Sanity check: Hyundai 290W paired w/ Enphase IQ6 240W max continuous appropriate?

[inspron]

My last system, I went with Solaredge so the oversized 1.1 ratios DC didn't concern me one bit since I have a West-East layout. With experience, I would be comfortable up to 1.25 without much clipping.

Now I am installing a second system in San Diego East with plenty of sun exposure at 145 Azimuth (South-East) with Micro inverters I am a bit concerned.

I ran all the calculations through PVwatts and it is showing just 3kwh difference due to 1.2 DC ratio compared to 1.0 ratio. The iQ6+ 280W continuous is available but obviously will cost more. I'm trying to stay with the lowest cost option as long as it's not a "stupid" move.

I will be running this small 2kw system without the Envoy monitor. My only tool monitoring tool is a basic in-line watt meter.

[sensij]

PVWatts isn't perfect, but I think it does a decent job in this case. You can set the losses really low (even 0%) to create a kind of worst-case scenario, and see if the clipping loss creeps up high enough to be worth mitigating.

[inspron]

PVWatts isn't perfect, but I think it does a decent job in this case. You can set the losses really low (even 0%) to create a kind of worst-case scenario, and see if the clipping loss creeps up high enough to be worth mitigating.

I was using 7% loss which is pretty low. Good to know that 120% DC oversizing is not that consequential.

[sensij]

I was using 7% loss which is pretty low. Good to know that 120% DC oversizing is not that consequential.

If you don't want to rely solely on PVWatts, you can try to find a nearby system on PVOutput with similar orientation. For example here is one in San Diego, SE at 21 deg tilt, with a 1.12 ratio. You can see just a little bit of clipping in spring.

Here is another one, south east facing with a very oversized inverter, so no clipping at all. The PVOutput orientation wasn't set up right, but I had reviewed the plans for it and am familiar with what the actual orientation is. Look for days with peak output over 3.7 kW to get a sense of how often it would have clipped if built with your ratio.