Privacy-friendly solar inverters?

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MX-16_fan
Posts: 331
Joined: Mon Feb 13, 2017 12:09 pm

Privacy-friendly solar inverters?

#1 Post by MX-16_fan »

A friend of mine intends to build an off-grid solar system for her weekend cabin and asked me whether I had any knowledge about what hardware to choose (I didn't).

I did a little research on the topic, and got the impression that it is not easy to find an inverter (the core component of almost every photovoltaics system) that wouldn't be dependent on some far-away manufacturer's server when it comes to coniguration. Apparently most inverters are designed to be connected to the manufacturer via the internet, and don't seem to provide any browser-based configuration backends on their own.

IMHO this is a major privacy issue - just think about, e.g., the enhanced risk of burglary that you are exposed to when unknown people can monitor your current energy consumption and see precisely when the inverter has little to do (which would allow them to guess that you are likely to be asleep, or not at home at all). (This problem has been discussed in context with "smart" power metres.)

So my question is: Can anyone recommend an inverter that can be administered directly via Ethernet or USB connection (using MX-17), or, which I'd find even more preferable, purely on the inverter itself (through some menu and its own display and hardware buttons)?

A 5000 VA permanent / 10.000 VA peak inverter would be needed, as my friend has a number of household appliances and wouldn't want to do without them. It should be suitable for outdoor montage. Input should be flexible (12V, 24V, maybe 48V also).


Thanks in advance for any recommendation, Joe

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Gordon Cooper
Posts: 965
Joined: Mon Nov 21, 2011 5:50 pm

Re: Privacy-friendly solar inverters?

#2 Post by Gordon Cooper »

Hi Joe, Have done a little research on this. Think there is one that goes on line for set up, but then does not require an internet connection. Rating about 5 KVa and from
memory it was people in Holland Delta (?). that information was on line. Your friend wold be well advised to plan usage of the various appliances to reduce peak loading. I decided against a large system and have solar water heating plus a small panel that charges a set of 400 AH batteries for emergencies.
Gordon.
Backup: Dell9010, MX-19_B2, Win7, 120 SSD, WD 232GIB HD, 4GB RAM
Primary :Homebrew64 bit Intel duo core 2 GB RAM, 120 GB Kingston SSD, Seagate1TB.
MX-18.2 64bit. Also MX17, Kubuntu14.04 & Puppy 6.3.

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