Solar_amateur
New User
- Location
- Florida
- Occupation
- Combustion Turbine Operator
Hey guys,
I cheaped out when getting my solar array. Due to Florida law, if grid power is available you HAVE to be hooked up to it. With net metering and a requirement to stay on grid I figured I would just use the grid as my battery.
The part I HATE about this is often after a storm that knocks out power here, we will have sunny days before the power is restored. Having a solar array sitting there idle while I burn gasoline in a portable generator hooked up via a manually interlocked generator breaker rubs me the wrong way.
I KNOW that I can't power up my microinverters with the generator because back-feeding the generator would be catastrophic.
My question is, what about a battery based portable power station (twin Pecron 3600's with the 240V bridge)? I can't charge them the "normal" way via the DC solar inputs from my solar since my solar has microinverters that output AC power to my home, but what (if any) are the dangers of having the portable power station output to the home via my generator port, and firing up my solar array?
Will back-feeding the portable battery system via it's onboard inverters damage the inverters / battery banks? The Pecron units have 30 amp AC charging, so I assume that uses the same inverter used for AC output... So, if that is not a problem, what about when the battery reaches 100% and the solar is still producing more than the house is using? If I am home and monitoring the situation I could manually power down the array when the batteries approach 100%, but if I were not paying attention and the Pecron units reached 100% could the batteries be damaged by over-charging?
I know these are all edge case situations, and I "should" just stick with the gasoline generator with the solar powered down... but since I already purchased the Pecron units to power my shop during a black Friday sale, I am just wondering if they could be used in this fashion.
Thanks,
Keith
I cheaped out when getting my solar array. Due to Florida law, if grid power is available you HAVE to be hooked up to it. With net metering and a requirement to stay on grid I figured I would just use the grid as my battery.
The part I HATE about this is often after a storm that knocks out power here, we will have sunny days before the power is restored. Having a solar array sitting there idle while I burn gasoline in a portable generator hooked up via a manually interlocked generator breaker rubs me the wrong way.
I KNOW that I can't power up my microinverters with the generator because back-feeding the generator would be catastrophic.
My question is, what about a battery based portable power station (twin Pecron 3600's with the 240V bridge)? I can't charge them the "normal" way via the DC solar inputs from my solar since my solar has microinverters that output AC power to my home, but what (if any) are the dangers of having the portable power station output to the home via my generator port, and firing up my solar array?
Will back-feeding the portable battery system via it's onboard inverters damage the inverters / battery banks? The Pecron units have 30 amp AC charging, so I assume that uses the same inverter used for AC output... So, if that is not a problem, what about when the battery reaches 100% and the solar is still producing more than the house is using? If I am home and monitoring the situation I could manually power down the array when the batteries approach 100%, but if I were not paying attention and the Pecron units reached 100% could the batteries be damaged by over-charging?
I know these are all edge case situations, and I "should" just stick with the gasoline generator with the solar powered down... but since I already purchased the Pecron units to power my shop during a black Friday sale, I am just wondering if they could be used in this fashion.
Thanks,
Keith