question

Jake Kennedy avatar image
Jake Kennedy asked

Connecting Generator on ESS system?

HI my name is Jake

I am an off grid installer and i have a question about something i am trying to do on one of my sites.

I have recently installed a off grid system on a remote station in outback Australia that consists of

1 x Quattro 48/15000

3 x 250/100 mppt's

4 x byd commercial 13.5kwh battery boxes

1 x colour control GX

1 x 18kva generator

the system is laid out at the moment with the generator shed about 100m away from the battery shed with an ac feed running between. i have put a wireless relay in to stop and start the generator from the colour control and all is working fine.

my problem is that the customer used to run his whole property from the generator alone and has some small loads to an old house and a bore pump that come directly from the generator shed switchboard where as the rest of the main loads come from the new battery shed switchboard. as i have it set up at the moment those small loads are only live when the generator is running. i have done a bit of reading and started thinking about ESS systems and how they can feed power back down input 1 and was wondering if i could do the same.

The way i understand it i can set up the ESS assistant and disable Loss of Mains in the inverter settings which would give me 230v from the inverter to my input 1 terminals. i would then install a relay on the generator to disconnect it from the input when it isnt running either from manual start or auto start to make it safe. my questions are as follows.

1. is this possible first of all?

2. when the generator does start how does the quattro know its now connected??

3. how does the quattro know not to feed power into the generator??(maybe Carlo Gavazzi meter)

4. do i need a carlo gavazzi meter at either the generator or the small loads that need to be fed through the inverter input.

I hope this makes sense and im open to any suggestions, im just trying to find a way to feed the loads in the gen shed safely without running the generator all the time.

any help would be greatly appreciated

ESSGenerator
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1 Answer
Daniël Boekel (Victron Energy Staff) avatar image
Daniël Boekel (Victron Energy Staff) answered ·

Hi @Jake Kennedy

No. this is not possible, you'll have to run an extra cable.

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Jake Kennedy avatar image Jake Kennedy commented ·

Thanks Daniel I wasn't sure if it was a stupid question or not.

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