How To Choose A Good Solar Inverter

January 12, 2013 2018-06-28T08:23:05 by 20 Comments

How do you choose a good solar inverter? It’s a really important question. If you choose a bad inverter, it may turn out to be noisy, inefficient and unreliable. If you have a look at the inverter reviews that are coming in to SQ, some inverters appear to have an awful failure rate. For example at the time of writing the Beijing Kinglong New Energy (KLNE) inverter reviews report 7 failures from 13 reviews! Ouch!

Here is my attempt to answer this important question. And I’ve provided a transcript of my rantings below the video. [Read more…]

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Where should your solar inverter go and should you worry about voltage drops?

August 17, 2012 2017-01-16T12:11:49 by 83 Comments

I got a great email the other day:

“One solar installer has told me that it is best for the inverter to be as close as possible to the panels and NOT to the meter box as your checklist indicates. Is he crazy?”

Short answer. Yes – he’s crazy.

Longer answer:

As close as possible to the panels? Whatcha gonna do put it on the roof?

I get a lot of stick for this advice in one of my solar installation videos:

Solar Inverter Position

Sometimes I get heat for recommending that you put your solar inverter as close to your fusebox as possible.

[Read more…]

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This Growatt Inverter Review is Good.. But What About The Reliability?

August 6, 2012 2019-09-25T09:33:32 by 82 Comments
The scores for the growatt inverter review

Photon Magazine July 2012 Awarded good marks to the Growatt 5000MTL

The latest issue of industry bible: Photon International has an in depth Growatt inverter review of the 5000MTL. A popular 5kW solar inverter from China.

It performs well in the efficiency tests, scoring an A grade at high irradiation (i.e. strong sun) and a B grade at medium irradiation. It ranked in the top third of all devices tested by the magazine over the past few years.

So to cut a long story short – Growatts are one of the better Chinese inverters out there. And they are certainly a lot cheaper than the European inverters on the market.

But there is a question mark over the quality control in the Growatt factory. [Read more…]

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Samil Power Inverters: The Hyundai of the Solar Industry?

June 29, 2012 2017-04-28T15:51:48 by 8 Comments
a list of inverter and car brands

Solar Infographic : If Inverters were Cars…

The current edition of industry bible “Photon Magazine” (June 2012 issue) has a glowing review of the Chinese made Samil Power Solar Lake 15kW inverter.

A couple of years ago if you were investing in a 15kW solar system your default choice would have been a European inverter – think SMA, Aurora or Delta. It would have been a very brave engineer that specced a Chinese inverter on such a big system!

However in a few short years the Chinese have learned from any mistakes made and are producing some world class solar inverter hardware.

[Read more…]

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What you need to know about solar inverters and RF interference

May 11, 2012 2017-05-01T15:53:03 by 39 Comments

A radio tuning dial

A solar inverter is like any other electronic device in your home and it will produce some Electromagnetic radiation and potentially Radio Frequency interference. There is a standard that all approved electrical devices in Australia are required to meet (C Tick) but it does not guarantee zero emissions.

[Read more…]

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3 Phase Solar : What you need to know about connecting solar to your 3 phase supply

May 3, 2012 2021-07-30T15:04:32 by 122 Comments
A solar panel and a 3 phase breaker

Solar is compatible with 3 phase

There is an awful lot of confusion (and misinformation) out there about the practicalities of installing solar on a house that has a 3 phase supply. So I’ve written this post to clear up the confusion. [Read more…]

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SunGrow Inverter beats SMA in Latest Inverter Reviews

March 15, 2012 2016-06-23T00:31:23 by 75 Comments
sungrow and sma inverter

Chinese Sungrow Vs German SMA Inverters: Which ones are best?

Note: This post is just one opinion on Sungrow Inverters. Click here for lots of Customer Reviews of Sungrow Inverters to see how they have performed in Australian homes over the last few years.

If you are considering buying a Sungrow Inverter over an SMA inverter – then you should also check out customers’ SMA reviews. You’ll see that, in practice, SMA inverters are more reliable. This is to be expected, since SMA are double the price of a Sungrow!

Now back to the post…

Yesterday I received my latest issue of the solar industry bible, Photon International  via airmail all the way from Germany. Whilst many people may get excited by the latest issue of Top Gear Australia magazine or Better Homes & Gardens, I’m one of those odd people that gets my kicks looking through the latest solar panel and inverter specs.

[Read more…]

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Samil Inverter Review: German magazine gives top marks

March 13, 2012 2017-05-02T10:48:08 by 20 Comments
Samil Power Solar River Inverter

The Samil Inverter got a great review in the German Photon Magazine in August 2011

Samil Inverters are very popular in Australia. They are great value, and have great specifications on paper. However I get a lot of emails asking me if this Chinese made solar inverter is any good.

It is a fair question. The inverters are a lot cheaper than their German made competition (like SMA), and are a relatively new player in the market. Plus there are a lot of solar salespeople out there that are peddling the (somewhat xenophobic) line that all Chinese made solar components are crap.

So what’s the truth? Are Samil Inverters any good? [Read more…]

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How Does Temperature Affect Your Solar Inverter Power?

March 1, 2012 2017-05-02T10:55:07 by 26 Comments
Inverter positioned badly

Don’t mount your inverter where the sun can cook it!

If you’ve been reading this blog for any length of time you are probably already aware of how high ambient temperatures negatively affect solar panel performance.

But did you know that when it gets hot outside, those scorching Aussie temperatures can also cause the efficiency of your solar inverter to drop? [Read more…]

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Two Reasons You Must Look At Efficiency Curves When Choosing Your Solar Inverter

January 29, 2012 2019-02-08T13:45:51 by 17 Comments

inverter with a trippy arrow

In my last blog post I explained how to find an inverter’s real-world efficiency instead of relying on the inverter manufacturer’s  numbers.

The CEC or European Efficiency numbers that I talked about are a much better number to use when comparing solar inverters. And for most people they will be all you need. However if you really want to understand how your solar system is going to perform then you should also look at the inverter’s “efficiency curve”.

Your inverter does not simply have one efficiency that it always operates at. The efficiency of your inverter will depend on two minor factors and one major factor.

[Read more…]

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