

[@Desertphile]

Thank you. I used the Demuda 6,000 watt 24/48 VDC - 110/220 VAC input, 110/220VAC pure sine wave output 100 amp MPPT charger-inverters and I think they might have cost more than the Growatt. It has a PV input max of 5,760 Watts which is vastly larger than my two 100 watt panels. :-) Going by functionality and price, it appears to Growatt is the better deal.

[@leexgx]

I would strongly recommend using full PPE when flipping switches for the first time and especially the DC switches for solar and lithium battery Banks it can be especially dangerous as things can get dangerously exciting very quickly (at a minimum have long arm flash resistant gloves, and protective glasses but ideally full face covering type mast, might not be messing with 10kv+ here but risk is still there)

[@cornwallav8r]

PPE would make sense in facilities with larger fault current. I highly doubt this guy's system is capable of more than 4KAIC, which isn't necessarily enough to justify that level of protection.

[@bobsaturday4273]

full ppe ? sure . go back to your knitting

[@josephkhouri7028]

i REALLY LOVE YOUR SYSTEM AND BATTERY BACKUP, HOPE SOME DAY i CAN DO THE SAME. THANKS BIG JOE

[@edstiver]

Great content David! Would love to see a follow-up on overall efficiency of the system.

[@ChinaChuck]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/haDKk3uke8ZqfZY

[@jameshancock]

So let's say I want to use the AC inputs on these units as well as the AC outputs for the paralleling so that I have backup if there wasn't enough sun. What's the best way of breaking out the power? If I read from the manual correctly, it appears that their suggestion is to get some sort of 200A panel and that the units have their own breakers in them. But I can't find a 200a fused disconnect that doesn't also require breakers that isn't VERY expensive. I want to have 4 units but eventually have 6. (whole home geo thermal etc.) Suggestions?

[@FilAmGabe]

Hey David great video. Can you please send a link to the disconnects that you use?

[@MindCrime550]

He linked to the one he uses on the PV side in the previous video, check the description: kzbin.info/www/bejne/rXW3nICHjpiFrpI

[@paulwoolford2861]

David, keep going brother, your videos are very informative

[@igotedumacated]

It is really great to see guys like you do this stuff. I plan on making my parents property fully self contained in the future and seeing how you and others power their houses will help me make my parents property self contained. Do you possibly have a well to see how this system reacts to well pumps turning on?

[@DavidPozEnergy]

Thanks for your comment. Unfortunately, I'm on town water at this property. Hopefully I'll build another house in a couple years and have a well. I have tested this with air conditioners, air compressor, table saw, etc. and they all start perfect. I know someone with a well and running just one of these inverters and he reports no issues.

[@GreekSIMRACING]

When you have this setup 3 inverter as paraller we can feed loads as 15kw but with how many amps?My home have 3 phases so i spread the loads on each phase.Which way should i go?What if we run heavy loads with in this paraller setup as i understand is limited in 50A correct?

[@ChadCourtneyTAZ427]

The cable is a DB9 (serial cable) but based on the labeling instead of using RS232 (typical serial communication) it uses RS485 (SCSI communication - pronounced scuzzy)

[@phillipsusi1791]

@MikkelRS Indeed.. nothing to do with SCSI ( that's for disk drives ). Though the difference between RS232 and RS485 isn't voltage but rather that it is meant to daisy chain devices with a few bits to address them rather than being point to point.

[@tomsmith4484]

@davidpoz what's the largest guage battery cable that will fit into the 5000es? It looks like you went big. That's what i want to do. M8 5/16 terminals right? Thanks bud, long time subscriber here 👍

[@cattigereyes1]

Total cost of the system Also as someone who’s worked with a electrician. I can see electrician knowledge from these videos.

[@johnjr3870]

Looking good so far. I am setting up property way out and solar is way cheaper than running grid, following!

[@constructioneerful]

So cool. I'm thinking the efficiency calculation ends up considering the slight inefficiency of the new growatts compared to how many additional solar panels you can buy with the savings?

[@peterm.eggers520]

Mrs. Poz camera-shy? Nice to put a face to your better half! 😀

[@maverickmacgyver]

“I just checked the meter, and we’re pulling 1.21GW, prepare to jump to light speed!” -DPZ

[@DavidPozEnergy]

LOL

[@ziggystardog]

Next, he'll find a way to get his house up to 88 mph. Somehow I think hoverboards will be involved.

[@bigblockcutlass123]

I bought the Growatt 12k inverter from Signaturesolar like you suggested. Nice machine and have been running the house for three weeks now. Having issue with is shutting down for twenty seconds and restarting. Did this three times the first three days, then two weeks no problem, and this week it has happened three times. Emailed Brian at Signaturesolar and email Growatt service. No Response. I gave the Growatt service all the info like they ask for on the phone, They told me to email them info, Bought a lap top to interface with it, Emailed them the data they wanted four days ago, no response. Emailed Brian four days ago to let them know I am having trouble, No response. I have a fan lock code, but yesterday it did it no code. Not over loading,

[@DavidPozEnergy]

Darn, that sounds very frustrating. If you are on Facebook we could message each other, I'm at DavidPozEnergy. Inverters can shut down for multiple reasons, and overloading is just one possibility that you have ruled out. Here are some other things to check: 1. Battery voltage at the terminals. I've seen this drop low, causing a low-voltage shutdown on the inverter. However, sometimes the batteries are still good. Some common issues are 1.a. Battery is undersized 1.b. Wires are undersized 1.c. crimp connections are loose 1.d. If multiple batteries used, daisy chained, BMS fault, weak cell in one, etc. might cause the issue. I like to use bus bars for a central point. 1.e. Long wire run from battery to inverter 2. Solar: possibly over-voltage from the solar array. This can happen with cold temperatures, and clouds. Make sure to add 25% to the Voc on the panels when designing your solar array strings 3. Over-temperature. Some inverters will shut down if they get too hot. 3.a. ambient air temp is too hot. maybe kept in a shed that is baking. Or an attic. 3.b. fan not turning on (could be a bad fan, or a loose connection) 3.c. blockage of vents. Inverter needs plenty of airflow. example: don't set the user manual on top blocking vents.

[@paulpierce2051]

When doing this in an off grid situation, do you bond the neutral to ground at the breaker box?

[@crhu319]

It has to be bonded in only ONE place per system. Else you get multiple paths through all your neutral and ground wires in a fault situation. The inverter documentation should clearly tell you - and show on a wiring diagram - if the incoming DC node that it treats as ground (ie doesn't turn off when off) is isolated from the most positive wire on the outgoing 3 phase 240/120. If it is isolated, you would need to bond the wires at the service panel to deal with load faults, and separately at the feed panel (near the inverters). If it is not isolated, it could be bonded in either place but not both. For compatibility with grid power you may prefer to bond it at the service panel. Bonding it in both panels is not particularly dangerous as they are connected only to each other leaving no alternate paths other than on the wire between. But code will tell you to do it one way or another.

[@paulpierce2051]

@@mikehodgetts4864 yes helps a ton. I understood everything you posted but found the new nugget of information at the end, thank you.

[@TheJmac82]

@@mikehodgetts4864 Just so I get this correctly, Main breaker box in a hybrid situation like this would be grid box correct?

[@TheOneJacinto]

Awesome!!! Thanks for sharing, David! Enjoy that!

[@IntenseGrid]

I love your videos, BTW. You do the testing and building and make the mistakes so we don't have to. Please don't ever cover up your mistakes.

[@DavidPozEnergy]

Thanks for watching. I appreciate the positive feedback for showing my mistakes. Sometimes showing them spawns so much criticism that it makes me want to stop. Then your comment keeps me centered.

[@DIYDaveT]

@@DavidPozEnergy You can tell the people who are just spectators vs. those who are using your data as actionable intel. Spectators will complain, doers will thank you for sharing. Spectators actually want you to fail because it makes a better show for them AND they don't feel like they are missing out and falling behind. I'm impressed by the value prop of these GroWatt units because, yes, the Sunny island units are expensive. Even worse, Sunny Island seems designed to force you into buying Sunny Boy inverters in order to turn your solar power into something that can be used either for direct consumption or to charge the batteries. This suggests that they care more about their profits than they do about the value prop for their customers. Now, if the Growatt product turns out to be cheap Chinese junk then SMA is worth every penny because, especially in the USA, the big cost of these systems is the labor to install, not the gear. So if you can install it once and have it not break down then that is worth A LOT. But if GroWatt combines the functionality of a MidNite Solar Classic 250 charge controller with a SMA Sunny Island Battery inverter and it does so for way cheaper and it is actually reliable then GroWatt is going to dominate in a short period of time because this is the functionality that people actually want. One more thing: those who live in the city and have access to city power will be seeing their power bills skyrocket into the future. So it is becoming cost effective to install an offgrid system which feeds one side of an ATS where the city power feeds the other side and solar is made primary. When your solar system runs out of juice, the system flips over to city power as a backup. But if you size your system right, 80-90% of the time or more will be running in off grid mode.

[@rtheprizeisright7323]

If you have your grandfathers tool box put chalk in with the tools in the toolbox it will keep the tools from rusting more.

[@nicholashowell]

I had wondered if having 3 inverters/charge controllers connected to the same battery would cause any issues. It looks from your video like this is what you have done with no apparent issues so I guess it's OK.

[@DavidPozEnergy]

Yes, one battery bank. The manual actually says to have only one battery bank.

[@emilywilde2348]

I ordered (Before) basically a very similar set up to your set up from signature solar. I have only two inverters and two less batteries but otherwise the same. I also have no idea what I am doing so SUPER SUPER happy to run across your videos! What luck! :-) I was hoping you could tell us the specs on your combiner box that your breaker are in and your handy shut off switches please. I am hoping to purchase those as soon as possible if you are so kind. You and your family rock by the way. Been watching for a year now and just wish the very best to all of you! :-) THANKS!!!

[@DavidPozEnergy]

I've been using the Siemens brand stuff at Home Depot. www.homedepot.com/p/Siemens-SN-Series-150-Amp-20-Space-40-Circuit-Main-Breaker-Plug-On-Neutral-Load-Center-Indoor-SN2040B1150/313137391

[@emilywilde2348]

Thanks so much! Sorry I asked twice. :-) We live rural and can;t pop into big box stores. We have to make a plan. I just wanted to make sure there was nothing specialized about them so thank you so very much from northern New Mexico. Keep up the great work!

[@eDoc2020]

@@emilywilde2348 Keep in mind the current setup with the autotransformer used in a regular breaker box is not safe. David said he's purchasing special breakers to fix this problem, so I'd wait for that video before purchasing a panel.

[@offgridwanabe]

Good stuff I am sure you matched the voltage strings from each array so they would be the same it will be interesting to see if the higher voltage array produce more. I am still confused on the transformer feeding the 120 volts to the same box as the 240 from the inverter. I would have wired a separate breaker panel for 120 but I am not an electrician.

[@firpofutbol]

I am also confused. From other auto transformers I've looked at, there have an input from the AC source, and an output. Here I only see an output of two hots and a neutral and no input. On top of that, like you said, it feeds back into the same panel as the 240 inverter.

[@johnbcampise]

The 30 amp breaker in sub panel feeds into the transformer. Then the transformer sends 120 volts to the neutral bar. When a 120volt breaker is inserted into sub panel, it only touches one of the 240 volt panel bars and sends one wire from breaker to the 120volt appliance load (light switch, plug, etc.). The neutral return line from the appliance attaches to the neutral bar (which is attached to 120volt transformer output line). Seems weird, but that’s how it turns 240v into 120volt. So apparently since the load is not going from one 240v bar to the other 240v bar, but instead from on 240v bar to the 120volt neutral bar, that equals 120volts?

[@stephaniemckeen3511]

great video would love to know what your average hydro consumption is per day, what are some larger loads that you run off the inverters and how big your array is coming into the system plus wondering how the 30kwh battery bank is working if its lots sufficent to run your house at night or for a day of low sun. like watching your videos lots of info would like to make a similar system completly off grid with about 10kw of sola pv

[@DavidPozEnergy]

My 3 solar arrays total about 12kW. My house and garage are 100% electric. That includes oven, dryer, water heater, air conditioning, and space heating. During the winter I could use 30kwh in just one day because of heating. But most of the time I use about 12kwh per day.

[@deltoncbaker]

I would mount the auto transformer to a concrete board like the board you mounted the Gowatts.

[@dalehorne9316]

David awesome job and this is something I would like to in the very near future your video has to be the best and easy to understand and comprehend thanks

How are you dealing with the neutral to ground connection?

[@RolandW_DIYEnergyandMore]

@David, if you didn't bond yet, can you please measure the voltages from Ground to L1,N, L2. Would be interesting how that looks like with the auto-transformer...In principal, you will need to bond at that shown load panel as this is the point of entry from all generators.

[@crhu319]

@@RolandW_DIYEnergyandMore Yes in principle. But do the inverters bond the DC input ground to the AC ?

[@alanmainwaring1830]

@@crhu319 No they do not , leave the DC wiring floating bond the Neutral at the switch board only in Australia RCD devices are compulsory at the switchboard. Of course USA is different.

[@volvo09]

Might have to pick one of these up... Keep seeing them but just moved to a new place of my own with a well pump, so i have to see how much it pulls on startup. I don't believe the well is terribly deep, but it"s still a submersible pump..

[@jameshuynh5436]

You just showed us what you got and how you get it done your way people may get envy and others doesn’t learn anything cause they don’t have the stuffs you had so what do us get or learn anything

[@boblevey]

Thank you!!! Always great to hear your thoughts on products=all solar

[@davekendall9749]

Interesting video. In the UK you wouldn't be allowed to have have independent main breakers it would have to be a change over switch to run the house incase they both got switched on. If I followed it correctly. Interesting to see what the differences on grid or batteries are.

[@smakarl0]

the computer ports / cables are DB-9 serial communication units.

[@PlatinumDiscos]

Hi David, thank you for the video. One thing that I would like to mention is that on the inverters I use always tells you not to switch on your solar array while the inverter is physically on it tells you to do it before you switch it on again, and it must be because of a surge. It might be different with your Growatt inverters. I would check your manual to be sure.

[@PlatinumDiscos]

One other thing that I found with my hybrid inverters is that there is a neutral earth bonding screw inside the inverter which you have to take off if you are tied to the grid because in the UK, the neutral earth bond is also done in the input.

[@ناصرعواد-ت1غ]

Great work . can you explain how you set the inverters master slave 1 and slave 2.

[@surendrapersaud3857]

Good afternoon David. When you placed the three Growatts in parallel. How many COMMUNICATION cable did you run from inverter to battery. Did you just run one from Master Inverter to Top Battery or did you use the network hub to have Communication between battery bank and EACH INVERTER. Many thanks

[@robertvantichelt6448]

How is the RF noise off of these if you hold an old portable AM radio up to them compared to the Sunny Islands? I enjoy my shortwave radio listening and my current grid tie inverters wipe out everything with noise during the day.

[@zannemairiwoods528]

Love to watch a master at work ! Being a totally new person to all of this technology, I am overwhelmed by your knowledge !!! What makes this totally safe? Also safety measures one must take ?

[@adrian_sanchez]

Help me understand please, the goal of this setup, at 24:00, you said you turned off the grid power. Was that just a an example of a power outage? Does this design feed your house from the batteries/solar and supplementing/charging from the grid OR is it designed to manually switched over as you did.

[@DavidPozEnergy]

My long term goal is to build a 100% off grid home on some remote piece of land. The projects I do in my garage today are part of that journey. Right now, I'm testing equipment and reducing my electric bill. Most of the year (April through November) I run my house on the off grid system. During the winter I supplement my electric bill.

[@gershomg1537]

Wanted to know the following at rated output: 1. if the waveform is still a pure sinewave specially for inductive loads? Efficiency? 2. Maintains voltage, current, and frequency? 3. Is the built-in charge controller programmable? Also, this video changed my mind on SMA's... Thanks

[@DavidPozEnergy]

Sure, I can get to those questions in some of my follow up videos. I'll put my scope on it. But I can say the charge controller is programable. I haven't noticed any problems with voltage sag or frequency. seems pretty good with that. How did it change your mind on the SMA's?

[@gershomg1537]

@@DavidPozEnergy Thank you for taking your time with my questions. I am planning to put up my own solar system and my requirements must be cost effective, efficient, meet product specifications, easy to use, and has good after-sale service. I was considering SMA/Solark until I saw your video. Growatt's costs (3 vs 1 SMA unit), built-in charge controller, parallel operation and power advantage (15kW vs. 6kW) over SMA is evident.

[@DavidPozEnergy]

Yes, these Growatts are very cost effective. I bought my SMA's at a point when they flooded the market and were very cheap for a few months. But they have gotten expensive again. The Sol-Ark is still worth considering, if one meets your needs.

[@gershomg1537]

@@DavidPozEnergy Again. Thank you for doing these product reviews. People like me benefits a lot from your work.

[@williamseptember640]

Hey brother, I have a Growatt TL5000, with 6.6kwh Growatt Lit batteries and 2200w solar array (2 strings) Solar power increase incrementally from 8:00 in morning up to 12:00. At this time the battery is fully charged, then solar goes off-line and the battery supplies the load. How do I get the solar (pv) to continue supplying the load even when the battery is fully charged, until such time that; (1) there is no sunlight?, or (2) the load requirement by the house is higher then solar output ? Where at this point I should be able to choose if the battery or utility should supply the load.

[@farside87]

Dave, another great video. Thanks for all the information. Let us know when you get those fuses and where you install them.

[@dcobb9558]

Would you calculate the standby power consumption of this setup? I think that could be one of the weaknesses of this system.

[@DavidPozEnergy]

Yes, it is a weakness. about 70w per inverter, and another 18w for the auto-transformer. about 228w in idle. I have this connected to my house. There is always a load on my system 24/7. Anything from my ventilation system, cell phone chargers, up to the oven, and heating.

[@dcobb9558]

@@DavidPozEnergy That works out to about 5.5 Kw per day if my math is correct. In any case, I really enjoy your videos and I have learned a lot from watching you. Thank you for all your hard work.

[@MiniLuv-1984]

@@dcobb9558 That is substantial kWh draw. David's 30kWh battery bank will be flattened in under 6 days with no other draw or solar charging. I'm looking for myself, so I might look at the self draw specs a little closer. Thanks D Cobb for point this out.

[@GregInATX]

I’m ordering 2 of the 48VDc 3kw stackable versions. Tried using both of your discount codes and they didn’t work. Good vids man, keep ‘em coming.

[@DavidPozEnergy]

Signature Solar just got rid of the discount code. (I only just got an e-mail about it). So I have to figure out how to create a link to it.

[@iSwannie]

Hi David, you refered to a transfer switch in this video. Do you have a video showing the installation of the mentioned transfer switch? What transfer switch did you use and I assume it goes directly back to the house main electrical panel?

[@richpalmisano1740]

Ok so have to say it to get it. You take a 240 single phase inverter and push it through the transformer. The transformer then creates two 120v legs with a neutral. Those two legs are in phase though yes? They are not split phase where you can get 240v to run appliances such as a dryer, stove/range, heat pump, air handler, etc.

[@DavidPozEnergy]

I go into more testing and details on the auto transformer in this video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/r4i4l6msiMZmgZo

[@ProspectorTripp]

Hello David, Sub D connectors are those old folks PC type connectors when you were a sprout 😂 Question sir: Is the neutral box necessary for the 240v single phase items.. like the water heater, dryer, AC and so forth or just to meet the US code? I am still somewhat confused about why you need the neutral transformer. You would think it too would be built in to comply with US code. I guess not as you are using the neutral transformer. I have my shop running on solar with a SunGold 6kw split phase LF inverter. I’ve run my 240vac arc welder with no issues.. it comes to life like it’s on the grid! I’m using only the 240vac output from the inverter which is not a true neutral from what I understand? But works fine? I guess I need to study the reasons a neutral is needed and why my inverter is not acceptable for a US home? Thanks ✌️PT

[@DavidPozEnergy]

You don't need the auto-transformer if you are powering a 240v only load. I demonstrated this in my first test of this inverter, I just wired it directly to a water heater. I'm using the auto transformer so I can also power my 120v loads.

[@ProspectorTripp]

@@DavidPozEnergy I’ll go check it out.. thanks. I am DIYing my off grid home system. Finishing up the ground mount rack and mounting the panels! Thanks

[@Marker-er3ro]

If the breaker trips for the auto transformer, then wouldn’t the circuit path be broken and essentially all the 120v loads would be in essence turned off?

[@codeworksarena]

I really enjoy your video. Quick question, what is function of Auto-Transformer. In my country we use 240V.

[@joostdewolde3956]

Hi David. I love your videos! They are packed with information and I like the personal touch you give them by telling about your grandfathers screwdriver for example! One question though. I've got two SPF 5000 ES inverters in parallel and 8 panels of 75.6V and 6.58A each. I want to connect them as two strings of 4 panels. So two strings of 302.4V and 6.58A. I'm planning to connect one of these strings in the left and one string in the right converter if that's correct. But then in the future I would like to add another 5 of the same panels as a string of 378V and 6.58A. Can I then combine the initial two strings in parallel (302.4V / 13.16A) and connect it to one converter and the new string of 378V / 6.58A to the other converter? I know that normally when you would combine these two strings (302.4V and 378V) in parallel, the voltage would go down to the lowest voltage string. But since they go to separate converters (connected in parallel though) will this then not happen? I googled for quite a while but couldn't seem to find the answer. Would you be able to help me with this? :) Thanks in advance!

[@DavidPozEnergy]

First question: Your explanation of wiring the solar array sounds correct. 302V is about the same Voltage I run on my strings. Running one string into one charge controller is ideal. I personally run two strings in parallel, and then feed into each charge controller. Second question: You have it correct. You can combine two strings, so long as each string is the same Voltage (which you said you would). The new string of 5 panels can run into it's own charge controller without affecting any other charge controller. The important thing whenever you have 2 or more charge controllers feeding the same battery, you want all the settings the same. Note, tape your screwdriver to prevent shorting the terminal screw to the metal case of the inverter.

[@joostdewolde3956]

Awesome. Thanks a lot David!

[@swtnlnly]

Heard or read somewhere that auto-transformer only handles 21 amps...That's not enough to run a clothes dryer, cook stove or even possibly a well pump... Are larger capacity auto-transformers available???