Mecer Infini Solar 5kW Hybrid Inverter max Feed in Power

[Johann1982]

Hi

Has anyone else installed a 5kW infini with more than 5kW of panels? I recently installed one with 10kW of panels, but when setting up it does not allow me to set to more than 5000W Feed-in power. So MPPT 1 runs at 1000W and MPPT2 Runs at 4500W with a 500W draw on the load side. So it only exports 5kW. I have seen it set to 10 000W in the manual, but there's no reference as to which mode it is in. As it might be something stupid like that. Mine is locked at 5000W. 

 

Anyone else experienced this before?

[RikH]

You inverter cannot feed in more than 5kW. It can charge 5 kW as well at the same time or supply your loads so that's how you use the max 10 kW from your panels.

[Johann1982]

Hi Rik

 

Are you sure about this? I have seen it set to 10 000W feed-in in the user manual so there must be a way to do it. Might have to set it to grid-tie only, but then I won't have backup.

[ChristoSnake]

A screenshot from my Infinisolar 5kW inverter's manual:

The specs at the back says battery charger can output 100 A * 50 V = 5 kW:

There's also  22 A * 230 V = 5 kW available to the grid:

This means 5 kW -  <your base load> is available to feed into the grid under best circumstances...

 

 

[RikH]

Yes I am sure. 5 is the max. @Youda owns 3 of these inverters and knows a lot about them. Maybe he can reply. Because with you I wonder what happens in this case: MPP trackers combined are delivering 8000 W Houseload is 1000 and charger draws 2000. Then there is 5000 remaining but can it feed in 5000 at that moment because there is already 1000 going through the dc/ac converter. If this is the case that should make it worse for you.

 

EDIT: One more thing, your inverter IS able to draw 10,000 from the grid since it can supply loads in bypass 5000 and charge batteries with 5000 at the same time.

Edited January 12, 2020 by RikH

[Johann1982]

@ChristoSnake Hi Christo

 

Just check further in your 5kW manual you will see that it is set to 10 000W feed in power. Page 18 shows 5 000W and page 46 shows 10 000W. Not sure if it has anything to do with diferent grid-tie modes... I have sent a query to the manufacturers to clarify. Will post answer to the forum when they reply. Most probably a firmware glitch.

[ChristoSnake]

Johann1982, my guess is that a not-so-technical copywriter used an illustrative screenshot meant for the 10kW manual on page 46, without realising the confusion & future debate it would cause.  I'd rather put my trust in the technical specification, combined with the fact that you cannot configure it for more than 5 kW feed-in.

Rikh, according to the manual the inverter is also limited to 5 kW input from the mains supply.  It can handle 40 A (close to 10 kW) for 1 millisecond only, which is not very helpful for any base load :or battery charging experiment

My understanding (and experience with my own) is that these inverters are limited to 5 kW to & from the grid...

[Youda]

On 2020/01/12 at 3:31 PM, Johann1982 said:

@ChristoSnake Hi Christo

 

Just check further in your 5kW manual you will see that it is set to 10 000W feed in power. Page 18 shows 5 000W and page 46 shows 10 000W. Not sure if it has anything to do with diferent grid-tie modes... I have sent a query to the manufacturers to clarify. Will post answer to the forum when they reply. Most probably a firmware glitch.

Hi @Johann1982

Like @RikH mentioned, I have 3 of these running in parallel, together with 20 000 Wp solar array. I have a switchboard too, that allows me to connect all 20kWp of panels to a single InfiniSolar 5K. So, I know these units quite well.

The 2-way AC/DC inverting circuit in the InfiniSolar Plus 5K is able to deliver 5kW of power. This single circuit has three purposes:

• serves as AC to DC rectifier when charging batteries from the grid
• serves as DC to AC inverter when powering AC loads
• serves as DC to AC inverter when feeding excess solar power to the grid

Therefore a single InfiniSolar 5K is able to continuously deliver a maximum of 5kW of power for AC loads. When the AC loads are lesser than 5kW, the rest can be fed to the grid. But 5kW AC is the total maximum. A specialty of InfiniSolar 5K is, that it has two 5kW MPPT DC-DC trackers built-in, so you can safely connect up to 10kWp of solar modules. If you will do this while there's a plenty of sunshine, then the CPU will lock 1st MPPT to a steady value, for example 1kW, and the 2nd MPPT will be dynamically searching it's maximum. Therefore, if your battery is full, AC loads are small and there's a full sun, it's pretty normal to see up to 5kW feed-in while 1st MPPT is working hard and 2nd is just sitting doing almost nothing.

IF your batteries would be empty, then you would see up to 5kW AC feed-in, 5kW DC charging and both MPPT trackers working hard. But such scenario is quite rare in the real world.

 

Speaking of the product manual, you are referring to page 60, that's focused on combining multiple InfiniSolar units into one system. The screenshot used in the manual on this page is taken from a different model: InfiniSolar 10K 3-Phase. That's the reason why you can see 10 000W feed-in. If you look carefully, you will also notice R-S-T calibration - something what's specific for 3-phase model only. Screenshot attached:

[Youda]

On 2020/01/12 at 1:29 PM, RikH said:

I wonder what happens in this case: MPP trackers combined are delivering 8000 W Houseload is 1000 and charger draws 2000. Then there is 5000 remaining but can it feed in 5000 at that moment because there is already 1000 going through the dc/ac converter. If this is the case that should make it worse for you.

In this scenario, if there's 1000W AC houseload, then the actual grid feed-in will be 4000W.
Once you turn-off the house loads, grid feed-in will jump to 5000W.
Once the battery is charged the MPPTs will throttle it's combined power to 5kW.

(Please note that in reality, because of EU legislation, there's a software limit enforcing a maximum of 3.7kW feed-in for a single-phase PV installation. The installer is obliged to put this limit in the inverters setting during the commissioning.)

 

[RikH]

On 2020/01/12 at 1:29 PM, RikH said:

EDIT: One more thing, your inverter IS able to draw 10,000 from the grid since it can supply loads in bypass 5000 and charge batteries with 5000 at the same time.

 

On 2020/01/12 at 6:49 PM, ChristoSnake said:

Rikh, according to the manual the inverter is also limited to 5 kW input from the mains supply.  It can handle 40 A (close to 10 kW) for 1 millisecond only, which is not very helpful for any base load :or battery charging experiment

My understanding (and experience with my own) is that these inverters are limited to 5 kW to & from the grid...

@Youda Thanks for your answers, comprehensive as usual. And what are your thoughts about this?

[Youda]

@RikH,

actually, Infini5K can handle a continuous draw of 40A x 230V from the grid. Also, 40A x 230V MCB is recommended to be installed between the grid and AC INPUT terminal.

• 100A x 50V is for battery charging (5kW)
• the rest is just flowing from AC-in terminal to the AC-out terminal via the internal bypass relay (5kW)

There is plenty of current sensors in the box, so if you overload the bypass relay the Infini will throw an error and break the circuit immediately.

Speaking of "AC INPUT: Inrush Input Current = 40A / 1ms", this is something different. It means, that when the inverter is powered-on, it will cause a short 1ms spike of 40A draw from the AC grid. (AC grid that is connected to the AC INPUT terminal).

Just to be precise, the AC OUTPUT of the inverter circuit is rated for a continuous load of 21.8A x 230V (slightly above 5kW). In order to allow start of the induction motors, the AC output of the inverter can be overloaded up to 25A x 230V for 20ms.

Long-story-short: While Infini 5K Plus has some drawbacks, it's still a nice and powerfull machine, with a number of configuration options. But it can't do miracles, of course...