Solar Panels , shading and use of optimisers

suicra05

My house is situated with an east (rear of house) west aspect (front of house). I have had a number of companies look at it.

The plan is to put 4 panels on the rear and 7 panels on the front. This means there will be a string on the rear of 4 panels and a string of 7 panels to the front. It will be a 4.07 kw system. I will also be getting an 8.2 kwh battery. I have an issue with shading on the rear roof due to a neighbour's chimney. See photo below which was taken about noon early February. Some of the providers have recommended optimisers to help compensate for the shading and others have not recommended them. My preference is no optimisers as it is another thing to possibly break down and may need repair into the future. Is there any other way around this shading issue? Are optimisers reliable? Will my system's energy production be adversely effected by the shading. Any advice would be appreciated.

Jonathan

Shading will kill the production for the entire string. Optimisers are the only show in town for you IMO.

unkel

And optimizers are very unreliable. If one fails it means you have to go back up on the roof. Use 5 optimizers and you are almost guaranteed a failure every (other) year. Not something I would want to look forward to...

If there is no shading on your front roof, just stick with the 7 panels on there. Looking at your picture though, it is quite possible to fit 3 or even 4 standard size panels in landscape just above your gutter, avoiding the shade from the chimney

idc

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118776650#Comment_118776650

Do you have anything to back that up or is that from personal experience with optimiszers?

mp3guy

Considering solaredge inverters require optimisers on all panels, I'm inclined to believe that aren't as unreliable as you'd think. Had mine a year and no problems, I have 32 of them.

unkel

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118778001#Comment_118778001

Yep, friend of mine has them in use a few years and several have failed already. And it's simple maths really, if you use 10 optimizers that have an expected life of say 5-10 years, you'll be up on the roof on average once or twice per year to replace one. If you don't mind, go right ahead. Personally I don't like going onto the roof of the house, I would have to pay a man to do it.

Whereas the life expectancy of panels is many decades. You will likely never have to go onto the roof to replace one...

Do you want to buy one, I have a Tigo optimizer for sale, going cheap 😂