Off-Grid Setup - Without Home Integration and SunRun Discussion

[WaterWiz]

I wanted to create this thread for those interested in having backup power using the Lightning Extended Range without the Home Integration System. Disclaimer - I am not an engineer or professional electrician. I am a tinkerer and love learning new things. Consult a professional. I can be an idiot sometimes.

My Current Off Grid Setup
Technical -My Florida home has a ground-mounted 15kW solar panel array that feeds two split-phase LV6548V2 inverters (13kW output combined) with a 50kWh battery backup. I do not use net metering. (I don’t provide the grid; I put the excess in batteries)

Typically speaking, I have solar panels that, on a sunny day in Florida, create 70kWh of electricity.

What does that mean?
My home uses an average of 50kWh/day in power, and I generate 20kWh of excess power that I put in the batteries. The power does not go out because I technically don’t need the grid.
With no losses and using the Lightning ER battery, I have 131kWh of usable battery. I can power my house (no solar) for almost three days using the ER Lightning and the 30 amp plug in the truck bed alone.
The problem is when running the refrigerator, TV, internet, etc., and the air conditioner kicks on, I will trip the capacity of the 30-amp outlet.

With my solar setup, I don’t need to feed the house directly with the truck. My solar system can use a generator input to supplement power. This means the system will use all the direct solar power first. When I have everything running in the house, I need 9000 watts of power. When it is sunny, no problem. A cloud passes over my solar panel and drops to 2000 watts. This is when my batteries kick in and make up the difference. If I need a lot of power and it is cloudy all day, I will quickly use my battery reserves and reach the point where I need supplemental power. This is where I can run a generator, use grid power, or use the Lightning ER to supplement power.

I recommend watching DIY Solar Power with Will Prowse or Off-Grid Garage on YouTube to understand this better. Here is a video on the concept: . Spoiler: he had a bad experience with the truck.

Things I need to explore:
1. Can I use the power outlet and charge at the same time? Explanation: The truck discharges overnight to supply power to the house. I have the truck set to charge during the day (peak solar). The sun comes up and without disconnecting the bed outlet. Will the wall outlet charge the truck batteries?
2. Is there an issue with ProPower/Truck being “on” for days?
3. Is there a way to tap into the DC portion of the truck and have bi-directional power using a third-party inverter? Note the HIS setup seems way too limited for my application.
4. Upgrading my entire solar setup. No way to run the house and charge the truck after driving all day without using the grid.

Thoughts?

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[davehu]

interesting setup. I can only respond to your first question about charging and using simultaneously. Yes you can. day before yesterday I decided to try just that. the truck was plugged in from my FCSP. I turned pro power on and plugged my electric chainsaw in and proceeded to cut up some wood. worked just fine. I'll leave it to others to help you out on the other questions.

 

[ddimit]

He bought used, might have been a lemon law return. and the ground fault issue is a known thing. I think he unfairly bashed the truck and he we trying to do some things that it wasn't designed to do

 

[WaterWiz]

He bought used, might have been a lemon law return. and the ground fault issue is a known thing. I think he unfairly bashed the truck and he we trying to do some things that it wasn't designed to do

Please understand I did not link the video to bash on the truck. I linked the video to convey the concept. What I am discussing will, at best, resonate with maybe 2% of the people on this forum. I am a tinkerer, and as Will said in the video, this is about what we can do with this technology. I am trying to see if anyone else is doing what I am talking about and their experiences. Will and his audience are people who install their solar panels, build their solar batteries, do their wiring, etc. If this is not your idea of fun, this thread does not apply.

 

[v2h8484]

How big is your A/C in terms of LRA and FLA? Are you using a soft starter on it?

 

[WaterWiz]

I closely track my energy usage using Home and Solar Asssitant. My peak usage easily exceeds 11kW when using 40 amp charge setting on Tesla. I recently switched to the Emporia EV charger which adjusts EV charge output based on solar input. So to answer your question I was trying to keep setup simple. The truck can start the AC but there is no way iit will do 10K plus watts sustained.

Correct me if I am wrong the rear plug is 230V 30amp = 6,900 watts sustained max. I am sure it will handle surge to maybe 9,600 watts? Or is the 9,600 from the all the outlets combined? I never even tried to push it that hard

Solar Assistant and Energy Usage

 

[v2h8484]

So, you want to charge Tesla and run A/C at the same time while off grid? Doesn't seem very practical for extended usage even with a 50kWH battery bank. You can certainly charge the battery bank using the Lightning with a charger.

 

[cu2000]

You might find some benefit to installing a slow start device to your air conditioner

 

[cu2000]

The Truck can supply 9200 watts through the DC ports but requires the HIS system

 

[intensifi]

Fun stuff!

You can charge the truck and run 120/240 V outlets at the same time. I do not believe you can charge and pull power from the CCS connector at the same time without emulating the signaling used by the devices you are avoiding.

I am attempting to bypass the same devices by working with EnPhase to wire a Ford Charge Station Pro (FCSP) to provide power emulating one of their 5P batteries (no actual batteries in a 5P case) while also using their non-critical load panel to stop charging when pulling power from the truck battery. This of course requires their System Controller to orchestrate everything. The FCSP has different wires for J1772 charge and CCS backflow. I’m thinking it’s easier for EnPhase to integrate with the FCSP instead of the truck directly which requires Ford to comply with ISO protocols or open up their signaling spec.

If you just want to use the truck as a generator (240V outlet) the biggest issue is that it will need to be on all the time. You will also need to deal with bonded neutral on the Lightning 240V outlet.

 

[cowboys1870]

I wonder if you might be able to use a Wallbox or Emporia charger (both have load balancing options) to charge the truck only when the house batteries are full and sun is shining.

 

[nag_beer]

I closely track my energy usage using Home and Solar Asssitant. My peak usage easily exceeds 11kW when using 40 amp charge setting on Tesla. I recently switched to the Emporia EV charger which adjusts EV charge output based on solar input. So to answer your question I was trying to keep setup simple. The truck can start the AC but there is no way iit will do 10K plus watts sustained.

Correct me if I am wrong the rear plug is 230V 30amp = 6,900 watts sustained max. I am sure it will handle surge to maybe 9,600 watts? Or is the 9,600 from the all the outlets combined? I never even tried to push it that hard

Solar Assistant and Energy Usage

I also have solar/battery setup with Sol-ark 15k whole home inverter. I did setup my inverter generator input port to draw power from the 240V output of the truck in the bed. I setup sol-ark to limit the power draw to it’s rating but still ran into issues with ac compressor picking up where truck drops out on over load message. I had also same issue with a portable generator too where it drops out when 5 ton AC picksup (with soft start) even with peak load limit on Gen input. I think its some issue with sol-ark where it can’t really control it as AC power chooses small resistance path as it is not going through the inverter controls. I just bought EG4 chargeverter And tied it to the DC side of my sol-ark, tested this out with the truck/ portable generator and no issues and everything ran perfectly. You also don’t need worry about double neutral ground bond with this setup. You will be limited to 5KW draw from the truck and also will have little more losses in your system as you will have power drop in chargeverter and the inverter.

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