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So this micro inverter output is 240v split phase (two hot legs L1/L2 ?) or just one hot leg with 240v ? If its two hot legs does this means from ground or neutral you’ll see 120v off each hot leg? I mainly use NEP micro inverter, seems like it maybe the same as this one?
@@theresatrickforthat very good and technically since you house will always have something pulling in well over 300-400w all the time you can offset even more just connection it to your panel, the NEP works well too, almost identical products except the NEP has like a heatsink built on the case, BTE does Enphase make any micro inverter over 400w?
@@fullyelectricYeah, I’ve seen those NEP ones around. Not sure all the sizes Enphase has. Just happened to have an extra one kicking around and started having some fun with it. :)
I looked at the specs. The IQ8+ is rated 240v 290VA out continuous. That's an output of 1.2A. You're already maxing out the output. If you want more solar power then you'll need more inverters or an inverter with a higher output rating. Also, for a permanent installation you'll want to fuse the lines and add disconnects when you feed the compressor. You could also add batteries that are charged by the solar power during the day but are used to offset the power at night.
I am a retired electrical engineer, and what you are doing is technically correct. You are adding a grid-tie inverter to the circuit to CONTRIBUTE to the power being drawn by the AC unit. You will never come close to power draw that the AC unit needs, and its only inserted when its running, there is no chance you would ever inadvertently export to the grid. Since the micro-inverters are designed to require a grid to sync with before they will export power (anti-islanding) there is no safety concern. Also no way the utility will ever know.. Before I became legitimately connected to the grid, I made a far more sophisticated system consisting of current sensors and outputs from my thermostats to control how many panels were connected to my inverter depending on the load. That way i didn't have to completely disconnect the grid until the total house load was less then what a single panel produced. Super nerd project. I ran it like that for over 2 years until the official connection was made, and now I'm legal! Endphase inverters want to see a gateway, so it would be better to use the cheap Chinese micro-inverters that don't spend time looking for a gateway. Also, switching the DC side will get the power to the AC unit with a shorter delay, but you would have to control an external relay to do so. Make sure you provide a disconnect of some sort so you don't confuse the poor AC tech who is trying to fix your AC unit when it fails in the hottest part of summer! BTW. The best thing you ever did, was install the soft start unit to the AC. They are pricey, but worth it. A final word of advice: Just because you CAN do something, it doesn't necessarily mean you SHOULD do it. You have to be the judge. I tend to live on the edge myself, it keeps things interesting.
Hey! Sincere thanks for your thoughts and wisdom! Probably the most valuable comment so far! Thanks for taking the time to write it! Sounds like you had a pretty sweet setup. Thanks for watching and commenting!
Thank you for your input. As just a regular home owner, it’s nice to hear from someone knowledgeable in the field to further my understanding of the elements involved. To me this seems likes a pretty ingenious idea in theory.
I have same setup with 10 panels running my pool pump for free for like 4hr if the sun is out, had the setup for 5year now and it sure helps to offset power consumption.
Thank you for this video! #1 the contactor is the gamechanger!!! This makes it totally isolated from grid feedback. Great Job! #2 I am impressed with how patient you are with the haters. Reading these comments makes me scratch my head and ask myself if they only read the tile and didn't watch the video, or if they really don't have any ability to think. Please add more and give us an update on this video soon! I liked and subscribed!
Haha! Thank you! That’s another project of mine! Got a video on that as well! ua-cam.com/video/zSvJwO9IJTE/v-deo.htmlsi=gYDD_jhGNjFw0yXS Thanks for watching!
People getting hung up on thinking the 2 panels are supplying all the power. They are not! They are just reducing what the grid has to supply. No different than if the panels were tied to the breaker box and every time the ac kicked on he turned on the solar breaker. Wattage is wattage. If your panels produce 400w then your overall grid usage will go down 400w. Nice way showing initial draw and then the supplied amperage and overall amp draw after the micro inverter kicked in. 👍🏻👍🏻 Before I installed my full array, I did this same thing to see if it would work. It did and my home energy monitor helped prove it as I could see my overall grid usage drop when the panels were producing. The electric company had no idea for months.
Maybe people are thinking the panels are supplying all the power because of the clickbait title. I mean after all, it does say "Eliminate your AC power bill"
Yes you correct but if there is a smart meter involved it will show more power used Sneaky electric company has some built in the meter to watch the Hz
@@Branx86I have solar and worked with the electric company when they setup my meter. They had no idea I had solar hooked up for the previous 2 months, I was supplementing power to see how much it would produce and a way to reduce usage without the extra bi-directional meter fee. Producing exactly what I used or up to double my usage would save me money. Producing over double my usage cost me more. After the couple of months I had them out to inspect my setup and reprogram my meter to be bidirectional. I found in my situation it was more beneficial to just let my panels work vs trying to supplement and track output and usage.
Nice job! Can't wait to try this out - thanks for posting. RE: pool pumps - you can now get DC powered pumps that are fantastic for less then around 1/2 the cost of most AC pumps. I have 4 panels dedicated to a DC pump (which came with controller included!) and it performs better than my AC pump ever did and is free! What's more, my pool is cleaner and warmer in summer because instead of running 4 or 6 or 8 hours it runs however long the sun is up so the water is better filtered and circulated. There is also a great market for used AC pool pumps, so between selling mine and having my pool pump cost go to zero, this has paid for itself many times over. Been using it for 3 years now - have some video I could post.
Haha! Thank you very much! The lawn is a labor of love for me. I actually am filming videos about the lawn and what I do for it as well on this channel. So check those out for further info on the lawn care side of things. Thanks for watching!
Great Experiment, You can also set up some solar panels and use a Power Limiting Inverter like the SUN-2000GTIL2. It allows you to "Zero export to grid" , it monitors your home loads and compensates up to 2kw, if the grid goes down, it stops production so you never back feed.
I've been doing hacks like this for a decade. The problem with most grid-tie inverters is that they follow the legal mandate of waiting 5 minutes before exporting power, so unless you are in a particularly hot climate, that misses most of the AC cycle. There are lots of options to get around that, but the point of this video is that it is the cheapest way to do this.
Captain Obvious, do you know what work-arounds for the 5 minute delay are? Are there inverters that are configurable? I was wondering if UK or AU inverters didn't have that requirement.
so I'm in Central Cali very hot and sunny most of the year.. my ac is pulling like 5-7k watts when running..If I get like 3kw of solar panels it will cut my bill in half during the day? Will it backfeed to the grid and will PGE know ?
Who cares if you inadvertently export power to the grid? I don't see why this would be an issue, can't you just hook the panels directly to the ac breaker and if the AC isn't on the power will go somewhere else in the house no?
I did a setup like this for my house. Six industrial solar pnl using a 2x3 setup and three inverters I picked up from ebay. Just plugged the whole thing into a 30a socket I have on the out side for a gen. Knocked about a $100+- a month off my bill. On a good clear day it would crank out 1kwh on average.
@@skeon67 The Solaria panels (230W) were a $100ea. used. The inverters were $130ea. new. The wiring/cables, meter and other odds and ends like water proof connectors and such were another couple hundred. I got lucky with the solar panels. Very high end...each panel was covered with a glass panel that had a convex lens over each cell. Captured light from almost any angle.
I'm assuming this 30A socket is tied directly into your panel and will actually backfeed to the grid if there's not enough load being used to consume all the solar power generated?
As HVAC dude I’ve been wanting to test something like this out in my own house, nicely done. I really see an opportunity for newer inverter HVAC system where the amp draw is low most of the time.
@@stephenhawkx I don’t think so. One of the main benefits of an inverter compressor is that it does its own soft start and avoids lock rotor amps. Your challenge is going to be how initiate the power from the PV solar since your unit does not have a contactor.
If this is drawing 5 to 10 amps look into victron multiplus. Those units are design to sync solar with grid in one unit. RV people do this all the time.
I'm sure it would work too! The idea behind what I'm showing here is you can start small and grow over time all while offsetting the power consumed sooner rather than later once budget allows for a large inverter. Thanks for watching!
I did it with a DC motor heat pump and started, including it in my residential solar sales, and everybody is insanely happy with it and how well it works and it fixes so many other problems with math when it comes to energy that it’s unbelievable. Of course that’s in states where air-conditioning isthe largest load like here in Texas
Two weeks ago, when my 1.5 year old broke at the coil I almost bought two big solar panels to try this and I said nah, impossible and then I quit thinking about it, your video just pumped me up and I’m seeking an electrician to try this
I recently purchased my home and am eager to try out the solar panel system. I am also considering adding a few batteries to assist with energy storage during the night. I believe that utilizing solar energy for cooling the house is an innovative and eco-friendly approach, just amazing 👏.
Except that they use massive diesel powered mining machines that move endless tons of earth to get to the right metals to then make the panels. So the environmental damage and fossil fuel savings is still as damaging to the planet as running a coal power plant.
I have seen this done many ways, but the contactor is a very clever way to get this working minimally. Usually insee more complicated methods of detecting the state of the unit.
Similar concept bought a used 12k BTU portable AC and attached to a battery inverter combo fed by solar and it is able to generate enough cold air to keep the central AC compressor from kicking in at peak Texas hotness. I just keep the main AC fan going to help circulate the air. Need more confidence with electricity to try your setup. Thanks for sharing.
I see that you have a great way of helping many to save on electricity. Especially with the AC unit and pool pumps. I am looking forward to trying this out and looking forward to your pool pump demo. Love your channel.
I love the idea of using the air conditioner switch to disconnect the panels from the grid to not worry about feeding back. Good job! You could have it hooked to your hot water tank when the air conditioner shuts off.
Thank you! I’m working on the water heater concept…need to find an electric water heater to play with first since mine is gas. But I’d like to explore all the options!
@@theresatrickforthat They do make solar powered heating elements for weather heaters. So you need a water heater that takes 2 elements so one can be on solar and other on grid.
I do the same thing, but for the washer and dryer. Washer and dryer connected to a power strip that's connected to a kill-o-watt meter that's connected to a y&h 1300w grid tie inverter that's connected to two in parallel 535 watt solar panels. I still back feed to the grid, but what the washer and dryer consume is more than what I back feed into the grid so I'm ok with that.
I don’t have a schematic. But the two hot wires from the IQ8+ just connect on the load side of the A/C contactor like you saw in the video, the ground wire of course goes to ground. MicroAir EasyStart has its own schematics for different A/C types. Thanks for watching!
This works and using emphases are best. Recommend adding FRN fuse pairs just off the contactor and a ground wire to the panel frame to the condenser frame ground.
Awesome , im all on this. So my peak power time is 3.pm to 6pm , i will place my panels facing west, plus i have a swamp cooler blowing into the garage, with turbins venting it, so i place the panels over the turbin to keep them cool for better efficiency.
Im sort of doing it the other way around. I call it mt emergency system. I do as much as i can to do well tv microwave even will run 600w heater. But is mostly for hurricane season. To offset gas gen. This idea of yours is amazing.
This is brilliant! Anything that has a contactor could do this, freezer and fridge, water heater... you could also use this so that you could use a smaller generator during a power outage. If you also included a DC relay that required a certain voltage from the panels before allowing the grid power to turn on, you could create an "if this then that" that would allow you to only run certain items when solar assist is available. That way your AC or water heater wouldn't pull so hard on your generator. Another use case would be a pool pump or heater could be configured to only run once the panels hit a certain voltage (DC) so it would only run when the panels could assist.
Nice! yes Elec current made by the solar thur micro inverters will flow just like water it going to flow in the least resist way so yes what power it made is only going to flow into the nearest appliance long before it will ever flo out into the main grid. Besude the micro inverters need to see power before they will turn on! And no power they turn on off, to safely keep from back feeding a grid line. Thanks for sharing
Yes, I've always thought this is how solar would be used. I think placing all the high use items on one circuit and run by smaller panels instead of all over your roof
Get an Enphase IQ Envoy with consumption CTS and set it to zero export then you can leave the micro inverter on all day and it'll never feed to the grid and it will help cover some of your home load making more use of your solar.
I just tried this with a 2000W SUN inverter. Shut off the inverter's limiter functions and it works great. Only takes about one minute for it to produce power, so not much of a delay.
@@kknmesa The basics are the same as described in the above video. I just ran my wires to the inside of the house near where the AC unit is. The wires (8ga) from the solar array ran to the 2000W SUN inverter. Only used enough solar power to generate about 1300W for this experiment. Than I ran the wires (10ga) from the inverter to the outside to the compressor relay solenoid (aka Contactor) on the side of the relay that goes to the compressor. I only used Line 1 and Line 2 from the inverter. I did not connect the neutral wire since 240V devices do not use the neutral wire. That is it. When the AC came on the inverter took about 20 second to engage and I had supplemental power feeding the AC unit when the sun was out. I got about a 40% decrease in power coming from the grid and no feed back with this setup. If one uses more solar power but keeps the supplemental power below what the AC is using there will be no feed back into the grid. I would have gone with this setup only if I had not already gotten a 6000W off grid inverter. So now I have the full off grid system installed so I do not need this set up anymore, but this is a very simple low cost setup to supplement your electric bill since most of it comes from using AC in the summer.
Thanks! It won’t work with a window unit very well unless your window unit is 240V or you find a 120V micro inverter. But then you’ll have to wire in some kind of relay that turns on and off with the window unit compressor to avoid back feeding the grid…seems like to much trouble and hassle. Sorry about that! Maybe consider getting a solar power station, plugging your window ac into that and then connecting solar to the power station. Would probably be more useful and an easier solution for a window unit. You might consider the Anker Solix C1000. Here’s a link to my review and testing of that unit. I think it’s even on sale for Memorial Day. ua-cam.com/video/Zdl3syXDUP8/v-deo.htmlsi=GYXwEd0gqnx8fORw Thanks for watching!
You can buy a 24,000 btu mini split from Signature Solar for $1899. It has a built in MPPT inverter built in and you can connect solar panels direct to the AC unit. But some used solar panels locally, or from San tan Solar to cut costs and you're good to go. It will run 100% from solar and from the grid on cloudy days and at night. If you don't need 24,000BTU they have a 12,000BTU unit for $1299. They also sell complete setups with solar panels
I use enphase IQ and solar panels on my house except it takes care of the whole house and our electric co here in North Carolina still buys back power at retail prices for any access. It is not always this good, but our electric bill ( which includes power that goes directly from the panels to the load in the day ) was 76 cents for May of 2024 It was a moderate investment 10 years ago, nut paid off now based on cost verses energy savings. Loved your video, more people need to think like you.
I was wondering about the life span of the micro inverter cycling on & off when the ac is operational. I have a pool pump, which I will be doing the same set up, but that stays on for 8 hrs.
The HVAC industry could eliminate grid power with self contained package minisplit AC units....they already have soft start circuitry and draw much less power...plus as zone ACs they could be programmed to automatically ration Air Conditioning to priority and low priority zones when solar power drops. The AC would pull grid power only when insufficient solar hours exist. If the collective world was really worried about what they said they are, then that would have been the first mandated upgrade to heavy appliances in the 1980s and 90s. As it is, the design described above would triple ir quadruple the cost of a minisplit install...which would require years of payback...which may not be covered by the lifecycle of the unit.
@@theresatrickforthatwas just thinking of this as it’s constantly running during the day. But wasn’t sure how to power it when I want it running at night?
Nicely done. For 2-4 panels this seems like a good solution. However, when you start getting in the 10+ range (and if you want to add some batteries), a dedicated inverter/charge controller setup will probably be less expensive.
This is super interesting. We live in southern Alabama. I wonder how much this would reduce my bill and how quickly I'd break even after buying the equipment. Could probably use this for the above ground sand filter too I bet.
Thanks for the video I still need to learn more about back-feeding the grid. How does the micro-inverter reduce the amp draw from the grid? A wire drawing would be helpful so I understand the cutoff from the grid when the AC is turned off.
I highly recommend studying about grid tie and off grid solar options! It’s fascinating! Yeah, unfortunately I do not have a wiring diagram at this time. But we’ll see if I can put one together for the Version 2.0 of this coming up here in a few weeks. Thanks for watching!
I saw a person the other day in Austria say that in their country, you were allowed to use an approved micro inverter for up to 800 watts of solar without any agreement with the power company. They should do that here in America. It would help people a little with their power bills.
in Australia they disconnect your power if you send any to the grid without out agreement with power company!!! AND they fine you if you have an agreement and you send some to the grid!
@@ecomech7464 My Electric Company does the same here in the US. They will turn your power off if you use a grid tie inverter without a net metering agreement.
My ac unit on the inside of my house plugs into a 110/120 outlet . If I was going to do that. I would install a couple of deep cycle batteries outside and a power inverter somewhere near my AC unit and a solar panel to recharge the batteries. Looks like a good setup to me.
Adding batteries and an off grid inverter so you could harvest solar power from the panels even if the AC was off would be the ideal solution for sure! This proof of concept at least lets us poor people start getting some solar benefits for much cheaper while saving for batteries and a bigger inverter. Thanks for watching!
400 watts of solar is roughly 10% of the power that unit draws, no one will be eliminating their air conditioner usage with this setup, just reducing the draw to a small extent. those 2 solar panels couldn't even power the smallest window a/c unit you can find. it will however power a fan, that's about it. now if you built up that solar panel grid 10 times, yes you could technically power that unit in full sun only, however you would still need the grid to start the high load from all the motors in it.
You’re right. Except in my case, those panels were providing more than 10% for my particular AC unit. Anyway, it’s a stepping stone to my dream huge solar system. Stay tuned for more! Thanks for watching!
The system was drawing 5.2 amps at 240v (1248 watts), and the solar was supplying 1.22 amps (about 292watts) So it's offsetting about 23.5% of the load once the inverter fully boots up and starts exporting. He'd need to quadruple his solar output to match the draw, but it definitely does offset it a significant amount. You also appear to have missed the part where he mentioned the soft-start unit on his ac system, so the inrush current/startup load is actually quite small on it now. The bigger concern is just about the financial viability of it. This thing is only going to "produce" power while the AC is running, which is going to be mostly during the hottest parts of the day, but it likely won't be running constantly during those hours, so there's still a huge waste of solar production energy, not only when the AC isn't running, but also for the first several minutes that it is running, so it's terribly inefficient. ~300 watts of production isn't terribly much, but it gets worse when it's not even being fully utilized to power the rest of the home when the AC isn't running. With a system that small, I don't really see a good reason not to just go ahead and grid-tie it. You're going to be drawing 300 watts at any given time with other items/appliances in the home any time the sun is shining anyway. Solar takes a long time to hit a break-even point anyway, so only having it run a fraction of the time that it could be producing is going to make that considerably worse.
that's a crazy efficient a/c unit, i don't see how it's possible for it to only be pulling 1250 watts when my 3 ton pulls over 3 times that while at idle(not starting).
Depending on your region, you probably could disconnect the AC from the main service and use solar only. It all hinges on the price per kWh. In my area, the AC unit costs about $1.45 per hour to run. Goes up fast.
About 10 years ago the Lennox HVAC company had a system that they put out as an add on that would feed to the power grid any excess power. All solar converters were built in the outdoor condensing unit and you would have 15 plus panels mounting on your roof , the system had a 15 year life cycle but the pay off would be closer to 20 years ,which killed the demand for such a system .
So the inverter is $189 + solar panels are $380 + wiring ~$50 = $620 to save 1 amp or 1/5 of your electricity on just your AC. If your power was $0.20 a KW you would break even in about 17 months time on 24/7 use. 1 amp = 0.24 KW X 24 hours = 5.76KW per day or $1.152 per day/$34.56 per month/$420.48 per year of savings. If the system works for over the 17 months you would start to see "Free Power". Which is not bad time frame..:)
@@theresatrickforthat a penny saved is more than a penny earned because of income tax and compounding interest. can get 100w panels for 40$ new and can get blemished/used panels for 20$ for 200-300w roi will be a year or two on the cheap
I have tried to read through the comments to see if my questions have been asked but I was hoping I could ask you for confirmation? I am trying to learn about solar and I like the idea of slowly transitioning to it. 1. In the winter, do you need to disconnect the solar panel's if using a gas heater? 2. With a setup like this, as long as the panels don't produce more wattage than what the ac uses, no worry of backfeeding the grid? 3. Does the microinverter only accept (2) panels? Increase the number of microinverters as more panels are added? 4. Is the EasyStart required for a setup like this? If so, can the EasyStart be used with a heat pump like the conventional ac condenser used in this video? I have conventional like you, but like the idea of moving to heat pump considering it's benefits provided a setup like this is possible.
1. No need to disconnect during the winter. The AC will always be off, so the inverter will never see the grid and will never produce power. Essentially, with the AC off, the contractor is always disconnected which in turn has disconnected the solar. 2. That’s correct. The goal is to just have self consumption. 3. The micro inverter has a minimum and maximum voltage range. So in my case, I needed two 200W panels to get me into that voltage range which I show in the video. You could use a single 400W panel and achieve the same results. Just find solar panel(s) that fit the voltage range on the micro inverter and you’re set! Yes, you need more mico inverters as the amount of panels increase. 4. The EasyStart is NOT required for this setup. I just have one to help my backup gas generator be able to run it during a grid down situation. And yes, the EasyStart does work with a heat pump just fine. A heat pump would be ideal to connect solar like this too so that you can offset your AC summer time bill as well as your winter heating bill! Thanks for watching!
@@theresatrickforthatOne last question, did you mention it in the video or anywhere in the comments, what was the size of the AC unit? I thought I remember seeing or hearing it was a 1 ton unit. Is that correct? I just found in the comments it is a 3 ton (36,000 BTU) unit.
I agree. Wattage is wattage. Those who understand know this works. He did a pretty good demo at showing the draw and then the output of the solar and the draw after the solar kicked in.
Not to mention everyone commenting "it sucks unless your AC runs all day" some of us live in Florida, Texas, Louisiana Mississippi etc. Trust me, it runs damn near all day, this would be worth it in 1 summer lol
Wish you went further by making it a permanent setup with step by step instructions along with products used list. I was very impressed and had been thinking if that was possible. I was looking at using one of those 450 Watt bi-focal solar panels, as those are getting cheaper by the day and actually a good set up when vertically installed. I have also been thinking of doing a mobile on wheels backup battery 200-300 Ah with 450 Bi-focal solar panel and home outlet charging options, so i could run my digital window A/C window unit at night and charge during the day, along with being able to run my refrigerator for as long as possible in emergency situations. The reason i want this setup is because of the hurricanes we have been getting in Florida.
Oh don’t you worry! I am working on the ultimate permanent setup while still be cost conscious. It’s coming together bit by bit as money allows. Anyway, be sure you’re subscribed so you don’t miss the next iterations! Thanks for watching and best of luck to you with your cool portable power wagon! I have a lot of great real world testing videos (including fridge runtimes) on LiFePO4 batteries you might want to check out!
So, basically a temporary grid-tie solar/micro-inverter setup. Yah, I see how that can work. Sorta... but it is too dangerous and I will explain why in the next paragraph. Also I think its probably not legal because even though you aren't backfeeding the grid, you are interfacing a backfeed-capable device to the grid. There is another problem here that makes this *very dangerous*. If you happen to have enough solar to roughly match the A/C's load, and the contactor tries to turn off, the microinverter will not be able to determine that the grid disconnected and will continue powering the A/C system. The A/C will probably continue running under these conditions. And that could cause major problems because without the grid to synchronize to the micro-inverter's waveform will slowly get out of sync with the grid. If the contactor then closes under those conditions, you have two out-of-sync waveform fighting each other and that can easily start a fire or blow everything up. A third problem is if the solar power is just moderately lower than what the A/C needs. This will cause the A/C to run more slowly and still possibly not trip-off the micro-inverter. The result is that you might over-stress the compressor in the A/C unit. So I would say, just don't do this. It's too dangerous. -Matt
Anything can happen I suppose! It worked pretty well for me! But to reiterate the disclaimer from the video…do not attempt this yourself! Thanks for watching!
Matt - The power will not keep the contactor working and making the a/c to run continuously. The contactor is powered by a 24v transformer in the air handler in the house. The 24v signal comes from the thermostat which gets power from the transformer and sent to the contactor. This simple setup helps is showing has been done for years. But if the power company sees this, they will shut it down.
Matt- none of the issues you listed are major issues. This type of setup has been done by many for years for “injecting” power to supplement power usage from a a/c unit. Even if the solar does not produce enough power as shown in this video the grid power makes up for it. It is basically how panels wired at the home panel work. If my house requires 5k watts and my solar is only producing 3500, the grid supplies the other 1500. Only difference is this guy is using the contactor in the a/c unit to switch the inverter on vs constant on at the panel or even connected to the other side of the contactor.
Missing the point here - just using a solar panel and microinverter part-time. Basically you are handicapping what the solar panel and microinverter can do for you by only running it a fraction of the time. Because you have this hooked up to the contactor output, the solar panel only supplements some power via the microinverter when the air conditioner compressor is on. Why would you not hook this to a free 240V breaker in your main panel (like regular solar), or the other side of the contactor? That way the solar panel is giving you power anytime there is sun - not just only when the air conditioner is on. Then you don't have that 5 minute delay where you have no output from the microinverter - each time the A/C kicks on. With this small solar setup of only 264W (AC output - your 1.1A measured), you'll never backfeed the grid - most homes draw more than that all the time. And if you did increase your setup and at times you did export some power, this is a non-issue - you are just giving free power to the grid that you won't be paid for. And the click bait title - this doesn't eliminate your A/C portion of your bill - just offsets a very small portion: 264W of say 4000W (4 ton A/C unit). 6.6%, not 100%
You're right, it would be ideal to have these panels running all the time, but I know some people who have been charged for excess power that went backwards through their non-net meter so better safe than sorry especially as it gets scaled up and you're pushing more power. And that's the beauty of this setup, start small with what money you have and scale from there! Offsetting 6.6% is still better than nothing while I continue to save for more panels and stuff! Thanks for watching!
@@theresatrickforthat Yeah sorry, it just makes no financial or logical sense to do this the way you've shown. The cost of the panels and microinverter will take forever to recoup vs. the fraction of the time the AC is on with sun shinning, and the power up delay. Most homes draw several hundred watts all the time - you won't be giving back to the grid. Just connect the microinverter and panels full time.
@@billjohnson3344 I agree 100%, IF your base load is always over what the solar panels can produce. In his case, if his baseload isn't 300W+, say it's only 200W+, he'd probably still be better off wiring only one panel to the main, compared to two on the AC that's only occasionally running, especially with the 5 min delay factored in after each cycle... Unless his AC basically runs most of the day.
@@billjohnson3344there is inbetween here you are both missing. A 5 min delay is still good for grid stability issues and hooking to main panel if done correctly can use the solar more efficiently. Or adding batteries as an inbetween the panels and the inverter would be almost equally as good to panel tie in. Allowing a smaller array handle power 24/7 without over amping.
I’m trying to learn about solar,but I’m old 😢I would like to run a large window unit something like 28000 BTU’s with solar. I have central air just wanting to help cool my home. People are telling me I need a solar generator. Does that sound correct? Tia
I did same but with 6 panels. I was connected to grid but my utility complained so I connected them to the AC contactor. Did same with 2 panels to pool pump.
That good sir is HUGE. I am no electrician nor engineer but my question is 2 folds. 1) I am in Illinois, not always sunny. Is it possible to still have AC on solar as well as AC on grid, that way when sunny then power is given priority to the solar panels. 2) I would love spec sheet, DIY video step by step (Do's, don't, warning) - monkey see, monkey do type of video. Cheer mate, thanks again
Thank you for your comment! 1. Yes. Grid tie inverters produce their power at a tiny fraction higher voltage than the grid power they sense coming in. That’s how grid tie inverters can back feed the grid. But we can also use it to our advantage. This allows for in my case the AC unit to consume all of the power the solar is producing first before it pulls any from the grid. So regardless of if it’s sunny or not, your AC will use all the available power coming from the solar before it supplements the rest from the grid. 2. I unfortunately won’t be providing in depth DIY information because electricity is no joke and you shouldn’t mess with it unless you really know what you are doing. Property damage to and including the A/C unit and personal injury and death are just some of the biggest risks. Not worth it. I would recommend getting a licensed electrician to help you. Huge thanks for watching and for your comments!
Very cool idea. Great for pool pumps too. I like the idea of using some DC relays controlled by your ac's 24 v contactor drive. Doing so will allow you to keep your micro inverters connected to AC before the contactor so they don't have to wait several minutes for synchronization. As soon as the DC input from the solar panels shows up the inverters will be ready to go and start exporting power without the two to three minute wait for synchronization. Just an idea. Otherwise, love the video and extremely cool idea😊
Thanks for your thoughts and for watching! Version 2.0 of this is actually in the process of being filmed. I think all of you are going to like it! Be sure you’re subscribed so you don’t miss when it gets posted!
Well you know it’s 2024, and I’m outside with tons of ventilation and I’m all by myself and you just never know when COVID will jump out and get ya! Haha! Just kidding! In reality, I get really bad spring allergies that medication along can’t stay in top of, so I wear a mask whenever I go outside to lower the pollen counts I breathe. You’re very observant! Thanks for watching!
@theresatrickforthat that's actually a fair and decent answer. There's still people wearing masks in their cars while all alone...not to mention the people who still wear it in public. I don't want to be a "bully", but we've gone so far away from peer pressure in our society that people think it's okay to be furries in public! Our society needs a bit of peer pressure to put a check and balance against psycosis.
My quick idea.. have a 5000 ~ btu window ac that is only run off of deep cycle batteries and solar. Have it in an area of the house that will circulate through the house. If the window unit can keep the ambient temp of the house down the main unit will turn off a lot faster. No need to wire into the big ac.
@@user-dr2pg8fk2iThat’s the magic of this setup…if the A/C is off then the mico inverter can’t see the grid and won’t produce solar power so it physically can’t back feed. And then so long as you size the solar array that it doesn’t produce more power than the A/C consumes, when it turns on, the A/C is consuming all the power and none of it is going backwards. Anyway, proof of concept in this video. As stated explicitly in the video I do not recommend doing this yourself. Thanks for watching!
Why are you wearing a mask in your backyard alone? What are you scared of? And it's not even an N95 so your not blocking anything out. Just backfeeding your breath on your face 😂😂😂
@@jonnyjonnyyespapa8013Haha! Right? You never know what you might breathe in! Just kidding! I have severe spring allergies so anything I can do to lower the pollen count that I breathe helps. Thanks for watching! You’re very observant! ;)
Great information. I appreciate quality product endorsements as well! I love the science, wonder and experimentation, that's always the best place to be as a "science guy". Thanks a lot for your time and knowledge!!!
As an 30 year hvac tech, and a guy that has a sprinter overlander that’s loaded with Victron equipment, I can tell you that won’t even come close to working. First of all that a/c condenser is 220v you solar inverter is only 120v and I can tell by its size it’s only going to handle about 8 amps and that’s at 120v. Don’t do stupid things and post it, people will try it and get hurt.
Good news! These inverters are 240V! Great little product…and they scale well, so while they only put out a fairly small amount of power you can parallel them and make as large of a system as you need! Anyway, was a fun proof of concept and as the disclaimer in the video states…don’t attempt what I show on your own! Thanks for watching!
Well you know it’s 2024, and I’m outside with tons of ventilation and I’m all by myself and you just never know when COVID will jump out and get ya! Haha! Just kidding! In reality, I get really bad spring allergies that medication along can’t stay in top of, so I wear a mask whenever I go outside to lower the pollen counts I breathe. You’re very observant! Thanks for watching!
That is so cool! Now, to just find an HVAC tech that would be willing to set this up. Plus, the Micro-Air Easy Start. I don't think that you mentioned that some voltage needs to be sent to the furnace fan, and I would do that just for A/C usage (I think). Great video!
Thank you so much! I really appreciate it! I’m working on version 2.0 of this setup, it’s going to be epic! You won’t want to miss it. Should be getting posted in a few weeks! Stay tuned! Thanks for watching!
Just wanted to say thank you that was a very smart idea now with the solar that I've been using I noticed that my pump house uses a lot of electricity that I would love to set up for using when you're using the pump for the water there's an idea for you thank you😊
I’m happy to hear you like the idea! Yep! A water pump is a great idea and I already made a video about that you can check out here: ua-cam.com/video/CU4SXECkz08/v-deo.htmlsi=9MFm7DLLQuQ7yfm1 Thanks for watching!
This is an interesting concept of how to apply solar. One of the things stopping me from implementing a solar system is the size and expense of a whole house system. But, what if you could build a smaller system to power just the energy hogs in your house. Instant savings on energy for a lower cost of entry than a whole house system. Fantastic idea here.
This is exactly what I was looking for!!! Thanks!!! My only concern is these inverters have that "5 minute saftey" delay. So technically everytime the AC kicks on you lose 5 minutes of free solar. Does anyone know of these micro inverters are configurable to be less than that? Or are there ones that are?
I don't understand why the 5 minute delay either. My A/C only runs about ten minutes each cycle so I am losing half my power output. I wonder if that can be explained or changed. I would think a second or two would be fine with modern electronics.
What is PV islanding? Islanding is a critical and unsafe condition in which a distributed generator, such as a solar system, continues to supply power to the grid while the electric utility is down. On inverters I have seen, once grid is detected, you can adjust the anti islanding timer to 5, 3, or 1 minute.
I've always been surprised that this isnt more common from the manufacturer to be honest. Solar works best on those hot sunny days, which matches when you need the most draw for your AC. It was a no brainer for me and had me thinking of a franken-cool design that would incorporate all of this in the unit itself.
Mini-splits are a bit trickier due to them not having a contactor. If you have a 120V mini-split and or a 120V window unit you could consider running it off a power station with solar attached to it like I did in this video: ua-cam.com/video/eLvLTR6wPkc/v-deo.htmlsi=qkwVul0IWZMS14rr Thanks for watching!
I wonder if you connect it to the soft start unit or bottom side if contacts would be better, it would still maintain grid protection and reduce the grid load without worrying about damage of not enough or too much power
In Mid Michigan, my average usage per day, per month is around 30kwh. So just to have 2000 watts total,, for 10hrs is around 15kwh output, a great daily offset, that can be just jammed threw a hefty inverter, into a 30amp home circuit to feed the rest of the home while the sun shines. you'll never output your daily usage, and surely cut what you pay the power co.
Nice! Just be careful…even at times home usage can be low enough that you run the chance of back feeding the grid. That’s why I recommend you connect this behind the AC contactor to avoid the risk of that. Thanks for watching!
This is a really good idea I’d just install a break in between like so you could shut off that circuit to the main panel during the day that’s free power
There are string inverters that can do what you want in a more efficient ways. You can control via computer if the inverter will sell excess energy or to grid or not. These are the newer hybrid inverters. Of course you will need batteries to store energy for the off times..
That would be the ultimate setup for sure! This way I showed is a way to get up and going with solar and saving money with it faster and with a smaller system while you’re saving for the ultimate setup like you mentioned. Thanks for watching!
Wow Learning a lot. I use a 220 V heater in my garage in winter to keep it just warm enough to run my refrigerator. I am paying $345.00 a month in winter. Can you advise me if you think this would work for my garage. Thank you
It certainly could be a possibility. You just need some kind of switch device to make sure that when the heater is off, the solar inverters can’t see the grid power anymore so it doesn’t back feed. Thanks for watching!
I love the concept! I was wondering if maybe you could show how to do this with a mini split similar to how eg4 is doing to their mini splits and how we could do that with a normal 120 V mini split without using an inverter or anything
I love this, can you do a version 2 of this setup after you use it for a while and see what you like and dont like? Something like this would be AMAZING for my house in Florida when hurricanes knockout power, but grandmas and kids bitching their is no a/c maybe this setup tied to a portable room a/c
ok i'm very intrigued.. question do all these outside compressor units have a "contactor" as you call it? Please elaborate on what this "contactor" thing is! and how do I find it on mine? Mine looks similar to yours just a little shorter. thanks
Most of them do have a contactor unless you have an inverter type A/C unit. You can watch my wiring video for more information: ua-cam.com/video/8-BCiVw881c/v-deo.htmlsi=YZTXhozzIXy3O8FD Thanks for watching!
Thank you for this video! Great idea! It was hard to see your wiring set up on the AC unit . Do you know the names of the parts you wired into on the AC unit?
You’re welcome! I simply wired the inverter to the load side of the contactor and of course the ground wire to ground. And that’s it! It’s very simple.
@@theresatrickforthat Thank you! Last question...Did you have to buy something to protect the wiring from rain or were you able to leave it out? Sry, i never look at my AC unit unit outside but i imagine the parts are typically enclosed.
Would this work even if you already have a grid tied solar on your house? Would this in theory just help with running rhe ac and not require more permits of getting more permits to expand my currwnt system?
Yes it would work with an existing grid tie system. You’d of course want to check with your local codes and such to see if you’d need a permit or not. Thanks for watching!
Interesting concept, not sure how practical or not it is (out of my wheel house, but someone in the comments mentioned that the inverter delay really reduces any help from the solar panels, which makes sense). A far easier and safer solution would be to get some TEC/peltiers and just directly hook them up to Solar panels. Get some .5" XPS foam, some Titebond III waterproof wood glue, and some fiberglass cloth. Cut a couple pieces of foam to the size of your windows, cut an opening in the foam panels big enough for the peltier/TEC(s) to fit through, then glue the foam panels together with some fiberglass cloth at least on the outsides (make sure you rough up the surface of the foam first). Creating a heat sink for the hot side is a little more complicated, but there are various things you can do (heat pipe types being the best passive solution, and then spray painted white to help keep cooler in the sun, even better coat with NightHawkInLight's IR cooling/solar reflecting calcium carbonate particles). Anyways, hot side obviously goes to the outside and cool side to the inside. Blow fans over the cool side inside your house. TEC's are notoriously inefficient, but the nice thing about them is that you can directly hook them up to Solar panels without inverters etc. And who cares that much about COP when you're using Solar panels? You just have to make sure that the Solar panel isn't too strong for the peltier. A lot of the cheap ones do best with around 3 amps and 12 volts. Slightly more expensive ones can handle like 5 amps/12 volts, some even more. So essentially keeping it somewhere between 36 watts and 100 watts depending on the quality of the TEC's. Adding more than 1 Peltier/TEC to a Solar panel will help with reducing the watts reaching each TEC. The better the heat sink system, the more cool they will get. If you put say 2 decent quality peltiers in a window insert in every room, it might reduce cooling costs of electricity by around 15 to 25% for a part of the day at least? Really depends on a lot of factors. You will probably have some condensation issues though, so best to put a waterproof container underneath them and perhaps a microfiber cloth hanging or plastic channel/diverter directly underneath. If you can get rid of the liquid moisture fast and constantly, you'll be getting rid of some of the humidity in the house also. Again, I'm talking _every room_ in the house that has a window to the outside to even make a noticeable dent.
Great video! You seem very knowledgeable and that is a great idea you came up with ......but have to ask why are you wearing a dust mask ? Does it gave anything to do with the AC itself from dust or debris from the fan maybe? Sometimes a good idea to wear one when cutting grass pulling weeds etc, just curious.
Thank you! Haha! This is the nicest mask comment I’ve gotten yet! Here’s the deal, it’s 2024, and I’m outside with tons of ventilation and I’m all by myself and you just never know when COVID will jump out and get ya! Haha! Just kidding! In reality, I get really bad spring allergies that medication alone can’t stay on top of, so I wear a mask whenever I go outside to lower the pollen counts I breathe. You’re very observant! Thanks for watching!
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So this micro inverter output is 240v split phase (two hot legs L1/L2 ?) or just one hot leg with 240v ? If its two hot legs does this means from ground or neutral you’ll see 120v off each hot leg? I mainly use NEP micro inverter, seems like it maybe the same as this one?
@@fullyelectricIt’s split phase. Two hots each at 120V 180 degrees out of phase with each other just like the utility power. Thanks for watching!
@@theresatrickforthat very good and technically since you house will always have something pulling in well over 300-400w all the time you can offset even more just connection it to your panel, the NEP works well too, almost identical products except the NEP has like a heatsink built on the case, BTE does Enphase make any micro inverter over 400w?
@@fullyelectricYeah, I’ve seen those NEP ones around. Not sure all the sizes Enphase has. Just happened to have an extra one kicking around and started having some fun with it. :)
I looked at the specs. The IQ8+ is rated 240v 290VA out continuous. That's an output of 1.2A. You're already maxing out the output. If you want more solar power then you'll need more inverters or an inverter with a higher output rating. Also, for a permanent installation you'll want to fuse the lines and add disconnects when you feed the compressor. You could also add batteries that are charged by the solar power during the day but are used to offset the power at night.
I am a retired electrical engineer, and what you are doing is technically correct. You are adding a grid-tie inverter to the circuit to CONTRIBUTE to the power being drawn by the AC unit. You will never come close to power draw that the AC unit needs, and its only inserted when its running, there is no chance you would ever inadvertently export to the grid. Since the micro-inverters are designed to require a grid to sync with before they will export power (anti-islanding) there is no safety concern. Also no way the utility will ever know.. Before I became legitimately connected to the grid, I made a far more sophisticated system consisting of current sensors and outputs from my thermostats to control how many panels were connected to my inverter depending on the load. That way i didn't have to completely disconnect the grid until the total house load was less then what a single panel produced. Super nerd project. I ran it like that for over 2 years until the official connection was made, and now I'm legal! Endphase inverters want to see a gateway, so it would be better to use the cheap Chinese micro-inverters that don't spend time looking for a gateway. Also, switching the DC side will get the power to the AC unit with a shorter delay, but you would have to control an external relay to do so. Make sure you provide a disconnect of some sort so you don't confuse the poor AC tech who is trying to fix your AC unit when it fails in the hottest part of summer! BTW. The best thing you ever did, was install the soft start unit to the AC. They are pricey, but worth it. A final word of advice: Just because you CAN do something, it doesn't necessarily mean you SHOULD do it. You have to be the judge. I tend to live on the edge myself, it keeps things interesting.
Hey! Sincere thanks for your thoughts and wisdom! Probably the most valuable comment so far! Thanks for taking the time to write it! Sounds like you had a pretty sweet setup. Thanks for watching and commenting!
Great info. So OP has one panel with one inverter, would iir be safe to add a combiner box to parallel more panels?
Beautiful comment! Us UA-camrs appreciate the knowledge, experience, and encouragement! I'm considering this, but with batteries.
Thank you for your input. As just a regular home owner, it’s nice to hear from someone knowledgeable in the field to further my understanding of the elements involved. To me this seems likes a pretty ingenious idea in theory.
Awesome comment , very educational , you should create a video explaining to those of us that dont know much.
I have same setup with 10 panels running my pool pump for free for like 4hr if the sun is out, had the setup for 5year now and it sure helps to offset power consumption.
Nice! A pool pump would be a great application!
I'd love to do something similar. This sounds like a dream setup.
@@theresatrickforthat There are affordable DC pool-pumps which run directly off solar panels, with no inverters. I'm considering a setup.
How is it “free” when you spend a significant amount of money on the panels, micro inverters, controllers and cables - were these items free?
@@Techprone1Free after you get ROI in a few years
As a DIYer who has also built two Solar Power Systems; I think your Awesome idea is inspiring; plus found the comment section educational too. Thanks
Thanks so much for the wonderful comment! Glad you’ve found things helpful! Thanks for watching!
Thank you for this video! #1 the contactor is the gamechanger!!! This makes it totally isolated from grid feedback. Great Job! #2 I am impressed with how patient you are with the haters. Reading these comments makes me scratch my head and ask myself if they only read the tile and didn't watch the video, or if they really don't have any ability to think. Please add more and give us an update on this video soon! I liked and subscribed!
Thank you so much! I’m already working on version 2.0 which will be going live in a few weeks! So stay tuned!
Hold on a minute..... I'm mesmerized by how good your lawn looks....
Haha! Thank you! That’s another project of mine! Got a video on that as well! ua-cam.com/video/zSvJwO9IJTE/v-deo.htmlsi=gYDD_jhGNjFw0yXS Thanks for watching!
Lol me too lol😂
Scott's Turf Builder!!
I was thinking that too
Is that Bermuda?
People getting hung up on thinking the 2 panels are supplying all the power. They are not! They are just reducing what the grid has to supply. No different than if the panels were tied to the breaker box and every time the ac kicked on he turned on the solar breaker.
Wattage is wattage. If your panels produce 400w then your overall grid usage will go down 400w.
Nice way showing initial draw and then the supplied amperage and overall amp draw after the micro inverter kicked in. 👍🏻👍🏻
Before I installed my full array, I did this same thing to see if it would work. It did and my home energy monitor helped prove it as I could see my overall grid usage drop when the panels were producing. The electric company had no idea for months.
Haha! Yep! They seem to have a hard time wrapping their heads around the concept. Thanks for the kind comment and for watching!
Maybe people are thinking the panels are supplying all the power because of the clickbait title. I mean after all, it does say "Eliminate your AC power bill"
@@TheBear470well you just add enough panels and it can eliminate it, just don’t add more than you need
Yes you correct but if there is a smart meter involved it will show more power used Sneaky electric company has some built in the meter to watch the Hz
@@Branx86I have solar and worked with the electric company when they setup my meter. They had no idea I had solar hooked up for the previous 2 months, I was supplementing power to see how much it would produce and a way to reduce usage without the extra bi-directional meter fee. Producing exactly what I used or up to double my usage would save me money. Producing over double my usage cost me more. After the couple of months I had them out to inspect my setup and reprogram my meter to be bidirectional. I found in my situation it was more beneficial to just let my panels work vs trying to supplement and track output and usage.
Nice job! Can't wait to try this out - thanks for posting. RE: pool pumps - you can now get DC powered pumps that are fantastic for less then around 1/2 the cost of most AC pumps. I have 4 panels dedicated to a DC pump (which came with controller included!) and it performs better than my AC pump ever did and is free! What's more, my pool is cleaner and warmer in summer because instead of running 4 or 6 or 8 hours it runs however long the sun is up so the water is better filtered and circulated. There is also a great market for used AC pool pumps, so between selling mine and having my pool pump cost go to zero, this has paid for itself many times over. Been using it for 3 years now - have some video I could post.
Cool deal! Definitely post videos about your DC pump! That would be cool to see in action! Thanks for watching!
The hell with the electricity, your grass/lawn looks great, bro!!
Haha! Thank you very much! The lawn is a labor of love for me. I actually am filming videos about the lawn and what I do for it as well on this channel. So check those out for further info on the lawn care side of things. Thanks for watching!
Yeah because grass is way more important than electricity 👍 🤔
Cringe
@@freewillchoice8052you'll never know
not for long if he leaves them there
Great Experiment, You can also set up some solar panels and use a Power Limiting Inverter like the SUN-2000GTIL2. It allows you to "Zero export to grid" , it monitors your home loads and compensates up to 2kw, if the grid goes down, it stops production so you never back feed.
Great tip! Thanks for watching!
I've been doing hacks like this for a decade. The problem with most grid-tie inverters is that they follow the legal mandate of waiting 5 minutes before exporting power, so unless you are in a particularly hot climate, that misses most of the AC cycle. There are lots of options to get around that, but the point of this video is that it is the cheapest way to do this.
You’re exactly right! Thanks for watching!
Captain Obvious, do you know what work-arounds for the 5 minute delay are? Are there inverters that are configurable? I was wondering if UK or AU inverters didn't have that requirement.
so I'm in Central Cali very hot and sunny most of the year.. my ac is pulling like 5-7k watts when running..If I get like 3kw of solar panels it will cut my bill in half during the day? Will it backfeed to the grid and will PGE know ?
Who cares if you inadvertently export power to the grid? I don't see why this would be an issue, can't you just hook the panels directly to the ac breaker and if the AC isn't on the power will go somewhere else in the house no?
@@jims.3987the panels are DC, hence the DC to AC inverter. Export is a problem if he has a smart meter as the utility will notice.
Haters keep hating, if it works then it work. Great video
Thank you! Thanks for watching!
Thanks!
Thank you so much for your support and for watching!
I did a setup like this for my house. Six industrial solar pnl using a 2x3 setup and three inverters I picked up from ebay. Just plugged the whole thing into a 30a socket I have on the out side for a gen. Knocked about a $100+- a month off my bill. On a good clear day it would crank out 1kwh on average.
Sweetness! Thanks for watching!
How much money do you have in your setup if you don't mind me asking?
@@skeon67 The Solaria panels (230W) were a $100ea. used. The inverters were $130ea. new. The wiring/cables, meter and other odds and ends like water proof connectors and such were another couple hundred. I got lucky with the solar panels. Very high end...each panel was covered with a glass panel that had a convex lens over each cell. Captured light from almost any angle.
thanks@@Bluebark64FIS
I'm assuming this 30A socket is tied directly into your panel and will actually backfeed to the grid if there's not enough load being used to consume all the solar power generated?
As HVAC dude I’ve been wanting to test something like this out in my own house, nicely done. I really see an opportunity for newer inverter HVAC system where the amp draw is low most of the time.
Thank you! And thanks for watching!
Yes I have a Bosch 2.0 inverter system thinking I wouldn't need the soft startup correct?
Went to HVAC by trade ended up in solar. I like this idea.
@@stephenhawkx I don’t think so. One of the main benefits of an inverter compressor is that it does its own soft start and avoids lock rotor amps. Your challenge is going to be how initiate the power from the PV solar since your unit does not have a contactor.
Understand! Thanks. Will look at my water heater instead @@victorsr6708
If this is drawing 5 to 10 amps look into victron multiplus. Those units are design to sync solar with grid in one unit. RV people do this all the time.
That’s like 8x the price of this
I'm sure it would work too! The idea behind what I'm showing here is you can start small and grow over time all while offsetting the power consumed sooner rather than later once budget allows for a large inverter. Thanks for watching!
Yep! You're exactly right! Thanks for watching!
I did it with a DC motor heat pump and started, including it in my residential solar sales, and everybody is insanely happy with it and how well it works and it fixes so many other problems with math when it comes to energy that it’s unbelievable. Of course that’s in states where air-conditioning isthe largest load like here in Texas
Awesome! Thanks for sharing and for watching!
Sitting here thinking, gee I wonder if this could be done and BAM, here you are! Thank you sir!
Haha! Happy to hear this! Thanks for watching!
Two weeks ago, when my 1.5 year old broke at the coil I almost bought two big solar panels to try this and I said nah, impossible and then I quit thinking about it, your video just pumped me up and I’m seeking an electrician to try this
Best of luck to you! Thanks for watching!
I recently purchased my home and am eager to try out the solar panel system. I am also considering adding a few batteries to assist with energy storage during the night.
I believe that utilizing solar energy for cooling the house is an innovative and eco-friendly approach, just amazing 👏.
Congrats on your home purchase! Glad you enjoyed the video! Thanks for watching!
Except that they use massive diesel powered mining machines that move endless tons of earth to get to the right metals to then make the panels. So the environmental damage and fossil fuel savings is still as damaging to the planet as running a coal power plant.
I have seen this done many ways, but the contactor is a very clever way to get this working minimally. Usually insee more complicated methods of detecting the state of the unit.
Thank you! And thanks for watching!
I really like this, im spending a lot money especially in winter I want a system that can offset not just my Summers but Winter aswell.
If you have a heat pump, this would work year round! Thanks for watching!
Can you do a video on the connections in more detail , awesome video !!
I'll add that to the list of future videos! Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for watching!
A wiring video would be great.
Need wiring video....thanks
@@theresatrickforthat Please do! Would help me so much
Similar concept bought a used 12k BTU portable AC and attached to a battery inverter combo fed by solar and it is able to generate enough cold air to keep the central AC compressor from kicking in at peak Texas hotness. I just keep the main AC fan going to help circulate the air. Need more confidence with electricity to try your setup. Thanks for sharing.
Sounds like you have a great setup! Thanks for watching!
Have you seen that it helps with your energy bill? I'm with you on Trick's setup, love it, but...
I see that you have a great way of helping many to save on electricity. Especially with the AC unit and pool pumps. I am looking forward to trying this out and looking forward to your pool pump demo. Love your channel.
Thanks so much! Yep! The pump video will be coming out in a few weeks so stay tuned!!! Thanks for watching!
Great idea, this is brilliant. You can also hook up grid-tie to your pool timer to feed pool pump
Thank you! Yes you can! I did it with my pump. You can see the video here: ua-cam.com/video/CU4SXECkz08/v-deo.html
This is an awesome idea. if you can do more video like these, that would help a lot of people to save money.
Thank you! I’ve certainly got more fun ideas for the future so be sure you’re subscribed so you don’t miss them! Thanks for watching and commenting!
I love the idea of using the air conditioner switch to disconnect the panels from the grid to not worry about feeding back. Good job! You could have it hooked to your hot water tank when the air conditioner shuts off.
Thank you! I’m working on the water heater concept…need to find an electric water heater to play with first since mine is gas. But I’d like to explore all the options!
@@theresatrickforthat They do make solar powered heating elements for weather heaters. So you need a water heater that takes 2 elements so one can be on solar and other on grid.
I do the same thing, but for the washer and dryer. Washer and dryer connected to a power strip that's connected to a kill-o-watt meter that's connected to a y&h 1300w grid tie inverter that's connected to two in parallel 535 watt solar panels. I still back feed to the grid, but what the washer and dryer consume is more than what I back feed into the grid so I'm ok with that.
Sweet! Thanks for watching!
By backfeeding to the grid, wont the power company won't realize you have solar without a permit and give u an issue ?
Now we are talking. This is exactly what I have been wondering about too. Thanks for the video.
Glad it was helpful! Thanks for watching!
CAN YOU SEND US ELECTRICAL SCHEMATICFOR THE HOOKUP OF YOUR IQ 8+ micro invertor and soft start unit. thanks Connie
I don’t have a schematic. But the two hot wires from the IQ8+ just connect on the load side of the A/C contactor like you saw in the video, the ground wire of course goes to ground. MicroAir EasyStart has its own schematics for different A/C types. Thanks for watching!
This works and using emphases are best. Recommend adding FRN fuse pairs just off the contactor and a ground wire to the panel frame to the condenser frame ground.
Great ideas! Thanks for watching!
Awesome , im all on this. So my peak power time is 3.pm to 6pm , i will place my panels facing west, plus i have a swamp cooler blowing into the garage, with turbins venting it, so i place the panels over the turbin to keep them cool for better efficiency.
Sounds great! Please get a licensed electrician to help you! This stuff is dangerous! Thanks for watching!
Im sort of doing it the other way around. I call it mt emergency system. I do as much as i can to do well tv microwave even will run 600w heater. But is mostly for hurricane season. To offset gas gen. This idea of yours is amazing.
I appreciate it! Thanks for watching!
This is brilliant! Anything that has a contactor could do this, freezer and fridge, water heater... you could also use this so that you could use a smaller generator during a power outage. If you also included a DC relay that required a certain voltage from the panels before allowing the grid power to turn on, you could create an "if this then that" that would allow you to only run certain items when solar assist is available. That way your AC or water heater wouldn't pull so hard on your generator.
Another use case would be a pool pump or heater could be configured to only run once the panels hit a certain voltage (DC) so it would only run when the panels could assist.
Great food for thought! Thanks for watching!
Thank you for the video. I learned something new about inverters.
You’re welcome! Glad I helped you! Thanks for watching!
This is something I have been thinking about for years thanks
Thank you! Thanks for watching!
Nice! yes Elec current made by the solar thur micro inverters will flow just like water it going to flow in the least resist way so yes what power it made is only going to flow into the nearest appliance long before it will ever flo out into the main grid. Besude the micro inverters need to see power before they will turn on! And no power they turn on off, to safely keep from back feeding a grid line. Thanks for sharing
Great explanation! Thanks for watching!
Yes, I've always thought this is how solar would be used. I think placing all the high use items on one circuit and run by smaller panels instead of all over your roof
It was a fun proof of concept to run! Thanks for watching!
Get an Enphase IQ Envoy with consumption CTS and set it to zero export then you can leave the micro inverter on all day and it'll never feed to the grid and it will help cover some of your home load making more use of your solar.
Yep! You could definitely expand to that when money allows. Thanks for watching!
I just tried this with a 2000W SUN inverter. Shut off the inverter's limiter functions and it works great. Only takes about one minute for it to produce power, so not much of a delay.
Awesomeness! Thanks for watching!
Can you show your setup?
@@kknmesa The basics are the same as described in the above video. I just ran my wires to the inside of the house near where the AC unit is. The wires (8ga) from the solar array ran to the 2000W SUN inverter. Only used enough solar power to generate about 1300W for this experiment. Than I ran the wires (10ga) from the inverter to the outside to the compressor relay solenoid (aka Contactor) on the side of the relay that goes to the compressor. I only used Line 1 and Line 2 from the inverter. I did not connect the neutral wire since 240V devices do not use the neutral wire. That is it. When the AC came on the inverter took about 20 second to engage and I had supplemental power feeding the AC unit when the sun was out. I got about a 40% decrease in power coming from the grid and no feed back with this setup. If one uses more solar power but keeps the supplemental power below what the AC is using there will be no feed back into the grid. I would have gone with this setup only if I had not already gotten a 6000W off grid inverter. So now I have the full off grid system installed so I do not need this set up anymore, but this is a very simple low cost setup to supplement your electric bill since most of it comes from using AC in the summer.
@@darylw792 Thank you!
@@darylw792How do you support the 240v of the AC? I though 2220W Sun Inverter only outputs 120v
This is totally amazing. Now if only I could do this to a window unit.Wait, do you think it will work with a window unit?
Thanks! It won’t work with a window unit very well unless your window unit is 240V or you find a 120V micro inverter. But then you’ll have to wire in some kind of relay that turns on and off with the window unit compressor to avoid back feeding the grid…seems like to much trouble and hassle. Sorry about that! Maybe consider getting a solar power station, plugging your window ac into that and then connecting solar to the power station. Would probably be more useful and an easier solution for a window unit. You might consider the Anker Solix C1000. Here’s a link to my review and testing of that unit. I think it’s even on sale for Memorial Day. ua-cam.com/video/Zdl3syXDUP8/v-deo.htmlsi=GYXwEd0gqnx8fORw
Thanks for watching!
You can buy a 24,000 btu mini split from Signature Solar for $1899. It has a built in MPPT inverter built in and you can connect solar panels direct to the AC unit. But some used solar panels locally, or from San tan Solar to cut costs and you're good to go. It will run 100% from solar and from the grid on cloudy days and at night.
If you don't need 24,000BTU they have a 12,000BTU unit for $1299.
They also sell complete setups with solar panels
I use enphase IQ and solar panels on my house except it takes care of the whole house and our electric co here in North Carolina still buys back power at retail prices for any access. It is not always this good, but our electric bill ( which includes power that goes directly from the panels to the load in the day ) was 76 cents for May of 2024 It was a moderate investment 10 years ago, nut paid off now based on cost verses energy savings. Loved your video, more people need to think like you.
Very nice system! Thanks for watching!
Great use of grid tie micro inverters!.. in discrete fashion! I liked and subbed!!
Huge thanks for the like and sub! Thanks for watching!
@@theresatrickforthat YW, it's all my pleasure. Finding those niche solutions is GREAT! I like your creative thinking.
Great Video! How many minutes to start supplying amps?
Thank you! It takes the inverter about 5 minutes to start supplying power. Thanks for watching!
I will not say eliminate but definitely offset. Good job 😊
Offset is a great word! Thanks for watching!
I was wondering about the life span of the micro inverter cycling on & off when the ac is operational. I have a pool pump, which I will be doing the same set up, but that stays on for 8 hrs.
@@andys5203 Time will tell on the longevity I guess. Glad to hear you’re going to be using it with the pool pump! Great solution for that!
The HVAC industry could eliminate grid power with self contained package minisplit AC units....they already have soft start circuitry and draw much less power...plus as zone ACs they could be programmed to automatically ration Air Conditioning to priority and low priority zones when solar power drops.
The AC would pull grid power only when insufficient solar hours exist.
If the collective world was really worried about what they said they are, then that would have been the first mandated upgrade to heavy appliances in the 1980s and 90s.
As it is, the design described above would triple ir quadruple the cost of a minisplit install...which would require years of payback...which may not be covered by the lifecycle of the unit.
Have had the same plan, I run the blower 24/7 so one panel for the blower and additional for the compressor. Have an IQ8+, and a IQ7.
Nice! Thanks for watching!
Well Done! I did something similar with my pool pump.
Thanks! Good to hear about your pool pump! Thanks for watching!
@@theresatrickforthatwas just thinking of this as it’s constantly running during the day. But wasn’t sure how to power it when I want it running at night?
Nicely done. For 2-4 panels this seems like a good solution. However, when you start getting in the 10+ range (and if you want to add some batteries), a dedicated inverter/charge controller setup will probably be less expensive.
I would agree with you on this. Thanks for watching!
That's beyond amazing! Wow I am impressed. I would also add the dryer as well.
Thanks! It’s a very cool option! The dryer is a good idea! Thanks for watching and commenting!
This has been a thing for over a decade. And it's nothing but a pile of code violations.
Great job, very impressed. How about using this solar system for a well with a 3/4 horse power pump? Would not need two many panels.
Great idea! Thanks for watching!
Brilliant! Thank you
You're very welcome! Thanks for watching!
This is super interesting. We live in southern Alabama. I wonder how much this would reduce my bill and how quickly I'd break even after buying the equipment. Could probably use this for the above ground sand filter too I bet.
I’ve got version 2.0 in the works that’s even cheaper to buy and produces way more power! Stay tuned! Thanks for watching!
@theresatrickforthat Can't wait to see that. Appreciate the reply.
This is awesome! Show more!
Thank you and sounds good! Thanks for watching!
Thanks for the video I still need to learn more about back-feeding the grid. How does the micro-inverter reduce the amp draw from the grid? A wire drawing would be helpful so I understand the cutoff from the grid when the AC is turned off.
I highly recommend studying about grid tie and off grid solar options! It’s fascinating! Yeah, unfortunately I do not have a wiring diagram at this time. But we’ll see if I can put one together for the Version 2.0 of this coming up here in a few weeks. Thanks for watching!
I saw a person the other day in Austria say that in their country, you were allowed to use an approved micro inverter for up to 800 watts of solar without any agreement with the power company. They should do that here in America. It would help people a little with their power bills.
That would be nice! Thanks for watching!
@@theresatrickforthat Thank you for the great video.
I agree 110%!!!
in Australia they disconnect your power if you send any to the grid without out agreement with power company!!!
AND they fine you if you have an agreement and you send some to the grid!
@@ecomech7464 My Electric Company does the same here in the US. They will turn your power off if you use a grid tie inverter without a net metering agreement.
My ac unit on the inside of my house plugs into a 110/120 outlet .
If I was going to do that.
I would install a couple of deep cycle batteries outside and a power inverter somewhere near my AC unit and a solar panel to recharge the batteries.
Looks like a good setup to me.
Adding batteries and an off grid inverter so you could harvest solar power from the panels even if the AC was off would be the ideal solution for sure! This proof of concept at least lets us poor people start getting some solar benefits for much cheaper while saving for batteries and a bigger inverter. Thanks for watching!
@@theresatrickforthat you're welcome.
400 watts of solar is roughly 10% of the power that unit draws, no one will be eliminating their air conditioner usage with this setup, just reducing the draw to a small extent. those 2 solar panels couldn't even power the smallest window a/c unit you can find. it will however power a fan, that's about it. now if you built up that solar panel grid 10 times, yes you could technically power that unit in full sun only, however you would still need the grid to start the high load from all the motors in it.
You’re right. Except in my case, those panels were providing more than 10% for my particular AC unit. Anyway, it’s a stepping stone to my dream huge solar system. Stay tuned for more! Thanks for watching!
The system was drawing 5.2 amps at 240v (1248 watts), and the solar was supplying 1.22 amps (about 292watts)
So it's offsetting about 23.5% of the load once the inverter fully boots up and starts exporting. He'd need to quadruple his solar output to match the draw, but it definitely does offset it a significant amount.
You also appear to have missed the part where he mentioned the soft-start unit on his ac system, so the inrush current/startup load is actually quite small on it now.
The bigger concern is just about the financial viability of it. This thing is only going to "produce" power while the AC is running, which is going to be mostly during the hottest parts of the day, but it likely won't be running constantly during those hours, so there's still a huge waste of solar production energy, not only when the AC isn't running, but also for the first several minutes that it is running, so it's terribly inefficient. ~300 watts of production isn't terribly much, but it gets worse when it's not even being fully utilized to power the rest of the home when the AC isn't running. With a system that small, I don't really see a good reason not to just go ahead and grid-tie it. You're going to be drawing 300 watts at any given time with other items/appliances in the home any time the sun is shining anyway.
Solar takes a long time to hit a break-even point anyway, so only having it run a fraction of the time that it could be producing is going to make that considerably worse.
that's a crazy efficient a/c unit, i don't see how it's possible for it to only be pulling 1250 watts when my 3 ton pulls over 3 times that while at idle(not starting).
Depending on your region, you probably could disconnect the AC from the main service and use solar only. It all hinges on the price per kWh. In my area, the AC unit costs about $1.45 per hour to run. Goes up fast.
Good thought! Thanks for watching!
😊 Super 😊 great 😊 thanks 😊 much 😊😊😊
No problem! Thanks for watching!
About 10 years ago the Lennox HVAC company had a system that they put out as an add on that would feed to the power grid any excess power. All solar converters were built in the outdoor condensing unit and you would have 15 plus panels mounting on your roof , the system had a 15 year life cycle but the pay off would be closer to 20 years ,which killed the demand for such a system .
Interesting! Didn’t know that. Thanks for watching!
So the inverter is $189 + solar panels are $380 + wiring ~$50 = $620 to save 1 amp or 1/5 of your electricity on just your AC. If your power was $0.20 a KW you would break even in about 17 months time on 24/7 use. 1 amp = 0.24 KW X 24 hours = 5.76KW per day or $1.152 per day/$34.56 per month/$420.48 per year of savings.
If the system works for over the 17 months you would start to see "Free Power". Which is not bad time frame..:)
You know the old saying…a penny saved is a penny earned! Haha! Thanks for watching!
@@theresatrickforthat Yeah, id like to see what it takes to get the AC full on solar.
He can't run the panel 24/7 for obvious reasons. The power output is also going to change with time of day and even time of year.
@@theresatrickforthat a penny saved is more than a penny earned because of income tax and compounding interest.
can get 100w panels for 40$ new and can get blemished/used panels for 20$ for 200-300w
roi will be a year or two on the cheap
Pacific gas and electric NorCal 43¢ tier 1 53¢ tier 2. It would pay for itself quick.
I have tried to read through the comments to see if my questions have been asked but I was hoping I could ask you for confirmation? I am trying to learn about solar and I like the idea of slowly transitioning to it.
1. In the winter, do you need to disconnect the solar panel's if using a gas heater?
2. With a setup like this, as long as the panels don't produce more wattage than what the ac uses, no worry of backfeeding the grid?
3. Does the microinverter only accept (2) panels? Increase the number of microinverters as more panels are added?
4. Is the EasyStart required for a setup like this? If so, can the EasyStart be used with a heat pump like the conventional ac condenser used in this video? I have conventional like you, but like the idea of moving to heat pump considering it's benefits provided a setup like this is possible.
1. No need to disconnect during the winter. The AC will always be off, so the inverter will never see the grid and will never produce power. Essentially, with the AC off, the contractor is always disconnected which in turn has disconnected the solar. 2. That’s correct. The goal is to just have self consumption. 3. The micro inverter has a minimum and maximum voltage range. So in my case, I needed two 200W panels to get me into that voltage range which I show in the video. You could use a single 400W panel and achieve the same results. Just find solar panel(s) that fit the voltage range on the micro inverter and you’re set! Yes, you need more mico inverters as the amount of panels increase. 4. The EasyStart is NOT required for this setup. I just have one to help my backup gas generator be able to run it during a grid down situation. And yes, the EasyStart does work with a heat pump just fine. A heat pump would be ideal to connect solar like this too so that you can offset your AC summer time bill as well as your winter heating bill! Thanks for watching!
@@theresatrickforthatThank you for the reply.
@@theresatrickforthatOne last question, did you mention it in the video or anywhere in the comments, what was the size of the AC unit? I thought I remember seeing or hearing it was a 1 ton unit. Is that correct?
I just found in the comments it is a 3 ton (36,000 BTU) unit.
The number of people who have absolutely no clue what they’re talking about in the comments is appalling 😂
Haha! Right? To each their own I guess! At least makes for good humor relief! Thanks for watching!
I agree. Wattage is wattage. Those who understand know this works. He did a pretty good demo at showing the draw and then the output of the solar and the draw after the solar kicked in.
Not to mention everyone commenting "it sucks unless your AC runs all day" some of us live in Florida, Texas, Louisiana Mississippi etc. Trust me, it runs damn near all day, this would be worth it in 1 summer lol
Wish you went further by making it a permanent setup with step by step instructions along with products used list. I was very impressed and had been thinking if that was possible. I was looking at using one of those 450 Watt bi-focal solar panels, as those are getting cheaper by the day and actually a good set up when vertically installed. I have also been thinking of doing a mobile on wheels backup battery 200-300 Ah with 450 Bi-focal solar panel and home outlet charging options, so i could run my digital window A/C window unit at night and charge during the day, along with being able to run my refrigerator for as long as possible in emergency situations. The reason i want this setup is because of the hurricanes we have been getting in Florida.
Oh don’t you worry! I am working on the ultimate permanent setup while still be cost conscious. It’s coming together bit by bit as money allows. Anyway, be sure you’re subscribed so you don’t miss the next iterations! Thanks for watching and best of luck to you with your cool portable power wagon! I have a lot of great real world testing videos (including fridge runtimes) on LiFePO4 batteries you might want to check out!
@@theresatrickforthat thanks I subscribed to your channel
So, basically a temporary grid-tie solar/micro-inverter setup. Yah, I see how that can work. Sorta... but it is too dangerous and I will explain why in the next paragraph. Also I think its probably not legal because even though you aren't backfeeding the grid, you are interfacing a backfeed-capable device to the grid.
There is another problem here that makes this *very dangerous*. If you happen to have enough solar to roughly match the A/C's load, and the contactor tries to turn off, the microinverter will not be able to determine that the grid disconnected and will continue powering the A/C system. The A/C will probably continue running under these conditions.
And that could cause major problems because without the grid to synchronize to the micro-inverter's waveform will slowly get out of sync with the grid. If the contactor then closes under those conditions, you have two out-of-sync waveform fighting each other and that can easily start a fire or blow everything up.
A third problem is if the solar power is just moderately lower than what the A/C needs. This will cause the A/C to run more slowly and still possibly not trip-off the micro-inverter. The result is that you might over-stress the compressor in the A/C unit.
So I would say, just don't do this. It's too dangerous.
-Matt
Anything can happen I suppose! It worked pretty well for me! But to reiterate the disclaimer from the video…do not attempt this yourself! Thanks for watching!
Once the contactor opens, the emphases will shut down
Matt - The power will not keep the contactor working and making the a/c to run continuously. The contactor is powered by a 24v transformer in the air handler in the house. The 24v signal comes from the thermostat which gets power from the transformer and sent to the contactor. This simple setup helps is showing has been done for years. But if the power company sees this, they will shut it down.
Matt- none of the issues you listed are major issues. This type of setup has been done by many for years for “injecting” power to supplement power usage from a a/c unit. Even if the solar does not produce enough power as shown in this video the grid power makes up for it. It is basically how panels wired at the home panel work. If my house requires 5k watts and my solar is only producing 3500, the grid supplies the other 1500. Only difference is this guy is using the contactor in the a/c unit to switch the inverter on vs constant on at the panel or even connected to the other side of the contactor.
Water heater, furnace, fridge and stove and deep freeze. You could do legs for each and just need grid connection for lights.
Maybe so!
Missing the point here - just using a solar panel and microinverter part-time. Basically you are handicapping what the solar panel and microinverter can do for you by only running it a fraction of the time. Because you have this hooked up to the contactor output, the solar panel only supplements some power via the microinverter when the air conditioner compressor is on. Why would you not hook this to a free 240V breaker in your main panel (like regular solar), or the other side of the contactor? That way the solar panel is giving you power anytime there is sun - not just only when the air conditioner is on. Then you don't have that 5 minute delay where you have no output from the microinverter - each time the A/C kicks on. With this small solar setup of only 264W (AC output - your 1.1A measured), you'll never backfeed the grid - most homes draw more than that all the time. And if you did increase your setup and at times you did export some power, this is a non-issue - you are just giving free power to the grid that you won't be paid for. And the click bait title - this doesn't eliminate your A/C portion of your bill - just offsets a very small portion: 264W of say 4000W (4 ton A/C unit). 6.6%, not 100%
You're right, it would be ideal to have these panels running all the time, but I know some people who have been charged for excess power that went backwards through their non-net meter so better safe than sorry especially as it gets scaled up and you're pushing more power. And that's the beauty of this setup, start small with what money you have and scale from there! Offsetting 6.6% is still better than nothing while I continue to save for more panels and stuff! Thanks for watching!
@@theresatrickforthat Yeah sorry, it just makes no financial or logical sense to do this the way you've shown. The cost of the panels and microinverter will take forever to recoup vs. the fraction of the time the AC is on with sun shinning, and the power up delay. Most homes draw several hundred watts all the time - you won't be giving back to the grid. Just connect the microinverter and panels full time.
@@billjohnson3344 I agree 100%, IF your base load is always over what the solar panels can produce. In his case, if his baseload isn't 300W+, say it's only 200W+, he'd probably still be better off wiring only one panel to the main, compared to two on the AC that's only occasionally running, especially with the 5 min delay factored in after each cycle... Unless his AC basically runs most of the day.
@@billjohnson3344there is inbetween here you are both missing. A 5 min delay is still good for grid stability issues and hooking to main panel if done correctly can use the solar more efficiently. Or adding batteries as an inbetween the panels and the inverter would be almost equally as good to panel tie in. Allowing a smaller array handle power 24/7 without over amping.
I’m trying to learn about solar,but I’m old 😢I would like to run a large window unit something like 28000 BTU’s with solar. I have central air just wanting to help cool my home. People are telling me I need a solar generator. Does that sound correct? Tia
I did same but with 6 panels. I was connected to grid but my utility complained so I connected them to the AC contactor. Did same with 2 panels to pool pump.
Sweet! Thanks for watching!
@@theresatrickforthatI bought used 300 watt panels and enphase units from Facebook marketplace. 6 panels 3 inverters $450
What charge controller did you use with 6 panels? How many amps they provide?
That good sir is HUGE. I am no electrician nor engineer but my question is 2 folds.
1) I am in Illinois, not always sunny. Is it possible to still have AC on solar as well as AC on grid, that way when sunny then power is given priority to the solar panels.
2) I would love spec sheet, DIY video step by step (Do's, don't, warning) - monkey see, monkey do type of video.
Cheer mate, thanks again
Thank you for your comment!
1. Yes. Grid tie inverters produce their power at a tiny fraction higher voltage than the grid power they sense coming in. That’s how grid tie inverters can back feed the grid. But we can also use it to our advantage. This allows for in my case the AC unit to consume all of the power the solar is producing first before it pulls any from the grid. So regardless of if it’s sunny or not, your AC will use all the available power coming from the solar before it supplements the rest from the grid.
2. I unfortunately won’t be providing in depth DIY information because electricity is no joke and you shouldn’t mess with it unless you really know what you are doing. Property damage to and including the A/C unit and personal injury and death are just some of the biggest risks. Not worth it. I would recommend getting a licensed electrician to help you.
Huge thanks for watching and for your comments!
So many hater’s
True! Haha! Thanks for watching!
Very cool idea. Great for pool pumps too. I like the idea of using some DC relays controlled by your ac's 24 v contactor drive. Doing so will allow you to keep your micro inverters connected to AC before the contactor so they don't have to wait several minutes for synchronization. As soon as the DC input from the solar panels shows up the inverters will be ready to go and start exporting power without the two to three minute wait for synchronization. Just an idea. Otherwise, love the video and extremely cool idea😊
Thanks for your thoughts and for watching! Version 2.0 of this is actually in the process of being filmed. I think all of you are going to like it! Be sure you’re subscribed so you don’t miss when it gets posted!
You are filming alone. Outside. Why are you wearing a face mask?
Why a mask at all! Never should have been a thing. Follow the science!
Well you know it’s 2024, and I’m outside with tons of ventilation and I’m all by myself and you just never know when COVID will jump out and get ya! Haha! Just kidding! In reality, I get really bad spring allergies that medication along can’t stay in top of, so I wear a mask whenever I go outside to lower the pollen counts I breathe. You’re very observant! Thanks for watching!
@theresatrickforthat that's actually a fair and decent answer. There's still people wearing masks in their cars while all alone...not to mention the people who still wear it in public. I don't want to be a "bully", but we've gone so far away from peer pressure in our society that people think it's okay to be furries in public! Our society needs a bit of peer pressure to put a check and balance against psycosis.
@@chrisphillips6479 wearing a face mask where it's not necessary, is the biden voters Maga hat.
@@theresatrickforthatTest your Vitamin D. You might be deficient.
My quick idea.. have a 5000 ~ btu window ac that is only run off of deep cycle batteries and solar. Have it in an area of the house that will circulate through the house. If the window unit can keep the ambient temp of the house down the main unit will turn off a lot faster. No need to wire into the big ac.
Great idea! Thanks for sharing and watching!
Don't believe stories like this, low amperage will kill your compressor, overtime.
Good news is that the grid will make up for any additional amps the A/C unit needs to pull. Thanks for watching!
@@theresatrickforthat Bad news, your utility with detect a back feed, fry your ass with fines, and the county inspector will want to have a word.
@@user-dr2pg8fk2iThat’s the magic of this setup…if the A/C is off then the mico inverter can’t see the grid and won’t produce solar power so it physically can’t back feed. And then so long as you size the solar array that it doesn’t produce more power than the A/C consumes, when it turns on, the A/C is consuming all the power and none of it is going backwards. Anyway, proof of concept in this video. As stated explicitly in the video I do not recommend doing this yourself. Thanks for watching!
Why are you wearing a mask in your backyard alone? What are you scared of? And it's not even an N95 so your not blocking anything out. Just backfeeding your breath on your face 😂😂😂
@@jonnyjonnyyespapa8013Haha! Right? You never know what you might breathe in! Just kidding! I have severe spring allergies so anything I can do to lower the pollen count that I breathe helps. Thanks for watching! You’re very observant! ;)
Great information. I appreciate quality product endorsements as well! I love the science, wonder and experimentation, that's always the best place to be as a "science guy". Thanks a lot for your time and knowledge!!!
My pleasure! Thanks for watching!
As an 30 year hvac tech, and a guy that has a sprinter overlander that’s loaded with Victron equipment, I can tell you that won’t even come close to working.
First of all that a/c condenser is 220v you solar inverter is only 120v and I can tell by its size it’s only going to handle about 8 amps and that’s at 120v.
Don’t do stupid things and post it, people will try it and get hurt.
Good news! These inverters are 240V! Great little product…and they scale well, so while they only put out a fairly small amount of power you can parallel them and make as large of a system as you need! Anyway, was a fun proof of concept and as the disclaimer in the video states…don’t attempt what I show on your own! Thanks for watching!
30yrs knowledge HVAC, 0yrs in solar. Those micro inverts are 240vac output grid tie inverters. Designed for roof mount solar (not normally for DIY)
All enphase grid tie are 240vac, they also have 208vac models.
This is the part where you thank those individuals for correcting you.
So not as much day light in the winter, but i have a heatpump so could get the benefit year round depending on the temp 🙂
Thanks for the video!
That's a great idea! Thanks for watching!
why are you wearin a mask?
Well you know it’s 2024, and I’m outside with tons of ventilation and I’m all by myself and you just never know when COVID will jump out and get ya! Haha! Just kidding! In reality, I get really bad spring allergies that medication along can’t stay in top of, so I wear a mask whenever I go outside to lower the pollen counts I breathe. You’re very observant! Thanks for watching!
That is so cool! Now, to just find an HVAC tech that would be willing to set this up. Plus, the Micro-Air Easy Start.
I don't think that you mentioned that some voltage needs to be sent to the furnace fan, and I would do that just for A/C usage (I think). Great video!
Thanks so much and thanks for watching!
Appreciate you man, nice that people care about others more than making a dime. Thank you God bless
Thank you so much! I really appreciate it! I’m working on version 2.0 of this setup, it’s going to be epic! You won’t want to miss it. Should be getting posted in a few weeks! Stay tuned! Thanks for watching!
Just wanted to say thank you that was a very smart idea now with the solar that I've been using I noticed that my pump house uses a lot of electricity that I would love to set up for using when you're using the pump for the water there's an idea for you thank you😊
I’m happy to hear you like the idea! Yep! A water pump is a great idea and I already made a video about that you can check out here: ua-cam.com/video/CU4SXECkz08/v-deo.htmlsi=9MFm7DLLQuQ7yfm1
Thanks for watching!
This is an interesting concept of how to apply solar. One of the things stopping me from implementing a solar system is the size and expense of a whole house system. But, what if you could build a smaller system to power just the energy hogs in your house. Instant savings on energy for a lower cost of entry than a whole house system. Fantastic idea here.
That’s exactly right! Huge thanks for watching!
This is exactly what I was looking for!!! Thanks!!! My only concern is these inverters have that "5 minute saftey" delay. So technically everytime the AC kicks on you lose 5 minutes of free solar. Does anyone know of these micro inverters are configurable to be less than that? Or are there ones that are?
I don't understand why the 5 minute delay either. My A/C only runs about ten minutes each cycle so I am losing half my power output. I wonder if that can be explained or changed. I would think a second or two would be fine with modern electronics.
One of life's mysteries I guess! Thanks for watching!
What is PV islanding?
Islanding is a critical and unsafe condition in which a distributed generator, such as a solar system, continues to supply power to the grid while the electric utility is down. On inverters I have seen, once grid is detected, you can adjust the anti islanding timer to 5, 3, or 1 minute.
I've always been surprised that this isnt more common from the manufacturer to be honest. Solar works best on those hot sunny days, which matches when you need the most draw for your AC.
It was a no brainer for me and had me thinking of a franken-cool design that would incorporate all of this in the unit itself.
Thanks for the comment! And thanks for watching!
Will this work for a split system heat and A/C or AC window unit? Love your content! want to try to attempt this myself. Thanks
Mini-splits are a bit trickier due to them not having a contactor. If you have a 120V mini-split and or a 120V window unit you could consider running it off a power station with solar attached to it like I did in this video: ua-cam.com/video/eLvLTR6wPkc/v-deo.htmlsi=qkwVul0IWZMS14rr Thanks for watching!
I wonder if you connect it to the soft start unit or bottom side if contacts would be better, it would still maintain grid protection and reduce the grid load without worrying about damage of not enough or too much power
Interesting thoughts. I’d personally keep it wired the way I have it. Thanks for watching!
In Mid Michigan, my average usage per day, per month is around 30kwh. So just to have 2000 watts total,, for 10hrs is around 15kwh output, a great daily offset, that can be just jammed threw a hefty inverter, into a 30amp home circuit to feed the rest of the home while the sun shines. you'll never output your daily usage, and surely cut what you pay the power co.
Nice! Just be careful…even at times home usage can be low enough that you run the chance of back feeding the grid. That’s why I recommend you connect this behind the AC contactor to avoid the risk of that. Thanks for watching!
This is a really good idea I’d just install a break in between like so you could shut off that circuit to the main panel during the day that’s free power
Great idea! Thanks for watching!
There are string inverters that can do what you want in a more efficient ways. You can control via computer if the inverter will sell excess energy or to grid or not.
These are the newer hybrid inverters. Of course you will need batteries to store energy for the off times..
That would be the ultimate setup for sure! This way I showed is a way to get up and going with solar and saving money with it faster and with a smaller system while you’re saving for the ultimate setup like you mentioned. Thanks for watching!
Wow Learning a lot. I use a 220 V heater in my garage in winter to keep it just warm enough to run my refrigerator. I am paying $345.00 a month in winter. Can you advise me if you think this would work for my garage. Thank you
It certainly could be a possibility. You just need some kind of switch device to make sure that when the heater is off, the solar inverters can’t see the grid power anymore so it doesn’t back feed. Thanks for watching!
Is the soft start required for this setup?
No! It is not! I have that for my backup generator. Thanks for watching!
I love the concept! I was wondering if maybe you could show how to do this with a mini split similar to how eg4 is doing to their mini splits and how we could do that with a normal 120 V mini split without using an inverter or anything
Yeah…I’m working on trying to figure out the best way to apply this concept to a non solar mini-split and window units. Thanks for watching!
i'm a happy bourge rv customer...bought solar ref/freezer 4yrs ago and it's still going strong...take ice cream with me when i go fishing.
Sweet! That’s the way to do it! I agree Bouge RV is awesome. Thanks for watching!
I love this, can you do a version 2 of this setup after you use it for a while and see what you like and dont like?
Something like this would be AMAZING for my house in Florida when hurricanes knockout power, but grandmas and kids bitching their is no a/c maybe this setup tied to a portable room a/c
I think a follow up video would be great! Thanks for the idea and for watching!
Yes need a follow up video.
Any risk of destroying the ac unit?
ok i'm very intrigued.. question do all these outside compressor units have a "contactor" as you call it? Please elaborate on what this "contactor" thing is! and how do I find it on mine? Mine looks similar to yours just a little shorter. thanks
Most of them do have a contactor unless you have an inverter type A/C unit. You can watch my wiring video for more information: ua-cam.com/video/8-BCiVw881c/v-deo.htmlsi=YZTXhozzIXy3O8FD Thanks for watching!
Thank you for this video! Great idea! It was hard to see your wiring set up on the AC unit . Do you know the names of the parts you wired into on the AC unit?
You’re welcome! I simply wired the inverter to the load side of the contactor and of course the ground wire to ground. And that’s it! It’s very simple.
@@theresatrickforthat Thank you! Last question...Did you have to buy something to protect the wiring from rain or were you able to leave it out? Sry, i never look at my AC unit unit outside but i imagine the parts are typically enclosed.
Would this work even if you already have a grid tied solar on your house? Would this in theory just help with running rhe ac and not require more permits of getting more permits to expand my currwnt system?
Yes it would work with an existing grid tie system. You’d of course want to check with your local codes and such to see if you’d need a permit or not. Thanks for watching!
Interesting concept, not sure how practical or not it is (out of my wheel house, but someone in the comments mentioned that the inverter delay really reduces any help from the solar panels, which makes sense).
A far easier and safer solution would be to get some TEC/peltiers and just directly hook them up to Solar panels. Get some .5" XPS foam, some Titebond III waterproof wood glue, and some fiberglass cloth. Cut a couple pieces of foam to the size of your windows, cut an opening in the foam panels big enough for the peltier/TEC(s) to fit through, then glue the foam panels together with some fiberglass cloth at least on the outsides (make sure you rough up the surface of the foam first).
Creating a heat sink for the hot side is a little more complicated, but there are various things you can do (heat pipe types being the best passive solution, and then spray painted white to help keep cooler in the sun, even better coat with NightHawkInLight's IR cooling/solar reflecting calcium carbonate particles). Anyways, hot side obviously goes to the outside and cool side to the inside.
Blow fans over the cool side inside your house.
TEC's are notoriously inefficient, but the nice thing about them is that you can directly hook them up to Solar panels without inverters etc. And who cares that much about COP when you're using Solar panels? You just have to make sure that the Solar panel isn't too strong for the peltier. A lot of the cheap ones do best with around 3 amps and 12 volts. Slightly more expensive ones can handle like 5 amps/12 volts, some even more. So essentially keeping it somewhere between 36 watts and 100 watts depending on the quality of the TEC's. Adding more than 1 Peltier/TEC to a Solar panel will help with reducing the watts reaching each TEC.
The better the heat sink system, the more cool they will get.
If you put say 2 decent quality peltiers in a window insert in every room, it might reduce cooling costs of electricity by around 15 to 25% for a part of the day at least? Really depends on a lot of factors. You will probably have some condensation issues though, so best to put a waterproof container underneath them and perhaps a microfiber cloth hanging or plastic channel/diverter directly underneath. If you can get rid of the liquid moisture fast and constantly, you'll be getting rid of some of the humidity in the house also.
Again, I'm talking _every room_ in the house that has a window to the outside to even make a noticeable dent.
Food for thought! Thanks for watching!
Great video! You seem very knowledgeable and that is a great idea you came up with ......but have to ask why are you wearing a dust mask ? Does it gave anything to do with the AC itself from dust or debris from the fan maybe? Sometimes a good idea to wear one when cutting grass pulling weeds etc, just curious.
Thank you! Haha! This is the nicest mask comment I’ve gotten yet! Here’s the deal, it’s 2024, and I’m outside with tons of ventilation and I’m all by myself and you just never know when COVID will jump out and get ya! Haha! Just kidding! In reality, I get really bad spring allergies that medication alone can’t stay on top of, so I wear a mask whenever I go outside to lower the pollen counts I breathe. You’re very observant! Thanks for watching!