Mike your powerwall concept encourages me every video. You really push the boundary in a way no one does. I'll continue to follow your progress to a final resault with much antisapation.
Lot of tho's guys run tho's who can't grid tie. To keep from pushing power back. Then in the day it just helps cut down on there power bill and at night buy power. No bats needed for that..I put one in for a friend here in town. he now has a power bill of 100 bucks where befor it was over 300. Thanks for taking the time to show us..
Grid-tie is great, I have my main 5kWh grid-tie for the day time use but i also export to the grid on that unit which does make a big difference to the powerbill. The unit in this video connected to batts means i buy almost no power at night now.
Right tho's are bad ass. The one's I was saying was the sun grid tie's and they use the external limiter. They do this so they do not need batts and it helps lkeep there day power needs down. Lot of places will not let them grid tie. So this is how some peeps get around it.. I have a pip 2424lv-MSD and SMA micro-inverters. I do just about the same as you. But I do not get payed for the power we sell. So I just have about all I need to cover my day needs grid tie and at night we run off the pip..
mike for a long time i was not sure why you would use a grid tie inverter with batteries, but now seeing that the inverter has a limiter on it i completely understand now makes complete sense, i was going down the road of a completely off grid apart form the kitchen because of the large loads but now will order a limiter grid tie inverter and use the other inverters as back up for power outs
Ya the grid-tie just makes sense. The problem with offgriding half the house is what happens if someone plugs in a hairdryer etc. With the grid-tie is doesn't matter if its the kitchen load or any other load the inverter will put out what it can and there is not such thing with overloading because as the load increases more than what the grid-tie is putting out the extra power will just come from the grid..
Thanks for the update. Your garage situation is similar to mine - so this'll be useful for when I follow your lead. Really useful to know about that 2 min start up. That would drive me crazy :) And it turns out I've got 4 x 1000 l rain water tanks behind my garage too - good for watering the garden in summer.
IBC 1000l ya they are great, I have them connected to a pump then to a garage tap and then under the ground back to the house which runs both toilets and washing machine. Saves around $10-$15 a month on water
Your video is a good one, for reference. Thanks for this. Others have shown it, as well, in the past, but maybe not with the amount of detail you have provided. I (and maybe others) have had trouble, recently, acquiring / finding a supplier for the External Limiter (4000 GTL). If you, or someone else, know of a current supplier that can ship to the US (Apr 2019) could you let us (with a similar problem as this unit does solve) all know. AliExpress doesn't show an active supplier, these days, although some historical listings can still be found. These stand-alone limiter boxes seem to be very hard to find and maybe in short supply, lately. Thanks for your video!
5:55 That on the other side of the garage looks like a bunch of big batteries surely that’s just water collection system but I freaked out big time! 😱 🤘⚡️
I'm not understanding. How many meters of cable did you run to the external limiter from the inverter and how many meter from there to the power coming in?
what if you cut the clamp and connector off, and use very thick diameter cable? maybee the signal is better about 20m without the repeating limiter inside the house?
With the AC plugs on it and the terminal block it also looks like this unit can limit the output from the AC side of the inverter is that the way you understand how it works or it can work that way?
So your limiter cable is now 40 meters with the cable you added, correct? I need my cable to be around 30 meters or 100 foot. By chance have you tried a 30 meter cable?
Great video and setup. I'm curious about the c clamp on the meter. I've got an old one with a metal Spinny dial. No cables show/exposed in the box to put the clamp on. Cables are covered with boxes and those special metal ties they put on to make sure you don't open/tamper in the box. Any suggestions?
Wonderful !... I'd like to know more about this program you use to display the graph on your computer, is it something you can buy, or is it something you came up with on your own ? I would imagine it must use a clamp sensor at the mains for it's information? or are you piggy backing it off something else ?
When I plug my sensor to external port the sound of the invertor turns off . When I plug into internal port the of the power going out. Please let me know if it matters which port I need to plug .
From here, this is the newier model : www.aliexpress.com/store/product/2000W-Battery-Discharge-Power-Mode-MPPT-Solar-Grid-Tie-Inverter-with-Limiter-Sensor-DC-45-90V/202998_32762625465.html
Have you considered controlling the limiter on the inverter using a Raspberry Pi or Arduino? Then reading the utility power with a Eastron SDM220 or SDM630 with Modbus. You could then transport the readings wirelessly, although you already have a cable, so it's moot. A bit similar to what I do with the P1 port on my smart meter. I was really hoping that you could make out how to drive the limiter using a RPi, is the CT clamp active with a 4-20mA range, or a passive 0-350mV range (which would explain the issue with the long cable). I want to drive the one here using a RPi ideally, and fire a AC charger(Meanwell Led driver with PWM) for the batteries
I guess you could but you would have to spend alot of time building something and code it so it works. Anything is possible but for $100 is it worth it. Given the low cost of the external limiter is just far easier to buy it than reinvent the wheel.
Mike I have just purchased two 1000 watt units. And am in the process of install. I am totally impressed with how to track and monitor your energy usage. Do you have some advise on what program to use or what app will help me view and track usage??
Hi Mike, that was a good hint to my project. I just have a couple of questions: - There is anyway to turn off the limiter when the batteries are fully charged? Or something like cut the ct signal, will automatically disable the limiter function (the idea is to seel energy when I have my batteries full). - If i have that inverter connected directly to solar, what is the minimum output power which that inverter handles (500v ?) Thanks
If you use the internal limiter then yes something like cutting the ct signal by using a reply works. On the external limiter, it doesn't work, Disconnecting it does nothing. Your second question, hmm I think you mean DC input (solar) to the inverter which is 90v, So if your solar panels are setup to putout less than 90v your idea could work. I did also think of this but unless you have alot of solar then its not going to be worth doing. Eg in winter you might only just make enough solar to charge the powerwall, in summer sure you might have some excess but it's not going to be much.
Hey Mike. Question about the limiter you're using. I have a small setup- 280 watt panels mppt controller and two 6v batteries. I use a micro grid tied inverter with adjustable output. The controller has programmable load feature so I have that connected to a relay that turns the inverter on and off between 12.8 and 13 volts so it wont run the battery too low. My question is: could I use that external limiter to control my inverter? It wouldnt be able to "match" the current.. Just curious
You would need an inverter that supports the limitier. I would say your best to just buy the 1000w grid-tie with limiter. www.aliexpress.com/wholesale?catId=0&initiative_id=SB_20190124135826&SearchText=1000w+grid-tie+with+limiter/
Strange I only use the internal limiter and added 30m of cable it's only ever out by 10 to 20watts max I think where you put your CT clamp may not help been that the other cables could cause interference
So you extended the cable? What type of cable did you use? I got one of these inverters and to far away, i was planing on using Ethernet wire but i haven read anything about this.
Hello my friend! Thanks for the video and the clarifications. I would like to clarify a doubt. I have two inverters, one in each phase, both with power limiter. I want to know if I can connect them in parallel on my solar panels. Thus, while consumption is low in one phase, the remaining energy would be used by the other inverter. Thank you very much
hi mike i have just got my grid tie limiter box and am not sure how to wire it up the sticker on the out side says from top to bottom N G L but i have put a meter on it and the live pin on the sockets on the front show the top connection being linked to IT thus the top i think should be L then G and the N how have you wired yours up
Oh gosh, i cant remember. I would unscrew the back of the cover "it comes off easy" and just double check. Remember when you have power going to any of the AC plugs they are all live so be careful.
I am running into the same issue. I was wondering where you bought the cables and if you possible have the part number?? Please and thank you. I love your videos and your system thanks.
hi if you have a power cut will the batteries still power the house ? If so does that mean you could be putting power into the grid . just trying to setup my own system .
Internal Limiter actually is 0-50mA shown on the Sensor clamp. I try plug it in to External Limiter, it doesn't work. :) . Their datasheet doesn't helps. Hope someday someone will tell me what is it. Then we can try use a pair of arduino WIFI over .. Hopefully
@@MikesDIYTeslaPowerwall I have thought that you will say that.... Long story short I am willing to give you 100€+shipping for external limiter.... If you interested in any way contact me..... Thanks.... By the way make some videos many of us would like to see how is your current system...
Dear friend . 1.We all got the principle of operation of these 3rd generation inverters.Which is that with the limiter they secure that we are protected not to do something illegal which could easily be to send back electrons to grid and make the grid wheel recording negativelly. One thought that strikes my head is.the following.On a sunny day The sollars work fine sending happily straight away voltage to the demanded house's appliances WHEN n IF needed. If no one asks for energy WHY all this at least 10 hour energy to exist there INNACTIVE at the connections of the inverter and not actually being used.This is called an energy loss. Why these people didnt place another 2 connections just for battery array use. which means if during a day we happen to have an excess of energy OK.we direct it and load our battery system.The King Sun is offering free energy.......isn't pitty not to valuate it technically?????i think it is.....a loss.Thank you 2.Its Been clear to me that with these inverters you have to decide which will be the MAIN source of sucking electrons.The solar panels or the battery array and then you do the appropriate settings in the digital display of the inverter.Its been clear to me also the fact that if your choise of source is the solar panels then you connect straight away to the inverter the solar power which can be reach 2,5Kw on a 2KW inverter but attention attention THE VOLTAGE not to exceed 90 volts.And if your decision comes to be the battery array then you have to incorporate an extra MPPT solar charge controller to control and stabilize the voltage that you charge the batteries.And then from the same connections you connect the inverter.Is this second way that you get the most out of the solar energy in these inverters????? ie to incorporate a battery array . 3.Its been accepted that for the 2 KW inverter the best battery array could be 60 volts.But where the hell someone can fins 60volt dc solar charge controller???????Thank you.
