Solar Inverters - tell me they won't screw with Insteon powerline......

[sorka]

I'm getting a 6KW PV solar array installed next month and just had an awful thought: what if the grid-tie inverters filter out all powerline traffic?

Is there any data on this?

 

[pkoslow]

I'm getting a 6KW PV solar array installed next month and just had an awful thought: what if the grid-tie inverters filter out all powerline traffic?

Is there any data on this?

I've got a customer with a fairly large solar array that works fine with an Insteon installation of around 45 devices. Sorry, but I don't know the specifics of his solar equipment. It's large enough to run the meter backwards most of the day on a 2800sq ft house in Valencia, CA.

I wouldn't take my experience as an answer that it will work for sure, I expect your mileage may vary depending on the equipment and the quality of the inverter???

Insteon didn't work at all for a customer in a 8000 sq ft house while they were on diesel generated power which was provided my the local electric utility for 3 days while they were making repairs to the service.

Cheers,
Paul

 

[DavidL]

My Insteon stuff doesn't work remotely when on my Generac propane 15kv generator either. Does work locally (hit the switch the good ole fashioned way). Not a big issue when dealing with a power outage (relatively rare).

 

[WayneW]

My Insteon stuff doesn't work remotely when on my Generac propane 15kv generator either.

Insteon isn't rated for use at 15kv 110V only.

 

[opie]

I'm getting a 6KW PV solar array installed next month and just had an awful thought: what if the grid-tie inverters filter out all powerline traffic?

Is there any data on this?

We're doing a smaller PV array of 5 KW but it will be August before were done so I'm not much help.

Are you going to get data from your array into any HA system? I am going to try to feed data from the inverter to Main Lobby but haven't looked too hard at how to do this.

Let us know how it works out for you.

 

[kinkeads]

I have a 3.5KW grid-tied system with a Sunnyboy inverter. My X-10 powerline devices have not been affected since I installed the inverter.

 

[drozwood90]

If it is grid tied, you should not have any issues, as the GRID tied MUST maintain "grid" spec. power. generators and such (diesel especially) are cyclic based on "pistons" moving, so they are not as "tight" in tolerance...

You can always get a power conditioner to feed the generator power through.

I'm still on the fence as to what I want to buy. If I get a generator ($1700 for a Natural Gas Generator with transfer switch at Home Despot), I might send the power through a power conditioner. If I do a grid tied PV panel...then, no need, however I'd need to get enough battery power to supply my juice at night (in the case of a power outage).

I can see benefits to both and have yet to decide for myself which is better.

--Dan

 

[politics123]

If it is grid tied, you should not have any issues, as the GRID tied MUST maintain "grid" spec. power. generators and such (diesel especially) are cyclic based on "pistons" moving, so they are not as "tight" in tolerance...

You can always get a power conditioner to feed the generator power through.

I'm still on the fence as to what I want to buy. If I get a generator ($1700 for a Natural Gas Generator with transfer switch at Home Despot), I might send the power through a power conditioner. If I do a grid tied PV panel...then, no need, however I'd need to get enough battery power to supply my juice at night (in the case of a power outage).

I can see benefits to both and have yet to decide for myself which is better.

--Dan

This all comes down to power quality. Cheapo generators provide shitty power quality. Quality generators produce much better power quality.

I too would expect all grid-tied solar inverters to produce near-perfect "true-sine-wave" quality power --> otherwise the power company wouldn't accept it back over their lines!

 

[politics123]

I'm still on the fence as to what I want to buy. If I get a generator ($1700 for a Natural Gas Generator with transfer switch at Home Despot), I might send the power through a power conditioner. If I do a grid tied PV panel...then, no need, however I'd need to get enough battery power to supply my juice at night (in the case of a power outage).

I can see benefits to both and have yet to decide for myself which is better.

--Dan

Exact same boat. Note that batteries are expensive and I estimate will last about 10 years with occasional use. Generators are inexpensive, but will have higher ongoing maintenance costs. The Guardian on-sale at Home Depot produces horrible quality power, is loud, and has a record of poor service. That said, for $1600 shipped(!!), it's tempting, especially when a quality battery-backup system would cost many times that.

BTW --> check out the Xantrex XW inverters. These grid-tied inverters have a second AC input (eg: for a generator). You could fire up a generator manually and plug it in, or you can purchase a generator-start module to automatically start an external generator when required.

 

[macromark]

We have a customer in Alaska who makes his own power. Part of the day, he gets his power from a diesel generator. The rest of the day, he runs off a battery bank and inverter. So, the power quality varies somewhat depending on the source. He tried UPB and Insteon but couldn't get either system to work reliably (although he did say the Insteon switches worked a bit better than the UPB ones). Our first attempt at Z-Wave didn't work either since (we're guessing) the power supply regulators on the switches (HomePro) weren't up to the task. We finally swapped those out for Leviton ViziaRF switches and he's been fine ever since.