net metered system question [RE-wrenches]

William Miller wrmiller at slonet.org
Tue Mar 6 22:42:15 PST 2001


At 08:21 PM 3/6/01 -0800, you wrote:
>
>The bigger issue with the SW is the silent sell.  There is no easy
>answer to the battery baby-sitting SW -- Kurt Nelson
>

Here's an idea that has been fomenting (or has it been fermenting?) in the
back of my brain.  It is regarding the problem of inefficiencies of the
battery connected SW inverters when used for grid interite.  As I
understand it (and please correct me if I am wrong), the biggest cause of
inefficiencies is that AC loads connected to the SW output draw the
batteries down overnight and the SW charges them from the grid.  The
biggest power consumption is when the inverter initializes a bulk charge.
Is this correct so far?  This drain on the utility is in addition to the
usual quiescent float charge current.

Why not treat the output of the SW as one might treat a generator AC feed,
that is, run it through a transfer switch.  Normally, the AC output of the
SW inverter(s) goes nowhere (transfer switch switched to utility)..
Therefore, the batteries never deplete enough at night to trigger bulk
mode.  The user initiates the backup mode of the SW system by transferring
the AC loads via the manual transfer switch.  The customer has to be
satisfied to have manual transfer capabilities only.

A transfer switch is a readily available item, easily understood by the
user and easily installed by the wrench.

I don't pretend to understand this issue entirely, but I hope this idea
sparks some creative discussion.

William


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William Miller
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email: wrmiller at slonet.org
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