Michael Qulek

David Baillie wrote: I would agree there if the unit will be starting large inductive loads the schneider, magnum or samlex are your best options. If you do go for an all in one you simply oversize it so a 6-8kW all in one would do the trick and still be less than the transformer based units. Another thing to consider is if you will be going with lithium batteries you are supposed to have 2 way communication with the inverter. at this time the schneider does not offer that so if its being inspected with lithium it wont pass...

My 1hp 240VAC Grunfos pump has a measured startup surge of ~9200W, so no, a 6-8kW AiO is very unlikely to start it.  I had this number in hand before I decided to purchase my XW+6848.  This I think points to a serious issue with many solar planners, the ignorance of what the actual demands on the system are likely to be.  Following preliminary research in the design of my own system, I purchased a clamp meter that could read inrush current.  Pricey, but produces numbers a regular meter can not.  I think maybe 80-90% of DIY solar planners really have no clue what electrical demands their property demands, until the "on" switch is flipped.

You gotta read the fine print.  SolArk's 12kW is actually only a 9kW (reading the fine print) and only 7.5kW in real-world testing.  The 6848 was very conservatively rated, and it really should have been called the 8548 (based on real-world testing). SolArk's claim that it can more economically outcompete a 6848 is a blatant lie.  Schneider should have sued them.

David Baillie wrote:
It is a good inverter but its getting pretty long in the tooth. It is still in production but is much more expensive then the newer all in one inverters coming out.

One critical issue with the newer, cheaper AiO units, is almost all of them are high-frequency transformerless units with little or no starting surge.  Starting surge is very important in the starting of motors that turn on under load.  Anything driving a motor connected to compressors, pumps, ect.  Your typical HF inverter may say it can surge to 200% wattage, but that lasts only for 8-16 milliseconds.  A LF inverter can surge for 5-60 seconds, far more than the 250-500 milliseconds needed to start a motor.

You really need to match the inverter to the application, and pay attention to parameters other than watts.  Most people never look past W/$ till it's too late, and they pay money for something that shuts down with an alarm when you attempt to turn on something it can't handle.

If all you want to do is run lights and a TV, an AiO is OK.  A big-ticket item like a submersible well-pump will just stop it dead.

Although I still have a 24V system in my workshop, I would agree that 24V is gradually being phased out, and the two remaining standards will be just 12V for small systems, and 48V for large systems.  For long-term whole-home systems, 48V is clearly the way to go.

I have the Conext 4024, it's somewhat larger brother, and yes, it is a VERY high quality inverter. I have it installed in my workshop, where it runs all my 120V power tools. Mine is native 120/240V, so you don't need two.  I have run a cement mixer, a 1.6hp air-compressor, and a 7.5" saw all at the same time with this inverter.

Just to let you know though, there's a better deal out there right now, it's bigger, bigger brother, the XW-Pro 6848.  It's a VERY robust inverter, and might actually be cheaper than the 2524 right now.  I have the XW+6848, the model they made just before the XW-Pro, and I use that to power my 240V well-pump.  You will have to upgrade up to a 48V battery, but some of the savings from getting the 6848 could be applied to extra batteries.

Have never heard of Brave or Opera?  My favorate browser is FireFox, but will use Chrome when I can't.  I detest Edge and avoid it at all costs unless I am forced to use it.

I have Schneider's Conext SW4024, which I am VERY happy with.  It makes native split-phase 120/240VAC, and has built-in generator charging.  It's a very robust inverter that has powered a cement mixer, 1.6hp air-compressor, and a 7" circular saw, all at the same time.  If you want to mate it with a generator though, you need to get the optional COMBOX, or have a laptop for communicating with the unit's software, to calibrate the generator horsepower to the inverter.

Just like the top of most trees are radially oriented, the roots are mostly radially oriented also.  The soil that the hole is backfilled with is light and fluffy compared to the hard compacted soil outside the hole.  Easy for new roots to penetrate through.  But, as the roots continue to grow and spread out radially, they all will hit hard compacted soil all at the same time.

Because the young tree is used to uninhibited root-growth for some time it will have luxurous top growth that is being fed by all the new roots.  Suddenly all the roots hit the undisturbed hard, compacted soil at about the same time, which suddenly puts the brakes on growth.  The young trees suddenly go into shock because the lush top growth can no longer be supported.

By putting the new tree in a square hole, the radial growth of the roots does not hit the compacted wall all at the same time, so the tree has time to adapt to the changing soil conditions.  And yes, the right angles tends to direct the growing roots downwards.

I've planted ~120 seedlings in the ground now, following the square-hole for all of them.  The only dead trees I've encountered were from animal damage.

Mike Bettis wrote:Thanks for the replies. I guess no one is using it as backup as I'm understanding? My hope was in times of outages I can run a small turbine to run a few electrical devices. My plan would be to put a switch at my main lines from the transformer. So this would not be grid tied. But as you said they need resistance? Hmm I haven't heard of that but I've also never had any experience with wind generators.

No, you just don't understand.  A wind generator is not a device you just plug things into and expect to have them to run.  First, there needs to be substantial wind.  Not a light breeze ruffling the leaves, but wind that pulls your hat off your head.  Because the windmill is a variable speed generator, based on the speed of the wind, that means the power produced is going to vary in voltage.  It might be running at 12V, or 30V, but it will not, and can not make continous 120VAC that everything in your house consumes.  For that you MUST have a battery bank and an inverter.  And a charge controller that can take the varying voltage output from the windmill generator, and convert it into charging current for your batteries.  No way around that.

But, as others have indicated, you can right now today, put together a solar system that can accomplish what you want it to do.  The very first thing you need to do is to itemize your loads and calculate just how much power you need to make.  You made a partial list, being lights, fans, and a frig.  The very first thing you need to understand is that the power required varies with orders of magnitude.  That is, a light might need 7-25W to light, a fan, maybe 100-150W to run, and a frig maybe 1.0 to 1.5 kWh to stay on 24/7.  You may express this in watthours (Wh), or kilowatt hours (kWh).  So, one 25W compact flourescent light bulb might consume 100Wh if you left it on for four hours, or 0.1kWh, depending on what units you want to use.  The fan that runs on 100 Watts will consume 500Wh if left on for five hours (0.5kWh).  My 18cuft refrigerator/freezer consumes ~1.2kWh per 24 hours.

Just to speed this along, let's itemize a few things for you.  You can update the numbers yourself to customize for your own lifestyle.

Two CFL bulbs on for 4 hours: 25W X 2 bulbs X 4 hours = 200Wh (0.2kWh)
One 100W window fan on for 5 hours: 100W X 1 fan X 5 hours = 500Wh (0.5kWh)
One 50W TV/Computer on for two hours: 50W X 2hours = 100Wh (0.1kWh)
One standard AC refrigerator running on and off = 1.2kWh per day
AC inverter left on, consuming 30W per hour: 30W X 24 hours = 720Wh (0.72kWh)

This all adds up to 2.0kWh per day.  This reflects closely to what I've seen with my own off-grid system.  Lowest I've ever seen in winter with the frig cycling very little and zero lights or TV was 1.5kWh.  Today, with Starlink internet, and all the little electrical loads like the stove clock, weather station, and whatnot, I'm at about 4.0kWh.

So, how will you make at least 2.0kWh of power?  Solar will do that, assuming you have sunny days.  In Illinois in December, I'd suspect you get about 3 sunhours worth of power, and maybe 6 sunhours in June.  So, to make at least 2.0kWh of power in the winter, you'd need 2000Wh/3 sunhours = 666Watts of solar panels.  250W, 30V rooftop residential panels are dirt-cheap right now, so you could make a functional system with three of those.  Four or six panels would be even better, but three will make it work.

You'll need batteries to store the power you make.  Remember, even a windmill only system will need batteries.  I'd go with at least a 24V battery bank.  You can get 210Ah, 6V golf-cart batteries at CostCo right now for ~110$ each.  Wire four of them in series to get a 24V battery bank.

Next you need a charge controller to convert the raw solar DC into battery charging current.  You should get a MPPT charge controller.  An MPPT controller acts like a transformer, taking raw high-voltage DC current from the panels, and transforming down to battery-charging voltage.  The extra volts gets transformed into extra charging amps.  You would wire all three panels in series to make ~8.3A at 90V, so select a controller that can handle 150V.  Don't ask why you can't use a 100V controller.  That can be explained later (cold temperature Voc).  Take a look at Epever's Triron4215N controller.

Lastly, an inverter.  Lots of choice here, but if you want to run a frig, make sure you select a pure sine wave inverter.  MSW or SW inverters make motors run hot and will quickly burn them out.  They are only good for resistive loads like traditional filament lights and such.  Samlex makes a quality UL-list model, the PST-2000, that would work well for you.  The frig, having an electric motor, will have starting surge that is higher than the running watts it is rated for.  

Remember, with electronics, you get what you pay for.  Cheap overseas inverters are made with bottom rung budget parts that might barely make it through the warranty year.  Whatever you buy, make sure it is UL-listed.  You should be able to make a functional system that will work for you for ~1500$.

I've been casting my own lead-bullets for reloading for about 30+ years now, refining thousands of pounds of lead over the years, and I myself used to be concerned about lead exposure/contamination.  

I've taken both urine and blood tests for lead exposure, which have always come up negative.

I would suggest you do the same.  That would help dispel overreaction to what turns out to be a non-issue.