I thought I would start a new thread after seeing a few videos. I currently am running that CTP-1000w 120 volt Hybrid for wind and solar. It draws no power at night. It charges the internal capacitors then puts watts into the grid. It will not lock on till at least 40 watts. If you disconnect it without shutting it off. Then plug it back in it will fry. Fans are really noisy on this unit. They run all the time at approx 200 watts. Update At 300 Watts the GTI Fried. So what is everyone else using and what do you have to share here?
Good idea Tom. There are not many places a person can go to get feedback on GTIs. I've had good luck with the Power Jack 300s and the Sun 250s with solar. They are essentially identical inside. See my vid. They do not draw power at night, and they start working and converting with only a few watts in. I don't recommend stacking them (putting 2 or more in parallel). See this vid and this vid. I use one per panel. That way its MPPT circuit can do its best. I've measured their efficiency at ~88%, which I think is OK given how cheap theses are. I bought all of mine used as I believe in keeping things in service if they still have life left in them. My costs is ~$50 each. I have 6 in service as shown in my latest tracker video. Five PJ300s and one Sun250. I've never blown one up or had any fail on me. I believe the internal microcontroller judges when to turn the fan on and off based on current flow, as I can't find a thermistor anywhere. Mine do not get all that hot, so I think they will last. It's best to keep the sun off of them.
Thanks I was also looking at the fan noise. The SunGs have one large fan. They are alot quieter I do not know about power jacks.
Hey Guy's Iwould like to chime in and say when i was running the Power Jacks and the Sun G's for solar i never had any problems with them. It is better to treat them like and Enphase micro inverter, one per panel or two at the most in paralle. I have had a power jack running my low volt panels for 3 years. Everyday all day running warm but never hot hot either. The only time i ever fried them was when they were hooked to a wind turbine. I have found for solar using the Enphase micro inverter for another $75.00 ($175 ea.) M215) is well woth it vs. the China inverters. The China inverters do give you the option with batteries and low volt panels where the Enphase inverters do not. I think the bottom line is like Minnesota posted, you just have to take care of the China small gti's and not force to much into them nor try to get more power out of them with alterations either internally or externally. That goes the same for the wind rated ones too.
My biggest panel is 135w. On one sunny day, I did tie 2 in parallel (270w) into one of these 250/300w GTIs as a test, and I don't think it got over about 180w total into the grid, where just one did over 100w that day if I recall correctly. I've not tested the "high-end" very much. I doubt either the PJ300 or SUN250 can operate at 250/300w continuously. Like Larry suggested, don't push it or you might be replacing them.
The only way i ever got the full rated watts out of them was to hook them to a battery bank. 10-30v GTI to a 12v bank and 22-60 500w toa a 24v bank. You better be dumping alot to see that. I use to hook them up to the banks and see if they indeed made the rated power. Doing it that way, yep they do. once i seen it i disconnected. LOL design your system so they receive about 60% of the rated power and they will love you long time.
Per TomT's request, here is the parallel panel test with th SunG 250 GTI: Tom http://www.youtube.com/user/Fearlessthinker
TomT ... one of my subscribers on YouTube wanted to know if a person would get more watts by connecting (2) 12V panels in series and using a 22-60w GTI vs independant 10-30V GTIs (one for wach panl). Are you able to run a test on that? I don't have a 22-60V GTI. It's a good question.
My GTIs are wind and two panels is series gave me about the same wattage. But I went back to parallel because with any shading the power dropped off alot more in series.
Hi guys, new to your site. Was just reading your posts and was wondering if this could be part of the less watts. I have 2 - 250 watt 30 volt panels connected in parallel that put out close to 350 watts going through a Sun 600 GTI. I took the panels out of parallel and ran only one panel throught the GTI and got around 238 watts. From this I figure I'm losing about 25% due to the panels being hooked in parallel. Anyone else had this happen from hooking panels in parallel? Great site you guys.
Yes, they don't combine well. I'm not sure why really. 238w to the grid with one 250w panel is hard to believe, though. That's >95% GTI efficiency assuming the panel was putting out a factory "perfect" 250w. That said, if you can afford 1 GTI per panel, and not undersize the GTI, then it works well. I have (3) identical 135w panels right next to each other, each on their own GTIs, and I am amazed how, at times, they put out power up +15% from each other. Most of the time they are within 5%, however. Welcome to the forum!
Minnesota, I'm sorry my post was a little incorrect. I meant to say I was getting 238 watts before the GFI. Thanks for the reply. Would like to go back to parallel and save on the cable cost but not with such a loss. Thanks again.
I will have to say that both my panels are on 15 ft 10 ga cables separately all the way to the GTI. Then they are connected in parallel.
Hello Tom, I must be losing power by combining the two in parallel on the roof than coming in to the GTI on single lines. Tom do you have some posts over in the wind section on your GTI that you have battery tied with 10,000 MFD capacitors? I have trouble with my wind GTI falling out and not producing a lot of watts. Thanks
I battery tied mine at 24 volts because of the big high wind gusts I get at my location some days. The 10.8-30 volt wind GTI never goes up to 24 volts except when the gusts hit with more than a 25 mph increase. The capacitors were added because the quick on and off of the GTI caused some noise in my turbine. They also slowed down the grid tie from dragging the turbine down so fast.
