Need help with wiring grid power to ourback 2012T inverter without chance of backfeed

Randytherookie

I live on an island in the Florida keys and have a small solar system that includes an outback 2012T inverter, 16 old solar panels, a 10KW diesel generator, and 12 volt batteries. The system gets 40 amps from the panels which is enough to run the house. We pull in the generator when we use the microwave or need to charge the batteries. Recently, we have grid power available to us so I want to wire in the grid power and use it like our generator. I am going to wire in a transfer switch so that I can either use the generator like we have been or switch to less noisy grid power. The line coming from the manual transfer switch will go into the ac in port on the inverter. Using the mate HBX settings I will have the grid power pulled in when the batteries get below 12.0 volts. With this setup I need to know if the grid goes down as it usually does, will the solar back feed the grid lines from the inverter ac port?

Cariboocoot

Re: Need help with wiring grid power to ourback 2012T inverter without chance of backfee

Welcome to the forum.

Is this your inverter: http://www.solar-electric.com/outback-power-pure-sinewave-inverter-fx2012t.html
Outback FX2012T?

They have a built-in transfer switch that will connect AC OUT to AC IN when AC is detected on the AC IN terminals. There is no MATE programming alone that will allow you to adjust levels for this; it would have to be used in conjunction with an adaptation of the automatic generator start controlling an input relay on AC IN based on Voltage level.

Outback's off-grid inverters can not send power to AC IN.

The function you are thinking of works with the 'G' series grid-tie inverters, such as this GTFX2524: http://www.solar-electric.com/outback-power-grid-interactive-sinewave-inverter-gtfx2524.html

These are designed to be grid-tied.

RandomJoe

Re: Need help with wiring grid power to ourback 2012T inverter without chance of backfee

Not even the grid-tied inverters backfeed the grid lines if the grid is down, that's part of their design! They must see the grid power is present before they will begin backfeeding. So no problem even with them.

Since yours is already set up to work with the generator, and isn't a grid-tie version anyway, you're good to go.

2Guido

Re: Need help with wiring grid power to ourback 2012T inverter without chance of backfee

Randytherookie wrote: »

I live on an island in the Florida keys and have a small solar system that includes an outback 2012T inverter, 16 old solar panels, a 10KW diesel generator, and 12 volt batteries. The system gets 40 amps from the panels which is enough to run the house. We pull in the generator when we use the microwave or need to charge the batteries. Recently, we have grid power available to us so I want to wire in the grid power and use it like our generator. I am going to wire in a transfer switch so that I can either use the generator like we have been or switch to less noisy grid power. The line coming from the manual transfer switch will go into the ac in port on the inverter. Using the mate HBX settings I will have the grid power pulled in when the batteries get below 12.0 volts. With this setup I need to know if the grid goes down as it usually does, will the solar back feed the grid lines from the inverter ac port?

Welcome to this terrific Forum. It seems we are neighbors !! My inverters have transfer switches built in so when there is an outage, the power is seamlessly transferred automatically and the lights stay on. In your case, you could easily build your own transfer switch if you have the electrical knowledge.. Let us know if we can help further...Cheers !!