Strings per inverter and overclocking

[Unhappygilmore]

Hi everyone, I have a 13.76KW system, with 320W panels, two SE7600H-US inverters, and power optimizers. I have 31 panels on the south facing roof and 12 panels on the west facing roof.
I just got my mapping completed and realized that all 31 panels on the south facing roof are connected to one inverter, and the rest to the other inverter.
I’m trying to teach myself about solar so forgive me if my understand is wrong.
from what I understand the south facing panels would produce a max of 9,920W, which would get clipped down to 7600W because that is the maximum that the inverter could convert.
The panels on the west side produce 3,840 max so that inverter is only used at about 50% capacity at the most.

I understand that there are benefits to overclocking, but I think those benefits come from the savings of buying a smaller inverter and oversizing the solar panels array by up to 10-20%. However, in my case, I have one inverter that is only used at 50% capacity, and one that is overclocked by 130%.
Wouldn’t it make more sense and wouldn’t my system produce more if it were set up as follows: one inverter with a string of 24 of the south facing panels (max watts 7680), and the other inverter with two strings-one with the remaining 8 of the south facing panels, and the other string with the 12 west-facing panels- for a max watts of 6400?
I look forward to learning a lot (ie “get schooled”) by your answers! Thanks for your help!

[Ampster]

From a system perspective it doesnt make sense to have a DC to AC ratio above 1 to 1 when you have idle capacity on an adjacent inverter. As you suggested it is important to keep the west and south facing panels in their own string. You should also consult Solaredge string sizing specs

[bcroe]

You are definitely throwing energy away. I do not know the rules for optimizer
systems, but you need to rearrange the strings so that neither inverter goes into
clipping. Bruce Roe

[Unhappygilmore]

. You should also consult Solaredge string sizing specs

thanks!
1. When you say string sizing specs, are you referring to the “maximum string power”? It looks like that would be 6000Wp for my model of inverter (I attached my source). does this mean that they shouldn’t include more than eighteen 320W panels per string (5760W)?
2. Any recommendations for the language that I should use when I discuss all of this with my installer or was the language that I used in my original post appropriate?

[Ampster]

thanks!
1. When you say string sizing specs, are you referring to the “maximum string power”? It looks like that would be 6000Wp for my model of inverter (I attached my source). does this mean that they shouldn’t include more than eighteen 320W panels per string (5760W)?

Most inverters have specs about maximun voltage and current. The result is in Watts but your string could look acceptable from a Watts calculation but the voltage could be way over the maximum. Solaredge has a string sizing tool you can use

2. Any recommendations for the language that I should use when I discuss all of this with my installer or was the language that I used in my original post appropriate?

I understood what you meant by overclocking but the correct term is DC to AC ratio. Solaredge allows some of its inverters to have DC to AC ratios as high as 1.55 to 1. My system is 1.5 to 1 but i only have a single inverter. Also the design of my system may have been influenced by limit on inverter size by power company or other electrical panels rules. So the solution to those constraints was to increase the DC capacity. I have 5.7 kW array that feeds a 3.8 kW inverter. Overall your system DC to AC ratio is good and conservative. However it looked to be unbalanced which could result in loss of production when one inverter clips output while the other inverter was operating below capacity.