127v@50Hz and 110V@60Hz

bcwolfen
bcwolfen Registered Users Posts: 3
in Solar Beginners Corner #1
Hi All,

My wife and I are closing in on our move to the Caribbean where we will be building our home. We would like to use as musch solar power as possible but will still rely on the grid for larger appliances.

The power on the island is 240/127 @ 50Hz so computers and devices with adapters will work fine, but power tools and anything with motors needs to be 50Hz or will burn out. I have been reading up on solar installations for the last year and am fairly confident we will be able to design a system that meets our needs though it would need to be separate from the grid. I was planning on wiring certain outlets to run off our solar system at 110v/60Hz for all our North American equipment.

Recently I learned that the local utility is gogin to start some pilot projects to allow Grid Tie. Up until now this has not been allowed.
I see that most grid tie inverters can run at 50 or 60Hz

Are there grid tie inverters that can deliver 127v@50Hz to the grid while supplying 110v@60Hz to the load?
Woudl it be possible to design a system that feeds 110v@60Hz into the house off the solar arrays and also convert the 127V@50Hz to 110@60Hz. This would definately save on dual wiring to all the rooms.

My only thought so far has been to design the system with batteries and run a 127v50Hz charger to charge the batteries off the grid when extra power is needed and just wire the outlet for the stove off the grid at 240V/50Hz. Then let the rest of the house run off the batteries/inverter.
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Comments

  • Cariboocoot
    Cariboocoot Banned Posts: 17,615 ✭✭✭
    #2
    Re: 127v@50Hz and 110V@60Hz

    Welcome to the forum.

    Sorry to say but inverters come in either 50 Hz or 60 Hz, not both or selectable.

    Something you could do (not sure how practical it would be for you) would be run the house off one inverter @ 60 Hz (assuming no 230 VAC 50 Hz loads) and use a battery charger from the 50 Hz line to charge the batteries when grid is available.

    Otherwise I wouldn't invest in any sort of GT equipment until they get things sorted out. It is not possible to have 50/60 Hz (one from one source, the other from another) on the same power lines. Well, it is but it's not a good idea to do so.

    They've got some odd power standards there, rather behind most of the world which is either the North American 240 VAC 60 Hz (split-phase for 120) or European 230 VAC 50 Hz standard.
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  • BB.
    BB. Super Moderators, Administrators Posts: 33,590 admin
    #3
    Re: 127v@50Hz and 110V@60Hz

    Hmmm... Depending on what you want to power--I wonder if a VFD (Variable Frequency Drive) would work to power your 60 Hz tools/motors from 50 Hz power (and vice-versa). (brushed or "universal" motors don't care about frequency and will even run on 120 VDC too.

    Certainly, VFDs can power 3 phase and single phase motors with external starting capacitors with programmable output frequency of around 8-400 Hz with soft start/surge control (and some can do voltage?). I wonder if you can get VFDs that will power "generic" appliances (washer, drier, shaded pole motors, etc.).

    -Bill
    Near San Francisco California: 3.5kWatt Grid Tied Solar power system+small backup genset
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  • bcwolfen
    bcwolfen Registered Users Posts: 3
    #4
    Re: 127v@50Hz and 110V@60Hz

    Hi, Thanks for the welcome and the quick respnses. I may have been off with the 240V, they are running European stanadrads so 230V should be correct, I was sure of the 50Hz though. :)

    We're another 6 months away from moving so still have some time for things to sort out. I am exploring running everything off the banks and using the grid to recharge the batteries.
    I'll have to see just how much power we are going to need. I may use local appliances for stove and AC units which will run direct off the grid. Everything else should be manageable via solar/wind. We will have a generator with us so can use that when we need to run a number of power tools during construction.
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  • inetdog
    inetdog Solar Expert Posts: 3,123 ✭✭✭✭
    #5
    Re: 127v@50Hz and 110V@60Hz
    bcwolfen wrote: »
    Hi, Thanks for the welcome and the quick respnses. I may have been off with the 240V, they are running European stanadrads so 230V should be correct, I was sure of the 50Hz though. :)

    We're another 6 months away from moving so still have some time for things to sort out. I am exploring running everything off the banks and using the grid to recharge the batteries.
    I'll have to see just how much power we are going to need. I may use local appliances for stove and AC units which will run direct off the grid. Everything else should be manageable via solar/wind. We will have a generator with us so can use that when we need to run a number of power tools during construction.

    Be sure that you understand that having your own power when the grid is down is a very desirable thing, but unless you are paying $2.00 or more per KwH, you will not be saving any money by using battery power when the grid is actually working. The more you shift your load to your batteries, the sooner you will have to replace them.

    A lot of people who try to calculate the cost of their free solar power or of power taken from the grid to charge batteries and taken back later through an inverter leave out the battery replacement cost.

    However, if the only alternative is a generator, then solar with batteries can make sense.
    SMA SB 3000, old BP panels.
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  • bcwolfen
    bcwolfen Registered Users Posts: 3
    #6
    Re: 127v@50Hz and 110V@60Hz

    This is a good point. We are working on cost calculations now to see what is the best route to take to power both the local equipment we will be buying and any of our equipment that requires 60Hz.
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