On-panel optimizers replacing bypass diodes?!

[DanKegel]

My cloudy crystal ball says: in the future, most modules will come with a DC optimizer built in.

Or more than one! Look at https://www.maximintegrated.com/en/p...ptimizers.html
The darn things replace diodes, so each of the three strings in the panel can be optimized separately.
That might wring another iota of efficiency out of systems in the real world.

http://www.jinkosolar.com/product_detail_245.html may be the first panel to include these.
Supposedly you use them with a plain old string inverter?

(The guys at Maxim have been doing amazing things for decades. I preferred their old name, Dallas Semiconductors; it reminded me of oil wells and soap operas, not condoms or men's magazines...)

[bcroe]

My cloudy crystal ball says: in the future, most modules will come with a DC optimizer built in.

Or more than one! Look at
The darn things replace diodes, so each of the three strings in the panel can be optimized separately.
That might wring another iota of efficiency out of systems in the real world.
may be the first panel to include these.
Supposedly you use them with a plain old string inverter?

(The guys at Maxim have been doing amazing things for decades. I preferred their old name, Dallas Semiconductors; it reminded me of oil wells and soap operas, not condoms or men's magazines...)

Oh great, make a dead reliable panel so complicated, failures will increase dramatically over life.
And the gain will be very small. Now if the application really needs this, OK. Bruce Roe

[DanKegel]

Oh great, make a dead reliable panel so complicated, failures will increase dramatically over life.
And the gain will be very small.

Look at it this way: people are already buying SolarEdge and Enphase module-level electronics.
Integrating the optimizer right into the panel gets rid of a third party to point fingers at, to a large extent;
the panel manufacturer has a really big incentive to make sure the integrated optimizers work.
And I dunno, but chipmakers are pretty good at reliability.

Whatever... the market will decide. If it works, it works, and it'll take over. If not, there will always be plain old panels for sale.

[inetdog]

In effect you would have three optimizers per panel instead of one, with the inherent increased risk of one of them going bad.
Unless they also incorporate bypass diodes as a fallback, I can see a single defective optimizer taking out a whole string.

[SunEagle]

If the panel manufacturers can create an optimizer along with a rapid shutdown feature without increasing the cost of the panel then there might be a market.

IMO adding too many "controls" to a panel without the ability to easily repair and replace components in the field is not the product I would purchase.

[emartin00]

My cloudy crystal ball says: in the future, most modules will come with a DC optimizer built in.

Or more than one! Look at https://www.maximintegrated.com/en/p...ptimizers.html
The darn things replace diodes, so each of the three strings in the panel can be optimized separately.
That might wring another iota of efficiency out of systems in the real world.

http://www.jinkosolar.com/product_detail_245.html may be the first panel to include these.
Supposedly you use them with a plain old string inverter?

(The guys at Maxim have been doing amazing things for decades. I preferred their old name, Dallas Semiconductors; it reminded me of oil wells and soap operas, not condoms or men's magazines...)

ET Solar also had cell level optimizers on display at SPI a couple weeks ago.

If the panel manufacturers can create an optimizer along with a rapid shutdown feature without increasing the cost of the panel then there might be a market.

IMO adding too many "controls" to a panel without the ability to easily repair and replace components in the field is not the product I would purchase.

Jinko claims they are field replaceable. You simply snap the cover off of the J-box and replace it with a new one. You can even replace it with a different type if you want to add a different functionality.