Throwing the Switch on the EG4 6000XP
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- Опубліковано 28 лип 2024
- It's finally time to switch the house over to the EG4 6000XP and see how it performs. We'll run it through a normal day and see how it can handle the different loads in my house. Right off the batt we'll be pushing the inverter to it's limits.
Links to the parts & pieces in the video (affiliate links)
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EG4 6000XP - bit.ly/3VS2jca
Orient Power 230Ah Battery - bit.ly/3Qov4d0
Supporting the Channel
--------------------------------------------------
There are several ways that you can help support this channel.
- Affiliate links help the channel by providing me with a small commission of the sale. It does not change the cost for you at all.
- The 'Buy me a Coffee' - link is here (on the bottom, right corner of the website): going-off-grid.com
- You can also click on the "Thanks" button under the video to support the channel.
Thank you for your support!
For more information, please check out my website with links to all the components, materials and products I have used in developing my off-grid solar system: going-off-grid.com
Chapters
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0:00 Intro
1:05 Switching over to the 6000XP
2:24 The First Real Load
3:32 Pushing the Inverter a Little Bit More
4:53 Looking at the Data
7:12 DB Test
4:53 Looking at More Data
10:09 Getting into the Evening
14:52 Looking at Overnight Runtime
16:07 Final Thoughts & Wrap Up
#offgrid #solar #diy #solarproject #eg4 #6000xp #luxpower #currentconnected
*** Disclaimer ***
Please remember, I'm just a DIYer like you. Don't take what I'm doing as gospel truth, it's just how I'm doing things. If you're unsure of how to do something, look into hiring a professional or at least consult with a professional to determine the correct way to do things. - Наука та технологія
Links to the parts & pieces in the video (affiliate links)
------------------------------------
EG4 6000XP - bit.ly/3VS2jca
Orient Power 230Ah Battery - bit.ly/3Qov4d0
Supporting the Channel
--------------------------------------------------
There are several ways that you can help support this channel.
- Affiliate links help the channel by providing me with a small commission of the sale. It does not change the cost for you at all.
- The 'Buy me a Coffee' - link is here (on the bottom, right corner of the website): going-off-grid.com
- You can also click on the "Thanks" button under the video to support the channel.
Thank you for your support!
2 of these in parallel is the most efficient setup I have found for almost all friends and family going off grid
I love how smoothly these will switch back and forth between grid and battery.
Can the Ex6500's do that?
This is also a great value for an inverter system. You’re getting: two solar charge controllers, critical loads output, transfer switch, battery charger, inverter and code-compliant overcurrent protection and isolation. With grid power available, you get a free UPS-like function for your normally off-grid solar system. Pretty cool!
A little knowledge is a dangerous thing. I have my two inverter system paired with a transfer switch to the grid. I have not connected the grid pass-through connection. My wife knows hows to throw transfer switch if the batteries get too low but has not learned how to monitor the battery charge. So early this morning before the sun was out and my panels were charging the batteries she just had to run the dryer. Boom, she completely drained the batteries. Then she used the transfer switch. So after I got up and the panels were making power I had to go through restarting the whole system. My task for this week is make that grid connection.
I just got two units myself and two power pro battery’s - Amazing stuff - Love you channel man-
Nice! Appreciate it!
Great test. You need one more 6000XP or get the 18K PV. we really like ours. it runs everything with no grid connection. We do have propane hot water (on-demand) because it is so fast and cheap to operate. I will be adding an electric water heater as a dump load. We use induction cooking because it cooks twice as fast as any other type. We also have a convection oven for the same reason, and a 4 burner propane range as backup. We use our well to fill a 275 gallon IBC Tote that we treat with Ozone to remove Iron, Hydrogen sulfide, Manganese and bacteria. Then, using 12 volt DC pumps by SeaFlo the house is supplied with 5.5 gallons per minute at 60 PSI with no need for a bladder tank. By running two pumps in parallel we would have 11 GPM when demand increases. The well pump runs at full flow 12 GPM into the tank which prevents cycling thereby reducing the amp draw and then shuts off. The well runs for 10 minutes every other day and only uses 800 watt hours each time. The well is still available for outside use like gardening and cleaning. With both a propane and electric clothes dryer we have option based on the weather. My wife and I have an off-grid philosophy, so everything we build needs to be ultra efficient. We do not need 60 kWh of batteries, 14.6 kW of solar or the 18K. However, this frees us from needing the grid. My advise to all who read this, give yourself plenty of options. If you are able to incorporate DC into your house like we have. Example: our home server, internet modem, router, laptops and PC computers, sound bars w/sub woofer, tablets and cell phone charging, lights, exhaust/furnace fans and water pumps all run on DC power. Using DC to DC (buck converts) is more efficient than inverting to AC and saves the batteries. Our batteries will carry us 6 days without solar input, if needed. But we have the EG4 Charge-verter and a diesel generator that runs on used veggie-oil that is stored in a 275 gallon IBC Tote. If you are building a new house like we are, think about your options.
Well OK then.
I have a similar setup and solar assistant paints the real picture, EG4's app has like a 3 min refresh timer. Also if you have enough PV coming in, it will skip the grid and just pull from PV first. I did a similar test with my elecric dryer, at night it pulled from grid, during a bright sunny day it pulled from PV
Yeah I ended up setting up SA after this test...should have done it before for some more real-time data.
I have the 6000 from sungold power because I can back feed my house to pickup the rest of my loads. Reason being that my basement is at 1 end of the house and the main breaker box is at the other end. When all my batteries are charged it picks up the rest of the house than feeds the grid. $ 20.00 light bill is nice in the summer. Min bill
That's the the same as the EG4 6000EX, correct?
Yeah it's really nice being able to see that electric bill drop down!
@@AdamDeLay07 yes. I do like the EG4 6000 with the extras though.
High-quality thorough testing, thank you. Your question that came to mind is exactly mine. Hopefully the kind folks at EG4 will provide some color.
Thanks!
Been running my 6000xp for about 3 months now at our cabin. Runs everything including well and two mini splits but moved the water heater back to main panel to give us some extra cushion. Also changed well pump to a Grundfos SQ series soft start. Just tried 120v EV charging which puts it over the edge when multiple things are on but can charge it, have to decide how to handle this scenario.
Awesome! Thanks for sharing!
excellent video as always. my 6000xp has been running flawless for four months now. I'm very happy with it, especially now that hurricane season is around the corner here in puerto rico.
I'm very happy with my EG4 6000xp, just PV and my batteries
So cool... Thanks :-)
Thanks!
love this! I am curious if this can handle my new Bosch IDS 2.0 20 seer system 3 ton unit on top of my usual loads (which I rarely go beyond 2 kw/hour unless it gets really hot in Texas)
Although it's not the point of this video, people using inverters like this should seriously think about some automation to drop discretionary loads such as storage water heaters when the inverter hits its limit. It's even easier to do when the inverter has several seconds of overrating before it takes action.
If automation is beyond the user's ability, a lower rated element in the water heater will take the edge off at the trade off of longer times to bring the tank up to temperature. Changing the element is not the only way to reduce power either. A 240V element at 120V reduces wattage to 1/4, time to heat is multiplied by 4 of course.
Agreed. I know there are inverters out there that have a secondary output which can be disabled for various reasons (I believe my Victron inverters have them, I just haven't used them). That would drastically simplify things for people.
Where you can reduce your loads by switching to more efficient well pumps or water heater with smaller element but longer refresh time
Very true. When my current water heater dies, I plan on finding a much more efficient one. It's not an issue during the winter months because we have an outdoor wood boiler that handles our domestic hot water.
I just bought a timer for my current hot water heater and that has helped a lot to reduce the water heater coming on and hence not needed . now I can tell it when to kick on.
Look at the heat pump water heaters, especially the 120volt models with no elements and just plugs in the wall outlet
Love your videos! I have a million questions but I’ll start with the most pressing for me . Was your DIY battery run in parallel with the orient power and if so I assume the 6000 XP drew from both battery banks but only reported the State of Charge of the Orient power? And how did that affect your PV input didn’t throttle it back because it thought he only has 230 AH? Thanks again and man keep the videos coming!
Appreciate that!
Yes, both the DIY and the OP battery was in parallel and drew from both battery banks.
So here's how I see it in my mind. Hopefully someone corrects me if I'm wrong. Since the batteries are in parallel, each battery will get a portion of the total incoming PV power. The OP battery will still only track incoming/outgoing power from itself and report back to the 6000XP. From what I saw between the two battery banks, they were within a few percentage points of each other from the SOC standpoint.
Any other questions you have, just ask in the comments. There's probably a lot more knowledgable people out there than I am regarding the 6000XP.
These look like the way to go. I have two EX 's but they can't do that I believe
The 6500s can't do what?
Seamlessly pick up any overloads like you showed or am I wrong
@@sh839c From what I recall, the 6500s could switch between battery and grid. Some people had issues with lights flickering during the switch, others didn't. Might depend on the types of loads running during the switch.
My kitchen can lights are on a dimmer as well and even at full brightness they will completely turn off for about a second when my Growatt switches from battery to grid under load. Nothing else is affected.
Yeah, that's odd. I had to remove the dimmer when I had my 6500s in place but I never notice anything at all with my Victron inverters.
More than likely because Victron are low frequency vs high frequency inverters. The victron low frequency can handle surges well and power switches easier @@AdamDeLay07
I like the shower cam. 😅
🤣
Great video overall - did you have to adjust any settings on the inverter to tell to pull from grid for those EPS overload or does it by do it by default?
@@bradnguyen9627 thanks! I didn’t make any changes from that perspective. It just handles that automatically as long as the grid is available.
@@AdamDeLay07thanks , to confirm , I’m assuming that you inverter load breaker in the ON position.
Is there a way to pull from battery and if there’s not enough power , supplement with grid power ?
@@bradnguyen9627 yes the load breaker has to be on for any power to go out of the inverter.
Because this is an “off grid” inverter and not a hybrid, the grid cannot add any excess power in addition to power coming from the battery. It’s one or the other.
Just an idea, Would a soft start installed on your well pump help reduce some of your overages?
Not in my case. It's not the surge of the pump starting that causes the switches to grid. It's the regular loads and then the 4500W from the water heater.
Hello,
I have a well pump 3/4 with Locked Rotor Amps LRA at 32A, I power it from split phase main panel, it is 240V. Will 6000XP handle that load? Thank you.
I'm not exactly sure what size pump I have, but it pulls between 2k-2.5k Watts. It runs mine without any issues. I know I've heard of others running 3/4 pumps on their 6k without any issues.
Nice test, very impressive. One of my questions about the 6000XP has to do with overhead over the course of a day. By looking at your various screens, I think I now have a rough idea of this. It appears that the test started around 9:15a, and there is enough data at 9:16p to make some calculations. I used the formula PV Yield + battery discharge - battery charge + grid feed in - consumption to get overall system overhead of ~2200 net watts over the first 12 hours. That implies ~185 w /hour average overhead for the 12 hours that the system was running. That seems kind of high to me, but I need to double-check my assumptions before drawing any conclusions. How would you calculate total efficiency? How does your Victron system compare in this regard?
Thanks. It's hard to be accurate off the numbers from the monitoring app. The only real way to be 100% accurate is to measure with a couple clamp meters.
I do know that the initial idle consumption was done when the fans were not running. During these tests, I believe all 3 fans may have been running (granted, that doesn't account for 100W/h of power). Usually it seems that efficiency drops the closer you get to max output.
As far as a comparison between the Victron and EG4, I'm not sure. I know the Victron requires less cooling power so that would reduce additional consumption (plus the fan only kicks on when above a certain load).
@@AdamDeLay07 I understand the difficulty in making such measurements, because you have to monitor both AC and DC power generated and consumed over time to get an accurate total. I guess the most accurate method is to monitor the AC in and AC out with a power monitor like Eyedro or Emporia and Victron SmartShunt for DC. I have compared these to my Cerbo data from the MPII, MPPTs and battery, and they agree fairly closely, so I pretty much just accept the Victron VRM data for regular monitoring, and it seems fine. I am a little more hyper about losses than most folks, since I'm in a restricted subdivision and have had to make compromises with my PV array in order to keep a low profile, meaning that I am already probably losing half of the label power ratings on my array. For instance, my array is rated at 2400W, but at this time of year I am getting about 6.5kWh yield on a good day due to shading, mounting angles (flat, SE facing), etc.
@@larrylp2192 Yeah, I understand. Some people too easily just say "why are you worry about losses, just add another panel". Sometimes it's not that easy...
6000XP connected to Solar Assistant yet?
I did, but it was after this test.
Ok I am on the fence between these and your victron setup.. I was leaning towards victron then I am seeing these.. your thoughts ... if this was available before you installed your victron, would you have taken this route or sticking with victron
If I had to choose, I would still stick with my Victron system. I haven't found anything yet that would give me a reason to take down my Victron system.
Thank you for your reply. I need a system that is reliable cause I'm in the US Virgin Islands and getting stuff here is not as convenient as it is living on the mainland.. the price is what have me on the fence. I'm a firm believer in you get what you pay for.. just want to make sure what I'm leaning towards paying for is indeed worth it.. looking at the same victron 10k system you have. Keep the vids coming. I have learned alot !
@@clydedaisley7560 That reminds me, I need to do an update video on the Victron system. Summer's gonna get super busy and I don't know if I'll be able to do a 1 year review but a 9 mo review should help.
I will be watching for it!!
@@AdamDeLay07 How signifigant is the cost difference between comparabe EG4 6000XP and Victron systems?
Let's see a video of the 6000 Watt transformerless inverter starting a 6000 Watt inductive load. I bet it can't do it.
I would imagine the startup surge required would overload the unit. I can’t think of a reason though why someone would buy one of these inverters to run a single device at 100% capacity anytime it’s running though.
I want to trade in my 6500s for some 6000XPs but since I went through shopsolarkits, they were shipped by signature solar but they won't let me trade in :(
Sorry to hear that.
How often does it refresh?
I believe it's every 3 minutes or so.
@@AdamDeLay07 hi Adam mine only seams to refresh when i manually hit the refresh button Also on a tablet the screen is clear but on my android the screen info is skewed /or half cut off ? You know i purchased my system because i was fascinated by the concept of the sun powering our electrical needs . I started a water well drilling business 36 years ago and i am still amazed with the principal of drilling a hole in the ground and bringing up potable water. I cant wait to turn on my magic solar contraption and watch it power the magic pump down the hole in my yard and water the grass while having a beer ? But until then - I'm happy watching you and your enthusiasm while discovery . Thanks for all the entertainment
1st :)