SolarEdge users: What's your inverter temp during high production?

[HX_Guy]

Don't know. Using common sense I wouldn't think so as this expense is not directly related to getting your system up and running. I suppose you can still claim it, I don't think you'll go to prison if you get audited and IRS flags it as incorrect. Perhaps you can have your installer to include it "for free" in the total cost of the contract.

Best probably would be to get it through the installer and just added to the total cost of the system.

[gvl]

If you buy it now, you still could include the bill for the tax credit right?

Don't know. Using common sense I wouldn't think so as this expense is not directly related to getting your system up and running. I suppose you can still claim it, I don't think you'll go to prison if you get audited and IRS flags it as incorrect. Perhaps you can have your installer to include it "for free" in the total cost of the contract.

[s_man]

I plan to buy the warranty. You have 16 months to buy it from the "shipment date", this is the date the manufacturer shipped the unit to a distributor, and not your purchase/installation date. I was told 16 months is not a hard limit but expect to pay additional $ after that.

If you buy it now, you still could include the bill for the tax credit right?

[J.P.M.]

I concur - fan is probably about 5 watts - 5W * 24hours * 365 * 10 years = 438kwh. 438kwh = $48 to $144 depending on your price per kwh.
Likelyhood of delaying failure by even 1 year? Probably smaller than the 0.16% that would make economic sense. ($48/3000/10)

Why would the fan run when the sun isn't above the horizon ? I've got one that draws 20 W, lowers the heat sink temp. by about 22-25 deg. F. under close to full load. Yearly cost : ~ (8,760/2 hrs./yr.)*(20/1000 kW/hr.)* ($0.176/kW) = $15.42/yr. Some may consider that cheap insurance. Some not.

[gvl]

I plan to buy the warranty. You have 16 months to buy it from the "shipment date", this is the date the manufacturer shipped the unit to a distributor, and not your purchase/installation date. I was told 16 months is not a hard limit but expect to pay additional $ after that.

[HX_Guy]

I'm more concerned about the unit derating than anything. I feel my system should be pushing more power during the day, it seems to max out at about 10kW which is the same it was doing a month ago, but maybe that's normal?

Either way, I can just put a fan on it temporarily and see what it does before I go looking at a more semi-permanent solutions. I have the stats day by day of the current temps and graphs of the power output, so we'll see if power the temperature by 20º-30ºF does anything, it may not.

And speaking of warranty, I didn't know until yesterday that SolarEdge offers an extended warranty to 20 years for around $450 and to 35 years for $750, which includes both labor and parts. That really doesn't seem like a bad deal, considering it's probably guaranteed that the inverter will fail at least once in that time span.

[foo1bar]

Truth is, keeping temps down is a really important way to keep electronics going. But
the thing to do is use a variable speed fan, very quiet & low power till things start to
get hot. Bruce Roe

I'm well aware of how electronics are impacted by heat. I've even been involved with accelerated lifetime testing where the item is run while "baking" in a "burn-in oven". I don't recall the exact temps offhand - but they were well above the ~150"F that HXguy is seeing and is concerned about.

The thing is that this extra fan is only helping by ~30F *AND* the unit already has a built-in fan that kicks in when the temperature is getting too high (as determined by the manuf).
Given those things, I'm doubtful that it makes any meaningful difference in the lifetime of the system.

[bcroe]

I concur - fan is probably about 5 watts - 5W * 24hours * 365 * 10
years = 438kwh. 438kwh = $48 to $144 depending on your price per kwh.
Likelyhood of delaying failure by even 1 year? Probably smaller than the 0.16% that would
make economic sense. ($48/3000/10)

Truth is, keeping temps down is a really important way to keep electronics going. But
the thing to do is use a variable speed fan, very quiet & low power till things start to
get hot. Bruce Roe

[foo1bar]

Unless the heat causes the inverter to derate I say buy the extended warranty and don't bother, with fan or not chances are it will fail in the next 10-15 years anyway.

I concur - fan is probably about 5 watts - 5W * 24hours * 365 * 10 years = 438kwh. 438kwh = $48 to $144 depending on your price per kwh.
Likelyhood of delaying failure by even 1 year? Probably smaller than the 0.16% that would make economic sense. ($48/3000/10)

[gvl]

Unless the heat causes the inverter to derate I say buy the extended warranty and don't bother, with fan or not chances are it will fail in the next 10-15 years anyway.

[HX_Guy]

So my buddy added an external fan to his SolarEdge inverter and wow, pretty dramatic difference...especially when you take the outdoor temp into consideration.

Without external fan


With external fan

[HX_Guy]

LOL...that's the issue?

I didn't make the table. But regardless, it's been fixed, the programmer actually noticed that himself yesterday and corrected it.

[J.P.M.]

If that was a jab from gvl, it certainly went way over my head.

I get that you're all about conserving energy before trying to cover it with solar...but not everyone is like that, and even if they are, that doesn't mean it hasn't already been tried/done. That isn't a general dumbing of America.

People have different size houses, different habits, different needs. We use a fairly big amount of energy (22,000kWh/year) but it's a sizable home at 2,900 sq ft...we live in AZ (which I assume you also probably would view as unsustainable and "dumbing down of America"), have 2 AC units, a pool (which does have a variable speed pump) and both my wife and I work from home...and as such like to work and live in comfort.

And no, I'm not offended by your opinion...I don't quite understand it as it seems pretty narrow minded, but maybe I'm wrong.

See Ian's post.

[Ian S]

HX_Guy, it's your table heading for power - it should be W not kW. Either that or there's a missing decimal point in the numbers. TBH, I didn't notice this rather minor error initially either as I tend to skim most posts. After all, this wasn't a legal brief or an engineering plan you presented.

[HX_Guy]

If that was a jab from gvl, it certainly went way over my head.

I get that you're all about conserving energy before trying to cover it with solar...but not everyone is like that, and even if they are, that doesn't mean it hasn't already been tried/done. That isn't a general dumbing of America.

People have different size houses, different habits, different needs. We use a fairly big amount of energy (22,000kWh/year) but it's a sizable home at 2,900 sq ft...we live in AZ (which I assume you also probably would view as unsustainable and "dumbing down of America"), have 2 AC units, a pool (which does have a variable speed pump) and both my wife and I work from home...and as such like to work and live in comfort.

And no, I'm not offended by your opinion...I don't quite understand it as it seems pretty narrow minded, but maybe I'm wrong.