Sales Engineer from Boulder, CO

[Mike90250]

230W panels, will only put out 184w
190's will generally give you 152W

If it was mine, i'd spend the $180 in a heartbeat. the difference of what $180 will gain you in 20 years is huge.
Just don't wast the estra watts in cheap thin wire, keep losses under 1%, not the 5% household standard.

[trbizwiz]

190's will generally give you 152W, as long as you are doing the work, put the larger ones in if you can afford them.

Best I can tell there is about $20 difference in the 190's and the 210's. If there is more power to be had for the extra $180 it seems a cheap upgrade, but if you cant reach that power anyway it is a waste of money.
It is all a mute point if I cant get the system signed off by my electrician for grid tie status. He is trying to get in contact with Empire electric to find out what exactly they expect from him. They have not been very forth coming with returning his calls.
I have to have a system preapproval and get the system ordered by august 31 or I lose the grant money.

[Mike90250]

So I'll never get anything approaching 210 watts out of these 230 watt panels anyway. I guess the 190's do make more sense. I just did not want to take a sales man's word for it and regret it later

190's will generally give you 152W, as long as you are doing the work, put the larger ones in if you can afford them.

[trbizwiz]

So I'll never get anything approaching 210 watts out of these 230 watt panels anyway. I guess the 190's do make more sense. I just did not want to take a sales man's word for it and regret it later

[Mike90250]

panels, warm in the sun, only give 80% of the sticker wattage, tested under factory conditions (like car mileage stickers), so you 230W panels, will only put out 184w at perfect aim, for 10 min, at high solar noon, and then will drop off. Smaller panels will give you even less power.

[trbizwiz]

Here is an enphase question. I have a company offering to sell me 9 Yingli 230 watt panels with 9 enphase m190 inverters. I did some quick math and it seems the peak out put of the panels 230 watts X 9= 2070, while the peak output of the inverters 190 X 9= 1710 watts , seems the 190's waste 360 potential watts. While the M210's have a peak output of 1890 watts.
It seems going with the 190's you nearly waste the out put of a whole panel over the array of 9 panels. The recommended input power for the 190 is 230 and the 210 is 240. the min start up volts for the 190 is 28V and for the 210 is 31 volts.
Why would they spec a 190 watt out put to need 230 input watts, and a 210 out put to need 240. is this because if efficiencies?
If the Yingli's have enough voltage to be in the start up range should I just go ahead with the 210's?
I plan to ground mount these on 3 panel array's with a custom built tracking system to keep them pointed at the sun. That should extend somewhat my sun hours and give me full start up voltage a little earlier and later in the day.

[russ]

I read on another blog (CR4) a post by someone referring to himself as a protection engineer.

I asked if he designed condums but he didn't seem to think it was funny.

He worked at commissioning electrical systems in India. He said he was not a 'fire protection engineer' - hadn't heard of that type either.

If Walt doesn't have an engineering degree he should refer to himself as a salesman.

[MarineLiner]

Give attention to

ha ha ha, he he he,

no, no, no, i just want to bring us to, what i think, need attention.

We can read many posts asking about enphase, so it is time to reply it.

[Mike90250]

Since the term "sales engineer" is as meaningful as "domestic engineer", I've going to ignore the "title".

So what is it that your are looking for ? anything specific? Difference between PWM and MPPT harvest circuits ? Grid Tie inverter pros & cons ? Winter Sun angle, summer harvest, how to read string sizer charts for inverters ?
We're here to help, but don't try to baffle us with BS.

[crxvfr]

If I'm afraid of heights does it mean I can't climb a mountain? I was hoping this forum would be a place to brainstorm and learn. If I make a bad post I'm sure the community will call me on it. Sorry I didn't go to your engineering school.

I wouldn't worry about it. Sunking is far and above where the rest of us see things from. He's not just an engineer, rather Master of Science in Electrical engineering with enough experience in the field to make just about anybody a peon.

He thinks like an engineer, ....but he's not ALL bad, haha. Stick with it and you will see. I got off on the wrong foot with him too. Since then I have come to admire him as a super smart curiosity. hehe. I think he thinks I am a bit of a curiosity too so it's all good. You'll not meet anybody better to learn or brainstorm from so far as solar power goes. Just be prepared to have every single idea shot down, From that, you get to hear about all the bad ideas that might cause you problems, and you can refine the idea that YOU have faith in. I've been working against the grain from the git go, doing everything backwards but I'm getting it done. I have a pretty good idea about what I'm doing, but most of what I've learned is from Sunking and Mike90250 telling me why this or that is a bad idea. They are smart, and sometimes gruff, but I am grateful for the help they offer. Hopefully, I will have over 2 kilowatts flowing by the end of the month and 3 by the end of August. One, maybe a little more, will be from panels I made myself.

One last think, ...so far as solar power forums go, you'll not get away from SK.
He is prolific.

btw, haha, welcome to the board.

So anyways, ...I believe MarineLiner was trying to change the subject....

[MarineLiner]

It's grid-tied, and it is definitely producing power. Unfortunately, it's all bought and paid for, I just can't seem to get the monitoring to work.

enphase monitoring - Solar Panel Help Desk
http://www.solarpaneltalk.com/showth...0153#post10153

That is the origin post that i picked up the questions of "BlacNight".

I think it need also a further discussion.

[Walt_Solartown]

If I'm afraid of heights does it mean I can't climb a mountain? I was hoping this forum would be a place to brainstorm and learn. If I make a bad post I'm sure the community will call me on it. Sorry I didn't go to your engineering school.

[Sunking]

Sunking, ...geesh.

You are right, and I apologize. What set me off was:

We can provide systems to do-it-yourselfers across the country.

and

I still don't like the breaker box but solar doesn't have to be too difficult.

To me that sounds like a recipe for disaster. I know sales people do not have to know everything about the products they sell, but they should at least know some of the basics like safety issues.

[crxvfr]

That clearly demonstrates you have no understanding of even the most basic electrical principles or application. SEI and NABCEP has no recognition in the industry or local jurisdiction. All you can do is try to BS DIYer's into thinking you know something and sell them something.

Sunking, ...geesh.

We all know you can squish us with your solar knowledge.
...at least give us peasants some credit for trying.

EDIT ADD: I do see your point about protecting the board from solicitation, but I don't see where he was trying to sell anything.

[Sunking]

I still don't like the breaker box but solar doesn't have to be too difficult.

That clearly demonstrates you have no understanding of even the most basic electrical principles or application. SEI and NABCEP has no recognition in the industry or local jurisdiction. All you can do is try to BS DIYer's into thinking you know something and sell them something.