Do Cheap Amazon 1kW grid tie inverters Put out 1000 Watts? 

That "ramping" was the MPPT (Maximum Power Point Tracking) circuit. Since you are pulling from a battery pack that can easily supply 1000watts it just maxes out the inverter. If it was a 220watt solar panel it would ramp up the load until the wattage maxes out using something called "Perturb and Observe" where it increases current load and observes the wattage. If wattage increases it increases the current. If wattage decreases it backs off. It does this in little steps all day long.

Videos like these are why I am a patreon! Excellent!

First time viewer... you're using hover board batteries...absolutely brilliant

Hi. I have a 300w version and a 100w solar panel. Works realy well

Pleasantly surprised, honestly did not expect them to actually output the full KW. More likely to invest in 1 now :)

Thank you very much for testing this. I've been considering a small solar setup to offset some of my current power costs and was curious to see one in action. A lot of my load is borderline resistive, or continual load such as laptops and A/C (I live far north so I just use a small ~ 1/2 ton A/C unit) and so solar with grid tie would be ideal to offset that cost. I needed to see exactly how this unit functioned under load and such and you showed every stat I needed to know. Thanks!

Holy inverters Jehu-man.... I was just looking at these inverters yesterday, and today this!

Your my inspiration. I want to get to the point where I don’t exactly know how many lithium batteries I plugged in to my inverter 😁

Just a dumb truck driver here... Twenty years ago, Pilot truck stops had a deal where they were, as they advertised it, selling a 1Kw inverter, and giving away a free microwave oven. The pricing, at the time, was evidence of the reverse. Twenty years later, the inverter is still doing its job, and the microwave is long dead. Unfortunately, my inverter only has a modified sine wave output (probably why the microwave died), so I have to be careful with what I plug into it... But, it'll also surge to double its continuous rating for an observed five minutes. Perfect for power tools! (Unless you're Tool Time Tim) During a couple power outages, I have run a double male drop cord from the truck to the kitchen, and kept the fridge cool. At my house, this is easy as there's a outdoor outlet on the kitchen circuit. Just cut the kitchen circuit breaker to isolate it, plug in the drop cord, and it's on. It's good for the fridge, clock, and a few lights. Optimized Idle (Automatic engine start and stop to maintain truck interior climate and battery) automatically keeps the truck's batteries charged, so it's a "No Worries" type of thing when done right.

I love those AC meters! I have 1 on my transfer wiring to my breaker panel. They work great and are easy to read!

Good tests. It would be nice to have an individual inverter that is powered by batteries which were recharged with solar to join in right when an appliance starts using the amount of power that inverter provides.

I used one of these as a test unit before moving to a fancier version that monitors the AC usage in your house and then turns itself down when the power isn't needed. To avoid back feeding into your meter. I'm using it to offset the usage of my pool pump. Similar to what you want to do with your AC. It's still a made in China thing but it has more advanced features and an lcd screen. I believe it also has protection so that it will turn itself off before draining your battery completely. I am running mine from panels so I haven't used that feature.

I love your 18650 multicell replacement solution. Exchangeable bricks.

The polling rate of the volt meter with the music had me.

Watching this video 3rd time now idk I just like it because I'm thinking of buying this inverter this week

I have a 600w version of this and I noticed that it was interfering with all my internet powerline adapters. It was making the internet connection unstable. I ended up replacing the powerline adapters with ethernet connections. So far so good. No devices blowing up. I even have a 3 phase 5kw inverter in sync with this with no issues so far.

That 59amps I would probably use 4awg, or better yet 2 #10 in parallel as it is easier to get. The bigger the wire the less your losses in heat and voltage drop. The extra cost of the wire quickly makes up for the cost over time.

Word to the wise but please open that up and make sure all mosfets are firmly tightened down AND actually has the thermal pad/paste between each one. Common thing is they are loose, barely tight, and/or do not have the thermal pad/paste and POOF/POP dead.

Good to see the pups

You had me at the tesla vw bus

So, in the process of conversion, at your input voltage, it's losing about 20-25% of the input. Or it's output is about 75% of the input. I am curious if it is more efficient when feeding it a higher input voltage. The ones I see listed can accept up to 50vdc. At 36vdc, it has to boost it higher. In any event, if the losses are about 300watts between input and output, that is a fancy 300watt heater. Use three of them and you have to expell nearly 1000 watts of heat. That is great for winter, to add direct heat into your house, but horrible in winter, where that heat has to be expelled outside. (Thus, it will be replaced with hot outside air, being drawn in to the place you mount the inverters.) It seems to be using the heat generated as the "output restriction". If you ran these in the winter, they might stay a constant 1000w output and possibly have lower losses or draw from the input side. Being 75% efficient is nothing to brag about. You have to buy 25% more solar cells and inverters, to get the desired output. If you add the 75% efficiency of charging... Then you actually need 50% to 65% more solar cells and batteries and battery chargers too. It's worth paying 4x more for a 98% efficient inverter that operates at a higher input voltage and would handle all 3000watts without losing nearly 1000watts in the process. Getting an output of 3000watts, but consuming 1000watts, for a total of 4000watts of input, with 1000watts having to be disposed of, as heat, is quite bad.

Thats whole new meaning of "power wall", wall full of batteries :D

JG Id love to see your design for completing this idea. I want to accomplish the same "covering the load of the a/c". Subscribed.

Awesome Video Jehu, I am 100% sold. Where I live and the way my family uses energy. I could possibly use one of these to take advantage of my system, instead of waiting for a power outage. Unfortunately, I will have to wait till I can come up with the cash. But I defiantly will run with Mini DIY Tesla Wall!!

Only good review I've ever seen about this inverter and I bet I've read over 100..

Excellent power analysis.

Happened to notice at about 5:30 when the fan was on and things were a bit stabilized... the DC was feeding about 1140W into the inverter and the output to the grid was about 960W.... That's about 16% energy losses, which is what is making the inverter heat up quickly. I wonder if a pricier inverter is more energy efficient and how much usage would warrant paying for the more expensive (presumably more efficient) inverter?

I had two similar units running my solar. They lasted about 6 months to a year. The mosfet's burned up first. I was able to fix the issue once or twice. After that I couldn't diagnose the problem and gave up on the unit. I was considering a much nicer unit but never pulled the trigger.

I have the 10 to 30 volt 1000w version running with 10 100w solar pannels no batteries and it cut my light bill in halve. Has been running for 10 month with no problems. If I have to replace once a year for $100 it is still worth it to me. I also have a $80 600w inverter on 36v hover board batteries that I run at night. I charge them with 2 230w 24v solar panels. Running for 6 months no problem. It dropped my light bill even further. These things work great! They are stackable so at times I run both of them at the same time.

I have been using 9 of the smaller GTI on a solar installation for years, they work great.I would say that I always apply the AC supply before the DC when powering up, and disconnect the DC before the AC when powering down. (I did blow a few MOSFET's early on)Also for running 1000 watts continuous it would be safer with 2 working in parallel.

You had me at Tesla battery powered VW bus! ~Here take my money~

Great video as always, I am concerned about your extension cord (your power grid). If you had one that had a higher capacity it may protect your home and family better (in my humble opinion, safety first).

Been watching a few of your vids, fabulous work! very educational. you got a new sub from me, bell clicked. Paul

Funny how you were checking the temperature of everything but the connector which is the part that will most likely heat up and potentially melt... :)

Unless you have net metering, beware that a normal "smart" electric power meter may actually charge you for power sent back to the grid. If your air conditioner pulls 240 volts, you may want to put a grid tie on two different circuits that are on different main power legs at your breaker, else you may be sending excess power on one leg back to the grid (and being charged for it) even when your air conditioner is running.

super video what a bout those capacitors battery it lay be a good choise as they can give a lot in a short time just for the ac start

I LOVE YOUR CHANNEL. Inspirational Design.

3:21 ant makes a visit on the top left of the inverter.

For all people you need to check the how frequency looks like(sine, square wave, modified sine wave...) and the HZ, If you want it to be the same as the house it should be Pure Sine Wave 60hz in US and 50hz in EU and that before you buy an inverter. Im a new subscriber and i wonder does that power wall power your entire house? Because if so i wonder how that tiny extension cord carries all that power

It will burn up running at max in a short time. I use a boost converter and set the max amps to keep the inverter from hitting a max 1000w. On my 48v system I use a buck converter to do the same thing

I just wanna ask sit. That micro inverter have limitter. 🤔

Hi jehu from PR your meter can run backwards. If your answer is not net metering it can lower the bill anyway

1st ever video i watched in youtube where i couldn't figure it out what i was watching for!

1000W Solar Panels on Grid Tie Inverter GTIL2 & Limiter for Home PV Battery Connected there a 3 models 25v-60v/45v-90v and 2000watt version more expensive but better built i have both 25v-60v and 45v-90v looking at building own power walls for these systems.

Use super capacitor for startup

When you're feeling for temp on the battery pulling almost 60 amps towards the end, you missed a vital spot. The connection usually melts first. Touch that first to test for temperature.

My utility doesn't allow putting these small inverters on the grid. They only have a certain number of larger approved one or solar approved and they can detect if you are feeding back in with their smart meter and then see if you have gotten approval and if not, you will get a letter in the mail...

Is this like a computer where if it was better cooled it would run at 1000 watts longer??

Short runs of cable can handle quite a bit more than its rated amperage. I run 140 amps through 4 gauge cable all the time for heating elements as long as they don't get over five feet long or so.

Would be nice if the output power of the inverter could be controlled via some interface

I would have placed a 25A current limiter on the input side of the GTI. They are not designed to run from battery inputs (unlimited input current), they are meant to run from Solar only with has a max input current.

I have the same 1000W inverter. It worked good for 5 months and then died. 2 RF MOSFETS fried to bits, 4 DC caps toasted golden brown... and something else because it is dead to the world. Not even any red error light comes on...

Ok, i just bought it 2 hours ago, and i never even searched or saw it before, and now google suggest me this video? This is scary :D Nonetheless i am glad i saw video and i know what can i expect of it

Can you do a video of making a transfer switch for your powerwalls, so we dont have to worry about this feeding the grid when power is out?

*Dear Readers:* Just to let you know, if you want to power electronics like phones, laptop, cameras ect from 12v leisure battery ... buy a "pure wave" not a "square wave" inverter. Electronics hate square wave, its too choppy. Your equipment will die. Just to be clear: 12v battery + pure wave inverter + 4 gang extension + electronic devices can plug directly into extension Battery banks are totally fine. 12v battery + square wave inverter + 4 gang extension + plugging in a battery charger and charging your devices batteries for use later. ... so if you where on a video job, charging separate batteries on a square wave is ok. Hook it up to your car or solar charge controller. But you wouldnt be able to power the video camera from it live. For that youd need a pure wave version. Jehugarcia's video is a pure wave ~ one

Dude your van is sick! :)

I use my 1000W inverters (2) every day between 12PM and 4PM. They only have an output when they sense 120V, so I use Alexa plugs and program them to turn the inverters on and off. The inverters start out at about 5-6Amps and taper back sometimes to less than 1A depending on how long they have been running. They do NOT put out the same AC amperage consistently. They take about 16A from the batteries/solar array each to give you 1-5A at 120VAC. Solar Panel output is never consistent, if the panels are putting out 8A then the other 8A is coming from the battery. They also trip 30A breakers daily, so I am now using 50A breakers. I have 4 identical lead-acid batteries in series/parallel (2 sets of 2) for 24V. These batteries charge from sunrise to 12PM and again from sunset to sundown from the solar arrays. I have 1800W of solar at 25VDC on this setup and a control relay that shuts both inverters down if the batteries are less than 12V each using an Eco-Worthy Charge Controller to monitor and control the relay. There is no PV input to this Charge Controller. When both GTI Inverters are running at the same time, they seem to start out doubling the output, then both end up declining in amperage. I only get 12A at 120VAC for a very short time, then it is up and down. You can watch the panel and inverter output amps go up and down based on a cloud passing by. This setup gives me about 2-12A at 120VAC for about 4 hours per day. I could go longer if I wanted to run my batteries down, but I don't. I like to keep my batteries between 12VDC and 13.8VDC (just like a car does) and run the system only when the solar arrays will power the inverters. It should lower my bill. I do have another separate array to supply power to an upright freezer and refrigerator. Again only running for about 4 hours per day. I also use an Alexa Smart Switch to turn this on and off on a schedule. I have a relay that reconnects the grid power automatically if I lose solar. Being on schedules like this is fine, but you have to still watch for cloudy days and shut them off manually or you will only be running on batteries. I will work on that to automate it also. I have designed a device to drop out panels if the total current goes above 30A so that I can over-panel for more power at sunrise and sunset. If the total current drops too far it adds the panels back in.

likin' the drone view !

The real question is : For how long will it run like this ? Having to buy again the inverter multiple times over the year is not efficiency.

Always have a good interesting video

Since your home is using electricity before the AC turns on and the inverter is just below 1000 watts, that means you need more than 5000 watts of inverter power before they are off peak wattage.

I hope you do a step-by-step guide to the finished product. Is it worth it to use separate inverters compared with 1 6k inverter?

Great video, Kindly to provide wiring diagram of watt meter, Thank you

those things are completely illegal in Australia, at least until they upgrade the entire grid to manage the feed in. you can only use an islanded inverter.

When theses things plug into the wall outlet, isn’t it a problem for these inverters to pump electricity back through those home lines? I’m mostly concerned if the outlet won’t be able to take the current.

I have the same device and i am very happy with it 😆

I run all mine at 50-75 percent rated input. This can be be done with a dc to dc regulator. Do yourself a favor and add an external fan or 2, and wire it to the internal fan circuit.

Could you tell me how them grid tie inverters ended up holding up. I,m thinking about getting a few of them but don,t want to waste my time if there not very good. TKS

I wonder if it would work from 12V (13,6V) battery?

How did it work out I am planning on doing the exact same thing you are. I am going to to use 2x1300 watt 220 inverters and forklift battery with 3800watts of solar

you could add super-caps so that the Amps don't spike up before settling.

How would you use the grid tie inverter with the solar array and have it switch between charging the batteries and giving to the grid?

Are these things saftey complaint and shut off in a powercut so you dont go electricuting some electric worker trying too fix the power. And can you still use it too power your house in a power cut as long as you turn your mains switch in your consumer unit?

Jehu, I enjoy your content ... could do without the canned youtube music though ... now for a comment about the grid tie inverter. Maybe I'm missing something but isn't there a significant safety concern here? What if the power to your home is out and this thing is connected ... the power company comes out to work on it thinking it's not live and someone gets killed because you have 1 or more of these feeding voltage back into the grid. One or two instances of this happening and we'll have more and more regulation to deal with. I know that when you have a full home gen-set professionally installed to power your home it comes with an auto disconnect for safety reasons. ... I'm sure local regulations differ.

C'mon Jehu, you're still VW at heart. My 36HP beetle can be driven at peak all day long ;-)

Think it tapered off with the drop in supply battery voltage? Secondly, you’re a cowboy without an interconnect agreement with PG&E? Most likely they have a digital meter on your house, are you worried about the meter sensing any watts going back up the line? I’d like to do similar, but not get any hassle from the power company.

input are from battery.. is possible to control how much watt sent to that inverter.. i want to trick my Grid Tie Inverter which have no limiter :)

It depends on the ambient temperature. And who wants to have all that noise inside

Can you plug this inverter into any outlet in your house?

I bought the exact same inverter the 12 volt input inverter but it blows a 100 amp DC circuit breaker within two minutes of connection to my single 12 volt AGM 76 AH battery ? I thought 100 amp breaker would do the job ?

@jehugarcia you might wanna look into getting an inverter AC, they're much more efficient and don't have that huge power spike and ramping down duty cycle.

You're in California, right? I would not be a bit surprised if the state outlawed the use of these inverters because they don't meet UL1741. Or if Amazon wasn't allowed to sell in CA just like some 2 cycle engines cannot be sold in CA through a lot of online retailers.

Thanks for the review. I've just bought the same inverter and now I know how it will work. May I know what hardware(software) do you use to monitor and analize power usage of you AC grid?

You should have a look at Meanwell. They have some very affordable all-in-one solutions and is a brand with reputation.

Good Load Knowledge here.... Where can I buy silicon sheathed copper stranded wire that is silver coated in 10awg?

i have the 1000w version and it puts only out 328 watts. it is connected to 2x 375 Watts Panels, at least 500 watts must come out.

Can you remote trigger the inverter to turn on only when the AC is running?

only downfall is it isn't UL compliant and a lot of power companies frown upon that.

Hi, I use this tie inverter in my solar intallation, work pretty good. I'm look for a way that connect this tie inverte direct to my battery without get out too much amperes as this tie inverter is MPPT type. You can say the way to connect this tie inverter direct to my 12v battery and only getout 5 amperes? I know that in this case not generate the total watts. thanks

Hi, good morning, I have a question, does this 1000 Watt inverter support 4 solar panels of 275 W?

Hi - I'm running two 120cell 32Vmp 7.92Imp 256W panels in parallel with African sun power into the 20-45V to 230Vac model but the best grid power I've monitored so far is 350W (ac). Very disappointed but hoping somebody can help. Input Voltage and current are well within spec but the units just don't generate anywhere near the power they should. The panels do deliver 500W with an ePever 3210AN MPPT controller. I can only think the Grid tie MPPT software is terrible.

...get yourself a hybrid inverter as a reward

Nice demo! Did I hear you say that you tested with 12v battery too? The sight says to use 24v for testing. any thoughts on that?

They don't do 1k on solar I've tested them and I think you should compare with aims inverter

I dont like my inverter with a lead acid battery and a solar panel setup, because i use 220v and we need a lot more current to get stuff running on 220v instead of 120v

Very nice vid. very informative... I'd like to know one thing tho. How do you protect batteries to over discharge with this kind of inverter? I have a small bank with 60ah on 24v and 2 275w Solar panels charging it.

hrm not a bad inverter, question dont you need the grid tie limited? otherwise the power meter will actually run faster depending on how smart the meter is, you also will not get paid for power going to the grid so why bother running it, i know you will have a control to swich on the inverters (im very intrigued how you are going to hook that up) but for that time that the inverters are still on once the ac has just turned off you might get charged with the power even though it is going back to the grid. just a concern as to what is actually happening.

Do you need a net metering electric panel for this? What happens to the inverter when the AC is off? Does it go back to the power company?

I have a string inverter in my garage that was professionally installed and it puts up to 4000 watts back into the grid. Since I did it right, my meter can go backwards and I don't have to run grid-tie inverters only when the air is on. My question is, what happens if I also plug a small grid-tie inverter like you have into my house somewhere? I have extra solar panels that I'd love to use the energy of. The DC voltage would be too low to add those panels as an extra string on my main inverter. If I buy a little grid-tie inverter like you have, I'm worried the two inverters will compete for the highest voltage. Also, if I have a power outage, won't each inverter trick the other inverter into thinking grid power is still on and they'd maintain power output? I definitely don't want to cause harm to a lineman. You're talking about using multiple small 1000 W inverters at once though so you might know how that works. Thanks in advance!

Cool video and info, thanks! Is there a good DC air conditioner that could be run without an inverter? Thanks