making a microgrid by connecting two systems

marscan

I have two complete and separate 12V off grid solar charging and battery bank systems, one a Xantrex system and the other an Outback system. They are separated by about 100 yards. Both have generator back up, One system supplies the house and the other supplies the barn.
I would like to balance the two battery banks by connecting them together. I have tried to connect the two battery banks directly with a 6awg cable, but there is insufficient transfer. Since both inverter systems are generating 110V I was considering connecting the two systems with a 110V suicide cable, basically plugging a male 110V plug into the house on one side and male 110V plug on the barn side. Theoretically, This would backfeed 110V back and forth, to and from the two inverters depending on the battery state of charge.
1. Is this doable?
2. Can the Xantrex and Outback inverters be backfed one to the other without internal damage?
Mark

Photowhit

Don't do this! It require special inverters to sync the sine wave!

mike95490

marscan said:

I have two complete and separate 12V off grid solar charging and battery bank systems, one a Xantrex system and the other an Outback system. They are separated by about 100 yards. Both have generator back up, One system supplies the house and the other supplies the barn.
I would like to balance the two battery banks by connecting them together. I have tried to connect the two battery banks directly with a 6awg cable, but there is insufficient transfer. Since both inverter systems are generating 110V I was considering connecting the two systems with a 110V suicide cable, basically plugging a male 110V plug into the house on one side and male 110V plug on the barn side. Theoretically, This would backfeed 110V back and forth, to and from the two inverters depending on the battery state of charge.
1. Is this doable?
2. Can the Xantrex and Outback inverters be backfed one to the other without internal damage?
Mark

NO.  There is no way to sync the 2 different brands of inverters.  I guess you could try it with a phase light or meter, but you still have the problem of one unit will ALWAYS have 0.002V higher than the other, and hog all the load !

Read these 2 threads about simple generators, and realize transistors make little noise when fried
http://yarchive.net/car/rv/generator_synchronization.html
https://www.smokstak.com/forum/showthread.php?t=72038

Estragon

Do you have two separate systems by, or did it sort of just work out that way?

What are you trying to do in " balancing" the banks? Are you trying to load share so you can use capacity remaining on a bank after you have depleted the other? Do you want to run bigger loads than one system by itself can handle?

Unless there is a good reason for the separate systems you may want to head in a direction that gets you to a single system properly sized for both your house and barn loads. An interim solution might be to put the systems together in one location and parallel the banks using short beefy cables, depending on your setup and what it is you're trying to accomplish.

It would help to know more about loads, batteries, existing equipment, and what your goals are.