Question about SolarEdge inverter sizing and clipping

[ButchDeal]

Thanks Butch.
I was considering adding a 3.8 kw inverter.
Does Solaredge have line drawings on how to accomplish this .
i am a home owner and I have done my own install.
i assumed i would only get clipping in the summer months.
i have been online for 3 weeks and on sunny days i draw a straight line at 7.6kw from 10 till 4pm

you will get clipping (more so) in winter but for longer time in summer.

Solaredge install shows how to configure the inverters but it is general wiring on the combiner side.

You will need an electrician to help with this somewhat as connecting more than 7.6kW often requies a lineside tap.

What is the bus ratting on your MSP? and what is the main breaker capacity on the MSP?

[barrye]

Yes you can connect two inverters and combine them for a single interconnect.

Thanks Butch.
I was considering adding a 3.8 kw inverter.
Does Solaredge have line drawings on how to accomplish this .
i am a home owner and I have done my own install.
i assumed i would only get clipping in the summer months.
i have been online for 3 weeks and on sunny days i draw a straight line at 7.6kw from 10 till 4pm

[ButchDeal]

Hello very new member
I live in BC Canada
I have installed 32 360 w jinko panels
in my field for a total of 11.52 kw
I wanted an EV charger for my car so I used the 7600H inverter.
This was the largest one with the car charger.
I feel I could get a lot more watts out of a larger inverter.
Is it possible to parallel two inverters to increase the output
Thanks
barrye

Yes you can connect two inverters and combine them for a single interconnect.

[barrye]

Hello very new member
I live in BC Canada
I have installed 32 360 w jinko panels
in my field for a total of 11.52 kw
I wanted an EV charger for my car so I used the 7600H inverter.
This was the largest one with the car charger.
I feel I could get a lot more watts out of a larger inverter.
Is it possible to parallel two inverters to increase the output
Thanks
barrye

[ButchDeal]

I'm not sure about this. I have the SE 7600 inverter and the other day it showed 7849 W at 10:20 AM:

WHY are you adding this URL? it doesn't seem to have anything to do with your post.
What is it you are not sure about with the inverter? do you have the SE7600A or SE7600H?

[Cwc303]

SolarEdge support was happy to make the config change to the portal on request. Not sure how much of real use there, but I like to be able to make that decision rather than have it made for me.

[ButchDeal]

Macaddict, is it the installer or SolarEdge that enables the additional parts of the portal? Do you know?

Typically the installer. They should also select yur account as the owner.

[macaddict]

Macaddict, is it the installer or SolarEdge that enables the additional parts of the portal? Do you know?

Both can do it.

[Cwc303]

You can determine if your system is clipping by looking at the voltage. Typically my DC voltage is around 370V but when my system starts clipping, it goes up to 430V.

I'm attaching some pictures of how it looks like on the SolarEdge monitoring portal and also from PVOutput (I like this better).

Macaddict, is it the installer or SolarEdge that enables the additional parts of the portal? Do you know?

[JSchnee21]

April / May / June will be much worse for clipping. Check your contract / bill of sale. Does it specify the exact model / part number for the inverter? Your array is out of spec for the 7600A, but NOT for the 7600H. Maybe the installer didn't realize (no excuse) that the specs differ. The newer H-series permits a higher DC wattage without voiding the warranty (11,800W).

BUT, that aside, the 7600H will CLIP MORE than the 7600A does. You need to have your current inverter replaced with a 10.0kW unit. Either A-series or H-Series.

Now as to what approach to take with the installer, that's hard to say. They should be informed of the error of their ways. But many people get very defensive / testy when you tell them that they are wrong. Either you need to tell them they are wrong and press them to fix it (Solar Edge 7600A-US spec's in hand). OR, offer to pay the difference (say $500) to upgrade to the 10000 and see if they will install it for free. If not, then press them with their error.

I'm hard pressed to recommend the A-series versus the H-series. Yes, the H is newer, smaller, and more efficient. BUT, it has no fans, the reliability is unproven, and the software very new. Of course the A-series could be discontinued at any time. I have the 11.4kW A-series myself. You're call.

While you're at it, I would strong recommend Solar Edge consumption monitoring. Coupled with my Ecobee thermostat, the data I get is fantastic.

-Jonathan

[imola.zhp]

Here are my two days of clipping, both minor, but as I have said again and again I need to determine if this is going to get worse during other times of the year, or not. One day shows an hour of clipping, the other an hour and a half. Mid October in Memphis, TN.

Additionally, SolarEdge has the size of my system, I'm surprised it didn't red-flag it for being over-sized for the inverter.

[imola.zhp]

You can determine if your system is clipping by looking at the voltage. Typically my DC voltage is around 370V but when my system starts clipping, it goes up to 430V.

I'm attaching some pictures of how it looks like on the SolarEdge monitoring portal and also from PVOutput (I like this better).

I have a 7600 inverter and my system only clips when it is really cold outside (which happened a couple of days ago). I've calculated the amount of energy that I give up when it clips and it doesn't make financial sense to get a larger inverter, which I hear would be not as efficient in low solar periods).

You can find my reports in my signature.

Unfortunately my portal is very much limited when compared to your screen shots. I do not have access to the charts you are showing. I believe I am seeing some clipping, but very minimal as compared to what you are showing here.

[imola.zhp]

They do not. This would void the warranty and shows a major mistake by the installer. It is NOT an approved install if they go over the allowed DC wattage.

This is very concerning, I need to decide how to approach this with the installer.

[imola.zhp]

My replacement inverter did come with WiFi but we couldn't get it to work, perhaps due to the router being at the furthest location from the SolarEdge. I know my garage to be difficult for WiFi. I had the installer pull the cellular unit off the old inverter and put it on the replacement. I sold the old inverter with the WiFi and it seems the new owner has it working.

I thought I had seen an WIFI module on eBay, might be a small world if it was yours. I have several things in the garage with wifi that use a repeater we put on the ceiling of the garage, it works well. Rachio IRO, Ryboi garage door opener, Ring floodlight camera, JuiceBox Pro EV charger, etc. The garage is busy!

Here is my system with the old 5000W inverter.
Here is a normal curve, not clipped.

Thank you for sharing, I am seeing some clipping but it is minimal, however, again, the system has only been up for a few months and I am concerned about other times of the year.

[imola.zhp]

The price difference between the 7600A and 10000A is usually pretty small -- usually less than $500. I'm not sure if they're still selling the A-series. Many vendors are switching over to the newer HD series. For example, for the newer model:
$1499 (7600H-US) versus $1899 (10000H-US) at www dot altestore dot com

BUT, it's not just the price of the inverter alone, the wiring cost may (or may not) increase depending on the whether or not a line side tap can / was already used and the size of the wire gauge and conduit.. Generally, a 10K or 11.4K inverter cannot be used with a load side tap (aka breaker used for input in your panel) because the bus bars aren't rated for that much current -- unless you have a 300 or 400 amp panel. But if you already have a line size tap, and the wire size is large enough for the output AC amps of the 10K, then the install costs could be very minimal.

Unfortunately, SolarEdge does not sell Wifi units in the United States. I don't know why -- it's stupid. Mine also came with Cellular which sux. I ended running Ethernet to it. An Ethernet to Zigbee bridge is also an option (or a 3rd party Ethernet to Wifi bridge) but both can be flaky depending on the reliability of your Zigbee / Wifi signal. In the long run, if it is at all possible to run Ethernet this is your best bet and your will be much happier with the quantity and frequency of the data updates.

My bigger concern is that your panel STC (10,325W DC) is greater than the warranty on the 7600A-US allows. Perhaps they allow a small grace (I don't know -- someone here on the board might) but you might call SolarEdge and ask. You'd hate to find out your inverter warranty was void. If your vendor did a naughty, now's the time to get it fixed.

If you are only clipping occasionally, for 15 or 30 minutes it might not be a huge concern (the clipping itself). BUT, it is Oct now, nearly Nov. Peak sun is in June. If you're clipping to any appreciable extent now, it will be really bad in the Spring / early Summer.

If you don't mind me asking, what was your total installed cost per watt? Was it a smaller local installer or a large chain or big box retailer? Do you know what size optimizers were used? P320's?

Thank you for your detailed response. The system does not go into the breaker box at all, it is metered out separately. My understanding is that a future battery installation will bridge the two systems but for now they act independent of each other. We sell 100% to the grid and buy back 100% of what we use, there are two meters on the house. This is an unfortunate requirement of our utility company, they do not use bidirectional meters.

I attempted to run ethernet to our inverter and use a wifi adapter but I didn't spend any further time trying to set it up. I'm sure some settings need to be changed on the inverter, for now I just unplugged the wifi adapter and left the cable coiled up. I need to spend more time on this.

I will inquire, again, about the oversized panels for inverter, yes, I would hate to have the inverter go out and warranty be void as well. The clipping currently seems to be about a maximum of an hour and a half on a full-sun day from 1pm-2:30pm. I've really only had two days, so far, where clipping is apparent.

My installed cost was just over $30,500, o $2.96/watt, this includes additional costs over and above the installer who's cost was $2.79/watt. I had to move a vent pipe and pay two different fee's to the utility company, one for as pre-study and one for the final hookup. We are using P320's.