Offgrid inverters vs GridTied

quique

Ok so I have a question about inverters now...

im looking at a XANTREX TRACE SERIES TR3624 120-60 INVERTER CHARGER 3600W 24V

which has a DC input range of 15-30Vdc & 76-186Amps.

And Ive been taking an SEI course, and it may be because its a grid tied course, that talks about inverters with Input Ranges of 200-600VDC.

So does that mean in offgrid you mostly wire things in parallel whereas in grid tied you go for series?

Cariboocoot

Re: Offgrid inverters vs GridTied

Off-grid and grid-tie inverters are two quite different pieces of equipment.

An off-grid inverter runs from batteries. As such its input is at battery Voltage (typically 12, 24, or 48 ). Solar panels then power a charge controller to keep the batteries charged. The array itself may be near battery Voltage or much higher with the proper type of controller. Only one controller is meant to operate with the very high array Voltages usually seen with grid-tie systems.

A grid-tie inverter is powered directly from the solar panels. It produces power only when the sun shines, and only needs to because the grid is there to supply power otherwise (and provides the sync for the inverter). No grid = no power. Most central GTI's use 240 to 480 Volt arrays. Smaller micro-inverters will run at lower Voltages: one panel per inverter.

There is a third type called a "hybrid" inverter. It is basically a battery-based off-grid inverter which has the ability to sync to the utility power and provide output to it.

Blackcherry04

Re: Offgrid inverters vs GridTied

I don't know if I'd be looking very hard at that Inverter, it's been obsolete for 5 years. Yeah, you can still find them new at a low price. I believe it's MSW. The last one I installed was manufactured in 2005. Xantrex will take a return from a small dealer and sell them in lot's of 100 to the big guys at a close out price so they can get new product out.