Solar inverters

lanesra10

Have EEC solar putting in a 3.76/3.95 system(depends if one panel extra fits) using JMA 235 panels and meant to be Aurora PV3600 with two strings effiency 96% on a south facing roo. They have turned up a day early with a Fronius IGTL 3.6 that gives the impression that it has 6 strings and effiency 97%! After checking they state that it isnt suitable for two strings as start up is approx 370vdc which is double the Aurora start up. Now they are heading for a master volt XS5000 which I can find no data on. Can find a xs4300 which start up is 7W can someone help please as the internet gives the impression to big an inverter is inefficient!?

The reason for the 2 strings is that 5/6 panels are shaded for a few hours by the main house roof in the morning and more so in winter and we thought it would be more efficient!?

Any help would be greatfully recieved.
Thanks Gordon

anselld

These have two strings
http://www.power-one.com/sites/power-one.com/files/pvi-3.0-3.6-4.2-outd_ds.pdf

The other alternative is two standard small inverters (SMA etc)

lanesra10

Thanks Ansell, that is is the one they are meant to have supplied.

Do you know of any sites where I can compare Inverters

zeupater

lanesra10 wrote: »

Have EEC solar putting in a 3.76/3.95 system(depends if one panel extra fits) using JMA 235 panels and meant to be Aurora PV3600 with two strings effiency 96% on a south facing roo. They have turned up a day early with a Fronius IGTL 3.6 that gives the impression that it has 6 strings and effiency 97%! After checking they state that it isnt suitable for two strings as start up is approx 370vdc which is double the Aurora start up. Now they are heading for a master volt XS5000 which I can find no data on. Can find a xs4300 which start up is 7W can someone help please as the internet gives the impression to big an inverter is inefficient!?

The reason for the 2 strings is that 5/6 panels are shaded for a few hours by the main house roof in the morning and more so in winter and we thought it would be more efficient!?

Any help would be greatfully recieved.
Thanks Gordon

Hi

With the shading issue would the 'OptiTrac Global Peak' (http://www.sma.de/en/products/knowledge-base/optitrac-global-peak.html) available on the twin MPPT SMA SB4000TL not be the best option ? ......

Anyway, it's not really multiple strings which you'll need it's multiple MPPTs, so make sure that the installer provides a twin MPPT inverter ... the alternative: if they can't get a twin MPPT inverter quickly then single MPPT unit will have to do, what's lost from shade will be less than missing the FiT tariff change deadline.

Don't worry too much about start-up voltages, if they're set too low your system can start-up and shut down a number of times in the morning, which is just likley to cause premature component (switch) failure .... From memory, the Aurora specs seem to show a low startup voltage (120V ?) but it seems that the units are configured with a higher default setting (200V ?)... it's been discussed a number of times on this forum and elsewhere, especially as certain salesmen seem to labour the lowest startup voltage (120V ?) point as being a great advantage .... search the threads and you'll find the exact voltages referenced in brackets above.

HTH
Z

anselld

lanesra10 wrote: »

Thanks Ansell, that is is the one they are meant to have supplied.

Do you know of any sites where I can compare Inverters

oh yes, sorry, I miss-read the Fronius bit in your post, doh!

lanesra10

Thanks Z

After discussion, they are fitting the Fronius, getting it working and signed off and coming back later with a 2 string which is the mastervolt xs5000. So I will be up and running and signed of. Just cant find out anywhere to compare the inverters!

zeupater

lanesra10 wrote: »

Thanks Z

After discussion, they are fitting the Fronius, getting it working and signed off and coming back later with a 2 string which is the mastervolt xs5000. So I will be up and running and signed of. Just cant find out anywhere to compare the inverters!

Hi

XS range - http://www.mastervoltsolar.com/solar/products/sunmaster-xs/ .... no info on XS5000 (?) ... (new/old model ?)

xs5000 manual - http://images.mastervolt.nl/files/ManualXS5000EN.pdf
xs5000 specs - http://images.mastervolt.nl/files/XS5000SPECIFICATIONS.pdf
... anyway, the main thing from the specs is that it does have 2 MPPTs.

HTH
Z

Mamzie

I am sorry to jump on your thread but I wondered if you knew any info on the Fronius LG35 please?

lanesra10

Sorry, nothing at all.

Be carefull as the 3.6 IG-TL gives the impression it has multiple strings and it doesnt. Also no MPPT and needs 370v to start working.

lanesra10

Any way what a day. They came back to fit the panels at 8.30, took a dozen tiles of the roof and disappeared for 2.5 hours. Came back with new tiles to replace the ones they drilled yesterday. They then packed up and left, with out completing the job. No information or feedback at all, seemingly they are coming back another day, with correct brackets to fit without holes, still waiting on a date from eec solar.

Will update when I know soemthing!

Yut_Man

Sounds very odd behaviour lanesra10. Its good they have started the fit so fast but it sounds there not fully prepared. Drilling tiles is bad idea. 25 year life is a very long time. Please keep us informed.