How do I tell my panels are working at full efficiency

Kernel_Sanders

pinnks wrote: »

I have SMA inverters. As far as I am aware, 2 years in, you cannot see individual strings in Sunny Explorer, or Sunnyportal.com, or Sunnyplaces.com. if you find a way, please let me know...

I'm surprised at that because the Sunny Boy's LCD display permanently shows the output of the two strings (alternating between amps and volts).

pinnks

As Eric says, you can see the instantaneous output of each string which I guess is pretty much what the LCD display shows on the inverter (my inverter is in the attic so not realistic to look at that every time I'm interested) but I was thinking graphical displays of that on a daily, weekly, monthly or total basis.

zeupater

hollie.weimeraner wrote: »

I've got it connected to an ethernet cable via a set of homeplugs. Currently finding my way round Sunny Explorer but although I can see that there are 2 strings set up I can't see how to view the individual string output:( It's driving me daft keep looking through the menu to try and find it

Hi

As above posts, select the system, then 'Spot Values', then 'DC Side' ... you should have a tab 'DC measurements' in which the Current, Voltage & Power is displayed for both the 'A' & 'B' MPPTs .... Ours is currently 906W & 1545W under broken cloud on a 6/10 panel split, so 151W(906/6) and 154.5W(1545/10) per panel which with a 2% spot difference in changeable conditions is close enough to know that there's not a problem ... it's now in full sun and reading DC 1465W & 2442W, so 244W & 244.2W per panel ... didn't get chance to check the corresponding AC Power, but it was probably around 3.7kW ... in full continuous sun now (about 5 mins later) and generating 3.34kW, cloud edge gone and panels running warmer ....

You'll not need to check this out very often, but just be aware that (at least with certain SMA inverters) it can be useful for peace of mind ...

HTH
Z

hollie.weimeraner

zeupater wrote: »

Hi

As above posts, select the system, then 'Spot Values', then 'DC Side' ... you should have a tab 'DC measurements' in which the Current, Voltage & Power is displayed for both the 'A' & 'B' MPPTs .... Ours is currently 906W & 1545W under broken cloud on a 6/10 panel split, so 151W(906/6) and 154.5W(1545/10) per panel which with a 2% spot difference in changeable conditions is close enough to know that there's not a problem ... it's now in full sun and reading DC 1465W & 2442W, so 244W & 244.2W per panel ... didn't get chance to check the corresponding AC Power, but it was probably around 3.7kW ... in full continuous sun now (about 5 mins later) and generating 3.34kW, cloud edge gone and panels running warmer ....

You'll not need to check this out very often, but just be aware that (at least with certain SMA inverters) it can be useful for peace of mind ...

HTH
Z

The reason I couldn't see spot values was that I was looking at it in the online Sunny Portal rather than Sunny Monitor. I've installed Sunny Monitor and connected to the Inverter but it won't show any Data. Not sure why not but will keep trying.

zeupater

hollie.weimeraner wrote: »

The reason I couldn't see spot values was that I was looking at it in the online Sunny Portal rather than Sunny Monitor. I've installed Sunny Monitor and connected to the Inverter but it won't show any Data. Not sure why not but will keep trying.

Hi

The detail you need is available from the SMA software "Sunny Explorer" ...

HTH
Z

hollie.weimeraner

zeupater wrote: »

Hi

The detail you need is available from the SMA software "Sunny Explorer" ...

HTH
Z

yes thanks but for some reason it connects to the inverter but times out when trying to recover the data.

zeupater

hollie.weimeraner wrote: »

yes thanks but for some reason it connects to the inverter but times out when trying to recover the data.

Hi

So you're using a Windows PC/Laptop with Bluetooth capability and a Bluetooth stack is enabled on that machine and (as previously mentioned) Bluetooth was enabled on your inverter when commissioned ?? ...

You've then downloaded & installed SMA's free Sunny Explorer and fired up the software, created a new plant (name/directory), selected the communications type (Bluetooth) ... then the system's searched for plant and found one ??

You've then logged into your inverter with the profile 'user' and the appropriate password and the user interface screen loads, a blue light comes on the inverter's front panel to signify an active Bluetooth connection and your inverter shows on the left panel on your computer screen, but no data is retrieved and displayed on the main (right) panel regarding status - and the system seems to be sitting there doing nothing ?? ...

Can you confirm this ??

I've just reviewed the latest 'Sunny Explorer' manual ... http://files.sma.de/dl/8494/Explorer-BA-en-17.pdf ... and it seems to be no different to what I remember it being when I first read it .... looks like it's still just bluetooth & speedwire for connectivity, so I don't know how you'd be connecting over the wired Ethernet interface which I thought is used for portal/webconnect etc, not a technical information connection which Sunny Explorer provides .... anyway, have a look at the user manual, it contains detailed information on the software ...

HTH
Z

oldskoo1

I have shading from a chimney stack around 8am. Low sun, long shadow oven 2 panels.

I have 2 strings, left roof, right roof. 8 each.

In perfect conditions, the left string kicks out around 100-150w more than the slighyly shaded right string.

This lasts for approximately 20-30mins.

I am south facing, 188 so slightly south west.

When this happens which is around 8:30am ish my array is only producing 500-800watts.

So really this is very negligible. What you want to avoid is shading during peak hours and a little bit more.