How to Install a Simple Grid Tie 1000 watt Amazon Inverter Solar System -1800 watts for $1800- James
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 22 ก.ค. 2024
- This Video will describe the design, installation, and operation of a simple plug & play 1800 watt grid tie solar system for only $1,800. It will also describe the operation of a net house meter and how to operate a solar system without a net meter.
Video gold! Thank you for exactly what I just spent an hour searching for!
Me too...though now April 30th 2021!
Thank you really take the time to explain in detail every part of the system to fully comprehend it unlike other posts
Well done ! Thanks for your well detail explanation.
You are doing almost everything right, well DIY design too. AAA + demonstration.
The "net metering" info was tremendous, never heard of it, could be a huge $$$ saver for someone who is unaware. Huge thanks! #subbed
After considering the cost of the equipment and the time for the return of the investment, it does not seem a great deal.
You save energy but you don’t save money.
@@ajarivas72 for long-term it does save your money
I had two grid ties and was told to remove them by the power company because it put the utility worker at risk is grid ties really worth it
@@bendy1808 it's different everywhere so you should check with the electric company and wherever you get permits at where you live but most places seem to have some kind of policy in place to allow you to get a second meter from the electric company. This meter counts how much power you generate so it doesn't run backwards. When they read your regular meter they read the other meter as well and subtract what you generated from your usage. This system can also be used on demand to slow down your usage from the electric company. If you actually have everything off in your home then yes you will generate power that you will probably either get credit for or possibly a check for if you make more than you use.
I don't think most places use a single meter anymore. I could be wrong though.
You do have to take into account the fee for the second meter. Usually this is a maintenance or utility fee. In my case it's $25 per month per meter. So no matter how much electricity I generate I need to subtract roughly $50 in order to actually break even.
@@bendy1808 I sure wish this would be addressed.....very confused about this as I have always been under the impression that grid tied meant that one was selling power back to the electric company
Very nice explanation. Just starting my research on solar. Thank you.
Awesome video, thank you Sir!
Wow, very impressive demonstration well done. Thanks
Very informative.. easy to understand for non english speaker like me.. thanks !
Lots of good info here, very useful for me as I'm looking to do something similar thank you
Each inverter must be on its own individual circuit breaker for sure!
And if possible, split the load between both phases/legs of power coming into your home. 2 single pole breakers next to each other would be on different phases.
So one of these inverters, each dedicated to their own 15 amp breaker, would be the way to go? And you must have a net meter so you don't get charged for what YOU generate, right?
Very nice setup my friend. I wish you can make a video for your relays to turn on on ac start
Thanks James, great video! I've always wanted to go solar, but I didn't want to spend $30,000 and I was afraid. I really don't like giving the overpaid power company (monopoly) my money. You clearly explain all the necessary steps to install a high power system at an affordable price, so even an average person could easily do it.
This is what i ve been looking for. Very well explained even for a dummy like me.
Liked and subed!
@Chloe Burt yes sir! 75 to be persice. 1975!
Many Thanks !! Great Video !!Clear Demo !! Best Wishes !!
Can you make an update on these? How are they holding up?
A similar one of mine died and it's really hard to tell what is wrong with it I believe one of the MOSFETs is not working. It's a shame it only worked about 1 year maximum.... Not a very good ROI
Thank you so much for this video !!!
Thanks for the video, thumbs up.
Well done. Love your video.
Only Net Meters will count backwards for those that might not know. Most modern digital meters that are not Net/DG meters will NOT run backwards on the kWh measurement. You'll never realize any credit or $ benefit on the meter side with the Net/DG meter installed. This system you installed will supplement your power consumption though. Nice job on the video!
so most all digital meters, that are not made for net metering wont show running back wards, but have to be care ful that we dont have no power going out or the meter will think ther eis a device there and power it as consumption
@@mattrowe1229 If you have a standard meter (that only shows forward/consumed kWh), having solar has some benefit, as it will either slow or hault your kWh reading on the meter provided that your solar is keeping up with your current usage or at least a lot of it at peak times. But to get a true benefit, you need to get with the electric utility to get a meter that shows energy going both directions.
@@Tortuga89R yes, i cant get uyility ok because its an older mobile home, ect, but all i want to do is compensate the peal load a little and conter the kwh down some to lower my bill, i am fighting cancer and on ss check because of chemo cant wor, hard to pay all bills,if i could just save 20 dollars a onth would help with gas to get me to my doctors appat ans such,thanks for the response, and my utility co wants all new, ul listed, blah blah blah, and im going all used, i might just try it and watch meter with just 2 panels so i cant go over my usage
very good video , answered all my questions
HOWdy J-W,
Thanks for the Walk-Thru
... I love the "just don't PRODUCE too MUCH ... POWER
COOP
...
Awesome video!
Well done; God bless!
You could be Sully from Godsmacks Dad. Lol. Fantastic video.
Hi James, check those ends on the mc4 connectors internally they eat up after year or so if those are the ones from amazon that are very common.... do a load test on the cables u will be surprised
Great video James. Have you ever see this done using Wind (PMA or PMG) as the power source to the Grid Tie Inverters? My thoughts are you would need to run thru a Charge Controller to Battery Bank to the Grid Tie Inverters. Thoughts on this? Thanks.
Can you make a video showing how to install the relay circuit please?
great video, lots of good knowledge. cool relay setup!
Excellent video, James. Very useful!
I have a question, how do you know you are getting 32 vdc out of the solar panels, and how do you pick the right inverter? My concern is not selecting compatible items and mess around the circuit. Thanks a lot for sharing your knowledge and time!
Nice job!
Best video ever!! Definitely doing this
I have the same inverters, they are awesome. No issues, they stay cool. I recommend them for anyone looking to try lower their bill. You cant use them in an off grid setting but for what it is and the price you cant go wrong. Literally plug and play. Great video BTW.
On your plug and playset, are you using a dedicated 110 line?
I read another comment saying you can overload the wires, cause a fire because it isn't going thru a circuit breaker.
@@TheRainHarvester technically there is a circuit breaker in place (at the breaker box) but since you are reversing the flow of electricity, The circuit breaker cannot accurately tell whether the line is overloaded. This is why you must carefully measure the amps passing through the line that you would be grid tying
@@raiden72 ac has no direction. But i can't remember what this video was about.
@@TheRainHarvestercorrect and sorry, I guess I should have said, "feeding electricity back into the grid" instead of "reversing the flow", but nonetheless, total amperage flowing through the wire must not exceed the rated amperage of the wire, and while back feeding there is potential to exceed the amps without tripping the breaker (which could cause fire)
Thanks with recommended that is better cooling by fixing inverters in vertical so getting natural air flow that heated air moves upward, right ?
If the grid is down and you are not using a lot of energy from the solar set up where does the extra power go , is there a build up that overheats?
Just ordered 1 of these inverters.
How did it go?
I have seen these in a 240v model. Do you think they are for US use across our single phase 240?
where did you get the auto relay disable relays fom, and what is the box calledheir plugged into,i cant find on amazon, th ones on the right side of the video
This guy is great
nice job
where did you get the auto disable switches, cant find themon amazon
Are those grid inverters still in operation? Would you recommend?
How are the inverter holding up over time.
good video :)
I didn’t know that if you don’t set it up correctly that you will still be charged as if you where using the electric company’s electricity even though the extra power is coming from the solar panels, thanks for the info!
Can I use this setup for a 2000w wind turbine great video by the way I’m in the Uk
I would really love to see the relay wiring in more detail. I would love to have a grid tie that only turns on when my air conditioning does.
Hi James,
It was nice video but I want to know how set up the OnGrid Power system with the BGE meter in Maryland, USA? Should I need extra meter or not? If so, what is the process?
Can you modify the limiter?
Do I need any additional fuse or breaker to protect this 1000W inverter? I saw the inverter came with 3 fuses.
I didn't see that he had any so probably not
IF there is no power from the panels...like at night, does this setup draw power.
Clean setup but you didn't mention an I didn't see two things a pv cut off for panels and lightning suppressor
I have a question we installed solar but it is tied to the grid, in our area we get alot of outages , I'm wondering during an outage when there is daylight can I turn off the main grid breaker to stop feeding the grid and run the house on solar like we normally do, the only time we actually pul from the grid is at night the rest of the day we our feeding . I don't have a budget to install a back up generator and just wondering if there is a way to stop feeding the grid during an outage without a generator or batteries
There should be a disconnect from whatever self generator source(solar, wind, generator) to the grid. You could and do have have a switch(breakers) that will turn off the house power main from the utility provider and turn on your backup power source so that you may run off your(solar, wind, generator) to your home without back feeding to the grid. I fail to remember the name, but they have an integrated toggle so that it is an either or situation. Ask your local supply house people and they can set you up, I 'm sure.. Take photo of your main breaker box to take with you. They will need to know things like the brand of box and if you have room to mount them.
Are these inverters still running without problem after 2 years ?
Hello, any problems with the fans on the inverters? I have seen some videos that say these fans burn out in about 1 year and need to be replaced. Thanks
Jehugarcia had water damage.
I have four 300 watts solar panels with enphase IQ7+ Microinverters. How can I prevent backfeed on the grid?
Can we get a link to your inverter on Amazon please
what are the auto relays called and where did you buy
Hi James,
What relay is that? where we can purchase?
what is the brand name of that today circuit?
I have ten 200w solar panels that I’d like to grid tie install. Any recommendation on what grid tie inverter(s) I should use?
This a grid tie system.
I have 4 of these same types of types of tigrids and verters but nowhere can I find on how much amps can run through these machines we know how much voltage can run but how much amps can you put through these machines I want to know if I can take a 48 voteight 8 vote battery called Reynold rhino from big batteries Which has 276 AH Is that too much amp hours or is this OK I can't find in the destructions or any TH-cam videos to tell the capability on how much amperage can run through these machines
So that inverter can be use more than 1 in a house ?
if you had a tiny 100w inverter and a battery you could activate these grid tie inverters with a reference ac phase/signal during the day when the grid is down
You would need turn off the main breaker while doing this.
What happens if you used more than one on the same breaker
Awesome setup, just a FYI I installed grid tie inverters with Limiters so its automatic. But nice setup nonetheless
Is it a separate device?
@@jamesarevalo1626 www.ebay.com/itm/New-1000W-Solar-Wind-Turbine-on-Grid-Tie-Inverter-with-Power-Limiter-PV-system/362126614006?hash=item54506d9df6:m:mbS-UD_xJqjFFiFW2huyfGA
These are readily available on ebay and amazon however not UL certified. I'm not net-metered so not really important for me to be in code.
Would you recommend 3 x 250w panels for this inverter?
If the voltages fits, yes. 750w panels seems to be good.
I wonder if there's a way to power up the inverters in event the grid goes down, I know you mentioned they shut off output if you lose service
No. Absolutely not. That would then backfeed into the grid and could kill a lineman.
@@DrFiero I figured a person could hook a small generator to them for a power reference so they would start back up. What's backfeed ?
@@drthik1 - Backfeed is when your power "device" (gen, inverter, whatever) starts to shove power back down the line into the main grid. Then some linesman who thinks he's on a dead circuit ends up going -poof- and you get to explain to his spouse why you needed to play Xbox so bad that it killed him. Ok, that's an extreme, but you get the idea.
IF you are savvy enough to have a mains disconnect (transfer switch), then you could fire up a generator and the inverters would then do their normal thing, including following the typical unstable frequency of the gen. They don't care where the power's coming from.
Nice video! Exactly why they went to digital non Net Meters, making it harder to eat into the electric companys profits............
Hi Sir,
Just want to double check, at 2:15 it seems that you connected the positive terminals of the panels to the black wire and the negative side to the red wire? Or did you change the connection of the wires from the pv?
Yeah he wired them in series although he said parallel. You take the positive and hook it to negative of other panel. Then run the positive and negative of each panel to the grid tie. It’s a series circuit and not parallel.
@@reddevilxt716 oh I Wondered about parallel: if one shadow on a single panel, it seems like the other panel would dump it's load on the shaded panel and burn it up!
Edit: it looks to me like he wired in parallel after all.
how are they holding up 3 years later?
Would you recommend these inverters? Kind regards :D
So if the power goes out in the neighborhood you lose power too? How hard is it to take it off the grid later down the road?
Just take off the Grid Tie inverter and switch it with a off grid one
If AC turn on at the night time(no sun - no power to the inverter), will the grid tie inverter broken? Its manual said do not connect AC line in before solar panel or it may broken.
That's what happened to mine, I left it switched on at night and it broke
Interesting, I tried something like this a few years ago and I didn't consume all of the power I was using (like less than 100 watts) and a few days later Joe from the power company showed up at my door with his wire cutters in hand! Check to see if your power meter detects a back feed and what the power company's policy on backfeeding power is.
If its set up correctly, the utility company is required to credit you for any excess power you produce.
@@Zomby_Woof That's true, but keep in mind they set the game up to their advantage all the time. If you go through all the "correct" procedures to monitor back flow of electricity, depending on what time of the day it is, you're going to sell your excess at a lower rate then they charge you for their power. They may tack on additional fees to your monthly bill as well for different equipment required to monitor back flow too.
In my opinion, you're better off just to make sure the system is only providing power to you.
@@ElationProductions Depends on what your net excess is
For someone with large surpluses, particularly if they are seasonal, it's a good way to get power you'd otherwise be billed for at times when you can't provide it.
Which solar panels do you have?
Are you able to estimate how long it takes to pay off in electrical savings?
I priced out doing this with an 800w set-up and only 1 inverter. It would take between 3-7 years depending on where you live. In michigan I was looking at about 5.5-6 years.
I keep coming back here. I want to do 3 inverters like you but now thinking if to get those blue $350 inverters from ebay.
I did 7 of these but 22-50-220V if one dies the other keep working until it is replaced. I do not trust those Blue ones yet. Here is a good ref. www.imeshbean.com/category/Home-Garden/Grid-Tie-Inverter/Power-Inverter/
@@gilbertferro2013 Awesome. Checking out the link. I have 3kw of panels just covered by a tarp in back yard. I need to do a setup soon.
Search for the growatt sp3000. 3000w for under 1000$. Also is split phase so you feed the whole panel
I’d like to see a video of the home inspection when he tries to sell it 😅
where is the parts list? I found it LOL is your system still running?
flexible metal conduit is not listed for wet locations
Can you plug in a grid Tie Inverter and run power out of the same outlet ?
No
No
I've got 2 questions.
First being the safety aspect. The grid tie inverter turns off if the mains ac power is off right? But if the mains AC is off, a normal individual inverter should detect this but because you have multiple would each inverter act against each other and detect ac so therefore continue to give power?
Second question. Are these still working? I hear that particular inverter only lasts about a year and I'm guessing it will take a few years for you to brake even.
Nice video though. I'm just researching my options. This helps.
I hope he will read this and try it out to verify that the system goes into completed shutdown when main power to the house is cutoff.
He doesn't seem to answer questions. Anyone else know?
@@TheColorField oh thanks. I'll assume they solved they problem of multiple inverters triggering each other so as to stay on.
What I really want to know is how long these inverters have lasted for others.
I have had two of these. One went out on me after just 11 months. The replacement has been going strong for three years now. I'm running 800 watts maximum, but I have never seen it get much past 700 watts during optimum conditions, usually it is much less.
I instantly had the same questions, sir. This setup seem a modular approach but these answers must be found...Thanks for the video!
Anyone have a schematic for a relay setup like this?
how does this method disconnect from grid power if the grid goes down to prevent backfeeing ?
The inverter turn off automatically if the grid goes down.
you could even put them on timers
Are those inverters ul1741 certified. And anti-islanding
how it this system doing? still alive? any issues?
I’ve heard someone talk about a “limiter” or else the power company could charge you for going backwards. Can I look at my meter devise to see what kind of system I might need ? Mainly just want to use a grid tie in to help lower my cost
Research your utility company's policy first. Many will support net metering for small systems. Though for net metering they may not approve of DIY systems
@@ThomasBomb45 I want to leave the power company OUT of this completely . I'm looking for a company that can / will assist in layout & needs
@@jaycharles9548 Are you planning to disconnect from the grid then? Or just try to fly under the radar? If your solar is connected to the grid, leaving the utility company out of the conversation opens you up to potential problems
@@ThomasBomb45 this is not true. You can install an inverter that has a current sensor on each split phase of the panel. The system will only allow electricity from the solar to match what is being used in the panel. This will not allow power to back feed to the grid and doesn't require a net meter . The utility will just see less usage during solar production where it is offsetting the load in the home. The downside to this is of there is very little load in the home and alot of available solar energy , the system will be throttled down . This scenario would be best with a battery bank to take that energy during these situations.
@@kayzrx8 Is it legal to do something like this without talking to the grid operator first? DIY?
some people suggesting battery installation. Trust me it is an expensive option. Because you will have to replace batteries when these die. Better go with net metering option.
I thought even if you decided to go with net metering, you still have to pay the electric provider fees
The parts list did not include the relays for the A/C.
today cheap inverter work again?
What's the break even point? How many years?
Isnt connecting straight to an outlet a fire hazard?
Hey, man. I loved the video. Thanks for the help with getting me started. I set up an even smaller system than you with only one of those inverters. The inverter stopped working after about 1 month. I was wondering if I just got unlucky or if that brand is actually unreliable. Based on some of the reviews I read, it’s probably the latter. I wanted to check in and see if yours are still working well.
Was your setup like the one in the video? Do you need proper permits where you live in order to feedback legally?
@@ShyRage1, I had to email my electricity company to get approval for “net metering”. They asked for diagrams and I had to fill out some forms regarding how much power I planned on producing. They sent someone out to look at the system after I had it hooked up and the guy who came out was blown away. Lol. I did all of the work and paperwork myself, and I’m not an electrician.
@@Robertgbarnes so you literally had the power inverter plugged in and they were cool with it?
@@ShyRage1 totally! Plugged into an outlet.
@@Robertgbarnes holy smokes! What state are you in? What power distribution do you have there
what is the maximum continuous power rating for this unit ?
Some other peopled tested it at 800 to 900w. Peak efficiency is at or slightly above half so 500 to 600w is recommended. ( add 15% losses to get solar panel sizing. )
@@MmeHyraelle thanks
great video .so if the electric goes off an it shuts the invertor off then you have no power. i want power when the electric goes off .
You need batteries
What do you do when the grid is down?
That's one of the shortcomings I can see with this system. What he could do is shut off the main breaker to his house, get some sort of additional generator to provide power and the solar would supplement it (in the day time at least). Not useful as a stand alone backup, but could assist a gas generator during a daytime outage.
Nice complete video, did the pge contacted you about this? I heard this is illegal in CA
@Yo Dude - PG&E has not contacted him, yet ...
I'm wondering about your choice to do parallel instead of series...could you explain your reasoning?
I'm guessing the output voltage of each panel is somewhere around 32 volts. If he ran them in series, the input voltage to the inverter would be 64 volts. The inverter is only designed to handle between 22 and 50 volts.
It seems like if panels aren't exactly matched, or shade creeps on one panel, but not the other, then those parallel panels will feed into each other and possibly burn out the cell's wires.