Pv solar install the inverter in loft or garage

wiimad

I am having my 4kw solar pv system installed on 17th October and i am not sure if to ask the company to install the Sunnyboy interter in the garage or in the Loft. The loft is the installers prefered location but have given me the option of installation within our 4 bedroom detached intergrated garage. The installer said its about 10 metres of dc cable run to the panels. The fuseboard is located within the garage so the AC cable to the interver is less than half a metre from the fuseboard.

Which would be my best bet? and would the install of the inverter loose efficency within the garage as to being installed in the loft. Im thinking the interver will run cooler in the garage and will last longer in operation

:question:

bris

Ten metre cable run is not that long, so I would go for the garage. The loft can get really hot in the summer and may shut down the inverter if it gets to hot. In the garage it will be cooler and you can keep an eye on it better.

keith_r59

wiimad wrote: »

I am having my 4kw solar pv system installed on 17th October and i am not sure if to ask the company to install the Sunnyboy interter in the garage or in the Loft. The loft is the installers prefered location but have given me the option of installation within our 4 bedroom detached intergrated garage. The installer said its about 10 metres of dc cable run to the panels. The fuseboard is located within the garage so the AC cable to the interver is less than half a metre from the fuseboard.

Which would be my best bet? and would the install of the inverter loose efficency within the garage as to being installed in the loft. Im thinking the interver will run cooler in the garage and will last longer in operation

:question:

Personally, I would install the inverter in the garage as that would avoid it being affected by any temperature extremes if your loft is fully insulated and it will also give you easy access to the front display panel. Any cable losses can be dealt with by your installer using larger diameter cables if necessary.

wiimad

Thanks guys what size cable will they use for the dc side in the garage?

bris

4mm will easily handle a ten metre run. They may use 6mm if they have it.

zeupater

bris wrote: »

4mm will easily handle a ten metre run. They may use 6mm if they have it.

... but get them to use 6mm anyway, it'll reduce the resistance on the DC run and compensate for the longer cables ...

HTH
Z

wiimad

I have just received this reply from the installers asking what cable size will be using for the garage install option.Does it seem correct?


"In regards to the cable we use 4mm as standard that allows us to have lengths of 50m before we increase the cable size"

davidanddeirdre

This discussion seems to have gone quiet, but I thought someone might just be interested in a postscript on this... the installer suggested my roof space for the inverter, but because that is rather cramped & unpleasant, I went for our dining room under the standard electric meter, and I have built a new ventilated cupboard round it. The advantage of having it in the house is that the waste heat is not in fact wasted in the winter also it is easy to keep an eye on it, & in the summer we can always open a window...

jamesingram

D&D

Sensible thinking , put the inverter inside the insulated envelope of the building whenever possible , therefore, in usually a good stable temp. and as you say waste heat from inverter goes towards heating the house in the winter. I'd advice this all the time , but many people want them out the way.
I think loft is more about easy quick install for the installers and keeping DC run away from any harm .
Garage , again very common as this where the consumer unit often is ,so DC runs round the outside of the building and short ac run to CU
Mines in the utilty room.

Yut_Man

My invertor is situated in the loft with the cabling running outside the property to pop back in next to my electric box. My loft use to get very hot in the summer when the sun is up. Im hoping that the solar panels will help to keep the temperature down a bit. I have placed a extractor fan up there set with a temperature controller but I suspect it will do little. however the invertor does hum quite nicely to itself. (transformer invertor). If I had the invertor placed inside the house it would have driven me mad. and all the questions from strangers asking about the strange humming noise would be annoying also. So I would say unless you have a garage you dont have much choice, unless you go for a much quieter invertor. I believe they do transformerless invertors that are better, im sure someone else can confirm this).

bjohnson

Ours is transformerless and you're right, they are silent. We have it in a large ventilated cupboard on the first floor which makes it very easy to get to yet you can't hear a thing in the room (spare bedroom)