[RE-wrenches] AC Coupling Solar Edge SE10000A-US With Outback Radian GS4048A

Mac Lewis maclewis1 at gmail.com
Tue Oct 18 21:17:56 PDT 2016


Hi Gary,

These Solar Edge inverters can use radio ripple control to change power
output.  Its a simple control strategy that allows control of the power
output presumably from a grid-operator.  You would need to enable the
RRCR.  Here is a paper about that
http://www.solaredge.com/sites/default/files/power-reduction-control-application-note.pdf
You can use 5 VDC signals to perform the power control.  Below I pasted a
graph of how the inputs work from page 3 of that document :
[image: Inline image 1]

I believe Chris Mason suggested using an Arduino board to control these 4
inputs very easily, and that would be a nice option.  For your needs, I
think you can get away with two relays and a robust 5 VDC power supply.
You could drive the 1st relay coil with grid voltage.  Under normal
conditions, you'd apply 5VDC to pin 3 (L4) through the relay (NC contact).
Upon loss of grid, pin 3 goes to 0VDC, pin 5(L2) to 5VDC.  To drop to 0%
power, you may want to trigger based on battery voltage or the blackout
relay on the Outback.  I can't recall if there is a way to trigger a relay
based on SOC with the radian, but that would be a good option too.

I'd be curious to hear what you come up with, so please let us know.

Good luck

On Tue, Oct 18, 2016 at 9:30 PM, Gary Willett <Gary at icarussolarservices.com>
wrote:

> Maverick:
>
> Thanks for responding. You've been very helpful in the past with my
> battery based solution questions.
>
> Daily load demand from the Protected Loads Panel is about 10kWh.
>
> With 5 average daily peak sun hours, and 75% charging efficiency, the
> battery bank will receive about 13kWh of solar charging per day. The
> battery bank will be sized for 2 days of autonomy to 80% DoD (2 or 3
> strings of 200RE batteries). A 6kW generator, which will be manually
> controlled, will provide charging assistance if the solar charging alone is
> not sufficient.
>
> The 10kW (ac) SE inverter and associated 10.7kWp PV array, using the
> "Power Reduction Control" function, would be limited to about 3.5kW (ac).
>
> Sizing the inverter and battery bank is not my issue - cranking back the
> output power of the SE grid-tied inverter is what I need help on.
>
> The "standard" Outback GSLC solution uses one "Power Reduction Control"
> relay (100% to 0%). I want to use two Outback activated relays, and the SE
> inverter's "Power Reduction Control" function to:
>
> (1) reduce the SE inverter power from 100% to 30% when the grid is down
> (relay #1)
>
> (2) reduce the SE inverter power from 30% to 0% when the Radian wants to
> totally shut down the SE inverter (relay #2)
>
> If this two-relay solution is possible, I do not have to kluge up a way to
> disconnect 70% of the PV array when the grid is down to keep the
> SE10000A-US inverter from overloading the 4kW Radian inverter and its
> battery bank.
>
> Regards,
>
> Gary Willett
> Icarus Engineering / Solar Services LLC
> On 10/18/16 9:23 AM, Maverick Brown wrote:
>
> How many kWh are you shooting for?
>
>
>
> On Oct 17, 2016, at 9:54 PM, Gary Willett <Gary at IcarusSolarServices.com
> <Gary at icarussolarservices.com>> wrote:
>
> Esteemed Wrenches:
>
> Anyone have experience setting up AC coupling with SolarEdge and the
> Outback Radian?
>
> I have a client with a SolarEdge SE10000A-US inverter, equipped with 31
> SunPower X21-345 modules (10.7kWp) and associated SolarEdge P400 DC
> optimizers. The DC optimizers are arranged into two strings of series
> connected optimizers: #1 = 16;  #2 = 15.
>
> The client wants to add a limited battery backup solution, and a 4kW
> inverter will serve the needs of the requisite protected loads panel.
>
> I am considering using the Outback Radian GS4048A inverter in conjunction
> with the GSLC175-AC-120/240 AC-Coupling Center.
>
> I want to make a slight change to the PRI programming on the SolarEdge
> inverter, and add another relay contact to the Radian, to accommodate a 4kW
> Outback inverter AC coupled to a 10kW SolarEdge inverter.
>
> This is my first AC coupling project with these systems. The analysis
> below is based solely on review of available documents on the Outback and
> SolarEdge web sites.
>
> Any help or guidance will be greatly appreciated.
>
> Regards,
>
> Gary Willett
> Icarus Engineering / Solar Services LLC
>
> *References*:
>
> (1) *Outback Application Note "**AC Coupling OutBack Power Radian
> Inverters with SolarEdge N. American Inverters**"*
> http://www.outbackpower.com/downloads/documents/technotes/
> ac_coupling_tech_note.pdf
>
> (2) *Outback Application Note "**Adding the battery back-up power option
> to existing grid-tied PV/solar systems"*
> http://www.outbackpower.com/downloads/documents/
> flexcoupled/app_note_acc_new.pdf
>
> (3) *SolarEdge Application Note **"SolarEdge Inverters, Power Control
> Options"*
> http://www.solaredge.com/sites/default/files/application_note_power_
> control_configuration.pdf
>
> *REF (2); Page 9 of 14 - Outback's AC Coupling Guideline Number Two*:
>
> The OutBack inverter power rating should be 1.25% of the GT inverter power
> rating. This guideline ensures that the GT inverter does not overwhelm the
> charging circuitry in the OutBack inverter if the load demand goes to zero
> and all available GT inverter power is flowing to the OutBack inverter.
>
> With the 4kW GS4048A inverter, the PV power rating is therefore limited to
> 3.2kW. This is 30% of the nameplate rating of the PV array (3.2/10.7).
>
> *REF (3); Page 4 of 5** - **SolarEdge/OutBack Radian Wiring Diagram*:
>
> On the male connector that fits into the PRI connector on the SolarEdge
> PCB, two wires are connected from the OutBack GSLC load center 12V relay
> (OBR-16-DIN).
>
> When activated, a normally open contact (NO) of the Outback OBR-16-DIN 12V
> relay supplies +5V from "pin 8" to "pin 6" of the SolarEdge inverter's
> "Power Reduction Interface (PRI) port".
>
> *REF (1); Page 3 of 5** - **SolarEdge Setup / Programming*:
>
> Per the App Note, when the Radian wants to shut down the SolarEdge, the
> OBR-16-DIN 12V relay is activated and a "1" is applied to bit 1 of the PRI.
> This takes the SolarEdge output power, in a gradual manner, from 100% to 0%.
>
> *"DEFAULT" SolarEdge Programming*
> 0000 <100,1,00,Y> ----meaning = 100% power, 1.00 power factor, point is
> active
> 0001 <0,1.00,Y> ----meaning = 0% power, 1.00 power factor, point is active
>
> For my project, when the grid is down, the SolarEdge inverter must be
> limited to 30% power. I want to use the second NO/NC contact on the
> OBR-16-DIN 12V relay to accomplish this. Not yet sure exactly how to
> accomplish this in the Radian programming, but here's how I want it to
> function:
>
> (a) when the grid is down, the second OBR contact, connected to bit 2 of
> the PRI, is activated and a "1" is applied to bit 2. This takes the
> SolarEdge output power, in a gradual manner, from 100% to 30%.
>
> (b) when the Radian wants to shut down the SolarEdge, a "1" is applied to
> bit 1. This takes the SolarEdge output power, in a gradual manner, from 30%
> to 0%.
>
> *"PROPOSED" SolarEdge Programming*
> 0000 <100,1,00,Y> ----meaning = 100% power, 1.00 power factor, point is
> active
> 0001 <0,1.00,Y> ----meaning = 0% power, 1.00 power factor, point is active
> 0010 <30,1.00,Y> ----meaning = 30% power, 1.00 power factor, point is
> active
> 0011 <0,1.00,Y> ----meaning = 0% power, 1.00 power factor, point is active
>
> Is this doable?
>
>
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-- 



Mac Lewis

*"Yo solo sé que no sé nada." -Sócrates*
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