Looking for an inverter that will connect directly to breaker panel

[Eric Visser]

I am looking for a 2000W inverter (new/used, low cost of course ) that will hardwire directly to my off grid cabin circuit breaker panel.
Any installation tips and tricks are welcome of course.
I am also looking into how to provide adequate grounding for the cabin as there is no underground piping to connect like a normal house in the city.
Ideas?

thx

[Logan005]

If you are off grid, you can wire any junk inverter into your cabin wiring. First what are you running an inverter to power? is this a 12 volt system? and what do you have for batteries? I see you are a Junior member. I expect you have read the wiki's on the project at hand. I like the Outback line of inverters, they are expensive but as you know you get what you pay for. I have seen a few on fleabay used. maybe better cheaper unit's, I just prefer OB myself.

[Eric Visser]

I am running a one 260W panel, 10A charge controller, 12V battery bank (6-6V batteries), and would like to power hand tools up to skill saws, maybe my table saw. I was looking at a Go power 1500 high surge model (up to 3000W).
The reason I want an inverter that can be hardwired directly the the breaker box (like an Outback), is that I don't want to run jumpers from the inverter outlet plugs into the panel. It is neater and safer that way. I am looking for something in a better price range than the Outbacks. I will only use the cabin power 1-2 days per week, with lots of charging time in-between.

[littleharbor]

Get yourself a ground rod from your local big box store or maybe even hardware store. You also will need the proper clamp for connecting the ground cable to the rod and bare copper grounding cable. These are common items. If you are lucky the land your cabin is sitting on is not solid rock and you will be able to drive the ground rod in without too much trouble. Locate the rod outside the building as near as possible to the breaker panel.

[Logan005]

I have seen cheap Chinese models, but I would be very careful. Most cheap inverters allow your precious batteries to drain down to as low as 10 volts and sometimes only audible warning, no auto shutdown, consider a separate LVD, Low voltage disconnect. If you decide to paly with cheap junk. You will end up with an OB anyway, save yourself and just go ahead and get what you need.

[sensij]

Get yourself a ground rod from your local big box store or maybe even hardware store. You also will need the proper clamp for connecting the ground cable to the rod and bare copper grounding cable. These are common items. If you are lucky the land your cabin is sitting on is not solid rock and you will be able to drive the ground rod in without too much trouble. Locate the rod outside the building as near as possible to the breaker panel.

Around here, soil conductivity is poor enough that recommended practice is to sink and bond a pair of rods at least 6 ft apart. Google for some fun tricks to do this by hand with a little bit of water (YMMV, doesn't help much with rocks).

[Sunking]

I am also looking into how to provide adequate grounding for the cabin as there is no underground piping to connect like a normal house in the city.

Drive two ground rods and call it done. Ground has no function. FWIW your city water and gas utilities do not allow any electrical connections to their systems. Been that way for decades. To many plumbers, water/gas utility employees, and homeowners killed or injured. Your water and gas meters all have dielectric couplers to prevent you from connecting to their systems. Electric utilities forbid you from even touching their system. Ground does not do what you think it does. So drive two rods and call it done.

If you have commercial AC, use what your cabin used as a ground electrode, two ground rods and they were done.

[Eric Visser]

Thanks for the advice, the cabin is off-grid, so no utilities anywhere near.

[Mike90250]

If you are connecting a inverter to a regular electrical breaker panel, it must be a pure sine inverter. Mod sine inverters do not have a isolation transformer and you get bad things happening connecting mod sine to a proper breaker panel. (fire and melted inverter or battery is a bad thing)
There is also the L1 & L2 issue, To be proper, you can only connect to one of the breaker rails, leaving half the breakers unpowered. Has to do with the possibility of overloading the neutral return wire in the AC wires.
Basically, you are not an electrical worker, and will not understand the ramifications behind this advice, and should not be wiring stuff till you have a good understanding of the issues.

[Sunking]

Mod sine inverters do not have a isolation transformer and you get bad things happening connecting mod sine to a proper breaker panel. (fire and melted inverter or battery is a bad thing)
There is also the L1 & L2 issue, To be proper, you can only connect to one of the breaker rails, leaving half the breakers unpowered. Has to do with the possibility of overloading the neutral return wire in the AC wires..

Not many TSW Inverters have 240/120 transformers. Only 3 or 4 I know of made for combo Hybrid/Battery systems. But I agree with you, he has no biz trying to DIY. He is asking to burn his cabin down.

[Eric Visser]

"Basically, you are not an electrical worker, and will not understand the ramifications behind this advice, and should not be wiring stuff till you have a good understanding of the issues."
"But I agree with you, he has no biz trying to DIY. He is asking to burn his cabin down."

Both of these replies to my questions made some pretty broad assumptions about my capabilities. Yes I am a novice the Solar business, but I am quite a capable person. If you check out my original post I was looking for inverter type advice, and grounding advice. You will also see that I wrote that I DIDN'T want to run jumpers from the inverter outlets to the breaker box (as I have seen on some DIY vids), because of the fact that I want to do it right, through an external inverter output. I have hired an electrician to do the hookup, I just like to be educated about what I am working on.
Thanks for the advice

[inetdog]

Eric,

The ease and safety of hard wiring an inverter directly to your distribution panel depends strongly on whether the whole wiring system was designed from the start for 120V input only or designed for the 120/240V single phase three wire supplied by utilities in the US.
If the former, no problem. Except maybe that your electrician would have to open up the inverter to bypass the built-in receptacle, a technical violation of the electrical code.
Only the really large inverters for which a single receptacle could not handle the power are likely to already have a terminal strip in a junction box where the hard wiring connection can be made. But that has no effect on the safety of the hard wiring at the panel end.

The other main alternative is to use the receptacle output of the generator to feed a network of extension cords rather than using fixed building wiring at all. That is not acceptable under the NEC except for temporary wiring.

If you use a proper inlet device (male connector) at the panel, just as would be used for connecting a portable generator, then feeding your panel from an inverter with a receptacle output should be perfectly fine if done properly. Just wiring the end of an extension cord to the main lugs of the panel is indeed sad and I would not support that.