[RE-wrenches] Non-battery string inverter options?

Thu Feb 22 22:20:44 PST 2024

Friends:

Thanks to all who replied to my plea for help.  I know it takes time to
reply to this list, time that can’t be monetized.

So here are the options, as I see it:

SolarLovesYou.com:  Interesting site.  It’s like a museum in there.  A
refurbished inverter is a great idea for a legacy install with old panels
and wiring. I can’t offer refurbished for a new install with the warranty
required.

Tesla:  This is a personal opinion, but I find Elon Musk to be a
reprehensible person and it would be very hard for me to bring myself to
put one penny in his pocket.  I also thought you had to be Tesla certified
to access Tesla products and that would be a non-starter for me.

Fronius:  It would also be hard for me to purchase a Fronius.  We installed
maybe 20 of the IG series and most of them failed multiple times.  Fronius
staff disparaged me to clients behind my back.  Fronius would not send me
warranty replacement parts unless I gave them my credit card number, which
I refused on principal (I never once failed to return cores).  We lost work
because of the problems and conflicts.  The product, the people and the
policies may be better now, but the bitterness remains.  (It is interesting
that many of you have described positive experiences with Fronius.  This is
like the thread about lithium off-grid:  There were those adamantly against
it and others much the opposite.  The only way I can explain the disparity
of experiences with Fronius is that many of our failures where at sites
within a few miles of the coast and the IG series has flow through
ventilation and visibly thin or missing PCB coating.)

The new SMA hybrid:  Like I said, expensive and with a lot of unnecessary
parts.  The release date keeps getting pushed back so who knows when they
will ship.

Goodwe:  One of my suppliers recommended the GoodWe A-MS Series GW7600A-MS
7.6kW.  I have taken a cursory look and this may be the choice.

Its soon since I posted my question, maybe more options will come to light.

Thanks again everyone.

William

PS:  There was a section in the 2011 code (690.35) that indicates that if
you upgrade from a transformer based inverter the wiring has to either be
PV rated or in a conduit.  That section disappeared but the recollection
reminds me to inspect wiring in older systems before replacing inverters.

Wm

Miller Solar

17395 Oak Road, Atascadero, CA 93422

805-438-5600

www.millersolar.com

CA Lic. 773985

*From:* August Goers [mailto:august at luminalt.com]
*Sent:* Thursday, February 22, 2024 4:55 PM
*To:* RE-wrenches
*Cc:* william at millersolar.com; Jay
*Subject:* Re: [RE-wrenches] Non-battery string inverter options?

The last I checked, Fronius's inverters were not compatible with current CA
smart grid requirements, so won't be approved to connect to the grid, so be
careful there. Maybe they have new models now?

Tesla's 7.6 kW PV inverter is good, affordable, and can be installed
without MLPE. It also has 4 independent MPPTs and can be software derated
to lower AC values if necessary for the 120% rule. I believe BayWa and
Greentech are distributing these inverters.

https://www.tesla.com/support/energy/solar-inverter/tesla-solar-inverter

Best,

August

On Thu, Feb 22, 2024 at 4:46 PM Jay via RE-wrenches <
re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org> wrote:

Hi william

Fronius 7.6 kw are in stock.

I’ve installed a number of fronius with no issues.

Jay

On Feb 22, 2024, at 4:56 PM, William Miller via RE-wrenches <
re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org> wrote:

Friends:

Now that RSS is required on almost every installation, I am having trouble
finding a plain old, non-battery, non-MLPE string inverter.  This is for a
ground mount with the inverter mounted to the rack-- the only scenario I
can imagine that does not require RSS.  I don’t need or want battery
capability, now or in the future.  The project does not have shading issues
and the inverter will be mounted on the array, so no version of MLPE is
needed.

My usual go-to would be the legacy SMA Sunny Boy series.  I can’t dine one
for sale and I am getting the impression these are no longer available.

What might you recommend for this new installation?

This brings up the question:  Of all the Sunny Boy installations I  have
out there, the next time one fails, what am I going to replace it with?

The new Sunny Boy Smarty-Pants series is not yet shipping, it is very
expensive and to replace a grid-connected inverter I don’t need battery
capabilities.

I can’t use Solar Edge because I won’t want to unwire a complete array and
add optimizers.

I am not that taken with Sol-Ark, not only because it includes the word Arc
in its name.  I don’t need the battery capabilities, AC load center or any
of the other complexities.

Any advice is appreciated.

William

Miller Solar

17395 Oak Road, Atascadero, CA 93422

805-438-5600

www.millersolar.com

CA Lic. 773985

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