| Return Create A Forum - Home | |
| --------------------------------------------------------- | |
| Lynx Wind Forum | |
| https://lynxwindforumhtml.createaforum.com | |
| --------------------------------------------------------- | |
| ***************************************************** | |
| Return to: Electronics related to alternative Energy | |
| ***************************************************** | |
| #Post#: 7-------------------------------------------------- | |
| 300 watt Grid Tie Inverter | |
| By: Corwin Date: March 15, 2013, 1:23 am | |
| --------------------------------------------------------- | |
| Can you give some information about this? What I am interested | |
| in is: | |
| 1) How does this hook into the house wiring? | |
| 2) What is the effect on the electric meter? | |
| 3) Does it feed power into the grid and offset some of your use | |
| - if you are using no power and the wind of blowing, does power | |
| go into the grid? | |
| 4) Do you have to do anything with the power company? | |
| Thanks | |
| #Post#: 8-------------------------------------------------- | |
| Re: 300 watt Grid Tie Inverter | |
| By: admin Date: March 15, 2013, 7:49 am | |
| --------------------------------------------------------- | |
| A Grid Tie inverter plugs into any standard 110 outlet in your | |
| house. But instead of using power it sends power into the | |
| house. A Grid tie Inverter is very different from a standard | |
| inverter. | |
| 1. It senses if the grid is up, if the grid is down during a | |
| power failure it shuts down. This protects anyone working on | |
| the power lines. This is called "island protection" and is | |
| required by law. | |
| 2. It analyzes the frequency of the single phase AC sine wave. | |
| If the power company is putting out 59.5 cycles per second the | |
| grid tie inverter will sync to this freqency and match the | |
| positive and negaitve cycle of the sine wave. | |
| 3. It will put as much power back into the grid up to its | |
| rating and up to the level of the power source (battery, solar | |
| panel, wind turbine) | |
| Your house will first use this power from the Grid Tie Inverter | |
| (GTI). I have seen my meter come to a complete stop on a windy | |
| sunny day. Most meters now will not turn backwards, but if they | |
| do you are in effect selling power back to the utility. This | |
| would be rare as most homes use far more power than they could | |
| produce in a given month. | |
| If you are planning on producing more than you use you will need | |
| to contact your utility. If this is going to just supplement | |
| your power needs, then you need to make sure the GTI has island | |
| protection which it most likely does. | |
| If you are off grid, you don't need a GTI. A standard inverter, | |
| sized to fit your needs, is all you need. | |
| #Post#: 9-------------------------------------------------- | |
| Re: 300 watt Grid Tie Inverter | |
| By: Corwin Date: March 15, 2013, 8:27 am | |
| --------------------------------------------------------- | |
| Thank you for the quick response. I have a couple more | |
| questions. I don't necessarily plan to do this, but it will | |
| help me understand the system. | |
| If the meter doesn't go backward, does it block the power from | |
| going back on the grid? Or does the power company get the | |
| (small amount) of power for free? I hate to think of giving | |
| away the power - but storing it can be expensive. I know that | |
| larger systems (much larger price) can be set up to return power | |
| to the grid. How this works varies by state (as in some you | |
| never become a net energy producer, but you can get your usage | |
| from the grid to approach zero). This allows you to use the | |
| grid as a virtual storage system. In CA my sister has a solar | |
| system. There the energy can go back on the grid, but over the | |
| calendar year the best she can do is get to zero power from the | |
| grid - some months positive some negative, but by the end of the | |
| year the power company does not need to send a check. This is a | |
| much larger system than what you provide here, so the yours can | |
| be simpler. | |
| If I were to use a wind generator, a few batteries and a GTI, | |
| is the GTI capable of limiting the current so as not to overload | |
| (I have to believe it would)? Again this gets back to if the | |
| meter blocks power from going back on the grid. If the house | |
| usage ever got below the output of the GTI, then you would be | |
| giving away energy if the meter allows that. | |
| I suspect that our house almost never goes that low on energy, | |
| so some of this is academic. We have 3 out buildings (stable, | |
| barn, and hay barn). I am thinking about installing a Gull160. | |
| If that goes well I could add more over time. | |
| #Post#: 12-------------------------------------------------- | |
| Re: 300 watt Grid Tie Inverter | |
| By: Windcatcher Date: March 15, 2013, 9:46 am | |
| --------------------------------------------------------- | |
| The power company gets the power. If you really think you will | |
| make power, contact the power company and maybe they arrange to | |
| buy. | |
| A grid tie inverter on batteries has to have some limit or it | |
| will pull the battery down to dead. Some GTI are setup so that | |
| any excess charge goes to the grid without harming batteries, | |
| but you need a strong source of power or it will just be a | |
| surface charge. | |
| #Post#: 13-------------------------------------------------- | |
| Re: 300 watt Grid Tie Inverter | |
| By: windthot Date: March 17, 2013, 10:58 am | |
| --------------------------------------------------------- | |
| When charging a battery bank, the power from the mill or solar | |
| has to be higher than what it is going into ie. 12.x vdc going | |
| into a 12 volt batt. My question if anyone knows is, for grid | |
| tie,does the power only have to meet the utility voltage? ie. If | |
| 119vac and 59.5 hz (from utility). Does one have to be higher | |
| in vac? Say 120vac? And also match the hz. Or can it be just | |
| 119vac (equal to utility)? To my mind it seems it should have to | |
| be greater so as to over come the "push" of the utility | |
| company... any thoughts? | |
| Jim | |
| #Post#: 14-------------------------------------------------- | |
| Re: 300 watt Grid Tie Inverter | |
| By: Corwin Date: March 17, 2013, 1:07 pm | |
| --------------------------------------------------------- | |
| Basic electrical theory says there has to be a voltage | |
| difference for current to flow. In the case of moving power to | |
| the grid, that difference would be very small, perhaps 0.1 volts | |
| or less. It will depend on the resistance of the wires. (not | |
| feeling energetic enough to look up wire resistance to get you | |
| an example). | |
| It is the GTI's job to make that voltage difference happen. | |
| #Post#: 50-------------------------------------------------- | |
| Re: 300 watt Grid Tie Inverter | |
| By: windthot Date: March 28, 2013, 9:01 pm | |
| --------------------------------------------------------- | |
| Thanks Corwin. I suspected but didnt know for sure. | |
| Jim | |
| #Post#: 655-------------------------------------------------- | |
| Re: 300 watt Grid Tie Inverter | |
| By: gadget Date: October 27, 2013, 5:26 am | |
| --------------------------------------------------------- | |
| Hi. i wanted to give my input on several plug in grid ties and | |
| a digital utility meter. i have been running a 300 watt and a | |
| 600 watt grid tie from my solar and wind. charging two large | |
| airplane batteries. total system. can supply 20 amps charging in | |
| a sunny day with wind at 15mph. i can tell ypu here in NC all | |
| the meters are now digital. my system will stop the meter but | |
| after several years i. came to the conclusion that the extra | |
| power i put back in the grid would actually be counted as power | |
| used. tthey were charging me more with my system. grid tied. i | |
| contacted a friend of mine who works on these digital meters. | |
| and he told me they are programmable to grid tying and unless. i | |
| actually notified the electric company. and had my grid tied | |
| system Ul inspected and pay a fee that any power used or added | |
| will increment the kilowatt counter.But being he wasy friend he | |
| came by one day and pullednthe meter and reprogrammed it in his | |
| truck. now it actually shows any power comming from my grid | |
| ties with a small lcd indicator saying sup for supplemental. | |
| so unless you have an old wheel meter you might find that your | |
| bill is cheaper without a grid tie connected like i did. | |
| gadget | |
| #Post#: 660-------------------------------------------------- | |
| Re: 300 watt Grid Tie Inverter | |
| By: nessprojects Date: October 27, 2013, 12:23 pm | |
| --------------------------------------------------------- | |
| @ Gadget | |
| That is very interesting to know as we have a digital meter here | |
| in the UK but I do only put about 80W max into the grid from my | |
| solar panels. Most of it is getting used in the house though | |
| before the electricity guys get it. | |
| Very useful info Thanks !! NP. | |
| #Post#: 1182-------------------------------------------------- | |
| Re: 300 watt Grid Tie Inverter | |
| By: mindhormone Date: January 2, 2014, 5:30 pm | |
| --------------------------------------------------------- | |
| Happy new year to all! :) | |
| Marcus, this post of yours | |
| http://www.lynxwind.com/1/post/2013/05/lynx-wind-grid-tie-inverter-limiter.html | |
| 1. I wanted to ask if for example a wind turbine has a steady | |
| wind/rpm, would it be more suitable to directly connect to grid | |
| tie inverter? and no frustrations at all? | |
| 2. Or even if (stable rpm), you still need battery bank in | |
| between wind turbine and grid tie inverter? | |
| 3. Or in either case, you can choose both? | |
| Yes i know it is impossible to have a wind turbine steady rpm, | |
| but asking for educational purpose only :) and I was thinking | |
| for a hydro turbine too. | |
| Thank you | |
| ***************************************************** | |
| Next Page |