Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

One problem to be aware of with having a larger inverter, especially on smaller systems. I went with a 1.8kW system and the inverter could take 2.2kW in.

The problem is in winter the system spends a lot of its time just below the required kick in voltage. ie at 180v and kick in is 196v
Since the panels are all in series if I had the extra 2 I would be getting a lot better efficiency.
Still producing 5 kW in winter and 12-13 Summer.

Thanks for the heads up, I will keep an eye on this.

Well I ordered another 4 kw grid tie inverter as those old ones I bought on ebay crapped out. I also order another 2 kw grid tie system only this one has battery backup and a 3600 watt inverter I could grow into. I didn't order the batteries from the place in Miami due to weight/cost of shipping. I will try to get those locally. That only brings me up to 4 kw in panels but expandable to 7.6. I hope the 2010 incentives carry thru at least next year so I can reach my goal of 8 kw solar and 2-3 kw wind.

Good on ya BR Bill.
I recently bought a used 25 kw 3 phase diesel genny at a bargain price. It was factory mounted on a trailer. I removed the wheels and leveled it next to the north side of the greenhouse. In a walled off section I am setting up an oil heating area to heat WVO (waste veggie oil)in a second tank to 160 deg. F for fuel. This also has room for filtering and storing up to 300 gal. of WVO cubes. The exhaust heat exits out the top of the insulated weather proof genny container. This will allow ducting and recovering that heat into the greenhouse.
This thing will produce up to 14.4 kw of single phase power, enough to run the house and charge up to 30 amp on the 24 volt battery. I run it when I need to weld or run the large air compressor or when heating oil to make biodiesel. If cloudy and need to run the 24 v. well pump, the 115v/24v charger will power that and still have 15 amps to charge the battery so the inverter can spill that over to the grid. When I do run the genny I run aa 650 watt heater in the glycol still to recover methanol. I still make biodiesel to start the genny run the truck and heat the house and greenhouse. I start the genny on biodiesel and shift to WVO when hot, I also purge the heavier oil out of fuel system before shut down.
All this and the genny can provide back up to solar & wind when the grid goes down. The fish pumps will have power whatever happens.
This is a "WhisperGen" commonly used as rental equipment or at construction sites. I bought it from a fencing contractor with only 4900 hours on it. New it runs about $20K, I paid $5K.

My nephew, a tug captain got 3 small diesel gensets from a tug that was scrapped out. They are like 12 or 15 kw - 3phase. He was willing to give me one but because it was three phase I didn't think I could use it. They are just sitting in the weeds at our deer camp.