Microinverters vs string inverters
I’m putting the ASHP on the back burner and looking at solar on a South West facing roof. I appreciate the benefits I.e. single point of failure and individual panels being optimised but for the additional cost wouldn’t it be better to upgrade from 340w panels to 400 watt panels which are half the cost of enphase microinverters.
I would welcome the views of those who have a single string inverter and microinverters in terms of your reasons for selection.
I didn't bother with micro and went with string. There is no shading on the roof and the price of micro Vs the percentage gain didn't make it worth it for us. Payback period was far too long
Not sure if this is specific to the string inverter used or more general to modern equipment but I found this interesting from NRG Solar in Australia
We have two string running to a Ginlong Model 8D inverter (which is quite old now) here you can see some shading and it's impact on generation... Exactly why I got the EmonPi to see what impact the winter shading was having on the generation. Don't know what a new inverter would do for us.
Someone tried to sell us a Solar Edge inverter without even looking at what we had... I was wanting to talk to them about a new ground mount system but never got a chance to even ask about that so sales lost out there...
@ken I've been looking into a string inverter for two new roof arrays with some slight intermittent shading. I also found this video to be really informative, and encouraging. I would like to avoid optimisers etc up on the roof if at all possible.
The video demo used a Fronius Primo inverter, which uses something called Dynamic Peak Manager. Looking it up it seems to be their version of Global MPPT.
I've been trying to establish how commonplace Global MPPT is in today's solar inverters, as it seems to be a notable benefit when operating a shaded string. For example, I contacted Givenergy about their inverters but the tech support team didn't have any information beyond their datasheet.
Any opinions at all would be greatly appreciated. 🙂
Mitsubishi Ecodan 11.2kW R32 ASHP; Ecodan DHW cylinder; UFH+rads
20x430W Jinko TOPCON Tiger Neo solar; Luxpower 6kW hybrid inverter; 10kWh LFP battery storage
That was a gret little demonstration is that vid.
I did a bit more searching to try and find out why that is and this vid came up and to me helped explain very clearly in pretty straight forward terms what is going on with shading
Assuming this is accurate, it seems the simplest summary (anyone feel free to correct me if I'm wrong!) is that optimisers and microinverters are great for maximising output when the shading is diffused and there is essentially still some light reaching all of the cells on the panel (distant tree or cloudy inclement weather) or there's a small shadow (e.g. cable across a panel), but when the shading is heavy and blocking out a cell or more, there's no real difference as was demonstrated in the NRG video.
I agree with your summary, which was very surprising to me as I was always under the impression that the heavier the shading the greater the case for microinverters/optimisers!
Posted by: @skd@ken I've been looking into a string inverter for two new roof arrays with some slight intermittent shading. I also found this video to be really informative, and encouraging. I would like to avoid optimisers etc up on the roof if at all possible.
The video demo used a Fronius Primo inverter, which uses something called Dynamic Peak Manager. Looking it up it seems to be their version of Global MPPT.
I've been trying to establish how commonplace Global MPPT is in today's solar inverters, as it seems to be a notable benefit when operating a shaded string. For example, I contacted Givenergy about their inverters but the tech support team didn't have any information beyond their datasheet.
Any opinions at all would be greatly appreciated. 🙂
@skd did you find any information on Global MPPT? I'm particularly interested in whether GivEnergy's inverters have it (not had a sensible answer from the Facebook GivEnergy forum ;-(
- 24 Forums
- 1,418 Topics
- 29.8 K Posts
- 30 Online
- 1,205 Members
Join Us!
Latest Posts
-
RE: Bivalent (or even trivalent!) system design options for a new GSHP installation
As it's DC, then it's already rectified 😉 So...
By Transparent , 48 mins ago
-
RE: Noise problems with newly installed Samsung 8kW ASHP
It sounds to me like there is both vibration and fan/co...
By Elton , 1 hour ago
-
RE: New Fogstar 15.5kWh upright solution
@robl I've added the screens. Li-Bms screen is accur...
By GGW , 2 hours ago
-
RE: No-code, plug-and-play monitoring for your heat pump
@editor We're still interested in getting a device out ...
By James Davidson , 6 hours ago
-
RE: SCOP and seasonal variations
I’ve had a long chat with Aaron from Homely Technical S...
By Toodles , 6 hours ago
-
RE: Is this a bad installation and is there something wrong with my Samsung heat pump?
Just an update on my install. They have been back and ...
By David999 , 8 hours ago
-
RE: Gas Combi to ASHP - Making sense of survey results and proposal.
Many thanks to everyone who has helped with advice and ...
By IRMartini , 13 hours ago
-
RE: What is Wrong with our Heat Pump Installation?
With BESS the ASHP is best. Charge battery for free fro...
By AllyFish , 14 hours ago
-
@hubb84 Try looking at powerflushassociation.com. They ...
By Toodles , 1 day ago
-
Central heating inhibitor with ASHPs
Have you seen the Heat Geek article and video?
By ChickenBig , 1 day ago
-
RE: Advice on potential HW Cylinder size
@jwilliams89 I would imagine that the MCS would insist ...
By bontwoody , 1 day ago
-
RE: Creating a second zone on Mitsubishi Ecodan ASHP
Had another go at this, the morning. With SW2-7 ON it ...
By BryanB , 2 days ago
-
RE: Samsung ASHP scheduling help
@morh Your post was music to my ears! I am getting a ...
By Elgreco69 , 2 days ago
-
RE: Issues with Vaillant connectivity via the MyCONNECT gateway
@drew-pa I have given up on the app - right now it is s...
By dr_dongle , 2 days ago
-
RE: ASHP Advice: High Temperature vs. Low Temperature Heat Pump For Microbore
Hi - we have a Daikin 16kW HT ASHP installed which was ...
By Marzipan71 , 2 days ago
-
RE: Question about Ecodan's Room Autoadapt mode
@gary Thanks. I'm emboldened to give it a go!
By afarmery , 3 days ago
-
RE: My ASHP is not performing as well as I’d hoped: COP just over 2
@toodles No. But I wasn't forced there either and The K...
By Morgan , 3 days ago
-
RE: Viessmann Vitocal 250-A in the UK
We have a 10Kw Viessmann 200A it SCOP is currently 5.2,...
By MikeF , 3 days ago
-
RE: Jokes and fun posts about heat pumps and renewables
Recent advances in AI are stunning. I enabled 'facial...
By Transparent , 4 days ago
-
RE: Maximising Savings: Navigating My First Year with Octopus Energy and Heat Pump Running Costs
@allyfish Having been on Agile tariff again for several...
By Toodles , 4 days ago
Latest Topics
-
Central heating inhibitor with ASHPs
By IRMartini 1 day ago
-
Advice on potential HW Cylinder size
By JWilliams89 2 days ago
-
By Graeme 3 days ago
-
Interesting heat pumps installations
By Mars 6 days ago
-
What is Wrong with our Heat Pump Installation?
By Mars 1 week ago