With or without solar panels, the Vulcan system can operate as a partial home backup solution to automatically power selected loads during a power outage. With a solar power system, Vulcan can also be used to take excess energy stored from the solar panels to power loads during the evening hours when the panels are not operational.
Vulcan contains an AC transfer switch that operates at 30A and provides the automation necessary to place its stored energy into the house electrical wiring or to directly power appliances when grid power is lost. When grid power is restored, Vulcan will:
- Automatically switch back to the grid source (after 20 seconds to ensure the grid is stable)
- Pass grid power to your appliance or home circuits
- Start recharging its batteries from the grid AC source.
The figure above illustrates a partial home backup configuration using the Vulcan 8.6KWH system. This configuration uses a generator transfer switch that is wired into the house main breaker panel or subpanel. The generator transfer switch takes selected circuits for backup from the breaker panel and powers them from the grid, or from the Vulcan system. The generator transfer switch connects each of the selected house circuits to the Vulcan output, which is either grid energy when the grid is up or battery energy when the grid is down.
The Vulcan system will automatically switch the appropriate AC source to the generator transfer switch without manual intervention. In this use case, Vulcan is ‘plugged’ into the NEMA plugs at the breaker panel and into the generator transfer switch. The switching process is fully automatic and keeps the selected circuits up and running at all times.
