New 4.8KW installation in San Diego just finished

[thejq]

J.P.M., thanks for the point of reference. FYI, my orientation is 230 az and 18 tilt which is SW facing. The installer told me for coastal area, it's the best direction (somewhat contrary to PVWatt). It allows for max capture of the afternoon sun with very little cloud.

Yes, when I said "hot", it was the heat sink. The top cover was warm, but the heat sink was definitely hot. I was thinking of installing two computer case exhaust fans with 5V power supply on a timer. They are cheap, durable and quiet.

Also, my per panel output was consistently above 250W during the day. eg. more than 3 hrs today (before the storm cloud moved in). At one point around 2:30PM, most of them reached above 290W, and one above 300W. So if you want to get the LG300s, don't bother with Enphase m250. Get either Solaredge P300s or no optimizer/micro at all, otherwise you will be clipped big time.

[J.P.M.]

J.P.M., thanks for the point of reference. FYI, my orientation is 230 az and 18 tilt which is SW facing. The installer told me for coastal area, it's the best direction (somewhat contrary to PVWatt). It allows for max capture of the afternoon sun with very little cloud.

Yes, when I said "hot", it was the heat sink. The top cover was warm, but the heat sink was definitely hot. I was thinking of installing two computer case exhaust fans with 5V power supply on a timer. They are cheap, durable and quiet.

Also, my per panel output was consistently above 250W during the day. eg. more than 3 hrs today (before the storm cloud moved in). At one point around 2:30PM, most of them reached above 290W, and one above 300W. So if you want to get the LG300s, don't bother with Enphase m250. Get either Solaredge P300s or no optimizer/micro at all, otherwise you will be clipped big time.

I wouldn't take too much issue, if any, with that azimuth. The output will begin the seasonal roll off dropping this time of year in a more noticeable way in the next week/2. I'd est. the m250's clipping will cost a few % output/yr. but not a super amount. Still - no shade problem - ->> string inv.

[haizman]

The SolarEdge + LG NIC panels seem to be a great option here in North County/Coastal (pricing is great too).

I have 16x 295 LG panels and the 5000SE inverter. The inverter is in the garage in San Marcos, and does not get too warm at all.

The one gripe I have with the inverter is with the CAT-cable opening at the bottom of the housing does not allow for a crimped RJ-45 to pass through, yet the connector inside is RJ-45. I had to push some CAT-6 into the punch-out and then crimp the end....they should instead just have a Keystone-type jack where you can just punch down 568b. Weird design choice.

[thejq]

The SolarEdge + LG NIC panels seem to be a great option here in North County/Coastal (pricing is great too).

I have 16x 295 LG panels and the 5000SE inverter. The inverter is in the garage in San Marcos, and does not get too warm at all.

The one gripe I have with the inverter is with the CAT-cable opening at the bottom of the housing does not allow for a crimped RJ-45 to pass through, yet the connector inside is RJ-45. I had to push some CAT-6 into the punch-out and then crimp the end....they should instead just have a Keystone-type jack where you can just punch down 568b. Weird design choice.

Hi neighbor. Yeah I tried the CAT 5/6 cable. You really have to push it through. So for now I will live with Zigbee. One day I will have time to run the cable from the garage to my switch panel. I'm surprised that SolarEdge uses Zigbee. I'd imagine WiFi is a much cheaper option since most homes have WiFi nowadays. Even if they bundle a wireless router, the combo is still cheaper than the Zigbee gateway + client kit (retails for around $250). Anyway, there must be other reasons.

So have you taken the cover off your SE5000 and looked inside? I'm just curious what the differences are between SE6000A and SE5000A. I have a picture of mine a posts above.

[jff6791]

The SolarEdge + LG NIC panels seem to be a great option here in North County/Coastal (pricing is great too).

I have 16x 295 LG panels and the 5000SE inverter. The inverter is in the garage in San Marcos, and does not get too warm at all.

The one gripe I have with the inverter is with the CAT-cable opening at the bottom of the housing does not allow for a crimped RJ-45 to pass through, yet the connector inside is RJ-45. I had to push some CAT-6 into the punch-out and then crimp the end....they should instead just have a Keystone-type jack where you can just punch down 568b. Weird design choice.

I have one of their 7600 inverters and the installer was able to get the Cat5 molded jumper I supplied in there somehow. One thing to check when they set up your monitoring user account: make sure your access level is higher than just "Account Site Viewer" - otherwise you miss out on the Charts, Reports and Alerts features. The Charts function is a powerful tool for checking clipping activity since you can graph power out and DC voltage together.

[control4userguy]

The bottom two photos of your neighbor's house, that's gotta be the nastiest conduit job I've ever seen.

[thejq]

The bottom two photos of your neighbor's house, that's gotta be the nastiest conduit job I've ever seen.

Oh, those are not conduits. They are 2.5" PVC water pipes for the solar pool heater. Yes, they look ugly, but I don't think there're many ways to route them, because of water and size.

[inetdog]

Oh, those are not conduits. They are 2.5" PVC water pipes for the solar pool heater. Yes, they look ugly, but I don't think there're many ways to route them, because of water and size.

That attic vent is in exactly the wrong place, then. Too bad.

[control4userguy]

Oh, those are not conduits. They are 2.5" PVC water pipes for the solar pool heater. Yes, they look ugly, but I don't think there're many ways to route them, because of water and size.

Gotcha. Perhaps, discretely tap those for a misting system to aid in cleaning your PV system every so often

[silversaver]

The system has been running for 2 days now. The production was higher than I expected for a 4.8KW. PVWatts thinks for September the production should be 583KWh (0.9 derate) or 19.4KWh/day. But my last two days' average was around 29.x KWh/day, granted the weather was good. So far over-sizing to SE6000A didn't seem to be a problem. Anyway, just for kicks, here is my public site.

http://monitoring.solaredge.com/solaredge-web/public?name=Carlsbad%204.8k

BTW, I had the inverter installed in the garage which has wood roll up doors, so the inside doesn't get too hot. But the inverter is hot to touch during peak operation. Is it normal? Should I install an external fan (on a timer)?

Thanks for the update. There are many system build with LG300 in your area

Here is the similar size system with Enphase inverters in you area.

https://enlighten.enphaseenergy.com/pv/public_systems/CHeL393492/graph/days

https://enlighten.enphaseenergy.com/pv/public_systems/9ZSH331230/graph/days

[thejq]

Thanks for the update. There are many system build with LG300 in your area

Here is the similar size system with Enphase inverters in you area.

https://enlighten.enphaseenergy.com/pv/public_systems/CHeL393492/graph/days

https://enlighten.enphaseenergy.com/...230/graph/days

Thanks for the link. Yes, the LG300 along with SW 275W are quite popular in SoCal. Personally I think the LG300 + Enphase m250 is not a good combination. Your first link has the exact same number of panels as mine but my production consistently beat it but at least 15%. However this could be attributed to the orientation. Mine is SW (230 az), theirs is slightly SW (172 az). However I did see another one in Carlsbad, https://enlighten.enphaseenergy.com/...ems/3VqC414266 who has 17 panels (1 more than mine) and faces S (180 az) which should be the best. Their production is less than 1 KWh more then mine, and sometimes the same. In theory it should be around 2 KWh these days and a lot more in the summer. I think it's the result of clipping at 250W by the Enphase. Granted it's small, but over time it adds up, FWIW.

[silversaver]

Thanks for the link. Yes, the LG300 along with SW 275W are quite popular in SoCal. Personally I think the LG300 + Enphase m250 is not a good combination. Your first link has the exact same number of panels as mine but my production consistently beat it but at least 15%. However this could be attributed to the orientation. Mine is SW (230 az), theirs is slightly SW (172 az). However I did see another one in Carlsbad, https://enlighten.enphaseenergy.com/...ems/3VqC414266 who has 17 panels (1 more than mine) and faces S (180 az) which should be the best. Their production is less than 1 KWh more then mine, and sometimes the same. In theory it should be around 2 KWh these days and a lot more in the summer. I think it's the result of clipping at 250W by the Enphase. Granted it's small, but over time it adds up, FWIW.

The few system I look at using LG300 + M250 perform really well. Your system perform a little better can be due to the dirt, direction, vent shade and tile ...etc.

Time will tell. For example, my panels were facing SW 245 with 23 deg tilt, which performace really well from months of Jun to Aug comparing with South facing arrays. The good thing is at west coast, IMO the SW 210 to 220 were ideal especially with TOU plan.

[thejq]

The few system I look at using LG300 + M250 perform really well. Your system perform a little better can be due to the dirt, direction, vent shade and tile ...etc.

Time will tell. For example, my panels were facing SW 245 with 23 deg tilt, which performace really well from months of Jun to Aug comparing with South facing arrays. The good thing is at west coast, IMO the SW 210 to 220 were ideal especially with TOU plan.

I was told by my installer that SW is better than S. Now you just confirmed it too. Thanks.

[Bikerscum]

Here is the inside of SE6000A. When you get your SE5000A, we can compare.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]4779[/ATTACH]

As promised.... looks the same to me...

inv1.JPG inv2.JPG inv3.JPG inv5.JPG inv6.JPG inv7.JPG inv4.JPG

[thejq]

As promised.... looks the same to me...

[ATTACH=CONFIG]4847[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]4848[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]4849[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]4850[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]4851[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]4852[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]4853[/ATTACH]

You're right. I don't see any visible difference, as I have expected. For $30 price differential, there shouldn't be any big difference. Thanks for confirming. Good luck with your installation!