Upgrading Gen1 or adding a second inverter?

I have

• HY5 Gen1 inverter
• 3 x 8.2kw batteries
• nominal 8.5kw solar panels (mostly east facing and shallow pitch - so not optimal)
• ASHP
• EV
• EPS on manual changeover for whole home ex-ASHP

I'm considering some sort of upgrade of the inverter with objectives of

• increasing potential draw via EPS during power cut (not frequent - but useful)
• filling batteries faster when sun shines (maximising own use of solar)
• increasing potential draw from batteries in normal times

Questions:

1. Technically is it practical/easy to add a Gen2 Hy5 inverter as well? or is that not possible?

2. Would that enable max battery fill and discharge?

3. in my scenario would I connect one battery to Gen1 and 2 batteries to Gen2? or?

4. If I upgraded the current Gen1 to Gen2 is there any suggested upgrade route?

5. trade in?

6. sell Gen1 on ebay?!

would be grateful for any pointers or issues that should be considered before I take it further

Hmm no idea if you can mix Gen 1 and Gen 2. I guess you should be able to?

Few things I can mention

1 big issues having multiple inverters. Data logging goes haywire. 1 battery can start charging the other battery etc. New EMS device is meant to fix this

2 EPS, when you say whole home change over, the EPS's do not stack. You will still be limited by the EPS output on your current Gen 1. Unless your installer separate's out the circuits in your home and place different circuits on different EPS's.

3 you could fill the batteries faster. 6.2kw an hour? (from memory, not looked at the spec sheets). I think it would be 1 of your 8.2's left on you gen 1 inverter and the other 2 on the gen 2 as it is faster charge/discharge.

4 no trade in plan that I know. Would be great if there was!

THALL thanks! i will continue to investigate options - there is no immediate need to rush but seems a "nice to have" especially as a second inverter or upgrade would not be a huge expense against all the other investment in solar, batteries, ashp etc.

useful clarification on the data logging & EPS - I guess if I move to 2 inverters I can put the Gen2 with 2 batteries on the manual changeover (instead of Gen1) gaining extra output with 3.6kwh vs 2.6kwh on Gen1. However as that reduces my capacity to just the 2 batteries the benefit is clearly impacted.

sounds like my best bet is to swap the Gen1 to Gen2 (rather than dual inverters). But may make sense to wait a bit longer - perhaps Gen3 is not tooooo far away? Maybe that will help charge batteries faster as well as allow a bigger draw for home use and EPS? 5kwh would be ideal!

Tim Adams The EPS was due Q2 but sounds like this has been delayed while they workout some firmware bugs. As soon as I know it is on its way I will be ordering a second AC3 and the EMS. My installer can't wait for this either, I think mainly so I will stop chasing him :-)

Dual Gen2's would be a good bet. Faster charging all round, higher discharge etc.

But I would suggest waiting for the EMS. Some people are running dual without issues, some need a restart maybe weekly or less and some are restarting daily. Its just hassle I don't want.

THALL really helpful to know - (I assume typo "The EPS was due Q2" = The EMS was due Q2).

Is much known about the EMS plans? e.g. I assume its a bit of kit with software that needs installation? any indication of cost and main features? Will it be necessary to get installer out or can be self installed by an electrician or competent person etc?

Tim Adams Yes sorry, EMS.

Yes it is a separate device which I assume will take over the built in EMS on the inverters. Cost, no idea I have been told "not much" but I think it should be free for existing GE customers. I think an electrician will be needed, but can not say for sure as no information is available.

THALL thanks! I will try to watch out for news on this as it sounds a very useful thing to have. Please post if/when you hear more!

Tim Adams is it practical/easy to add a Gen2 Hy5 inverter as well? or is that not possible?

There’s no issues adding a second hybrid but I guess you’d want to have half your PV on each. An AC-coupled might make more sense, not sure about the cost difference.

Mulitiple hybrids work perfectly fine together, or at least ours do. I’d expect a single AC-coupled to work just fine with a hybrid as plenty of people have that sort of setup; it’s just the multiple AC-coupled installed as a single plant where there’s “push me pull you” on the battery charging. A gen 2 hybrid would get you a higher charge/discharge current than the gen1 you currently have. Whether it’s worth it is up to how your sums work out but with multiple batteries already in service it might make financial sense.

I had exactly the same dilemma, and ended up upgrading the gen1 to a gen2 inverter. our installer recommended this as the better option rather than running a gen1 and gen2 side by side.
So far it all seems ok, and we dont have to keep watching the meter any longer when using devices in the day as the gen2 handles 3.6kw discharge from battery now. It also charges at the 3.6kw rate as well.

pgbish The gen 2 does provide a higher charge/discharge than the gen1 but with three Batt8.2s, it would take a gen2 nearly 7 hours to charge all three from 0%. A second inverter (whether hybrid or AC-coupled) would reduce the charge time and increase the total power output to at least 5kW.

Just to say that I have 6kW PV 5kw gen 1 and one 8kw battery. I think this works well as a balanced system and don’t really want to alter it. Prices will go up and down for importing energy, but solar will be free forever, so I would rather have more solar panels as they are relatively cheap. I’m therefore considering a BLUETTI system as well to run my kitchen appliances and add all day charging for my EV when it’s outside the house. My logic is the 3kW inverter will take 2.4 kw of extra panels and has expandable storage up to 12kwh. This is not grid tied and self installed / upgradable. I may be mad…

Tim That's why I am on eco7, and also I get 15p/unit for any surplus. This, combined with my usages works best for me.