Power Jack Solar PV 1.4KW Grid Tie Inverters (GTI's)

[islandgrass1]

Hi, nice installation, do you have to inform the Utility Company you have connected inverters to the grid?

[Draco1dormiens]

I believe those Chinese grid-ties are illegal, they overheat and are a fire hazard. It's a nice system you got there.

[chevyloverguy1]

Nice system !! have you ever made the meter go backwards??

[cggage]

I like neat. And, that is a neat installation. Very professional looking and easy to understand. Congratulations on such a good looking effort. I trust you are benefiting from the power being produced.

[solarhope]

@cggage Thanks - I'm glad you found it useful. It's been running well for just over a year. 1000Kw in the first 12 months (end of July)), so not bad for the UK. - Martin.

[johngeescott]

Love your set up. Wiring very Pro. Love that KWh meter what part of the system do you connect it and where did you buy it. I think you are from the UK I am in the US.

[solarhope]

Hi John, Thanks for your comments, the total KWh meter and instantaneous watt meter are connected in series with the gti's outputs, there is a shematic drawing of the system on my web site solarhope.co.uk.

I do live in the UK and most of the parts were bought from ebay. - Martin.

[caravanman08]

hello martin can i just ask what kwh are you putting in at the moment (ie not much sun) i have nearly bought everything now and i have been playing with 2 80's i was putting 125w this week and i hav'nt got them on my roof yet ,i would like to say there is more to this than meets the eye,also did you try joining the panels together using a branch as this would seem to be easier than taking the wires into garage,i still think this is a beltin setup and very clean

[solarhope]

Hi Mark,

Feb 16Kwh - not great, but now on the up - The panels are mainly in shadow for most of the winter months, but you can only play the hand you are dealt!

Having said that my friend is getting really good results at the moment on an un-shadowed roof.

I thought about connecting the panels together on the roof, but you then need thicker cable for the higher current, which is more expensive. Having access to all panel wiring allows greater flexibility to subsequently alter plans.

Martin.

[caravanman08]

@solarhope thank you for the reply

[thra5herxb12s]

That realy is great ampage considering the angle of the panels. Have you tried angling them to face the sun so that you get full power. I raise and lower mine as the sun gets higher during the year,but they dont make good power when flat. Full marks for the system neatness and construction...

[solarhope]

@thra5herxb12s Hi, your comments are quite correct, however the roof on which my panels are situated lie between 2 houses and so are in shadow most of the winter months. I feel there is not much to be gained in the extra work of tilting the panels. Last summer they worked well flat, generating between 3Kwh and 5Kwh most days with a peak of 1375W one particularly sunny afternoon. – Martin.

[solargamer1]

wow 65 amps its realy cool

[solarhope]

@solargamer1 Thanks - The highest current I've seen so far was 78A back in the summer.

[caravanman08]

hello martin is that 10 or 12 gauge wire you are using.if it works 100% for you i thought you would need thicker cable but i am a noob

[solarhope]

Hi Mark,

All the DC cable is at least 4mm csa, which is good for 30A.

The max any one conductor carries is 9A. - So well in spec.

Martin.

[caravanman08]

@solarhope thats just what i want to hear as i can get it free cheers m8

alos got 20 yuasa 120a gels coming this week so im gonna have to get stuck in

[techhidotnet]

@solarhope

what AWG gauge is 4mm

great setup

[solarhope]

@techhidotnet Hi , 4mm csa is awg 11 - martin.

[techhidotnet]

@solarhope

thanks

I have 3 x 120 watt and 2 x 100 watt and going start off with a few 300 watt GTI for now just trying to figure how to connect them all series/parallel - your setup and others are great Youtube really helps out

[caravanman08]

superb setup and videos thanks for the help you must be very proud

[solarhope]

@caravanman08 -Thanks Mark, glad to have been a help. - Look forward to seeing your setup on here, when finished. - Regards Martin.

[djraffymix]

very nice.. awesome job i'm planing to copy your idea..lol thanks

[solarhope]

@djraffymix - Thanks, there is a schematic drawing on my web site - may be of assistance to you.

[solarhope]

Web Site - solarhope.co.uk

[wwjoshdew]

Holy crap! That's some serious and VERY organized wiring going on there! Someone knows what the Hell he is doing! Everything looked so neat and everything seemed to have plenty of safety features everywhere! (Like fuses and switches!) This video is awesome!

[solarhope]

Thanks for the comments Josh, I tried to cover all the safety angles and to be honest it only adds pennies to the project and makes for a more flexible system.

The whole thing really evolved rather than following a master plan, changes were made several times before I settled on the present setup.

[VWRabbitdiesel]

Very nice, have any of the PJ failed yet?

[solarhope]

@VWRabbitdiesel All 9 of the inverters have been working fine since the installation was completed in June 2010. I did blow up FET's when I was playing with a couple of samples prior to starting work. This was mainly due to powering them up with the DC already connected. I also fitted 1A fuses which seems to limit any damage.

[wwjoshdew]

@VWRabbitdiesel I should of KNOWN you would comment on this. I was watching YOUR video and then this guys video was in the related. It's amazing how the internet works.

[islaguy100]

VERY NICE SYSTEM!

[solarhope]

@islaguy100 Thanks



[obsidience]

Ah ha, I knew I was missing something. A great system you have there solarhope, thanks for your help :)

[obsidience]

Thanks for your reply solarhope, I was also wondering - wouldn't ~70amps overload a regular 15amp circuit?

[solarhope]

Hi, Its 70A @ 12v which is only one twentieth of 240v mains so the current is only one twentieth of 70A, ie approx 3.5A - Martin.

[obsidience]

Hi solarhope, I'm new to all of this and was wondering why you went with many small grid tie inverters vs buying one massive one? Is there some sort of zoning issue with having a grid tie without special equipment at the main or something?

If you had to do it all over again would you make the same decision?

Thanks!

[solarhope]

Hi, I went with this type of inverter due to its low cost (Aprox £65 on EBay). I realized that the 300 W stated was somewhat optimistic, so reckoned that two 80W panels in parallel was enough not to over stress them or adversely affect their efficiency.

The advantages are redundancy, or the ability to work on the system or add to it without having to shut it down.

If I was starting again I would use 600W now available, and connect 4 panels to each one, probably works out cheaper too. - Martin.

[VWRabbitdiesel]

@solarhope THE 300 WATT PJ WILL DO ABOUT 120-130W

[solarhope]

@VWRabbitdiesel They work fine on my installation with two 80 Watt panels in parallel ie 160 Watts. The fans come on and off throughout the day but none of the 9 get particularly hot. This is England so I could not say how well they would perform in a hotter country.

[Steven715715]

Wow what a great system you have there. Is that in sunny england? It looks like it. Thank you for sharing your system with us!!!

[solarhope]

Hi Steven, Thanks for the comments. Yes this is England, although the sunny part is becoming a hazy memory now that autumn is upon us. - Regards Martin.

[Steven715715]

@solarhope Do you sell your electric back into the grid and if so are there any special cut off switches outside your house if the energy people need to work on the line. Many thanks Steve

[solarhope]

@Steven715715 I use all the solar electricity in the house, and the GT'is have island protection facility which means if grid power switches off so do the inverters. - Martin.

[stormeast]

that's a woww... congratz,,, where is your battery bank?

[solarhope]

@stormeast There no batteries - The power is fed onto the grid and used in the house.

[helloman1976]

Making 70-80 amps from the sun is just awesome lol...kind of scary too... Stick it to your tongue...no but seriously, have you tried a bunch of different combinations with the GTIs like for example have you tried running all the panels together in a 12V parallel setup and running those wires in parallel across all the inverters? So 18 panels all tied together in parallel and then you hook them up to all of the GTI's at once and compare wattage to what you are making now?

[solarhope]

@helloman1976 Hi, Yes I did have all the panels in parallel, connected to all the GTI's in parallel. The inverters don't like it much, they try to become lead dog and grab a disproportionate share of the power.

This way much calmer, getting 3-5 KWh most days and 6.5 on a good one.

Max peak 1375W, and the max current Ive seen is 78A. - Martin.

[autograssboy]

can you tell me where you got your pannels from and also your inverters? thanks, ps very nice system ;-) regards

mark

[solarhope]

@autograssboy I got the panels and inverters off ebay, all made in China - Shame we don't make stuff like this.

[solarhope]

@autograssboy The inverters were Power Jack the solar panels were 80watt, search on ebay there are lots.

[helloman1976]

Why do you have a timer hooked to your system for daylight hours? During the night the system is effectively "off" right? Did you find that this system draws a lot of "vampire" power at night or something? Let me know, thanks!

[solarhope]

@helloman1976 Hi, The nine inverters take about 50 Watts between them at night, so could be the best part of a KWh during the winter months, which may be as much generated on some days - so worth saving for the price of a time switch.

[lexam55]

wrong connection.



[solarhope]

@lexam55 - Excuse Me?

[drz4000]

very nice! where did you source the rocker switchs?

[solarhope]

@drz4000 Thanks, The switches were picked up locally from an electrical wholesaler - tradecounter.

[rightmarker]

Super ! Well done ! I will follow u

[solarhope]

@rightmarker Thanks - Martin.

[rlennard2]

Wow Martin, you must have sold at least one kidney and to pay for that lot! Do I dare ask how much? Have you still got your water heating setup?

Best regards

Roger

[solarhope]

@rlennard2

Unfortunately I only have space for one system, so I thought I would give pv a go after several years of hot water trials.

I managed to hold on to both kidneys, but it was a close run thing.

In round figures the panels were about £3000 and the inverters and everything else about £1000.

A lot of hard work and a good mate to climb ladders and generally crack the whip, good fun though. - Martin.

[jimginnyohio]

Very nice and clean setup. One of the best I've seen so far.

Do you have a parts listing and wiring diagram for the equipment you have installed here? This would be a great setup to copy! Thanks for sharing! Great post!

[solarhope]

@jimginnyohio Hi Jim - Thanks for the comments.

I will post a drawing on my website in the

Next couple of weeks. - Martin.

[solarhope]

@solarhope I have now posted a schematic drawing of this setup on my web site.

[sparktastic1]

Awsome setup Martin. Nice job!

Have a look at my video of the new 1200w GTI that blew up on day one.

I think you have the right idea by using multiple 300w units. You have plenty of redundancy built into the system by taking this route. Incidentally I notice you have the GTI's on a timer. How much power were the GTI's consuming from the AC at night without the timer?

[solarhope]

@sparktastic1

Thanks for the words of encouragement.

With multiple 300W units they are running most of the day at 90+ efficiency, and probably dropping to no worse than 85% on a hot afternoon.

Bear in mind the efficiency drops off very quickly when you start to jack up the number of Watts per inverter. 160W per 300W inverter seems ok.

I have tried other configurations but find this to be the best so far.

On a good day I am getting 8KWh and 5 on a fairly average July day.

Regards Martin.

[solarhope]

@sparktastic1

The 9 GTI's are taking about 50w total at night so worth using a time switch I think.