Hi guys, I would like to ask.

Would this work for us in South Africa? This is the first time I ever see a micro inverter that can run without battery backup if needed.

 

As far as I know we don't have any of theses types of micro inverters in ZA?

 

Hi Stefan,

very interesting - but:

1. It is made for the American continent, that means for 120V 60Hz. We in SA run 230V 50Hz.

2. It is made for grid tied systems. That means it only works while grid is present. No backup for load shedding.

3. Well they also have more sophisticated system for backup, but those are no longer micro systems.

14 hours ago, Stefan Cornelissen said:

Hi guys, I would like to ask.

Would this work for us in South Africa? This is the first time I ever see a micro inverter that can run without battery backup if needed.

 

As far as I know we don't have any of theses types of micro inverters in ZA?

 

Interesting, home loadshedding for Eskom loadshedding 😀

AFAIK the Hoymiles micro inverters are available, never used them but know some that have put them on the Aux port of Sunsynk inverters.   

Interesting innovation for micro-inverters to run a microgrid in the absence of a battery, but by itself it is not a loadshedding solution. Here where I sit with loadshedding after 10pm, only batteries can help.

9 hours ago, Beat said:

Hi Stefan,

very interesting - but:

1. It is made for the American continent, that means for 120V 60Hz. We in SA run 230V 50Hz.

2. It is made for grid tied systems. That means it only works while grid is present. No backup for load shedding.

3. Well they also have more sophisticated system for backup, but those are no longer micro systems.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Quote

IQ8 is Enphase's smartest microinverter yet. Unlike competing devices, IQ8 is capable of forming a microgrid during a power outage using only sunlight, providing backup power even without a battery

Ahh you see the reason why I find it interesting is they say it can run without a power-grid and battery.

Moe info on it

 

Quote

 

The IQ8 can be configured in 4 different ways:

• “Solar Only” for a standard grid-tied system
• “Sunlight Backup” with no battery
• “Home Essentials Backup” with a small battery
• “Full Energy Independence” with a large battery

 

I see they also have a 240v version on the spec sheets

I have found the enphase stuff prohibitively expensive in SA. It would probably be more sensible to buy a Sunsynk and a battery. But a very interesting development nonetheless.

 

I have also noticed in the video they emphasize that the load has to be small, I suspect it has to be less than what your panels can provide in shaded light (like when a cloud passes over)

Edited November 7, 20214 yr by P1000

6 hours ago, Stefan Cornelissen said:

Ahh you see the reason why I find it interesting is they say it can run without a power-grid and battery.

and what about load shedding at night? And what if your momentary load demand exceeds the power output of the solar panels? 

On 2021/11/07 at 1:55 AM, P1000 said:

I have found the enphase stuff prohibitively expensive in SA. It would probably be more sensible to buy a Sunsynk and a battery. But a very interesting development nonetheless.

 

I have also noticed in the video they emphasize that the load has to be small, I suspect it has to be less than what your panels can provide in shaded light (like when a cloud passes over)

Easily justified if you need both backup and to sell to grid. 

Typical configuration is that you have say 90% of panels selling power to grid, and 10% of panels for backup purposes.

With this you don't need to keep panels offline for use in backup, so have 100% to sell power to the grid.  When power is down you also have 100% of panels charging batteries.

In my case (though different country, and your mileage may vary depending on # of panels) using the 10% backup panels for sales to grid reduces the payback from 6 years to 4 years (even with extra cost).  The question is, do they have a 50Hz model? 

23 hours ago, CCRA said:

Easily justified if you need both backup and to sell to grid.

Well, if buying a sunsynk and a battery is cheaper than a bunch of enphase inverters, then it still does not make sense to go enphase.

On 2021/11/06 at 10:15 PM, Beat said:

Hi Stefan,

very interesting - but:

1. It is made for the American continent, that means for 120V 60Hz. We in SA run 230V 50Hz.

You're probably not aware that in the USA the grid delivers 240V to almost every house. 

 

 

3 hours ago, Cyclops said:

You're probably not aware that in the USA the grid delivers 240V to almost every house. 

I'm very well aware of that, I lived there for 4 years. The system is 2-phase 120/240V. But most appliances are built for 120V. Rare the inverters that deliver such 120/240V output.

Edited February 12, 20233 yr by Beat

On 2023/02/12 at 5:40 PM, Beat said:

I'm very well aware of that, I lived there for 4 years. The system is 2-phase 120/240V. But most appliances are built for 120V. Rare the inverters that deliver such 120/240V output.

As far as I can determine, the Enphase microinverters output 240VAC, so wired into the normal domestic DB/panel just like the 240V delivered by the USA grid.  The IQ8H does 208VAC, for those buildings (typically apartments) in the US that are connected to Y-style transformers. 

    The Enphase IQ8 microinverter, when used with their control box, can provide power from the pv panels to the house even when the grid is down. In the US they call this "solar backup" mode. So not necessarily grid-tied. 

Edited February 14, 20233 yr by Cyclops

17 hours ago, Cyclops said:

As far as I can determine, the Enphase microinverters output 240VAC

This is not useful in USA. In order to provide power to the majority of appliances and lighting an autotransformer 120/120/240V is required to create 120V. Only high power appliances, such as cooking stove, water heater, air conditioners etc. are directly connected to 240V. Many videos on Youtube explain this.

However it might be useful for the rest of the world, if the output could be set to 230V/50Hz.

Edited February 15, 20233 yr by Beat

On 2023/02/14 at 6:09 PM, Cyclops said:

As far as I can determine, the Enphase microinverters output 240VAC, so wired into the normal domestic DB/panel just like the 240V delivered by the USA grid.  The IQ8H does 208VAC, for those buildings (typically apartments) in the US that are connected to Y-style transformers. 

    The Enphase IQ8 microinverter, when used with their control box, can provide power from the pv panels to the house even when the grid is down. In the US they call this "solar backup" mode. So not necessarily grid-tied. 

I think we are zooming in on the 240V AC due to a misunderstanding of the operation of these units. They output power at a voltage just over the supply(grid) and not on a fixed 230 or 240V. The specs show the range as 211-264V. This is how ALL grid tied inverters work.