Quick question if I can - are optimisers worth it?

[Pocster]

Admit I can’t see the ‘value’ of optimisers on my array - one side can suffer slight shading .

But - being able too see every panel functioning or not in the array is a massive bonus .

[SteamyTea]

42 minutes ago, pocster said:

But - being able too see every panel functioning or not in the array is a massive bonus

It sounds it, but say you notice a module has stopped production, you then have to make a decision on whether to repair/replace, which may be several hundred quid.

Sometimes ignorance is bliss.

[Pocster]

1 hour ago, SteamyTea said:

It sounds it, but say you notice a module has stopped production, you then have to make a decision on whether to repair/replace, which may be several hundred quid.

Sometimes ignorance is bliss.

True . But better too see 1 dead rather than an entire string knocked out .

[MrTWales]

3 hours ago, PhilT said:

Was it worthwhile getting optimisers? Not sure. In this photo, taken yesterday late afternoon, the left panels where the vertical shade line is have dropped from 320W to 40W. Am I right in thinking that all 8 panels would fall to 40W without optimisers? If so, from the data playback function I worked out that this would have been worth c. 4kWh yesterday.

I'm probaby the least expert person here but my understanding is as per what you say, but I did think that any array like that would be set up as two series ideally and all inverters seem to have two inputs. I guess if there is another direction also (ie three sets of panels) then this would explain it?

[PhilT]

10 minutes ago, MrTWales said:

I'm probaby the least expert person here but my understanding is as per what you say, but I did think that any array like that would be set up as two series ideally and all inverters seem to have two inputs. I guess if there is another direction also (ie three sets of panels) then this would explain it?

My supplier quoted for one 6kW inverter but actually fitted two 3kW, so I could have split my roof and extension (the one in the photo) into 4 separate strings and therefore probably not needed optimisers. Hey ho hindsight

[Rob99]

7 hours ago, PhilT said:

In this photo, taken yesterday late afternoon, the left panels where the vertical shade line is have dropped from 320W to 40W. Am I right in thinking that all 8 panels would fall to 40W without optimisers?

I thought panels these days were very good at dealing with shading on their own so you would only lose around one third output from the partially shaded top left panel and probably all output from the partially shaded bottom left due to its landscape orientation. The other panels should be pretty much unaffected.

[PhilT]

29 minutes ago, Rob99 said:

I thought panels these days were very good at dealing with shading on their own so you would only lose around one third output from the partially shaded top left panel and probably all output from the partially shaded bottom left due to its landscape orientation. The other panels should be pretty much unaffected.

so at the time of this photo here is the snapshot from the playback data. In this graphic the right string of 8 is actually horizontal on my extension roof so top right panel in this graphic (39.22W) is actually top left in the photo and panel showing 166.9W is bottom left landscape in photo

[Rob99]

So does seem like only the partially shaded panels are affected. Interesting that the landscape panel is doing better than the portrait one. Do you have shingle type panels?

 

Do you have optimisers fitted?

Edited June 14, 2023 by Rob99
missed bits

[joth]

21 hours ago, pocster said:

Admit I can’t see the ‘value’ of optimisers on my array - one side can suffer slight shading .

But - being able too see every panel functioning or not in the array is a massive bonus .

But there's a flip side, the optimizes add complexity and introduce new error modes. Like one string on my system loosing pairing with the inverter and loosing half my production for 3 months. 

So if you have the optimisers make sure to check in on then regularly.

(It didn't help I couldn't rely on the total inverter output numbers as I added a SE battery at the same time so was expecting different numbers to previous years)

 

 

 

[PhilT]

11 hours ago, Rob99 said:

So does seem like only the partially shaded panels are affected. Interesting that the landscape panel is doing better than the portrait one. Do you have shingle type panels?

 

Do you have optimisers fitted?

Not shingle, they are JA Solar 410W with optimisers fitted to all panels, two strings of 8 each going via an SE3000H non hybrid inverter (the one with the LCD display and 4 buttons), which are selling on eBay for not a lot of money. The winter months were interesting - I got nearly 600kWh in Jan+Feb, which seems like a good result given my roof surfaces have so many shading issues. The data monitoring by panel is a nice feature.

[MrTWales]

I have JA 410W panels also I like pointlessly showing charts, so here is what I have so far (install on 25 Oct 2022) for my 8 panels on a flat roof. May/June 2023 look a bit freaky and way more than most years but I'm hoping that splitting into two series will help a little bit in the winter months, even though now the sun is high enough that there is virtually no shading. 

 

[PhilT]

5 hours ago, MrTWales said:

I have JA 410W panels also I like pointlessly showing charts, so here is what I have so far (install on 25 Oct 2022) for my 8 panels on a flat roof. May/June 2023 look a bit freaky and way more than most years but I'm hoping that splitting into two series will help a little bit in the winter months, even though now the sun is high enough that there is virtually no shading. 

 

I can't get anywhere near those outputs using PVGIS, what's your secret - are you in south Spain?

[MrTWales]

Damn, I do hope that my inverter app isn't dodgy! Cardiff isn't much like south Spain to be fair.

 

These are 10 degree sloped with the brackets + 2 for the roof, and no shading at this time of year. I usually get a peak of just over 4kW for a bit, but decent values for a lot of the day due to the relative flatness. This is what I got yesterday.

 

EDIT - mystery over, I have 12 panels and not 8!

 

Edited June 15, 2023 by MrTWales

[MrTWales]

I'm still happy with the values though, for one set of panels on a room that didn't exist when I moved in.

[Dillsue]

13 hours ago, MrTWales said:

I'm still happy with the values though, for one set of panels on a room that didn't exist when I moved in.

Getting over 4kw out of 3.3kwp of panels would make most people pretty happy!

 

Just seen your edit saying youve got 12 panels not 8. Makes a bit more sense now

Edited June 16, 2023 by Dillsue

[Nickfromwales]

13 hours ago, MrTWales said:

Cardiff isn't much like south Spain to be fair.

Move to Swansea mate   Perpetual sunshine here 😎

[SteamyTea]

49 minutes ago, Nickfromwales said:

Move to Swansea mate   Perpetual sunshine here 😎

Pah

 

Cardiff on the 14^th 

 

 

Swansea

 

 

Paul

780.8W compared to my 991.7W

Not even a need for Factor 10.

 

 

 

 

Edited June 16, 2023 by SteamyTea

[Nickfromwales]

Busted 🥺