Hi. I am designing a system whereby I have an array connected to a charger controller feeding a battery bank, the battery bank is feeding a grid tied inverter. Does anyone know if there are inverters out there that can charge the batteries from the grid during the night time?

 

... are inverters out there that can charge the batteries from the grid during the night time?

It's not called an inverter, it's called a battery charger. For any more detail than that, you need to provide details about your battery system.

 

Hi. I am assuming you mean a charger connected directly to the batteries assisting the system. I still want an inverter as I will be powering AC loads hence why I was looking for an inverter that could charge the batterys using the grid when the sun had gone down ( and therefore batterys would have stopped charging from the array).

In short I am designing a Grid Connected System with Battery Backup and was wondering if I could get an inverter with the above capability....

 

If you have the grid available then why the batteries?

 

Usually if the system is tied to the grid there are no batteries involved. You put watts into the grid during the day and take them back out at night. The grid is like a perfect, 100% efficient, battery.

Also, grid tied inverters are installed by licensed contractors and inspected by both the local power company and city before they can be switched on. Grid tied is not a DIY type of thing because you can cause serious harm to people (power company workers, firefighters, etc.) if everything doesn't work right or isn't labeled correctly.

 

In short I am designing a Grid Connected System with Battery Backup and was wondering if I could get an inverter with the above capability....

I don't know the market and can't recommend an "all-in-one" device that does both functions. IMHO a better strategy would be to separate the inverter and battery charging functions, so that you have more options for both. I understand that getting everything to play nice together (switch on and off at the right times) could be challenging compared to an off-the-shelf solution.

 

There are large hybrid systems for battery backup and grid-tie.
http://www.solarpanelstore.com/pdf/XW_Charger_Operation-Guide.pdf
Not a cheap option but lots of people use them in whole-house systems.

 

I am in the PV business and design grid tied systems therefore I know about those types of systems and I know about the grid, but as not everyone may know in some countries the grid is temperamental and therefore batteries are required in a system for storage when the grid goes down. If anyone knows of a brand/type of inverter which they would recommend for this type of system please let me know.