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Hi,
I have a small offgrid cabin which is uninhabited for long periods in winter. There is a mechanical room which is well insulated and heated to 5degC(by inverter). It contains my complete solar system(GS6K, charge controllers , batteries) ,my complete water system (storage tanks,water heater, water pump and tank). I designed the system to be able to withstand 7 days with no solar at -30C without freezing. 4 days with the inverter running and 3 days of the thermal mass of all the stored water cooling from 5C to 0C. My solar panels hang under the eaves in winter and are self clearing.
Last winter in December there were 2 periods where there was no appreciable sunshine for 10 days.
I am interested in purchasing a smallish dual fuel autochoke generator with electric start and the associated hardware to control it.
The least expensive generator I have found with auto choke is this Westinghouse WGen5300DF
I am having trouble choosing an autostart board.
I noticed that Westinghouse also sells an ST switch which is reasonably priced and seems like I could use. https://westinghouseoutdoorpower.com/collections/parts-and-accessories/products/st-switch
It is designed for AC mains use.
It is plugged into the AC power(in my case the inverter output) and when it senses the power off it auto starts the generator. It automatically keeps the generator battery charged. It has an AC output that comes from the generator that is switched on when the generator starts.
My question is this. If I connected the output from the ST switch to the AC input of the GS6K to charge the batteries, would it immediately turn the inverter on and lead to a cycle of switching the inverter and generator on and off rapidly? My system is 24V AGM and I have the inverter set to shut off at 24V(50% discharge). Could I configure the inverter so that the inverter would not come back on until the voltage reaches some appreciable voltage (25-26V). Could that configuration be used only when batteries are being charged via AC from the generator, so I could leave the settings being used to come out of low voltage on batteries when charged by solar as they are?
If not could you recommend a reputable auto start board.
Thanks,
Phil
Sounds like an interesting project!
So if the inverter shuts down due to the battery voltage falling below the UVP Error threshold, it will not automatically restart (if enabled to auto restart!) until the battery voltage is above the UVP Alarm threshold. (Actually, it won't restart unless there are no active alarms.) Depending on the range of the UVP Error vs UVP Alarm (UVP Alarm is calculated as an offset from UVP Error, so there is a maximum possible difference between the two), you might be able to achieve the desired functionality.
- setting UVP E(rror) to the desired shutdown voltage
- setting UVP A(alarm) to the desired "restart voltage"
- enabling Restart on UVP/OVP
Another option could be to use the inverter's genstart feature to turn the generator on at a certain voltage, and off at another--as this is separate from the battery shutdown setpoints. (Inverter could be set to ATS mode with automatic charge, meaning that if the generator starts, the inverter would automatically switch over and run a charge cycle. It would also be possible for the inverter to shut the generator off when the charge cycle is complete.)
Note that unlike any other LF inverter I've yet seen on the market, the GS inverters all have a distinct two-channel relay output. (Most provide an SPDT "dry contact" output.) This allows it to run start sequences...as well as other more customized functionality.