Topgas
New Member
Posts:63
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| 16 Apr 2008 08:48 PM |
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I'm going gridtied, which inverter seems to have the best reliability? I'm leaning towards a SMA "Sunny Boy" but the new Zantrex gridtied/battery backup looks interesting. I though someone long ago told me that Zantrex inverters weren't the most dependable units in the world. I'll starting out with a aprox. 4 KWH system. |
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Road Block
New Member
Posts:67
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| 17 Apr 2008 07:15 AM |
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I don't have my setup yet but I didn't find any significant issue with Xantrex, Outback or Sunnyboy inverters during my research. I found complaints about all the manufacturers, most of them seemed fairly petty items. The only significant complaint I found about any of the those three were about Outback not having as nice of information presentation ability of Xantrex, but then the price of outback seems lower for a little more capacity. Sunnyboy will be more expensive than either Xantrex or Outback since Sunnyboy is made in Germany so you have the exchange rate to contend with. When it comes time to order we will be ordering Outback. |
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Brock
Advanced Member
Posts:599
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| 23 Apr 2008 12:24 PM |
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One of the advantages to Xantrex over the Outback or Sunny boy, no moving parts. The Outabck and Sunny boy both have fans. Their cases are smaller since the Xantrex has large heat fins, the Xantrex also seems to stand up to heat better and with no fans less dust or dirt or bugs get inside the unit. |
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| Green Bay, WI. - 4 ton horizontal goethermal, 16k gallon indoor pool, 3kw solar PV setup, 2 ton air to air HP, 3400 sq ft |
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bobd
New Member
Posts:11
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| 01 May 2008 07:13 PM |
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The one issue I've heard over and over is the programming of the Outback inverter. Each installer I spoke with said it is very hard and they had to spend a lot of time learning it. |
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Brock
Advanced Member
Posts:599
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| 01 May 2008 07:25 PM |
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Good point on the Outback inverters. On one hand it is neat you can change so many settings on them, on the other hand you have to know what the settings are and what is best to use for your situation. Also Outback needs a battery bank to work where the Xantrex and Sunny Boy only need the solar panels, the inverter and grid. The flip side of that if the power goes out you can have 4kw of solar panels with you sitting in the dark. Xantrex does also make a battery backup version, which is what I have a XW6048, 6000w at 240vac with a 48v battery bank (24kw in my case). |
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| Green Bay, WI. - 4 ton horizontal goethermal, 16k gallon indoor pool, 3kw solar PV setup, 2 ton air to air HP, 3400 sq ft |
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bobd
New Member
Posts:11
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| 01 May 2008 08:22 PM |
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Brock, you have the inverter I plan to purchase. Any problems with it? What kind of batteries are you using? |
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Brock
Advanced Member
Posts:599
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| 01 May 2008 08:40 PM |
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I had 2 SW2512's in my last setup, we are building right now and I sold the two SW2512s and bought the XW6048. I powered it up but that was it until after the electrical inspection next week. It seemed straight forward, but I knew the menu's from the SW inverters. I have eight DEKA 8A8D AGM's. I have had those for about 2 years now and really like them, no watering, no venting, way less idle loss, about 98% in and out, nice! I had Trojan T125's before that.
You might want to check out http://www.wind-sun.com/ForumVB/index.php one of my other haunts, lots of RE solar stuff, between here and there everything is covered :) |
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| Green Bay, WI. - 4 ton horizontal goethermal, 16k gallon indoor pool, 3kw solar PV setup, 2 ton air to air HP, 3400 sq ft |
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Brock
Advanced Member
Posts:599
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| 01 May 2008 08:47 PM |
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Oh I should add I got my inverter from
http://sunelec.com/Distributors_/Trace/body_trace.html
You have to call and send a check (no cc) but I can rarely find a better price on equipment. |
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| Green Bay, WI. - 4 ton horizontal goethermal, 16k gallon indoor pool, 3kw solar PV setup, 2 ton air to air HP, 3400 sq ft |
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bobd
New Member
Posts:11
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| 01 May 2008 09:12 PM |
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Thanks for all the tips! |
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pacifico
New Member
Posts:1
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| 18 Sep 2009 03:28 AM |
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The last installation company I worked for only used SMA Sunny Boy inverters for grid tie installs, they wouldn't even consider anything else. I saw them walk from a deal because a customer wanted to use some no name inverter to save a few bucks. I've always heard great things about OutBack inverters but haven't had a chance to install one. Here's an article I found that compares the different grid tie inverters from SMA, Xantrex & OutBack: http://www.ecodirect.com/Solar-Power-Inverter-Comparison-s/247.htm |
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jonr
Senior Member
Posts:5341
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| 18 Sep 2009 08:43 AM |
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The professional solar installer I know prefers Outback. |
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SolarPro
New Member
Posts:6
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| 19 Sep 2009 10:05 AM |
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I have been using Outback since they first came out and have not had one failure. As for programming? The things will run right out of the box with very little programming but there are a number of settings you can play with if you are a button pusher tinkerer. :-) |
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ecobuilder
Basic Member
Posts:102
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| 28 Sep 2009 12:02 AM |
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Check out Enphase Micro inverters, one for each panel. This takes the array out of series and helps if shading is an issue. It also allows you to add panels in the future without changing the costly inverter. I think it makes sense in systems smaller than 4K but if you get larger the cost for a single inverter is less. We used them for this years team Boston solar decathlon entry and they are very simple to install. Not for every system but if you want to add just a few panels now and more later it might be a good option. What some people don't realize is that if one panel in a series gets shaded the entire series losses efficiency, so if you have ten panels on one string, all ten panels will be affected. Not with micor inverters, only the shaded panel is effected, making this a good chioce if part of your array is shaded. Tom Pittsley [email protected] www.eebt.org |
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| "Don't be afraid to go out on a limb. That's where the fruit is." Jackson Brown |
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Bill Neukranz
Veteran Member
Posts:1103
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| 28 Sep 2009 02:20 PM |
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My installer, for my grid-tie-only system, is using Motech inverters ( PVMate series - http://www.motech.com.tw/inverters/product01-2.htm ). BTW, its serial port appears to supply considerable status information. I'm going to try to figure out a way to interface my energy monitoring system to this port to display the solar PV system's performance on the DC side of the inverter. Best regards, Bill |
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Energy reduction & monitoring</br>
American Energy Efficiencies, Inc - Dallas, TX <A
href="http://www.americaneei.com">
(www.americaneei.com)</A></br>
Example monitoring system: <A href="http://www.welserver.com/WEL0043"> www.welserver.com/WEL0043</A>
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jonr
Senior Member
Posts:5341
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| 29 Sep 2009 09:13 AM |
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> What some people don't realize is that if one panel in a series gets shaded the entire series losses efficiency
I agree, this is an important point. You don't want any portion of the array to be shaded. |
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oldmilwaukee
New Member
Posts:11
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| 16 Oct 2009 02:21 PM |
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I used outback inverters, but I am off grid. They work for grid tie as well, but I think Outback is more geared for offgrid than the other manufacturers. Picking the right settings on the outback inverters is not difficult... and I like having the ability to change settings. Their user interface (the "Mate") is a bit rudimentary, but it gets the job done. |
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| building an off grid timberframe home...<br>massiehouse.blogspot.com |
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