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This Iconica hybrid grid-tie/off-grid 5500W 48V inverter with battery back up capability is a revolutionary grid-tie inverter which combines standard “feed-to-the-grid” solar functionality with a strong off-grid platform; transforming this inverter into a fully autonomous power station. While basic grid-tie inverters simply feed solar power automatically into the electrical grid, depleting your stores of solar energy, this hybrid Iconica grid tie/off-grid inverter encourages self-consumption of solar energy by keeping it stored in the battery bank and making it available now or for future use. In case of mains power failure, or when mains electricity is too expensive or impractical to use (e.g. due to poor quality of power), you can fully rely on the off-grid functionality of this inverter to provide you with a clean, stable and independent electricity supply.
The inverter features three main operating modes:
- Grid-tie operation:
Energy generated by the solar panels is fed back to the grid.
- Grid-tie operation with Battery back-up:
Generated solar power can be used to feed energy back to the grid, supply power to the load and charge the battery. Mains electricity can also be used to power the load and charge the battery. In this mode, the user can configure PV energy supply priority, charging source priority and load supply source priority. When solar power is not sufficient to power the load, or if mains power is unavailable, the battery will act as a ‘back up’ and continue to power the load (e.g. at night when there is no solar power or during a mains power cut). ‘Peak’ and ‘Off-peak’ times for electricity demand can also be set, in order to prioritise either load power supply or battery charging. - Off-grid operation:
Energy generated by the solar panels can be used to power the load or charge the battery. No power is fed back to the grid, however there is still the option to draw power from mains to power the load / charge the battery if needed. In this mode, the user can configure PV energy supply priority, charging source priority and load supply source priority.
Using the ‘grid-tie + off-grid back-up’ mode, this inverter provides numerous advantages over standard grid tie inverters, such as:
– Undisrupted operation during power outages: During interruptions to the grid power supply, standard grid-tie inverters will turn off completely; leaving the user without electricity until power is restored and wasting valuable solar energy as the panels are rendered useless. To completely avoid this problem, this inverter will use stored battery power to create an uninterrupted power supply (UPS), keeping appliances running and continuing to harvest energy from the solar panels.
– Lower electricity costs: With a rise in electricity prices and a fall in / removal of subsidies for grid-fed power, the importance of maximising self-consumption is stronger than ever before. This grid-tie + back-up feature encourages self-consumption by keeping a large amount of power ‘in-house’ and only feeding back to the grid when there is excess solar energy. This captures as much solar energy as possible for your own use during costly periods – e.g. for economy 7 tariffs this energy can be utilised during ‘peak’ hours when electricity costs surge, meaning that power is only drawn from the grid during ‘off-peak’ times if needed (please read the below section on the energy meter application).
Additional intelligent features:
The Iconica 5500W 48V hybrid grid-tie inverter boasts an abundance of unique features, providing enhanced functionality over other grid-tie, battery back-up and off-grid inverters. These include:
– 3-in-1 hybrid functionality: Intelligent combination of a pure sine wave inverter with a strong peak power handling capability of up to 11000VA to start powerful appliances, an MPPT solar converter / charge controller with two inbuilt 500V MPP trackers for up to 6500W solar input from either one or two separate solar arrays at up to 98% efficiency, and an enhanced 60A smart mains charger designed to enable safe, efficient and fast unattended charging of a battery from a mains power source (utility power or a generator) – with full overcharge protection and multiple charging stages.
– A range of highly customisable settings: The parameters for this inverter can be personalised to an exceptionally specific degree via the user-friendly interface. At the touch of a button, the user can customise parameters such as the AC input range, battery type, max charging current, max grid feed-in power, specific high/low voltage disconnect points (and preferred charging source upon reconnection), the duration and voltage of each charging stage, auto-restart options, overload bypass, battery equalization stage characteristics and so on. The inverter is also supplied with a PC connection cable and PC software CD for convenient viewing of important system information, such as: solar/ battery/ AC voltage, charging current, battery capacity etc. Detailed data logs are also available to view and export to PDF/ Excel formats.
– Advanced communication options: This inverter also has the potential to send data to an online user portal using a Wi-Fi connection kit (sold separately). By connecting via this method, the user will unlock access to exclusive features such as email status updates for the inverter, remote system monitoring from any location and much more.
– Energy meter application: The inverter can be easily integrated into an existing household system by simply inserting the Modbus card (sold separately) into the intelligent slot to enable communication with the energy meter (sold separately) via the RS-485 connection. This is used to set up the self-consumption function to control the power generation and battery charging of the inverter.
– Output source priority: This intelligent feature allows the user to set output source preferences (solar/ battery power/ mains input or a generator) for the AC load output of the inverter. This menu includes several options for varying conditions and scenarios, e.g. which source of energy is given priority for the AC output if solar power is insufficient/ if battery voltage is too low/ if mains is unavailable, etc.
– Battery charging priority: A wide selection of battery charging priority options are available. For instance, the user can choose to charge the battery using solar power only/ using a combination of solar power and mains power/ from mains power only etc.
– Illuminated LCD screen: Displays vital statistics which are easily changeable by use of the up/down keys. This information includes: operation mode, grid-tie status, charging source priority, output source priority, input/output voltage, frequency, battery voltage, load power and percentages, charge and discharge current, fault indicators etc.
Compatibility:
This hybrid inverter is suitable for 48V flooded and sealed GEL/AGM lead-acid as well as Lithium batteries, with pre-defined charging programs for each type. A user-defined battery type with numerous customisable settings is also available for charging other lead acid batteries.
