SolarEdge minimum number of active panels to produce?

[adoublee]

adoublee is looking at using a solaredge w/ secure-power-supply instead of an offgrid system for an off-grid application.

correct

And I think off-grid solutions are going to be better for any off-grid situation.

The limitations with matching panel voltage with even MPPT charge controllers in not elegant, and the same charge controller has to be able to provide the proper battery charging profile and the proper low/battery voltage. Then an inverter with a fixed input voltage has to be used.

I like the idea of using any voltage solar panel, odd numbers of solar panels, unmatched wattage solar panels, expandable quantities of solar panels, and higher voltages. I'd much rather do this and pair couple with a 120VAC or 240VAC coupled battery through a bidirectional rectifier/inverter whose function is just to manage battery power. Without the battery this is definitely limited - especially without some type of load controller directing how much generation is available from the secure power output. But the status quo in offgrid power is not elegant in my opinion and I'd like to work toward the next generation of solutions.

Magnum/Sensata has a new architecture that might be considered similar to this, though one has to be fully committed to having battery and using Magnum's bidirectional rectifier/inverter. I'm not sure how committed they are to the microinverter, whereas SolarEdge hardware is much more mainstream.

[foo1bar]

I like the idea of using any voltage solar panel, odd numbers of solar panels, unmatched wattage solar panels, expandable quantities of solar panels, and higher voltages. I'd much rather do this and pair couple with a 120VAC or 240VAC coupled battery through a bidirectional rectifier/inverter whose function is just to manage battery power.

Like I said -
"I think off-grid solutions are going to be better for any off-grid situation."

If you want to use mismatched panels or have to deal with shade, maybe Tigo maximizers would be part of the solution
Or maybe the Magnum/Sensata solution you mention.

I think the secure power supply feature is a great feature for a GTI situation. I would have paid extra to have one.
But it's not meant for off-grid and the solutions that were designed for off-grid situations are going to be better/cheaper.

[sigfreund]

Any recommendations on how to group panels as a string? Would it be better to try to group all the panels that get early morning sun together and have another string that gets more later day sun maximizing output on one at the cost of the other string or try to split the two groups evenly so both strings would be outputting throughout the entire day?

[ButchDeal]

Any recommendations on how to group panels as a string? Would it be better to try to group all the panels that get early morning sun together and have another string that gets more later day sun maximizing output on one at the cost of the other string or try to split the two groups evenly so both strings would be outputting throughout the entire day?

With SolarEdge it make little difference. You generally string for wiring convenience as long as you meet the requirements for the strings.
If you only have 4 modules on a face, you will have to add them to modules on another face to get the string length up.
However with say 9 on one face and 8 on another you can do them as a single string of 17 or two strings of 8 and 9 in parallel.