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About inverters.....hoping you can advance my education!
Q: if you are running a grid feed system with say 30 x 180 watt panels are you saying you are better off having 2 smaller inverters rather than one large one?
Any thoughts on transformerless inverters (told they are more efficient, our situation is a 60 metre run back to the metre box) and the advantages of MPPT (as in say SMA5000TL)
Smile - be happy - life is too short
Tinker Guru Joined: 07/11/2007 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1904
Posted: 02:06pm 23 Feb 2010
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Message removed due not being relevant.
Happy now?Edited by Tinker 2010-02-25Klaus
GWatPE Senior Member Joined: 01/09/2006 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2127
Posted: 09:53pm 23 Feb 2010
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Hi Tinker,
I believe the discussion is aimed at Grid Connected Inverters.
Gordon.become more energy aware
Jarbar Senior Member Joined: 03/02/2008 Location: AustraliaPosts: 224
Posted: 05:25am 24 Feb 2010
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Hi all,
I have been offered a 3Kw 18 x 170w panel system with an Aerosharp inverter also rated at 3 Kw.
It now appears supply of this inverted will be delayed until after the 8k rebate installation date.So have been offered a Fronius IG30 instead for the same price.Rated at 2.6 Kw would this be the best way to go.I offered to pay extra for an IG40 but they are also out of stock.
Their last option was to install the system with the IG30 and change over later to the Aerosharp.Rebate runs out on April 10.
Any input welcomed.
Anthony.Edited by Jarbar 2010-02-25"Creativity is detirmined by the way you hold your tounge".My Father
"Your generation will have to correct the problems made by mine".My Grandfather.
neil0mac Senior Member Joined: 26/12/2009 Location: AustraliaPosts: 210
Posted: 11:14am 24 Feb 2010
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I think that Country Energy (NSW) will only allow one inverter.
Check with them.
KarlJ Guru Joined: 19/05/2008 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1178
Posted: 12:10pm 24 Feb 2010
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get something now!
whatever it is sure as hell the $8K will run out and you're up the creek without a paddle.
get em to swap it later
KarlEdited by KarlJ 2010-02-25Luck favours the well prepared
wondering if anyone would give their thoughts on the benefits/differences between these 2 SMA inverters
* the 5000TL-20 with the more information digital readout and dual MPPT (which will handle 30x180watt)
* SMC6000TL will (take 36 x 180watt panels)
oh Country energy says you can have 2 inverters so long as you do not exceed 10Kws - it seems that it may be the more expensive way to go tho.Smile - be happy - life is too short
neil0mac Senior Member Joined: 26/12/2009 Location: AustraliaPosts: 210
Posted: 02:27am 25 Feb 2010
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chookie,
'umble pie eating time! Country Energy are only concerned with the gross metering (max of 10KW.)
On the other score, from what I am told by the guys at Labtronics the 'more fancy' inverters have capacitors etc. (as noted by other posters here) that burn out at 'about five' years, requiring a service call etc.).
Of course they would say that. Why? Because they don't run their inverters a high voltages (Max. of 200V) and don't use such bits of circuitry.
As you may be aware, their 3KW inverter can be bought for as little as $2390 if you shop around.
GWatPE Senior Member Joined: 01/09/2006 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2127
Posted: 04:14am 25 Feb 2010
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The latest PVE1200 has additional caps. It is now fully populated on the board. This will reduce the AC ripple each cap is subjected to.
Gordon.
become more energy aware
neil0mac Senior Member Joined: 26/12/2009 Location: AustraliaPosts: 210
Posted: 11:08am 25 Feb 2010
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Any similar news on the PVE2500?
Jarbar Senior Member Joined: 03/02/2008 Location: AustraliaPosts: 224
Posted: 11:04pm 25 Feb 2010
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Karl,that's what were doing.
Anthony."Creativity is detirmined by the way you hold your tounge".My Father
"Your generation will have to correct the problems made by mine".My Grandfather.
KarlJ Guru Joined: 19/05/2008 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1178
Posted: 12:10pm 26 Feb 2010
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the Sunny boys are Expensive pieces of kit and NO-ONE is discounting them as basically there are none to sell, they are all spoken for by the major installers.
Consider shading CAREFULLY... the Latronics as it has a relatively low input voltage the panels can be series/ parallelled with each parallel string with a blocking diode.
Inverters that only run one string for say more than 2KW
are asking for reduced output due to shading.
EG 9 panels in one string is quite common. 1 panel is shaded the whole string goes down.
8 panels in 2 strings may work better than the 9 panels depending on shading conditions.Luck favours the well prepared
GWatPE Senior Member Joined: 01/09/2006 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2127
Posted: 02:01pm 26 Feb 2010
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The solar rebate scheme in AUS has many criteria, including shading, orientation of panels away from north/south etc. At least at installation, the site should be optimum. Trees do grow, and neighbors do build extensions, but panels would normally be placed optimally at install.
Gordon.
PS: the solar cell equalizer I made for a solar car in 1993, had electronic components, that redistributed the panel power to give a reduced current, but maintained the panel voltage during shading of cells. Effectively only the %shading was lost in the output power. This worked on a panel consisting of 512 seriesed cells.
become more energy aware
Downwind Guru Joined: 09/09/2009 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2333
Posted: 02:42pm 26 Feb 2010
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[quote] 512 seriesed cells [/quote]
You would want a new soldering iron after that job ??
Shading is why i think trackers are well worth while.
25% more output for a bit of tinkering is worth while in my book.
From what i am told some commercial panels have that function built in for shading.
There is a lot of minor differences between different panels and it can make a big difference by the end of the day in less than optium conditions.
Pete.
Edited by Downwind 2010-02-28Sometimes it just works
GWatPE Senior Member Joined: 01/09/2006 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2127
Posted: 12:50am 27 Feb 2010
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The normal multi cell mono crystalline/polycrystalline panels have just a diode across blocks of cells. Amorphous have bypass diodes designed into the panel. The array output voltage drops proportional to the number of panel sections shaded. Most GTI will work with the reduced voltage, but diodes do not redistribute the energy, or maintain the output voltage.
The problems really become obvious with parallel strings, and shading of different strings. These shaded strings, effectively produce no power, as the voltage could be much below the MaximumPowerPoint as seen from the fully exposed panels.
Shading usually occurs at times when the sun is at a low angle, and the incident power is low, so does not contribute much to a lower energy harvest.
The clouds make more of a dent in the power harvested, even though at times reflected light from the clouds can increase the peak power by a factor of 1.5. Possibly a reason for failure of GTI's.
Gordon.
Edited by GWatPE 2010-02-28become more energy aware
neil0mac Senior Member Joined: 26/12/2009 Location: AustraliaPosts: 210
Posted: 02:20am 27 Feb 2010
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Thanks for that bit of info!
That increases my determination to build a tracker that monitors the OUTPUT from the inverter, and rotate the array to reduce its exposure to 'too much' light.Edited by neil0mac 2010-02-28
KarlJ Guru Joined: 19/05/2008 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1178
Posted: 04:36am 27 Feb 2010
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good luck with that!
sounds complicated!Luck favours the well prepared
Notice. New forum software under development. It's going to miss a few functions and look a bit ugly for a while, but I'm working on it full time now as the old forum was too unstable. Couple days, all good. If you notice any issues, please contact me.
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