Charger and monitor power draw

System

This is a basic system architecture and design dumb question. Does the MX60 and other chargers and off grid inverters etc, run off the power that is generated from the RE system and/or the batteries? or do they have an option to run off an AC wall socket in the case where my RE system provides supplementary power to my purchased power? if that is the case what happens to the various monitoring systems when the batteries are drained?
As well, I may have missed it but do manufacturers publish their own power consumption numbers?

All help and suggestions welcome.

crewzer

Re: Charger and monitor power draw

SolarGerry,

A charge controller like the MX60 must be connected to batteries to operate. Similarly, the OutBack FX inverters must be connected to batteries in order to operate. The off-grid inverter will disconnect downstream AC loads if the battery voltage drops to a threshold setting. The batteries must then be recharged from a PV array via the MX charge controller, or from the FX inverter’s built-in charger and a generator. Monitoring systems typically don’t draw much power, and they should continue to operate for a while. But, taken to the extreme, everything will eventually turn off if the batteries are completely drained.

The MX60’s standby (“sleeping”?) power consumption spec is “< 1 W”. This spec is included in the controller’s spec sheet as well as in its user manual. Its “tare” loss while operating is ~10 W, IIRC.

See: http://www.outbackpower.com/pdfs_spec/MX60_a.pdf
And: http://www.outbackpower.com/pdfs_manuals/MX60_REV_%20C.pdf

FX inverter idle power is ~20 W. This can be reduced if the unit is placed into a “search” mode or put to “sleep”. The idle and search specs are included in the controller’s spec sheet, and, IIRC, the sleep power spec is buried in the user manial.

See: http://www.outbackpower.com/pdfs_spec/FX_Domestic.pdf

HTH,
Jim / crewzer

System2

Re: Charger and monitor power draw

thanks for the response, twice over