load balancer?

Re: load balancer?

kinda_fellin wrote: »

I'm still pretty new to solar energy so bear with me. I have been wondering if there is some kind of balancer that you can use in a grid tie situation that just lets you offset your regular electric bill.

It sort of just happens, in the sunny part of the day, your meter runs backwards, as you feed power into the grid. At night, the grid powers your house. With a small PV system, you shave the top of your bill off. With a larger system, averaged over a year, you can end up with nearly Zero bill.
Of course the utility companies are not always cooperative, and fiddle with common sense, like extending the peak cooling hours from 11AM to 9PM, letting you GIVE to them , but they never pay, etc.....
Is this what you were asking ?

Re: load balancer?

Another simple alternative s to power some of the loads with just the PV (solar) and others from the grid. This will have the effect of "shaving" your electric bill without the headache of doing a full grid tie. There are of course some wiring and safety issues to consider but there is no technical reason why you couldn't do it. NEC might be another question however.

As a simple for example, if you heat water with electricity, you could have a water heat preheat tank that was wired strictly to the solar, serving to preheat the water before it enters the grid tied water heater. This could be done with 12vdc heating element very simply. (Wouldn't be my first choice however,,,I'd use a gas/lp demand water heater instead and put my solar mone to better use).

Icarus

Re: load balancer?

That is how I have setup my system, I am running all of the small 24/7 loads on solar. The big loads, AC, water heater, well, etc are still grid tided.


Edit: Too slow, ignore the above.

Look at this: http://www.xantrex.com/web/id/172/p/docs/pt/23/product.asp
Download the user manual and look at the wiring section.

Re: load balancer?

Do I just get an inverter and kinda piggy back the wires onto the main fuse ??


NOOOO !!! You need a SPECIFIC type of inverter, that can sync with the utility grid. You need an electrical permit, and permission from your electric company to connect up.