Designing a 20kW Commercial System

We don't know that; as of yet, we still don't have a price.

So, next question is what kind of lead time is there on 4 inverters? And Ben told me that if I buy four, you'll throw a fifth in free.😏

2 hours ago, InPhase said:

So, next question is what kind of lead time is there on 4 inverters?

At the moment...I don't know.  I'm sending Sean another box of assembled and tested Rev. C boards hopefully Monday--it's up to him from there.

2 hours ago, InPhase said:

And Ben told me that if I buy four, you'll throw a fifth in free.

I wish we had profit margins through the roof and we could make deals like that.  But unfortunately due to our competitive pricing on the inverters, we would be selling at a loss to do that.

7 hours ago, Sid Genetry Solar said:

At the moment...I don't know.  I'm sending Sean another box of assembled and tested Rev. C boards hopefully Monday--it's up to him from there.

 

I wish we had profit margins through the roof and we could make deals like that.  But unfortunately due to our competitive pricing on the inverters, we would be selling at a loss to do that.

Ben said you'd say that!

What is the best means to go through with this order? I need to speak with Sean about lead time. Should I message him from the forum?

Doesn't sound like Ben is giving you very pertinent info, hehe.

Texting Sean @ 833-436-3879 is probably the best way to contact him.

Looking for high voltage input charge controllers that have arc fault protection and ground fault protection. There doesn't seem to be much of a market for off grid stuff, everything is geared toward grid tie. The Magnum PT-100 is my best candidate so far, accepting an absolute max of 240 VDC. I can make that work... But it would be much more convenient if I could find something that would work at 350+ V. Any ideas?

I looked into that for someone a couple of years ago and there was pretty much nothing available.  Well at least nothing that wouldn't require life support for you wallet.  Even just getting a standalone PV HV charger without fault protection is hard.  All-in-one inverters go up to about 450VDC and I've seen grid tie go up to around 800VDC (mppt range, Vmax is around 950VDC) but standalones...  just doesn't seem to be something the market is interested in producing.

Definitely isn't cheap, but Morningstar makes a 600v MPPT: https://www.morningstarcorp.com/products/tristar-mppt-600v/

While I don't have one of those 600v MPPTs, I DO have one of their regular TS-MPPT-60 units (150v PV input max).  It is a GREAT little MPPT, as close to perfection as I've yet seen for a 150v input MPPT.  No fans, extremely efficient (full 3200W power load and the heatsink isn't much over 100F), very good MPPT tracking, solid performance, exemplary voltage regulation (doesn't "overshoot" if you instantly go from full load to no load), easy MODBUS comm via RS-232 or LAN (if you get the 60A unit), configurable, etc.

Only issue I had with it was...well...having one blow up when I was trying to adjust the battery charge settings via MODBUS.  Changed the settings (for the 7th time in a row I think)...turned it off via MODBUS command, and then restarted it (via MODBUS command).  It restarted, did the power-up LED sequence...and then blew up with a bright orange flash (simultaneously tripping the battery/solar tandem breakers.)  However, Morningstar's customer service was beyond exemplary--so I am not complaining at all.  If it weren't for the cost, I'd have bought more when I added more solar--but cost and the 150v input limit meant that I ended up with 2 Epever Tracer 8420AN units (200v max).  Very crude and inefficient by comparison--but hey, they get the job done.

My current TS-MPPT-60 has 43,045 hours of flawless operation and 8,489kWH of power (connected to 2,940W of solar).  If I had a deeper pocketbook, I'd have exclusively Morningstar MPPTs 😉.

I guess the 600V could be used to restart your wallet's heart after it sees how much that thing costs   😆  I use Victron as my primary charger and like your experience with the Morningstar, these things just work.  24 x 7 no issues.  Quite nice these days.  I've pulled 3.07MWh through it to date.   Only disappointment is there doesn't seem to be a self-destruct facility like your Morningstar has.  I guess every silver lining comes with a cloud.  😉

Morningstar does 600 VDC but doesn't have arc fault protection. The NEC requires arc fault protection on PV over 80 volts if mounted on the building. I guess the Magnum controllers are what I have to go with. There are ways to use an external arc fault detector and shunt trip breakers, but it gets hairy quickly with multiple strings. More expensive than using the Magnums and shorter strings. The manufacturers just aren't interested in stand alone off grid systems apparently.

This is actually genius