Backup Power Mish Mash: Enphase IQ8
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- Опубліковано 22 чер 2023
- Enphase IQ8 is a battery backup system designed for solar installations. It is manufactured by Enphase Energy, a leading provider of solar energy solutions. The IQ8 system is specifically designed to store excess solar energy generated by your solar panels and provide backup power during utility outages.
The Enphase IQ8 system offers several benefits, including:
Energy Storage: It allows you to store surplus solar energy generated during the day for later use, such as during nighttime or power outages.
Seamless Integration: The IQ8 system seamlessly integrates with your existing solar panel installation, maximizing the use of clean energy and reducing reliance on the grid.
Smart Technology: Enphase uses intelligent software to monitor and optimize energy production and consumption, ensuring efficient operation and maximizing the lifespan of the battery.
Reliable Backup Power: During a power outage, the Enphase IQ8 system automatically switches to battery power, providing uninterrupted electricity to essential circuits in your home.
If you are interested in installing solar panels or a generator, ABR Electric in McKinney offers professional installation services. You can reach them at 214-690-1941 for all your solar panel and generator installation needs. It's important to consult with professionals to ensure a safe and efficient installation process.
With a focus on top-notch customer service and unbeatable workmanship, we take pride in delivering exceptional results at fair and affordable prices. Whether it's a simple breaker installation or a complex rewiring project, our skilled team is equipped to handle electrical jobs of all sizes and scopes in the Collin County area.
Why risk the safety of your residential property by attempting electrical work on your own? Trust the experts at ABR Electric to get the job done right the first time, every time. Contact us today at 214-690-1941 @@@for all your residential electrical needs in McKinney, TX.
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Isn’t that what the IQ system controller 3G is for?
The Enphase gateway is designed to do exactly this. Grid down it will run loads off PV and batteries first and then as needed it will start/stop a compatible generator to both meet loads and recharge the batteries for overnight use if the grid remains down. Maybe I am missing something with your system.
The controller 3 g does it all
Yes the Smart Switch is what you need
I'm curious how this turned out - it's been 10 months, so I expect you did something. . .
Run the solar, battery, and generator as a island grid. . . this is EXACTLY what UL1741 is about.
I'm getting my first IQ8+ this week, so I have no experience with the Enphase system, but I see no issue with a grid-interactive inverter running solar while the generator is running. When the sun is shining, the solar will reduce fuel consumption on the generator if on back-up power. If the grid is down, and the generator is down, the microinverter will automatically shut-down, if configured correctly. The could make a battery-only grid, if configured for grid agnostic as well.
But, how does this magical back feed control in UL1741 work, you ask? The controller senses the line frequency. Normally the grid sets the 60Hz +/- pace, and the grid parallel inverters export power as configured in sync with the grid. When the grid goes away, the frequency will quickly change, and the inverters will disable automatically. If it is UL1741 listed, it is designed to do that function safely.
If you setup back-up power, the generator becomes the gird, and sets the pace. Shut-off the generator - same thing happens - inverters automatically detect the loss of a stable grid and shut-off. Enphase has a paper on generators that have been tested for compatibility. The generators need to have a stable governor to give a line frequency that is in-spec, and the generator needs to be big enough to be the grid master.
I would hire a qualified engineer that knows the Enphase system (I am a PE, but don't have the Enphase knowledge to design systems for others), but there is nothing janky about the setup, and if properly configured, grid parallel / generator island solar inverter with battery storage is the future.
I don't do too many generators but the ones I have seen with PV systems have been tapped onto the utility supply at ATS. It's almost like a clamp attached right onto the conductor(s). It almost doesn't seem right. However, I think you'll be ok using a Generac Smart Management Module that'll lock out the load from the generator supply.
Not an electrician, but why can't solar and the generator run at the same time? It runs while the mains are live, how is the generator at the house different than the grid (and it's generators). If I could have cool toys like this, I'd want my solar providing all the power it can, and then the generator would only need to carry any excess load the panels can't supply due to undersize/weather/night. I would think the real question is, how does it get hooked up to ensure that either of these systems don't back-feed into the grid during an outage and crews are working the lines. Shouldn't the solar controller already have that cut-off? I would think that's why the inverter has a gen connect. So it can share the mains disconnect during an outage..... right?
Solar only isn't an issue. The battery storage control is the challenge.
@@abrelectric - “battery storage control is the problem”
It depends on whether the enphase is configured to be grid interactive.
In a properly installed & configured system, no one should care if the battery is on when the generator kicks on. The generator just acts as A/C from the electrical company.
In grid interactive mode, the battery just sinks the power from the solar array, so excessive power production during the day is not lost (grid interactive mode should not back feed the service & should stop solar production if too much PV power exists while the battery is completely charged.)
“will it power sense”
The purpose of the generator is just to send power when the electrical service does not send power.
If the enphase is configured grid interactive, the batteries don’t back feed into the system when the generator is operating, the same way the battery does not back feed into the system when the generator is disconnected. Grid interactive mode must have current sensors.
You could test if the enphase power senses by flipping the house breaker for the enphase panel & if the enphase panel remains on but the house branches not on the panel are off, you demonstrated enphase current senses… and when batteries are charged, the power coming from the enphase inverters should shut off (measurable through a clamp meter.)
If the enphase is configured to back feed the electrical company, to sell electricity back to the grid, then this could be a problem, and you probably should ONLY use the generator connector on the enphase panel… otherwise you could have a problem with the enphase back feeding the generator… and cause a fire somewhere.
(I would not install a generator outside the enphase ecosystem unless you put big red stickers that say the enphase MUST remain in grid interactive mode AND not sell back power to the electrical service due to fire hazard... but still, some guy in enphase remote support or the installer could encourage a setting to be changed & the house burn down during a grid outage while generator is in use… but I am just a guy on the internet.)
Best way to deal with it is read the install manual & read the setting on the enphase panel. The solar installer should probably be doing this or working with you, they know their equipment & settings.
@@abrelectric This is kinda true. The Solar Controllers today will use the Generator to only recharge the batteries once the batteries are depleted and the Solar is unable to recharge the batteries.
I made a comment on the video with Technical briefs to aid you.
I've come across this before on paper, not in the field as of yet. The sequence would be grid> main disconnect/non-critical loads panel > IQ System Controller 2> critical home loads panel. Your generator will tie into the IQ System Controller and they "supposed" to play nicely with each other. The IQ System controller is the one that will issue the start and stop commands to the generator.
Other option is the ATS is installed after the IQ system controller in the event of a grid outage, it's either solar/energy storage or generator. However this kinda defeats the purpose of having onsite energy storage in the first place.
From there my memory gets a bit fuzzy, there is so many options out there when it comes to home energy storage now than 12 years ago. 😅
Appreciate it!
This is always an issue. As so many get it wrong by not using the proper equipment(home rigged). So the inspectors just say NO. But you have it right and with the proper equipment. The IQ8 has a port for gen hook up and will auto disconnect solar and batteries when the gen engages. The inspector should see that it is manufactured for it. Not home rigged. The only concern you have is the solar has a 60A disconnect. And you have a 24Kw generator so you would have to coordinate the sizes for this to work. The transfer of power would be controlled by the IQ 8.
While clearly not intentional, the lack of understanding on the Enphase system makes this a really misleading video.
The Enphase system is designed to allow for a backup generator as a part of a single, integrated system, and it’s well documented in their tech briefs.
Feels like you are throwing a lot of unnecessary shade at the solar installer, but they did exactly what the system is designed to do.
Would encourage you to either do an update with how it worked out, or consider taking it down all together if you ended up walking away from the project.
Thank you
I am interested in this subject because I would like to use a back up battery (and maybe a solar array) to handle the electric load of my home when the utility power first goes out. Then if the utility is down for more than say 10 minutes, my Generac would kick in and run the house. What I am trying to do is to stop the brief interruption of power to my home when the utility goes down and the generator starts up. This interruption upsets all kinds of systems in my home. I want a seamless (no blink/ no surge) transition from utility power to generator power with a brief use of a back up battery pack. Is this possible?
Do you think a Ecoflow Delta Pro portable battery would work faster than a generac?
@@quasimodo1427 I am hoping the system I want would react as fast as my back up power system that feeds my desktop computer, its instantaneous.
You delete the generator ats and run the generac directly to the enphase smart switch gen input and then use the two wire start stop kit from generac to wire it to the relay controls for the generator in the enphase smart switch aka ensemble
That sounds brilliant.
Is that possible, for reals?