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My dad has a 7kw system with the SMA inverter with emergency power outlet for 1.5kw. Works ok, as said the main issue without batteries to buffer is stability.

My dad has a 7kw system with the SMA inverter with emergency power outlet for 1.5kw. Works ok, as said the main issue without batteries to buffer is stability. I have a Magnum 3000w Hybrid inverter in my RV with 320w of solar with a MPPT solar controller. The solar controller feeds the batteries and the inverter draws from batteries or charges them with UPS grade change over. Magnum hybrids can do interesting things like if the sun is out and I am running the air conditioner off generator or shore power it will pull batteries down to float voltage and invert excess power to lower draw, I usually get about 1 amp reduction with 320w of panels. You can also dial in your shore amps and if a load needs more the inverter will step in and provide the overage from the batteries. Nice if you driveway surfing and only have a 15 amp outlet but want to run the microwave or whatever. The RV is basically a giant UPS with generator.

mikestew 8y ago
Having just finished a 450W solar system on our RV, along with new big-ass 200ah battery, I was shocked to find out that house systems have no battery backing. Because I have had to explain to everyone that asks “can it run...?” that you can run anything you want if the battery can handle it, the solar is just a battery charger and doesn’t directly run anything. But as one who is considering residential solar, I guess there’s more research to do as home solar apparently doesn’t work that way at all (though it probably will when I do it). Side note: thanks for the inverter mention. That’s next on the list, and the Magnum sounds to be worth a look.
- rbritton 8y ago
  I went the Victron route on my setup, primarily because they make whole systems that can talk with each other. I had originally been looking at the Magnum, though.
  - mikestew 8y ago
    I guess in all of my searching when buying, I never discovered that Victron makes inverters, despite having one of their charge controllers (seems like Xantrex gets all the mentions for high-end inverters). I'll check them out, thanks.
    - SigmundA 8y ago
      I almost went Victron, they have a nice selection of equipment with some nice features. I was however put off with their documentation, very lacking, was not 100% sure what I needed to put the system together, they have like 3 different kinds of communications buses. Magnum on the other hand has excellent documentation and a somewhat simpler product line that integrates well together, remote, inverter, battery monitor. Their comm bus is just RS-485 and documentation can be found, I wrote a node server to display info in realtime along with my Morningstar Tristar solar controller which uses modes over TCP. My understanding is Victrons load support feature does not go down as far as Magnum, 10 amps vs 5 if thats important .They have a very good reputation as does Magnum, different league than cheap inverters. Here is a video I did of the Magnums search watt function as some wanted to see, also shows how it deals with large loads and the web interface I wrote for it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_jqzY1wNDU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_jqzY1wNDU

mikestew 8y ago

Having just finished a 450W solar system on our RV, along with new big-ass 200ah battery, I was shocked to find out that house systems have no battery backing. Because I have had to explain to everyone that asks “can it run...?” that you can run anything you want if the battery can handle it, the solar is just a battery charger and doesn’t directly run anything. But as one who is considering residential solar, I guess there’s more research to do as home solar apparently doesn’t work that way at all (though it probably will when I do it). Side note: thanks for the inverter mention. That’s next on the list, and the Magnum sounds to be worth a look.

rbritton 8y ago
I went the Victron route on my setup, primarily because they make whole systems that can talk with each other. I had originally been looking at the Magnum, though.
- mikestew 8y ago
  I guess in all of my searching when buying, I never discovered that Victron makes inverters, despite having one of their charge controllers (seems like Xantrex gets all the mentions for high-end inverters). I'll check them out, thanks.
  - SigmundA 8y ago
    I almost went Victron, they have a nice selection of equipment with some nice features. I was however put off with their documentation, very lacking, was not 100% sure what I needed to put the system together, they have like 3 different kinds of communications buses. Magnum on the other hand has excellent documentation and a somewhat simpler product line that integrates well together, remote, inverter, battery monitor. Their comm bus is just RS-485 and documentation can be found, I wrote a node server to display info in realtime along with my Morningstar Tristar solar controller which uses modes over TCP. My understanding is Victrons load support feature does not go down as far as Magnum, 10 amps vs 5 if thats important .They have a very good reputation as does Magnum, different league than cheap inverters. Here is a video I did of the Magnums search watt function as some wanted to see, also shows how it deals with large loads and the web interface I wrote for it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_jqzY1wNDU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_jqzY1wNDU