Backup Power Solution

[PeterC]

Hi

I have just had the installation of a Sunverge system.

My question relates to the battery backup solution.

It is connected to the back half of the house which includes the kitchen.

My understanding is that if grid connection is lost due to a blackout the circuits connected to the backup system will continued to be supplied from the battery.

When the grid supply is returned the grid or battery will continue to supply the circuits.

A problem will occur, if while the grid is disconnected, the battery supply is low and the supply is stopped due to lack of power.

In this circumstance, it requires the customer to switch the bypass switch manually, wait for a charge in the battery then manually switch back, else power will not be supplied to the backup circuits.

If I were away and a blackout occurs and the battery becomes flat power will not be restored to the kitchen until I return home and throw the switch.

All contents of the fridge will be lost.

[NathanB]

Hey @PeterC

Feel free to send me a private message and I can follow up with our specalists and get you some answers.

[Rob]

Mmm, sending responses as private messages seem to be the standard response from AGL.  
Its all very well that PeterC gets an answer (and I hope you do Peter), but what about every other VPP owner who will no doubt want to know the answer to this (and other questions posted elsewhere that have been responded to privately).

Yes, I know there will be instances where info to be exchaged that has personal details - I get that.  But for general quiries, private messaging sort of defeats the whole 'Community' premise of this forum!

[NathanB]

Hi @Rob

I understand your point and I was just about to pop the information here for the public to see. The reason I tend to request a private message first is just in case it requires private information to go back and forth. It's a matter of security which we take seriously. You're right though, so here's the information I provided.

When you switch the battery into bypass, it won't start charging the battery, it will give those blackout protected circuits power purely from the gid.

If for example, you have a battery backup protected circuit and there is a blackout, the battery will continue to power the protected circuits until there is no charge in the battery - then there will be no power to the home until the grid is back online.

The inverter of your solar PV system needs grid power to turn DC power into usable AC power - in the event of a blackout the inverter would not work, so the battery would not get any charge.

So in summary, you're correct, if your fridge is on a black out protected circuit and the grid goes out, you would likely lose the contents of the fridge on the battery has drained if you're away for an extended period if time. 

The bypass switch would be switched if the battery began experiencing a fault and stopped supplying power to the home - at this stage you would need to bypass the battery.

[Rob]

Just noted AGLs reply (thanks for that), however I had a power outage recently and noted the following.  The battery was flat and so there was no power in the house.  When the mains power returned about an hour later, the non-battery circuits got power back immediately, with the battery backup circuits getting power (without my intervention) about 20 seconds later.
Therefore it would seem that you do not need to worry about loosing the content of the fridge.

Hope this helps

Rob

[PeterC]

Thanks Rob

It is always good to hear from those who have experienced the situation.

I have had some brown outs where the power goes of for 5 seconds and the protected circuits do not notice the loss of power at all. Like a UPS.

Peter