XW 6048 - A/C Passthru vs. inverter power usage

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Comments

  • Dusty
    Dusty Solar Expert Posts: 271 ✭✭✭
    I wish I could ship you the rain we've been getting this past week in Tidewater VA.  Still, it sounds like you are as prepared as possible--something the Navy drills into you.  Having redundant systems is key and can save your life.

    Since it appears that I'll never break even with a hybrid system, that makes it all the more important to conserve energy as much as possible and narrow down all the phantom loads.  Being able to get the inverter load at night down to 8 watts would have been great, but you're right--four more 200W panels did more than compensate for the loss.  But that was another $1k....
    XW6048, 3.4KW PV, Grid-Tied, always tweaking.
  • Dave Angelini
    Dave Angelini Solar Expert Posts: 6,731 ✭✭✭✭✭✭
    edited July 2018 #33
    I could not get into the Navy with my non perfect eyesight and wanted to fly. My brother did and flew the last F4 squadron and moved to F14 and then F18. Dad was sunk off the Philippines in 1944. His Dad got off a navy ship before the 1906 earthquake in San Francisco.
    He stayed and worked in the gold country where we live.

    We do share high voltage and radar/microwave amps and transceivers. I did this at HP and you probably came across our test equipment. Some of it the Navy still uses. We also built a suitcase cesium atomic clock the was used for some time while the Lockheed's boomer version was having issues. We could fly it anywhere in the world with a second suitcase powering it with nicads. The Lockheed version took up 3 full 19" racks of equipment.

    Probably one of the biggest losses is the Ap where hybrid inverters prioritize using the solar and can't sell. There has to be AC current flowing to keep it from selling. I was told there is firmware coming but.... This is where people will use relays to shut it down at night or program it with modbus. Or, they just buy more solar and accept the loss.

    We have 4 people staying here who were evacuated/lost power and they go home today :) The town has placed dumpsters everywhere as all of the food is spoiled. Yuk in 100F heat.. Not good times :'( 

    This has been going on for 15 days/50K acres but we had little wind. The Carr fire in Redding has done 80K acres in 3 days because of the 70 mph winds.  7 people dead and 35K evacuated. Quite few homes burnt.
    "we go where power lines don't" Sierra Nevada mountain area
       htps://offgridsolar1.com/
    E-mail offgridsolar@sti.net

  • Dusty
    Dusty Solar Expert Posts: 271 ✭✭✭
    Yes, I used a HP Network analyzer as well as analog power meters when performing alignments on our phased-array radar antennas and transmitters.

    Sounds like your family has some great stories to tell!

    I've been watching the news about Redding. It's really frightening to watch that tornado of fire destroy everything so quickly.  There's no way to prepare for something like that, other than to have your bags and vital items packed and ready to go. I hope they contain the fire near you soon.
    XW6048, 3.4KW PV, Grid-Tied, always tweaking.