Hi Guys
I am new to the forum and am sorry if this has already been discussed and made clear, but i haven't found anything on the forum or anywhere else that is 100% clear.
I understand that we get 3 types of inverters, being:
Offgrid: Unable to connect to the utility grid and back feed. No AC to DC charging. Able to charge DC to DC (solar to battery, MPPT included). Mostly for caravans etc, with no utility grid.
Grid Tied: Able to connect to the utility grid and back feed. No AC to DC charging. Mostly for large PV systems without storage/backup.
Hybrid: Able to connect to the utility grid and back feed. Able to charge from AC to DC. Able to charge DC to DC (solar to battery, MPPT included). For PV plus storage/backup systems.
Is this correct?
Whilst shopping around I noticed large price gaps in the same size inverters for two reasons:
1. Capacitor based vs Transformer based - big price gap.
2. Offgrid and Grid Tied, vs Hybrid - big price gap.
I was satisfied with this until recently where I started looking at Hybrid Inverters like Goodwe and Sofar that are in my 'expensive' category but are capacitor based. So they are Hybrid.. yes, but my question is why is an Axpert not considered Hybrid if it seems to do everything?
An Axpert Mark 2 and Growatt SPF TL HVM seem to do everything Hybrid Inverters do but are generally classified as Offgrid Inverters and are half the price. Is it because they cannot operate without batteries? Or can they not back feed into the utility grid?
I am basically trying to understand what really classifies a Hybrid inverter and why they so much more expensive than offgrid inverters that have built in MPPT's and the ability to charge batteries from the grid?