Cleanest way to set up a dual option PV or "on-grid" tiny home

[bbartmasse r]

Hello,

Im involved with a tiny home project and they want to be able to feed the home from the grid or from a solar electric system.

The Home will have a small AC panel with perhaps a dryer cord (or RV cord) that can be plugged in to light up the circuits.

There will also be an inverter, CC, and Solar panels on board that can power said panel if the home is not near grid power.

What is the cleanest way to feed the same panel from dual sources? I suppose we'd also like the grid to be able to charge batteries, so would the grid input just go into the inverter, and everything AC runs through the inverter?

Seems like there are lots of different ways to tackle this, I just want to find the way that seems cleanest and most logical.

thanks for any suggestions

 

[ggunn]

Hello,

Im involved with a tiny home project and they want to be able to feed the home from the grid or from a solar electric system.

The Home will have a small AC panel with perhaps a dryer cord (or RV cord) that can be plugged in to light up the circuits.

There will also be an inverter, CC, and Solar panels on board that can power said panel if the home is not near grid power.

What is the cleanest way to feed the same panel from dual sources? I suppose we'd also like the grid to be able to charge batteries, so would the grid input just go into the inverter, and everything AC runs through the inverter?

Seems like there are lots of different ways to tackle this, I just want to find the way that seems cleanest and most logical.

thanks for any suggestions

In a word: Outback. They cut their teeth on this kind of stuff.

 

[bbartmasse r]

Thanks, I'm familiar with Outback. Mainly wondering about the how to handle the dual sources at the panel. Or again, perhaps the grid should just input into the inverter, so it can feed the panel and maintain the battery.

 

[electrofelon]

perhaps the grid should just input into the inverter, so it can feed the panel and maintain the battery.

That's what I would do if you have an inverter with charger build in (most off grid inverters do) . When AC is applied to it it will transfer and charge/maintain the batteries. That said, I would be careful about getting one of those "typical" off grid inverters for such a small place - they have pretty high standby current. I would get a morningstar suresin and keep the fridge and pump on direct dc. In that case, you could get one of those real efficient iota chargers to which could charge/maintain off the grid.

One final tip: keep noise in mind when you buy your components. Some components have noisy fans which can drive certain people crazy. The Schneider mppt 60 150 doesn't have a fan, nor does the morningstar inverter I mentioned.