The solar God was a little more favorable today (in red) than yesterday, even though they were very similar for the 1st half of the day.
New all-time record for me, but to be fair I added 3 panels 8 weeks ago, so this is my 1st May/June with the upgraded system
36.6Kwhr off 6.5Kwp split E/W, pretty happy with that. If I chuck on the shed's 11.9Kwhr, I was pretty close to 50Kwhr. Always wanted to break that magic number! Albeit 25Kwhr was exported. Maybe I'll get it before the solstice......
28.1kWh here today (vs forecasted 32.6kWh) so not too bad at all!
overall power is down vs peak of the system but it was at least even across the day
Best day so far here in Dublin South, 35.3 on even split of ESE WNW , 5.88kwh
setup
Probably more than what you wanted, but it's a fun problem. Taking the graph that you had, and assuming that it was symmetrical, we can complete the curve (roughly now!) to be what it would look like if there was no clipping.
So you would get something like the above. To approximate the area under the "extra bit" (above 2.7kw) , we can pretend its a rectangle and just do a length by height. We can just take 1/2 the height, so the bits above the green line would (roughly) match the area to the left and right outside the curve. So you'd have
(3.3kw - 2.7kw) / 2 = 0.3kw
and then multiple that by the hours (10am -> 5pm) = 7 hrs. So that would give you an approximate loss of 7 x 0.3 = 2.1kwhr. At a nominal value of €0.30, let's just call that €0.60.
So if you were to go for that €208 upgrade (and I realise that doesn't include spark fees, etc). You'd be looking at about
(€208/€0.6)= 346.66 days.
Assuming we had 30-40 of these perfect sunshine days a year, ballpark 10 years for payback.
Me? I wouldn't bother. Sure - for the "purist", it's nice not to have clipping, but in reality it's such a small (small) percentage loss of your overall production (single digit %) that it's not really worth bothering about.
Looks like I'm going to close out just over 42kwh from 4kwp south east, 3kwp north west. Probably as good as it's gets
It got a bit overcast yesterday evening here so that’s why it tailed off like that. It’s a more uniform drop off today.
Also, we’ve got 1.6 west facing. The remaining 4 is the east facing.
19.5 kWh today, quite happy with that. Clouds did roll in during peak production. Would guess 22 kWh is the max I could get on a perfect day.
3.1 kWp (1.75 south. 1.4 west)
From the graph it started clipping between 9-10 am. Tiny increase in cost for 2.5 to 3 kWh inverter upgrade. It’s just silly.
I can understand if it’s an E / W split. And as the user explained they had planned to install fewer panels and managed to get a few extra on the roof on the day of install and totally neglected to consider upgrading the inverter.
Have you a graph of both strings individually ? I wouldn't have expected the afternoon to tail off the way it shows, with a west string
But in reality, how often do you see clipping, and how much is being clipped.
So if you lose 2kWh per day x about 30 days per year, a bigger inverter might be under utilized, and the larger inverter could have cost you a few 100's
I documented on my install thread here
How many panels do you have and what capacity are they? I’m guessing you have 8 x 420W panels?
Im wondering now is the clipping in your graph due to the output of the panels being reduced as they are hot; or as a limitation of the inverter.
it’s not a perfectly flat line; so I think it could be the panel output rather than the inverter. Do you have a graph from today?
But the inverter is outputting more than it’s max; which prob isn’t ideal.
The price jump between the 3kwh and 5kWh solid hybrid is just 208 euro fyi… I know this isn’t what your looking for but just to give an indication.
Best day of the year yesterday. Doesn’t look like we’re going to beat it today even though I was sure we would….
5.6kWh system split between E and W facing in North Wicklow.
Hi, you're right, it's a 2.5kWp inverter Solis (producing 2.71kWp). On the day, they saw that 2 extra panels would fit so I went with that. At the time, it never occurred to me about bumping up the inverter.
What type of fan are you using? I might look into doing something like this. My invertor is over 45 degrees today.
Would that be what is happening here. One is an over voltage, but the rest of the dips there is no alarm for.
Inverter says operating temp it 55C.
Not a cloud in the sky all day. Perfect curve yesterday. Got this kind of thing the odd day last year too.
My string inverter is a low 33C. Mounted on the wall outside the house. It's outdoor rated. And that's running at 80% of the available kWp installed so would be a lot hotter I assume without the outside air to cool it. No wind to cool stuff in an attic.
But I'd agree with Bullit that many can run to a high temp. They will delimit / derate (ie drop output) if they overheat. My Huawei at least does, I double checked a while back.
I'd put a fan on it though if was running at 60C for a lot of the day. No point stressing the unit when a cheap fan will help. Not something you need asap but worth getting at some point for the sunnier months.
Just on the temps. I'd encourage you to check the data sheet for your specific inverter, but most of them have an operating range of -20C to +60C (or there abouts). That's the ambient air temp outside of the inverter. Internally inside the inverter you might get to 70-75C, but generally (generally!) electronics are good for 80C without issue. It does depend a little of course which is why you should check your datasheet.
Also, most of them with delimit themselves from what I read once the temps start to get too hot.
Here's my temp since midnight.. i do have to fans drawing up air from over the inverter that kick in when the internal temp goes above 36.. and off below 32 via home assistant automation.. i might adjust them up a bit
Now that clipping has set in, back down to 59 C. Fairly warm in the attic, so I'd say that's it's operating temperature now. Also, starting to cloud over here in Cavan 😏
60.6 C here. It’s been running at 5.9kwh for 2 hours. It’s not clipping though; cos I still have 10% free in the battery. Looks like the panels are just limited due to the temperature they are running at currently.
looks like it’s going to be a very good day if the clouds don’t pay a visit later on. 21.5 kWh generated so far at 12:00.
Same here.. Mine's sitting at 62C at the moment charging the battery all morning.. being trying to use up power with Dishwasher, Immersion and Washing machine so I don't start clipping, but I'll be at 100% before noon. Will see what the temps are like after the battery is full and the clipping kicks in
Mineis similar these days 60-65 degrees after working hard on hours of 6+ kW incoming
38.4 today vs record of 38.5, so close but clouds came in at 4!
I see comment re hot inverter above - what temp should it be aiming to run at?
17.6 kWh today. Quality day until half 3 when clouds appeared.
Record from April not broken. I thought not possible in the heat to beat it but was on track before clouds wrecked the buzz.
As does my record of 36Kwh. Managed only 34Kwh for a finish - and I have 3x extra panels (1.2Kwp) more today than when I set that record.
Clouds rolled in just after 4pm.
The record of 55.9kwh remains unbroken.
It was very close though
It was a new install. He said it was his first day of production after the install.
Wow that's a hot invertor..
60 degrees internal temperature at 3pm.
