Looking for a good 24V 3000W Inverter/Charger for Offgrid Solar System?

[Bozant]

Still working on putting together 1800 -- 2400W of offgrid solar. Want to use LiFePO4 batteries. I am new at this; have a lot of questions; trying to learn fast. Any help I can get is super.

I was going to buy all Victron components and Battle Born batteries but don

[Bozant]

...don't have windows based PC which seems to be the only way to configure their MultiPlus inverters chargers. Any suggestions for a good alternative? Thanks!

[J.P.M.]

...don't have windows based PC which seems to be the only way to configure their MultiPlus inverters chargers. Any suggestions for a good alternative? Thanks!

One sort of no brainer alternative is to get a widow based PC.

[Bozant]

Lol

[Bozant]

One sort of no brainer alternative is to get a widow based PC.

Did consider that but dismissed it because I thought it would add to the cost too much not realizing how low the price of a windows laptop these days is. I can get one for less then $200.
So now l'm looking for a good cheap laptop, windows based, of course.

[NochiLife]

One inverter I can suggest is the Mean Well TS-3000. I personally used a TS-3000-148F, and was relatively pleased with it (only sold it because I was using lead-acid batteries at the time, and it would go into overvoltage shutdown @ 58v). Actually fairly cheap, and probably about as good as a high-frequency inverter could be. Comes from a name-brand company (that most here have probably never heard of; sorry if I ruffle any feathers!), with a three-year warranty. I was able to run a small window A/C with it, run an electric stapler, circular saws, etc. It was just a smidge weaker than the grid. (It couldn't start a large window A/C unit, though.)

Now, if only I'd gone to LiFePo4 before selling the Mean Well, and replacing it with a Chinese junker ...that can't run a stapler, can't run ANY A/C, barely starts a circular saw, and seriously complains if I try to run two appliances. Thing is, the Chinese inverter has the ABILITY to supply 3,000W (verified with two space heaters), it just has a major flaw with the output drivers that causes it to choke with inductive loads. I'll try to fix it--and I'll either fix it, or blow it up .

The Mean Well TS-3000 also has an automatic changeover from grid power (if available). Mean Well also offers the TN-3000 series that also has a "solar charger" as well as a grid-powered battery charger; however, I don't recommend it, as the solar charger appears to be simply a relay--not even a PWM system. Definitely not an MPPT. ($662 @ Amazon.)

The TS-3000 comes in 12, 24, and 48v versions. Once again, the software is Windows only--but there is a very high chance you would be able to run configuration software in Wine (Mac/Linux). It can also be configured from the front panel with a button.
The 24v version is only $630 at Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/MEAN-WELL-TS-.../dp/B008X7HRPS

CAVEAT: Keep in mind that if you're planning expand and upgrade in the future, you might be better off with the more expensive Victron, which can be daisy-chained in multiple configurations. The Mean Well is not expandable. Just my 2 cents.

[Xplode]

I've been having good success with the AIMScorp low frequency inverters. I've got 2000 and 3000w units running with no issues. They are big and heavy with a physical transformer inside it.

The idle losses are a bit high on the 3000W but even my 2000W will run my fridge and a saw and lights and not break a sweat. (Properly capable of overload as well).

Built in charger seems to work well also.

[Bozant]

Interesting!

After giving up on Renogy (their products and otherwise) l was looking at Aims components; their charge controllers, their lithium batteries and inverter chargers but somehow got diverted to Victron and BattleBorn. Wondering what's a better choice? Aims is a bit less expensive, good tech support (Victron has none) and you don't have to buy a windows based laptop to configure and monitor Victron Inverter Charger.

What do you solar experts on this forum think about other Aims Power products; their lithium batteries etc.?

[Xplode]

The AIMS units aren't super configurable. There's a set of dip switches for choosing between a few low voltage cutoff settings, and whether the unit operates more as a power backup, or as primary source. It does support equalize charging via a selector on the front. Instruction booklet is fairly clear and outlines it all if you want to see.

I'm not sure of the victron options to do a comparison. I opted for AIMs due to the lower cost when compared to other units of similar capacity that included a charger. I also needed to run a fridge on my first install, so the low frequency units being very capable of 6000W surge for several seconds meant i had no issues with startup. Haven't seen a lot of other companies that post actual numbers for how many seconds you can surge at 2x and 3x rated output.

Been running my first one for almost a year now and the other two for several months. Seem to be working well.

Aims also does have good support. I didn't want to buy the LCD control panel so I emailed and asked for the pinout on their control port, as well as the communication protocol for the rs232 port and they sent me details on both.

[NochiLife]

Aims also does have good support. I didn't want to buy the LCD control panel so I emailed and asked for the pinout on their control port, as well as the communication protocol for the rs232 port and they sent me details on both.

Wow, that's very personable! I was able to reverse-engineer the RS-232 communication protocol on the Mean Well TS-3000 (after they told me that they could not provide the spec)...and then contacted them again to let them know of a serious security issue with the protocol. That's when they finally sent me the official communication spec, but it wasn't anything new to me anyway by that point.

[Xplode]

It's annoying when companies won't send out basic details like that. It's not encrypted, is not like we can't reverse engineer it. Lol

One of the reasons I like EPEver as well. They're not top tier controllers by any means, but they did send me a color document with commented screen caps and call/response examples for their modbus scheme. Almost the full list of addresses as well. Very VERY useful and well put together documentation, especially for an non English overseas manufacturer. So I was able to build my own SD/cellular data logger.

[NochiLife]

Similar for Morningstar. They give free PDF downloads of the full MODBUS spec communications for all of their PWM and MPPT controllers. I mean, you don't even have to ask for it--they're just downloads on the product page. As a bonus, their Tristar MPPTs don't have any fans.

[solardreamer]

I was able to reverse-engineer the RS-232 communication protocol on the Mean Well TS-3000 (after they told me that they could not provide the spec)...and then contacted them again to let them know of a serious security issue with the protocol. That's when they finally sent me the official communication spec, but it wasn't anything new to me anyway by that point.

It looks like a nice inverter. Can you share the RS232 info?

[NochiLife]

Attached is the "official" MeanWell RS-232 specification document. Was trying to get it into PDF, but OpenOffice crashes every single time, AND the original DOC file is over the 145kb limit for forum attachments...so it's in ODT (Openoffice Document Format)...BUT the forum won't allow uploading a file with the proper ODT extension, so the file has a "DOC" extension just so I can attach it....

The "serious security issue" that I discovered was that if you send the "W" character (write config) immediately followed by a carriage return, it'll zero out the MeanWell's config string--and then the inverter becomes a useless brick. You have to know the original data to write back in order to get it to boot up! (I do have screenshots of the string at least from the TS-3000-148 that I had.)


Worth noting that I moved on from the chintzy Chinese HF junk inverter to a Power Jack (yeah, you can laugh at me!), only to get far further into inverter design than I ever expected...and now have pretty much completely designed a new inverter altogether, the Genetry Solar inverter. https://www.genetrysolar.com/gs-inve...inverter-b4w3h
While the GS inverters don't currently have a hardwire comm port on them, it can be added at a later date...that is, once I get the little adapter addon boards ordered (except for a chassis connector mounting hole!) You can currently access/control them via local network (WIFI), or remote server (MQTT). I like settings--and the inverters are chock full of them!
Best part? No load current is less than the Mean Well TS-3000 (48v @ 0.5A for a 6kw GS vs 48v @ 1.0A for the 3kw MW)...AND as they're an LF inverter design, they handle surge loads extremely well.

[solardreamer]

Attached is the "official" MeanWell RS-232 specification document. Was trying to get it into PDF, but OpenOffice crashes every single time, AND the original DOC file is over the 145kb limit for forum attachments...so it's in ODT (Openoffice Document Format)...BUT the forum won't allow uploading a file with the proper ODT extension, so the file has a "DOC" extension just so I can attach it....

The "serious security issue" that I discovered was that if you send the "W" character (write config) immediately followed by a carriage return, it'll zero out the MeanWell's config string--and then the inverter becomes a useless brick. You have to know the original data to write back in order to get it to boot up! (I do have screenshots of the string at least from the TS-3000-148 that I had.)

Thanks for the doc. It would be great if you could post the config string.

Worth noting that I moved on from the chintzy Chinese HF junk inverter to a Power Jack (yeah, you can laugh at me!), only to get far further into inverter design than I ever expected...and now have pretty much completely designed a new inverter altogether, the Genetry Solar inverter. https://www.genetrysolar.com/gs-inve...inverter-b4w3h
While the GS inverters don't currently have a hardwire comm port on them, it can be added at a later date...that is, once I get the little adapter addon boards ordered (except for a chassis connector mounting hole!) You can currently access/control them via local network (WIFI), or remote server (MQTT). I like settings--and the inverters are chock full of them!
Best part? No load current is less than the Mean Well TS-3000 (48v @ 0.5A for a 6kw GS vs 48v @ 1.0A for the 3kw MW)...AND as they're an LF inverter design, they handle surge loads extremely well.

Going from Mean Well to Power Jack seems like quite a few steps down. I am guess you really wanted surge power but went with HF inverter for cost reasons which is ultimately a losing proposition. If weight wasn't an issue I would also go with LF inverters. I only have experience with Mean Well power supplies which has been good. The TN/TS inverters look to be better/more reliable than the typical HF inverters (Chinese and non-Chinese) that are little time bombs by design.

I have seen a few of the GS inverter videos. Assuming you are the one doing the testing in the explosion videos, it's quite impressive what you have done. You should have started from scratch from the beginning then trying to fix Power Jack designs. It's great that you are offering nice alternatives between the junk LF inverters and the Cadillac LF inverters. It's interesting to see big central A/C's running off-grid but I do wonder if that's really a common scenario for full time off-grid people. I would be interested if you ever make an HF inverter.