SolarEdge 3800 on a 5.2 KW system

[Uspowers]

Greetings all,


I've quick technical question for those more familiar with Solar gear.

I got a design from Solar City of a 3.8KW system with 15 x 260Watt panels.
Wanting to maximize output they were able to install a 5.2 KW system with 20 x 260Watt panels.

They installed the 20 panels with a SE3800A inverter.
Will this be a problem?

Thank you
Bob

[J.P.M.]

Hard to say, but sounds like the inverter size might have been checked when the array size was increased. I'd question it.

[sensij]

5.2 kW on a 3.8 kW inverter is 137%, technically outside of the max 135% guideline provided by SolarEdge. By staying with the 3800 inverter they could use a 20A breaker in your panel and maybe avoid an upgrade there. As to whether or not it will cause a problem is hard to say... what is the orientation of your panels? If they are split up on multiple roof faces oriented in different directions, they will never all produce maximum power at the same time and the design could be sound.

[arborlinden]

Greetings all,


I've quick technical question for those more familiar with Solar gear.

I got a design from Solar City of a 3.8KW system with 15 x 260Watt panels.
Wanting to maximize output they were able to install a 5.2 KW system with 20 x 260Watt panels.

They installed the 20 panels with a SE3800A inverter.
Will this be a problem?

Thank you
Bob

Just had solaredge 5.13kwp installed and an 4kw peak inverter was supplied. The installer sent it back to be replaced by an SE5000 saying it was not big enough.

[ButchDeal]

Greetings all,


I've quick technical question for those more familiar with Solar gear.

I got a design from Solar City of a 3.8KW system with 15 x 260Watt panels.
Wanting to maximize output they were able to install a 5.2 KW system with 20 x 260Watt panels.

They installed the 20 panels with a SE3800A inverter.
Will this be a problem?

Thank you
Bob

Are the modules all facing the same direction? This would be a very reasonable install with East/West arrangement.
Or if there was some limitation on the MSP with no simple upgrade.

[ButchDeal]

Just had solaredge 5.13kwp installed and an 4kw peak inverter was supplied. The installer sent it back to be replaced by an SE5000 saying it was not big enough.

This sounds like a SunEdison deal. They have kits based on the 3800, 6000, and 7600 inverters. It could have been pushed to the 6000 inverter.

[skipro3]

From my experience, a solar array rated at 5kW is going to put out approx 3850 actual watts based on the fact that no one ever gets near the perfect sun isolation. Maybe, just maybe on a very few days if your panels actually are perfectly aligned to the sun, they will get a few hours a year over 4000 watts, but unless the larger inverter is upgraded for free or you are planning to expand and add panels later, I doubt there will be any clipping of power for the design.

For a practical application, figure 80% actual wattage from the rated wattage of the panel array. That's with the panels facing due South and 22 to 23 degree tilt. Anything off from that and you'll realize even less actual watt output.

[sensij]

For a practical application, figure 80% actual wattage from the rated wattage of the panel array. That's with the panels facing due South and 22 to 23 degree tilt. Anything off from that and you'll realize even less actual watt output.

It definitely depends on location and array orientation, and the time of year, and a bunch of other things. Some of the most efficient systems on PVOutput's Team San Diego will put out 90% or better, most run in the low to mid 80s this time of year.

[ButchDeal]

From my experience, a solar array rated at 5kW is going to put out approx 3850 actual watts based on the fact that no one ever gets near the perfect sun isolation. Maybe, just maybe on a very few days if your panels actually are perfectly aligned to the sun, they will get a few hours a year over 4000 watts, but unless the larger inverter is upgraded for free or you are planning to expand and add panels later, I doubt there will be any clipping of power for the design.

For a practical application, figure 80% actual wattage from the rated wattage of the panel array. That's with the panels facing due South and 22 to 23 degree tilt. Anything off from that and you'll realize even less actual watt output.

Well the SE3800 can put out 4150 watts AC, so I doubt there would be much if any clipping.

[Uspowers]

Upon review with Solar City the original 15 x 260 watt panel setup specified a SE3000.
When they redesigned to the 20 x 260 watt panels they upped it to SE3800.
All should be well!
Thanks All for the input.
Bob