So it’s time to figure out how we’re going to power everything and set up the electrical system so three scenarios are met. Scenario 1: No fire, grid power available. Scenario 2: No fire, grid outage. Scenario 3: fire, grid outage. I suppose there’s really a fire/grid available version, but I don’t have to plan for that.
Scenario 1: The legacy system I have is grandfathered as net metering. I hope to not lose that by adding battery backup, so the ideal solution would be to simply feed the legacy PV power through to the main panel as it is currently connected. I think I can achieve this with the 12000PV. The EG4 12kPV mimics grid conditions by providing a 240V reference signal via the Gen Port, tricking AC-coupled inverters into activating. This is intended to keep the microinverters working during grid outages, but I hope it will also keep them working when the grid is up since I will no longer have them connected directly to the grid.
I intend to keep the battery at a high state of charge when the grid is up–probably about 90 percent. This will shorten the life of the battery slightly, but having adequate power reserve is more important to me than battery life.
AC Couple Enable `Enabled` Activates AC coupling functionality.
AC Couple Start SOC `0%` Begins using AC-coupled solar when batteries reach any SOC above 0% SOC.
AC Couple End SOC. `100%`
Export Enable ‘enabled’ Allows excess power to flow back to the grid or inverter.
Export Amount ≥. Ensures sufficient power export for AC coupling to function.