Starting Out with Solar: LF or HF Inverter

Gutaz · November 2021

Just starting out on my off-grid solar enablement journey for our family cabin with no sell back. Finished wiring/swinging circuits to a critical loads panel with typical circuits such as receptacles, lights, fridge and one 240v circuit for well pump. Pump pulls 35amps (8400w) inrush but only 7amps (1680w) after start. Rethinking my decision to move well pump to critical load panel. Anyway options are open and looking for guidance. I'd say average power needs 1500w unless pump is running . I want to use the inverter/battery as a house UPS to start with for the next few months (grid charge and passthrough unless grid down where batteries would take over). Next year will add PV in spring. Here is where I'm at now based on months of reading forums and tech data:

Schneider xw 6848 Pro: reasonably priced, can surge for well pump and everything else. Software seems dicey and remote monitoring capabilities seem behind others
Outback Radian 4k or 8k: Costs more than XW, need 8k to manage well pump surge and other. Software seems current with great remote monitoring capabilities
Sol-Ark: Highest cost, unsure if it could handle surge of well pump, easy to connect compared to others, software seems great with remote monitoring capabilities.

I like the idea of the Outback Skybox, but similar to other HF inverters, not sure if it can manage the surge of well pump. Even if I don't keep the well in critical loads in the short term, it's something I want done in the future so might as well do it right. Or maybe move well pump to a dedicated load panel with it's own inverter. Well pump is only a few years old. Will replace with soft start one in the future, if needed. Welcome any input, hope to make inverter purchase decision next week. Already set with 10kWh of LifePo4 batteries 48v pack to start with and will grow later.

mike95490 · November 2021

there's some quirks in setting up the Schneider gear but once configured, it's solid

Gutaz · November 2021

@mike95490
I'll be setting up/wiring this myself with post setup AHJ inspection. Just completed the wiring myself to sub panel which passed inpection. I couldn't get anyone to even look at doing electrical work, let alone this until June 2022 according to schedules. I'm confident in my abilities to get this done, just concerned about the quirks you mentioned and getting this working as a grid charged UPS until I can get solar done next spring. I have a 240v inverter/generator as back up in the event a grid down scenario depletes my batteries when we're not at the cabin. Obviously anxious to get PV going next spring.

mike95490 · November 2021

Gutaz said:

@mike95490
I'll be setting up/wiring this myself with post setup AHJ inspection. Just completed the wiring myself to sub panel which passed inpection. I couldn't get anyone to even look at doing electrical work, let alone this until June 2022 according to schedules. I'm confident in my abilities to get this done, just concerned about the quirks you mentioned and getting this working as a grid charged UPS until I can get solar done next spring. I have a 240v inverter/generator as back up in the event a grid down scenario depletes my batteries when we're not at the cabin. Obviously anxious to get PV going next spring.

I'm off grid, and have not studied the appendixes for grid usage. But in the appendixes is a electricians explanation of the settings, you have to read them all and see how they interact with each other . I found some things changed from the XW6048 I used prior to installing the xw6848

Starting Out with Solar: LF or HF Inverter

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