I have a hydro system with a 23kW Marathon 240VAC generator (8" pipe, about 200 or 250 ft drop), but it uses too much water when set to handle our peak loads(75A to 90A). With this year's low snow pack we are not going to make it at the present rate of water flow.
The present system has no batteries or inverter, and I am willing to add those. My preference is for inverters that can drain the batteries in sync with the running hydro for times of peak load, so that I can turn the Marathon down low (35A) and use the batteries for peaks. This should allow us to recharge the batteries with the "headroom" that we presently bleed off with water cooled resistors. If needed, though, I am also quite willing to consider a small DC generator to charge the batteries.
2 years ago I read a Xantrax manual and saw that it would do what I needed, but when I called them with technical questions the "engineer" said "Oh. Really? It will do that?" I kind of lost faith in their ability to help me.
My biggest concern is that the quality of the sine wave from the Marathon (not really that good) will prevent the inverter from assisting with the extra loads when needed.
Does anybody out there have useful advice?
Thanks much,
David
