"Grid tied solar won't put power into the grid when the grid is down. It's the one reason I didn't grid tie."
Why would that prevent you from being grid-tie? I have 53 panels (~21kw) grid tied and pushing to the grid, but in the event of grid failure my panels will still operate and push into my 42kwh battery array which will power the entire house. ( The batteries take over as the 'virtual grid source). I can then augment the batteries with generator and run fully off grid for an extended amount of time ( weeks in my case ).
these are mutually exclusive. What you have is a hybrid system, which is something i explicitly did not mention. A grid-tie system is not generating an AC waveform when the grid is down, at all. it cannot, by definition, and by design, as the AC waveform requires the grid to synchronize to.
Why would that prevent you from being grid-tie? I have 53 panels (~21kw) grid tied and pushing to the grid, but in the event of grid failure my panels will still operate and push into my 42kwh battery array which will power the entire house. ( The batteries take over as the 'virtual grid source). I can then augment the batteries with generator and run fully off grid for an extended amount of time ( weeks in my case ).