Solar pv is this right?

Skintsaver

I have 6x 410w panel, going into a Solis 2.5kw inverter 
String 1 has 2 panels east facing 
String 2 has 4 panels west facing 

My question is why since the installation in October have I never seen the panels produce more in the afternoon when 4 planels get the sun light? 

Spies

Is the inverter dual Mppt? 

Skintsaver

Yes, according to the data sheet

Spies

Somethings not right there then, it's as if only 2 of the panels on the west side are generating. 

Skintsaver

The string voltages are double. Could it just be from shading come may it could be different purhaps 

Spies

I was going to ask for string voltages this morning but you beat me to it, so yes that does look correct, can you look at the panels today when the sun is on them and see if there is shading?

70sbudgie

Mine is pretty similar.


But my panels aren't exactly E-W, and I have 7 panels on one string and 5 on the other. This is from last month, I chose it as the most extreme example I could find easily. As we move into February and the days get longer, the dip in the middle is disappearing.

When looking for an example, I noticed that the examples from before 21 December are unbalanced in the opposite direction (ie the afternoon peak was higher). 

So I wonder what lattitude you are at and what angle your panels are (mine are slightly flatter than average at 30° - I think) as I think this has a noticeable impact on winter generation.

Petriix

There are various factors. Looks like your West panels either face slightly North and/or suffer some shading.

Skintsaver

Not exact science but this is basically what I have, with a 20Degree turn. The  chimney does shade but I wasn't expecting that to make the mornings and afternoon similar 

Exiled_Tyke

Skintsaver said:

Not exact science but this is basically what I have, with a 20Degree turn. The  chimney does shade but I wasn't expecting that to make the mornings and afternoon similar 

Do appreciate that when there is shading on a panel it will reduce the entire string down to the performance of the worst performing panel in that string.  So if one panel is reduced to say 50% of max output all the panels will be reduced to that level. 

gefnew

You could fit Tigo optimizers to the affected panels to help with this.
TS4 Flex MLPE | Tigo Energy