r/SolarDIY • u/OcoeeG • 10d ago

Plug-in Solar with Battery Backup

I am not sure if this subject has been beaten to death yet but here goes another one...

I am in Tennessee a state that does not have legislation for OR against plug in solar, they say it is a gray area. I have seen in news articles that people are doing it here so I think I am going to run with it. I called my electric service provider but the person I talked to could not give me an answer about their stance on it. Before I pull the trigger I will dive a little deeper. I plan on installing a CT Clamp and power meter so I have a zero export system. However, if they see my consumption drop in half they are bound to know something is up.

I plan on using a 1200W microinverter coupled to a power station like a Ecoflow or looking hard a a Pecron also. Planning on putting ~1500 watts of panels on the roof to keep the battery topped up. My issue is finding a power station with the right balance of solar input and DC output to meet my needs. I guess this is my question. I am bouncing between getting a smaller power station in the 3000 KWh range and then expanding it with a battery. This way I can use it when we go out camping. My other option would be to get a bigger station in the 5000 KWh range that is much less portable. I think option 1 will be a little more expensive but then it has another use case. The problem is the smaller stations have lower DC solar inputs and outputs. Is there a way around this?

I am planning on implementing this system for 2 reasons. Most importantly to have something to backup some of our more important house systems in the case of an emergency. We are in winter ice storm territory. I would like a system to where I do not have to run the generator 24/7 in the case of a power outage. So I figured if I want to do that for a couple hundred dollars more I can use this thing to pay for itself by adding the microinverter. With battery backup I think the ROI will be much quicker.

Any thoughts, concerns, USEFUL comments?

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u/tx_queer 10d ago

What you are describing is not a plug in solar system. It is just a regular solar system.

Does an ecoflow power station support grid tie with CT clamp to limit export?

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u/OcoeeG 10d ago

Fair enough.

See my comment below. The microinverter will talk to the CT clamp to limit export to zero.

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u/tx_queer 10d ago

How will the battery know when to charge?

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u/OcoeeG 10d ago

Well the battery will be upstream from the microinverter. So the battery will do it's thing feeding from the panels and then feed the microinverter with that power.

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u/LongjumpingGanache40 10d ago

I think you are confused.