reni10 wrote: » Thanks all for the advice, now that it is bright outside I went out to the meter box and there was a switch tripped in there that the installers had put in. Once I flipped that back the power came back but it then tripped 2 switches on my fuseboard. I flipped both this switches back and now thank God the power is at least back in the house! I will get the installers back out to check everything and need to make sure this does not happen again! This does bring up a point though if there is a blackout in the area I also won't have power even though I have the solar power and batteries? I thought the solar install would protect against blackouts too?
graememk wrote: » That's your main fuse that's tripped, that should never be tripping, except in emergencies. It's one step before the main ESB fuse blows What was running when the power went out? As for solar providing a backup, its not as simple as that. It does have an emergency power supply, but it's limited to what it can output. Usually wired to a socket that you can run an extension lead from. To let it power stuff in the house directly, there needs to be some sort of interlocking changeover switch, so it's impossible for it to back feed into the grid. Also it shouldn't be able to power the whole consumer unit, so usually essential loads are split out into a sub board and only that gets the backup power
SD_DRACULA wrote: » You just need to take the 3 wires from the extension lead and the round plug you get with the inverter and connect them to AC backup (with all the pv system switched off of course) Depending on what you plug into it I'd wire a 2.5mm or 4mm wire straight into a wall mounted socket and then plug the extension into that, that's what I did.
Northumberland wrote: » Not sure this is the place to say this, because this thread was started to tackle a very specific problem, which seems to have been largely sorted out. But several people on this thread, and elsewhere, note that their hybrid inverter (and their batteries?) are lcoated in the attic. I wonder whether their installer discussed this with them and made them aware of the advantages and disadvantages of this. I have my hybrid inverter and my batteries on the wall in my entrance foyer, where my indoor unit for the heat pump is also located. i find it incredibly useful to check what is going on directly from the useful display screen on the inveter, and I also make frequent adjusments to optimise performance, for example adjusting the amount of charge that my batteries get during the night based on a forecast of how much sunshine there will be the next day (from Solcast.com). All of this helps me to keep my own 'imported' power use down - my total costs for this last week will be less than 8 Euros, and that includes an electric car charging at night and central heating and hot water from a heat pump (mainly running at night). If I had my inverter up in the attic I simply could not do this.
Did you find out if you can have the back up socket even if you have the firemans Switch? I'm getting 5kw Solis hybrid inverter installed as part of my solar panel set up in about 2 weeks time and it would be very handy to have a double socket in the Utility to feed the freezer and other small items eg to charge a phone in event of a power cut.
Does not seem you can have both as when the grid goes down the firemans switch kicks in automatically and cuts all power from the panels.
If you have a battery installed you may be able to run from that for a while but you can't have solar power once the grid is down unfortunately
You will have the full capacity of charge from your batteries if the grid goes down. The Fireman switch though will stop the panels producing power during daylight though or recharging your batteries until the grid is back.
On a Solis inverter, what type of cable is used to connect to the AC Backup socket? And what is a 'Solis NPS switching Box'? tia!
Thanks is there a way to override the fireman's switch. The reason I ask is that when I built my house i included a change over switch so that i could power my house from a generator if required in event of a long power outage. Ive never actually used it but it would be great if we had a power outage for a day or two if i could use the energy produced from my solar panel to keep a few small things going off the back up socket in the inverter like freezer etc. and to change phones. See attached pic of my board and change over switch if that helps!
.
The firemans switch is a requirement to get the SEAI grant, if you are not going for that then I don't think you need the switch but obviously having it is safer so up to you what you want to do!
As you have the Hardest bit already done, the Fireman switch could be wired into its own breaker, Not on the Solar feed as it usually is.
The solar EPS can be wired into the changeover switch.
Just something to bear in mind, my installer told me, that you shouldnt feed the inverter its own power. the main inverter feed should be isolated before the change over switch is engaged. If the Fireman switch (its just a relay/contactor) is on a different circuit to the inverter, you'll have no issues.
Maybe the firemans switch is the wrong term. What i am talking about is the automatic switch that stops the inverter sending power onto the grid if a power outage or esb working on the grid. I would just like to be able go off grid if i needed too. I am going for grant so it will need to be compliant. I wouldn't want to compromise on safety either.
Excuse my innorance...whats the solar eps?
Emergency Power supply, = backup power from the inverter, Its a separate output to the Main grid connection.
The anti islanding is prob what you are thinking about. That cannot be disabled. but the backup power supply can be routed to run things in an event of a grid failure. through the likes of the changeover switch that you have.
Any chance of a step-by-step on how I can buy an AC out cable and install it? My installer company were useless and didn't give me the cable and aren't answering texts.
mine was not installed either I did it myself. As long as you have connector. Mine was left plugged into inverter just follow the manual
Any idea where I could get one of those cables? Tried searching on web
That's a standard 3 core cable, like for your sockets. The weird adapter has to come with the inverter. Maybe it's plugged into it?
Check this tread:
https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058216984/how-to-wire-an-extension-lead-into-the-ac-output-of-a-hybrid-invertor#latest
