[RE-wrenches] Transformer or not?

[Jesse Dahl]

I can only answer for the cold weather portion.  I live in northern MN, my hometown has a record cold temp of -60F (no wind chill). We see -40F every year. I usually stay away from outside mounting, although we have installed some Enphase and they have seen colder than their rating with no problems.  I have one PV Powered 2000W inverter mounted outside in international Falls, it's cold rating is -12F or something close to that.  It has seen -36F and keep working.   

Jesse

Sent from my iPhone

On Dec 14, 2012, at 1:03 PM, Hilton Dier <hiltondier at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hello Wrenches,
> 
> I have a customer with questions. We had recommended a standard SMA 5kW inverter for an outdoor installation.
> 
> He is an engineer, so he was looking at the specs for the transformer-less version as well as the one with a transformer. He noted that the rated max efficiency of the non-transformer unit is 3% higher, 98.5%. He also asked about the cold weather -40C option. He lives in central Vermont, which does get below the regular -13C rating. (Although less often lately)
> 
> Any opinions on the relative durability or efficiency of the two versions? Any opinions from cold region installers about the merits of the -40C option?
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Hilton Dier
> 
> Hilton Dier III
> Renewable Energy Design
> Solar Gain, LLC
> Missisquoi River Hydro LLC
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