[RE-wrenches] Enphase 215

[Marv Dargatz]

All,

Please note that I left Enphase about one year ago, and joined John Berdner at SolarEdge.

To answer the question, virtually all inverters will deliver more power than their rating.  The Max power test for listing on the CEC list of eligible inverters requires a full power run at elevated temperature for 3 hours.  At the end of that test, the power rating listed on the CEC site is either the manufacturer's rating, or the lowest single value recorded during the test, whichever is lower.  For this reason, most manufacturers build in a little extra margin to account for internal measurement and control system error.

By the way, the UL1741 standard requires that the inverter operates within 10% of its' rating.


See ya!

Marv
Director of Technology and Support, North America
SolarEdge Technologies, Inc.
Tech Support Mobile:  +530.798.6770
Mobile: +530.392.0356


-----Original Message-----
From: re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org [mailto:re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org] On Behalf Of Marco Mangelsdorf
Sent: Wednesday, August 24, 2011 12:37 PM
To: 'RE-wrenches'
Subject: Re: [RE-wrenches] Enphase 215

According to my discussions with Enphase on this subject, the M215 can actually put out 225 watts continuous.

Marv?  Please confirm.

marco

The inverter should be current-limited on its output. The other Enphases have a higher output power than rated (199 @ 190, 219 @ 210, if memory serves from earlier list posts), so this may have a similar window.

215Wac max inverter output / 240V = 0.896
0.896 x 17 = 15.23A
15.23A x 1.25 < 20A so it's OK.
As long as the inverter output is actually 225W or less, you can fit 17 on a 20A circuit.

As before, you'd have the inverter limiting output when the high-power modules are actually performing near or above STC. There will certainly be times during the year where the inverters are maxed out but those times will be a small portion. Enphase had some documentation on their site about this where they claimed it wasn't worth worrying about, but it's a site-specific question that the installer should answer.

On 2011/8/24 0:20, Keith Cronin wrote:
> Hey gang
>
> With the 215's on the scene and the tech literature on their website,
> they state you can put up to 17 modules on a string.
>
> Locally, I see folks throwing on 17-235 watt modules. Back of the
> napkin- 235 watts/240 volts = .97 amps.
>
> 17 x .97 = 16.49 amps on the 20 amp circuit. Pushing the envelop of
> the circuit, per NEC and in situations of lower voltage, could tip the
> current higher, per module it seems or is the unit current limiting?
>
> Wouldn't it seem plausible to ebb on 16 vs the 17? The 15 amp circuit
> to
> 20 amp circuit also is a change for the industry at large, as well as
> a few other changes.
>
> As Solarworld is rolling out their 250 watt and others in the same
> zone, it seems there should/could be some caveats on the enphase
> literature to reflect this.
> Thoughts, comments?
>
> Keith
>
>
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