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Where to locate INVERTER ?
mickey234
Posts: 81 Forumite
I have a south facing outbuilding which is ideal for mounting a 4kw Solar panel system and it is approx. 20 metre cable-run from the Consumer unit/ Incomer Meter in the house.
Recently had a survey and the guy recommended to site the Inverter near to the PV panels. Surely this is wrong, always thought AC power loss will be significantly greater than the DC losses per metre run. Where are most Inverters fitted ?
Recently had a survey and the guy recommended to site the Inverter near to the PV panels. Surely this is wrong, always thought AC power loss will be significantly greater than the DC losses per metre run. Where are most Inverters fitted ?
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Mine's in my loft, near panels, further from consumer unit. Ask the installer to use 4mm cable if you're worried, but I doubt it would be a big issue over a relatively short run (in the grand scheme of things)...
Come to think of it, though my run is a lot shorter, my installer did specifically mention using 4mm cable (rather than 2.5mm cable) for runs of 20m or greater.
James3.924kWp (12X327Wp SunPower). SolarEdge SE3500 inverter.
Surrey/SE. 30 degree roof pitch, chimney shading from mid afternoon.0 -
My garage inverter is about 30m away from the house and main consumer unit. Assuming the generation meter is placed close to the inverter then i wouldn't think it would be a problem anyway(it is whats on that meter that determines what you get paid).
You may need a small seperate RCD in the outbuilding but thats about it.2 kWp SEbE , 2kWp SSW & 2.5kWp NWbW.....in sunny North Derbyshire17.7kWh Givenergy battery added(for the power hungry kids)0 -
It is definitely better to site the Inverter as close to the consumer unit as possible, thereby minimising the power loss and heat generation
Power loss is I(squared)R. A typical 4KW system will have DC voltage 450-500V with a maximum 9amp, whilst the AC side of the inverter will be 220-240V with about 16 amp of current.
Hence, the power loss will be 3 times greater if you site the Inverter close to the panels.0 -
Of course, but given R will be very low, it's not really going to make a huge difference...3.924kWp (12X327Wp SunPower). SolarEdge SE3500 inverter.
Surrey/SE. 30 degree roof pitch, chimney shading from mid afternoon.0 -
Is there a major difference in the price of the cable from panels to inverter and inverter to CU ?0
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Has anyone stopped to do the sums and see what sort of 'loss' actually happens ? I suspect it will be very low indeed.
But in any case, I'm with Tunnel : get the TGM as close as possible to the panels and you'll be paid for what you generate before any losses happen. Note however that TGM has to come after inverter so I'm voting for having any long cable runs carrying AC.NE Derbyshire.4kWp S Facing 17.5deg slope (dormer roof).24kWh of Pylontech batteries with Lux controller BEV : Hyundai Ioniq50
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