Xantrex (Heart industries) inverter/charger for grid tie?

[bschwartz]

I just picked up a 10 yr old Heart Industries (now Xantrex owned) Freedom 20 inverter/charger at an auction for $25.   It is a 2000W 12V DC to 120V AC inverter with a built in 3 stage 100A 12 DC charger.
Although not efficient, I was wondering if I could power it from the 120V from the listeroid, and hook up the charging side (12V) to a 12V grid tied inverter?  Lots of losses from 120V to 12V back to 120V, but it seems like a simple way to run the meter backwards using free fuel (WVO).
Would this work?  Will I need a battery bank as a buffer of sorts to go from the charging output to a grid tie inverter?
Any thoughts are greatly appreciated.

[mike90045]

I think you will need some sort of battery as a buffer, if you switch something ON that has a brief surge, the charger part will NOT able to supply it, and you will get a brownout, or burn out.

[bschwartz]

Got in one of the cheap ebay micro grid tie inverters listed as 12v 250W.  They LIE!! They are rated at 14v - 28v.  Even with 100 amps at 13.5v, the little inverter didn't put our squat!  Unless I come across a cheap 12v grid tie inverter, I'll need to go 24v or 48v.  They seem much more common.  Well although a failed experiment, it didn't cost too much to try and I now know one more thing that wont work.

[mike90045]

Got in one of the cheap ebay micro grid tie inverters listed as 12v 250W.  They LIE!! They are rated at 14v - 28v.  Even with 100 amps at 13.5v, the little inverter didn't put our squat!  Unless I come across a cheap 12v grid tie inverter, I'll need to go 24v or 48v.  They seem much more common.  Well although a failed experiment, it didn't cost too much to try and I now know one more thing that wont work.

Grid-tie inverters (micro or 8KW) monitor the grid they are connected to, for 5 minutes, checking for stable power, before they will power up.  Any genset will NOT meet the purity requirements they are looking for.   They will only sync to a crystal controlled 60.00 Hz, voltage stable grid.

[bschwartz]

Mike, I'm on grid.  I want to use the genset to power the inverters to put back into the grid to offset my usage.  The cheapo inverter started working when I connected it to a 19v 33A power supply.  It just wont work off 12v like advertised.  According to the Kill-A-Watt 212 watts are flowing back into the grid on this arrangement (yep, kill-a-watts work backwards!!)  Proof of it working is my meter turning backwards (slooooly, but turning).  Looks like the Xantrex inverter being 12v will have to get used in another project.