Generac is coming out with a DC inverter Generator should be out late summer 2022. Natural Gas or Propane fuel about 9,000 watts You can charge your batteries in 1 one hour in the early product release.
That's really good to know. Now you can run the generator for an hour at max and then it's peace and quiet with the battery. You are doing your neighbors and the planet a big favor. Thanks for watching and your comment. Much appreciated.
Sleeker yes… they same power and storage though. We got two of the 10T’s installed last month. Work great…. If I turn my electric water heater on and use my electric clothes dryer between 1030 am and 330 pm each day I can stay off grid indefinitely… even on over cast rain days so far… Only change I made was having the a/c repair guy instal a soft start on our central heating/air unit during his yearly tune up which was $270 parts and labor. With just two 10T’s I thought I would have to only use the Central A/C for few hours a day in a “grid down situation”…. But I can run it all day 78 degrees midnight to noon and 76 noon to midnight no problem. Zero problem so far.
We got two of the 10T’s installed last month the company I went with Charges $10K per 10 installed…. No mater how many… so $20K for the 2 10T’s. We also got IQ8M ‘s paired with Q-Cells. They work great…. If I turn my electric water heater on and use my electric clothes dryer between 1030 am and 330 pm each day I can stay off grid indefinitely… even on over cast rain days so far… Only change I made was having the a/c repair guy instal a soft start on our central heating/air unit during his yearly tune up which was $270 parts and labor. With just two 10T’s I thought I would have to only use the Central A/C for few hours a day in a “grid down situation”…. But I can run it all day 78 degrees midnight to noon and 76 noon to midnight no problem. Zero problem so far.
We got two of the Enphase 10T’s installed last month. The installer I went with Charges $10K per Encharge 10 installed…. No mater how many… so $20K for the 2 10T’s. We also got IQ8M ‘s paired with Q-Cells. They work great…. If I turn my electric water heater on and use my electric clothes dryer between 1030 am and 330 pm each day I can stay off grid indefinitely… even on over cast rain days so far… Only change I made was having the a/c repair guy instal a soft start on our central heating/air unit during his yearly tune up which was $270 parts and labor. With just two 10T’s I thought I would have to only use the Central A/C for few hours a day in a “grid down situation”…. But I can run it all day 78 degrees midnight to noon and 76 noon to midnight no problem. Zero problem so far.
This is fabulous. Thank you for sharing. I am telling everyone I know - go Enphase they are the best. Thanks again. I will be making a video about this too. Best of Luck.
But, what about the efficiency of converting AC power (Enphase) to DC power in the battery and viceversa when power from the battery is needed???? With Solaredge the battery is charged with AC, so no conversion losses.
That is true DC coupled systems are slightly more efficient in terms of conversion. However, Enphase gives you much more power from the battery + solar panel combination. Enphase has complete control over the panels and the batteries. The other systems all act separately and can never give you the full energy from both PV and Battery. Thanks for watching.
Thank you for this video and the information, I agree with you in regard to consumer needs vs being bad or good battery. this is was very informative video in regard to the difference and the safety, specially during the power outage and the usage of the battery. Thank you
what do you think of Sunpower solar system compare to tesla and others? I like to use tesla but they use string line rather than micro inverter. looking for recommendation. thanks
Sunpower systems are good - but they are just too expensive. They charge too much of a premium for their brand name. Tesla is selling really low quality solar systems at low prices. I dont like either Sunpower or Tesla. I have emailed you asking for a recent bill. Thanks for watching.
Just had a Solar 14.4 kW system installed by Tesla with one Powerwall battery in Northern VA. They said that the battery would be able to run my full house during an outage (I would opt to shut the ac off myself and not use the dryer until power was restored). Asked if the battery would support the ac draw and they said it would.
Thanks for sharing. Yes the Tesla's have enough power to run the AC for while - just like the other batteries - but not through the day. It would be advisable to opt to shut it off as you did and use the battery energy for the rest of the home. Congratulations and thanks for watching.
You can have solar only without batteries if you use the right inverter. Sol-Ark's hybrid inverters will allow to work in an off-grid island mode even during power outage with or without batteries. Just because the other manufacturers can't doesn't mean batteries are the only option to do so. Also, Solar Edge will work off-grid with solar only with the Home Backup interface without batteries during a power outage, even if this is not a supported configuration. So yeah, with the inverters you presented, no grid = no solar, but there are other players on the market that provide a much better experience with or without batteries. And while the Sol-Ark inverters are expensive, you will have tremendous saving on the battery side of the equation when compared to the other "bolt on" solutions provided by other inverter configurations. Sol-Ark works with a multitude of battery providers (UL rated or as basic as any 48V battery config from lead acid to LiFePo) and you're not tied to one manufacturer and their sole source, and generally very expensive, battery options.
Greg - thank you for your very knowledgeable comment. I appreciate you educating me and the viewers. I know the Enphase IQ8+ has a sunshine mode that gives you power from your solar panels during a grid outage. So you could do without a battery. Its good to know Sol-Ark also supports such a mode. The problem with power only from your solar panels is this - the sun is not very reliable, you have clouds, and cloudy days and the solar radiation on your roof is never consistent. As a result, the energy production is in spikes. Not something you can feed directly into your home. It would blow up your appliances. That is why you need the expensive hybrid inverter from SolarArk or the IQ controller in addition to the Enphase IQ8+ microinverters to make sure the home gets a steady supply. The other problem is that you only get energy during the daytime or actually bright sunlight hours - even during the time there is full sunlight, you don't have access to all the energy of the panels - the inverter will clip and keep it down to a level that it calculates is sustainable - that's usually around 30% of the panels capacity in case of Enphase. I presume it will be similar for Sol-Ark. Buying the IQ controller or the more expensive hybrid Sol-Ark is expensive - I think it makes sense to buy a small battery along with them so that you can have power at night as well during a grid-out event. One big plus with Enphase is that the same inverters in the battery are also up on your roof - there is great communication between them. You always have access to full energy from the panels and your batteries with an Enphase solution. That is not true with all the other mix-and-match solutions. They have to throttle the energy production of the panels very often. So even if you pay more for Enphase you get more. Thanks again for watching.
@@MySolarHomeUSA thanks for the response. Make no mistake, I 100% advocate for a battery backup on any solar system. I'm just not buying that the enphase setup is any better than a Sol-Ark 15K. It's actually far inferior. Since you must provide panel level rapid shutdown you can combine a Sol-Ark with Tigo TS-4 optimizers that give you panel level monitoring and optimization like you get with enphase without having your inverter hanging out with the elements for about $0.10/W. Again, the key here is that Enphase battery is ridiculously expensive, the inverters up on the roof buy you nothing at at the weather element's mercy, you have to do an AC to DC to AC conversion for battery charging which costs efficiency and overall is a less ideal solution. I got a 19.3kW system for $2.30/W installed and paid less than $600/kWh for battery storage. If you can beat this with Enphase that actually supports a whole house (200A pass-through, 15kW solar power, 12kW battery power) I'm all ears...
@@greg_takacs Hi Greg sounds unbeatable. What was the total price for the 19.3 kw system + Battery all installed. Do indicate the battery kwh capacity as well. I'd like to see how much more that same configuration would be with Enphase. Re the 15kw solar and 12kw battery power - do you have two inverters one for solar and one for the battery both capable of delivering 27kw in total during daytime in an outage.
@@MySolarHomeUSA It's a 44x440W panel system with a Sol-Ark 15K single inverter that is capable of 15kW of total combined power but can only provide 12kW from battery alone. It also has a built in 200A grid pass-through so no dedicated load panel needed as it truly covers the whole house. It can switch from grid to battery/solar only in 4ms during power outage via an auto transfer switch for uninterrupted power supply. For batteries I have HomeGrid 33.6 kWh bank that is UL listed and fully compatible with the inverter's BMS for optimal charging and discharging. I also have 44 Tigo TS-4 optimizers for panel level monitoring and optimization. With Enphase I'd need 44 IQ8+ units to drive this system and that would only provide 13.2kW peak vs. the 15kW I can get from the Sol-Ark system. I'd need 10 Enphase 3 battery equivalents (3x10 plus 1x3), you'd need a special load panel, and with mine I can add a second and/or third battery stack all the way to the 80 kWh NFPA 855 residential limit while Enphase tops out at 40 kWh. My system, 15kW solar power, 19.34 kW panels and 33.6 kWh of battery came out to $68.6k cash price before the federal credit is applied. I don't think there is another combination of battery and inverter (UL listed for grid tie-in) that can come close to this setup for the same price. Mind you, I could have opted for even cheaper battery setup by getting EG4-LifePower battery rack for under $300/kWh but I wanted something UL listed and fully supported by the inverter's battery communication system.
@@MySolarHomeUSA Based on my research there is nothing on the market that comes close to the versatility and capability of the Sol-Ark 15K. I recommend you take a look at their inverters, their 12K is pretty decent and comparable to the system you outlined but for true whole house backup a single 15K is all one would ever need. I am monitoring my house actively and even with two A/C units and electrical range/oven/dryer I'd be hard pressed to go above the 15kW at any given time. Sol-Ark is also working on a automatic load-shed panel that is about to be released which will completely eliminate any anxiety over getting a power outage during everything running at the same time and bringing down the system before a graceful reboot could be done with manual load shedding. And since Sol-Ark 15K works with literally ANY 48V battery on the market you can buy whatever fits your needs/budget without being tied to a specific brand. Sol-Ark also allows for managed generator input (Sol-Ark will turn on/off the generator as needed to charge batteries or provide power to the home) or you can use the input for additional inverter (micro or otherwise) A/C tie-in for additional power, if needed which makes it truly remarkable.
Good comparison 👍 I understand there are some electric vehicles & plug- in hybrids that can also provide a home with emergency backup power. I wonder if you're able to do some research in that regard for your subscribers please?
I am not 100% sure of this - but as far as I am aware, you are not allowed at present to use the battery of your EV as a backup battery for your home. That being said EVs have substantially large batteries - for example the original Tesla cars have an 85 kWh battery in them. Compare that to the 10 kWh batteries in the video. So that's a lot of energy if we could access it. Perhaps soon the utility companies would allow homeowners to use their EV battery capacity to power their homes. Do let me know if you learn anything more. Thanks for watching and your comment.
@@MySolarHomeUSA two SUVs that readily come to mind are the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV and Toyota's current rave, the BZ4X. They're both supposedly capable of bidirectional charging.
@@adstix This calls for some research. Thanks for your input and if you find out more, please email me at jon@mysolarhome.us . If I find out more I will reply as well. Thanks v much
@@MySolarHomeUSA Like Tesla, Mitsubishi also has its own branded inverters. Perhaps other auto companies will join the party soon in the increasing symbiosis between EVs and smart homes.
@@MySolarHomeUSA It’s not energy companies that are holding back, it’s the car manufacturers. They do not want to warrant a battery that is getting thousands of extra cycles backing up your house.
That is a healthy habit. Check everything, do your due diligence. But, like everything in life, some of the folks who sell are ethical too and don't peddle misinformation. Not too many, I try to be one of them. Thanks for watching.
I started with Enphase panels, added Enphase batteries and now am installing a Kohler generator...
Generac is coming out with a DC inverter Generator should be out late summer 2022.
Natural Gas or Propane fuel
about 9,000 watts
You can charge your batteries in 1 one hour in the early product release.
That's really good to know. Now you can run the generator for an hour at max and then it's peace and quiet with the battery. You are doing your neighbors and the planet a big favor. Thanks for watching and your comment. Much appreciated.
I vote for Enphase due to the safety. Also they will have a version 2 coming out in a couple of months. Sleeker and more power.
Yes, I am an Enphase fan myself.
Sleeker yes… they same power and storage though.
We got two of the 10T’s installed last month. Work great…. If I turn my electric water heater on and use my electric clothes dryer between 1030 am and 330 pm each day I can stay off grid indefinitely… even on over cast rain days so far…
Only change I made was having the a/c repair guy instal a soft start on our central heating/air unit during his yearly tune up which was $270 parts and labor. With just two 10T’s I thought I would have to only use the Central A/C for few hours a day in a “grid down situation”…. But I can run it all day 78 degrees midnight to noon and 76 noon to midnight no problem. Zero problem so far.
We got two of the 10T’s installed last month the company I went with Charges $10K per 10 installed…. No mater how many… so $20K for the 2 10T’s. We also got IQ8M ‘s paired with Q-Cells. They work great…. If I turn my electric water heater on and use my electric clothes dryer between 1030 am and 330 pm each day I can stay off grid indefinitely… even on over cast rain days so far…
Only change I made was having the a/c repair guy instal a soft start on our central heating/air unit during his yearly tune up which was $270 parts and labor. With just two 10T’s I thought I would have to only use the Central A/C for few hours a day in a “grid down situation”…. But I can run it all day 78 degrees midnight to noon and 76 noon to midnight no problem. Zero problem so far.
@@maddeusdoggeus1 Hey Devil Dog, would a variable speed HVAC reduce the starting load?
My Generac is 18 kwh with 6 modules
installed.
We got two of the Enphase 10T’s installed last month. The installer I went with Charges $10K per Encharge 10 installed…. No mater how many… so $20K for the 2 10T’s. We also got IQ8M ‘s paired with Q-Cells. They work great…. If I turn my electric water heater on and use my electric clothes dryer between 1030 am and 330 pm each day I can stay off grid indefinitely… even on over cast rain days so far…
Only change I made was having the a/c repair guy instal a soft start on our central heating/air unit during his yearly tune up which was $270 parts and labor. With just two 10T’s I thought I would have to only use the Central A/C for few hours a day in a “grid down situation”…. But I can run it all day 78 degrees midnight to noon and 76 noon to midnight no problem. Zero problem so far.
This is fabulous. Thank you for sharing. I am telling everyone I know - go Enphase they are the best. Thanks again. I will be making a video about this too. Best of Luck.
But, what about the efficiency of converting AC power (Enphase) to DC power in the battery and viceversa when power from the battery is needed???? With Solaredge the battery is charged with AC, so no conversion losses.
That is true DC coupled systems are slightly more efficient in terms of conversion. However, Enphase gives you much more power from the battery + solar panel combination. Enphase has complete control over the panels and the batteries. The other systems all act separately and can never give you the full energy from both PV and Battery. Thanks for watching.
Thank you for this video and the information, I agree with you in regard to consumer needs vs being bad or good battery. this is was very informative video in regard to the difference and the safety, specially during the power outage and the usage of the battery.
Thank you
Thank you very much for watching and for your nice comment. Do keep watching.
what do you think of Sunpower solar system compare to tesla and others? I like to use tesla but they use string line rather than micro inverter. looking for recommendation. thanks
Sunpower systems are good - but they are just too expensive. They charge too much of a premium for their brand name. Tesla is selling really low quality solar systems at low prices. I dont like either Sunpower or Tesla. I have emailed you asking for a recent bill. Thanks for watching.
Just had a Solar 14.4 kW system installed by Tesla with one Powerwall battery in Northern VA. They said that the battery would be able to run my full house during an outage (I would opt to shut the ac off myself and not use the dryer until power was restored). Asked if the battery would support the ac draw and they said it would.
Thanks for sharing. Yes the Tesla's have enough power to run the AC for while - just like the other batteries - but not through the day. It would be advisable to opt to shut it off as you did and use the battery energy for the rest of the home. Congratulations and thanks for watching.
Thank you for running such an awesome channel and taking the time to educate so many people on a benefit that is not so well known.
@@mariomenezes1153 Thank you for your kind words and thanks for watching. Much appreciated.
what other videos do you have as for the batteries and panels? and where would i find them
Click on my image and go to my channel. Then go to the videos tab. You will see a lot of videos there - do subscribe as well. Thanks.
You can have solar only without batteries if you use the right inverter. Sol-Ark's hybrid inverters will allow to work in an off-grid island mode even during power outage with or without batteries. Just because the other manufacturers can't doesn't mean batteries are the only option to do so. Also, Solar Edge will work off-grid with solar only with the Home Backup interface without batteries during a power outage, even if this is not a supported configuration.
So yeah, with the inverters you presented, no grid = no solar, but there are other players on the market that provide a much better experience with or without batteries. And while the Sol-Ark inverters are expensive, you will have tremendous saving on the battery side of the equation when compared to the other "bolt on" solutions provided by other inverter configurations. Sol-Ark works with a multitude of battery providers (UL rated or as basic as any 48V battery config from lead acid to LiFePo) and you're not tied to one manufacturer and their sole source, and generally very expensive, battery options.
Greg - thank you for your very knowledgeable comment. I appreciate you educating me and the viewers. I know the Enphase IQ8+ has a sunshine mode that gives you power from your solar panels during a grid outage. So you could do without a battery. Its good to know Sol-Ark also supports such a mode. The problem with power only from your solar panels is this - the sun is not very reliable, you have clouds, and cloudy days and the solar radiation on your roof is never consistent. As a result, the energy production is in spikes. Not something you can feed directly into your home. It would blow up your appliances. That is why you need the expensive hybrid inverter from SolarArk or the IQ controller in addition to the Enphase IQ8+ microinverters to make sure the home gets a steady supply. The other problem is that you only get energy during the daytime or actually bright sunlight hours - even during the time there is full sunlight, you don't have access to all the energy of the panels - the inverter will clip and keep it down to a level that it calculates is sustainable - that's usually around 30% of the panels capacity in case of Enphase. I presume it will be similar for Sol-Ark. Buying the IQ controller or the more expensive hybrid Sol-Ark is expensive - I think it makes sense to buy a small battery along with them so that you can have power at night as well during a grid-out event.
One big plus with Enphase is that the same inverters in the battery are also up on your roof - there is great communication between them. You always have access to full energy from the panels and your batteries with an Enphase solution. That is not true with all the other mix-and-match solutions. They have to throttle the energy production of the panels very often. So even if you pay more for Enphase you get more. Thanks again for watching.
@@MySolarHomeUSA thanks for the response. Make no mistake, I 100% advocate for a battery backup on any solar system. I'm just not buying that the enphase setup is any better than a Sol-Ark 15K. It's actually far inferior.
Since you must provide panel level rapid shutdown you can combine a Sol-Ark with Tigo TS-4 optimizers that give you panel level monitoring and optimization like you get with enphase without having your inverter hanging out with the elements for about $0.10/W.
Again, the key here is that Enphase battery is ridiculously expensive, the inverters up on the roof buy you nothing at at the weather element's mercy, you have to do an AC to DC to AC conversion for battery charging which costs efficiency and overall is a less ideal solution.
I got a 19.3kW system for $2.30/W installed and paid less than $600/kWh for battery storage. If you can beat this with Enphase that actually supports a whole house (200A pass-through, 15kW solar power, 12kW battery power) I'm all ears...
@@greg_takacs Hi Greg sounds unbeatable. What was the total price for the 19.3 kw system + Battery all installed. Do indicate the battery kwh capacity as well. I'd like to see how much more that same configuration would be with Enphase.
Re the 15kw solar and 12kw battery power - do you have two inverters one for solar and one for the battery both capable of delivering 27kw in total during daytime in an outage.
@@MySolarHomeUSA It's a 44x440W panel system with a Sol-Ark 15K single inverter that is capable of 15kW of total combined power but can only provide 12kW from battery alone. It also has a built in 200A grid pass-through so no dedicated load panel needed as it truly covers the whole house. It can switch from grid to battery/solar only in 4ms during power outage via an auto transfer switch for uninterrupted power supply. For batteries I have HomeGrid 33.6 kWh bank that is UL listed and fully compatible with the inverter's BMS for optimal charging and discharging. I also have 44 Tigo TS-4 optimizers for panel level monitoring and optimization.
With Enphase I'd need 44 IQ8+ units to drive this system and that would only provide 13.2kW peak vs. the 15kW I can get from the Sol-Ark system. I'd need 10 Enphase 3 battery equivalents (3x10 plus 1x3), you'd need a special load panel, and with mine I can add a second and/or third battery stack all the way to the 80 kWh NFPA 855 residential limit while Enphase tops out at 40 kWh.
My system, 15kW solar power, 19.34 kW panels and 33.6 kWh of battery came out to $68.6k cash price before the federal credit is applied. I don't think there is another combination of battery and inverter (UL listed for grid tie-in) that can come close to this setup for the same price.
Mind you, I could have opted for even cheaper battery setup by getting EG4-LifePower battery rack for under $300/kWh but I wanted something UL listed and fully supported by the inverter's battery communication system.
@@MySolarHomeUSA Based on my research there is nothing on the market that comes close to the versatility and capability of the Sol-Ark 15K. I recommend you take a look at their inverters, their 12K is pretty decent and comparable to the system you outlined but for true whole house backup a single 15K is all one would ever need. I am monitoring my house actively and even with two A/C units and electrical range/oven/dryer I'd be hard pressed to go above the 15kW at any given time. Sol-Ark is also working on a automatic load-shed panel that is about to be released which will completely eliminate any anxiety over getting a power outage during everything running at the same time and bringing down the system before a graceful reboot could be done with manual load shedding.
And since Sol-Ark 15K works with literally ANY 48V battery on the market you can buy whatever fits your needs/budget without being tied to a specific brand.
Sol-Ark also allows for managed generator input (Sol-Ark will turn on/off the generator as needed to charge batteries or provide power to the home) or you can use the input for additional inverter (micro or otherwise) A/C tie-in for additional power, if needed which makes it truly remarkable.
I love enphase
You know I do too right 🙂 Thanks for watching
Good comparison 👍
I understand there are some electric vehicles & plug- in hybrids that can also provide a home with emergency backup power.
I wonder if you're able to do some research in that regard for your subscribers please?
I am not 100% sure of this - but as far as I am aware, you are not allowed at present to use the battery of your EV as a backup battery for your home. That being said EVs have substantially large batteries - for example the original Tesla cars have an 85 kWh battery in them. Compare that to the 10 kWh batteries in the video. So that's a lot of energy if we could access it. Perhaps soon the utility companies would allow homeowners to use their EV battery capacity to power their homes. Do let me know if you learn anything more. Thanks for watching and your comment.
@@MySolarHomeUSA two SUVs that readily come to mind are the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV and Toyota's current rave, the BZ4X.
They're both supposedly capable of bidirectional charging.
@@adstix This calls for some research. Thanks for your input and if you find out more, please email me at jon@mysolarhome.us . If I find out more I will reply as well. Thanks v much
@@MySolarHomeUSA Like Tesla, Mitsubishi also has its own branded inverters. Perhaps other auto companies will join the party soon in the increasing symbiosis between EVs and smart homes.
@@MySolarHomeUSA It’s not energy companies that are holding back, it’s the car manufacturers. They do not want to warrant a battery that is getting thousands of extra cycles backing up your house.
I never trust anyone's opinion if they are selling me or others something
That is a healthy habit. Check everything, do your due diligence. But, like everything in life, some of the folks who sell are ethical too and don't peddle misinformation. Not too many, I try to be one of them. Thanks for watching.
You need to look at the Franklin Wh far better that anything else on the Market
Do you have a link to a website, please? Thanks for watching and for your inputs, much appreciated.
First☺️