SA Power Networks’ Shonky Voltages Causing Headaches For Adelaide Solar Owners

December 29, 2014 2017-04-19T14:50:50 by 10 Comments
Most solar inverters will shut down at 257V.

Most solar inverters will shut down at 257V.

I’m getting reports that lots of solar owners in Adelaide have seen their inverters shut down over Christmas.

No, the inverters are not taking a break to eat mince pies and open their presents – they are shutting down because the grid voltage seems to be regularly going higher than 257V. Many inverters are designed to shut down when the grid gets this high, in order to protect the inverter electronics.

According to the Australian Standard (AS 60038-2012), the grid should be kept at 230V -6% / + 10%. So the highest it should get is 253V. [Read more…]

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Solarmax Inverter Bankruptcy: What it means for Solarmax owners.

December 17, 2014 2017-04-20T10:33:07 by 18 Comments
solarmax logo

Solarmax have gone bust.

Bad news for fans of Solarmax inverters as its parent company, Sputnik Engineering, has just filed for insolvency.

Solarmax are a 20 year old Swiss inverter manufacturer who made fantastic quality inverters at a great price. It seems, with hindsight, that the price was a little too great!

If you were considering buying a Solarmax, then you should probably change brands so that your warranty is with a solvent manufacturer. Go for a big brand like SMA, Fronius, Sungrow, ABB, Zeversolar, Delta, Enphase or Solarbridge (feel free to leave any big brands I’ve missed out in the comments!)

If you already have a Solarmax on your home, then don’t panic! [Read more…]

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Are micro inverters & battery backup compatible?

November 5, 2014 2024-06-04T14:56:44 by 57 Comments
3 microinverters and 2 batteries

Can you combine micro inverters with batteries? Yes you can!

Can you use a micro inverter off grid? Or even for grid connect with batteries?

With the growth in the use of micro inverters, I’m starting to get more and more emails asking: can micro inverters be used in off grid (or hybrid) solar power systems? [Read more…]

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Discover How Micro Inverter Solar Panels Cope With Shade

March 7, 2014 2022-07-06T19:07:16 by 21 Comments

As a true solar geek, I can’t think of anything better to do at 7:30 on a Friday evening, than log in to my solar panel monitoring system.  While most folks are settling down to Friday Night Footy, you’ll find me checking out how much power my 6kW of micro inverter solar panels are producing as the last rays of evening sun scatter across my roof.

As I logged in tonight to see a respectable 1.2kW being pumped out, I noticed that the monitoring system was providing a great example of one of the benefits of microinverter technology.

If you have a gander at the live monitoring screenshot below you’ll see that I’ve highlighted the position of my wood burner’s flue and the approximate shadow it casts as the sun goes down.

solar panel monitoring

The red circle is my flue. I’ve drawn on its 7:30pm shadow.

[Read more…]

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Micro Inverters vs. String Inverters [infographic]

December 18, 2013 2017-04-20T12:49:09 by 49 Comments

I’ve had a lot of people ask me about the pros and cons of microinverters recently.  I have written a long and detailed description of microinverters, but for those who would rather learn about them without ploughing through 1000 words of my ramblings (and who can blame you!) I created this infographic about micro inverters vs string inverters. Hope you like it 🙂

microinverters pros and cons - infographic

Micro inverters vs. String Inverters (AKA Central Inverters)

 

 

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Are Microinverters Worth It? Well, I’m loving mine so far…

December 10, 2013 2014-01-05T18:08:15 by 18 Comments
tindo microinverter monitoring

On 26th Nov my microinverter monitoring showed 45kWh generated. Woo Hoo!

Microinverters… In my experience, Aussie solar installers either love ’em or hate ’em. Seriously! I honestly don’t think I’ve talked to an installer that is indifferent to them.

[Read more…]

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Solar Inverter Sizing: Don’t violate the new CEC guidelines!

May 28, 2013 2019-06-19T10:38:41 by 64 Comments
solar inverter and panels

How many panels can you connect to your inverter?

It is common practice, when designing a solar system, to ‘undersize’ the solar inverter, by connecting more panels than the inverter appears to be rated for.

This can freak out some solar customers when they see, for example 3.25kW of panels proposed to be connected to a 3kW inverter in their solar quote.

Confused?

Let me explain the nuances of solar inverter sizing… [Read more…]

Filed Under: Solar Inverters

Solar energy: has the smart money seen the light?

April 29, 2013 2017-10-25T10:16:05 by Leave a Comment
cash and solar panels

Follow the money…

The big news in solar energy this week was the acquisition of Power-One — manufacturers of the fable Aurora Inverters — by the Swiss energy giant the ABB Group for one billion dollars. For those among us who will never see $1,000,000,000, to give you an idea of its worth, its about half of what celebrity Oprah Winfrey charged for her recent Australian appearance. [Read more…]

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Aurora Inverters sold to Swiss giant for a cool $1Billion. SMA should be worried…

April 24, 2013 2015-08-11T10:37:35 by 9 Comments
an aurora inverter surrounded by cash

Power-One has been sold to ABB for $1B

I’m a big fan of Aurora inverters. These thoroughbred Italian inverters are manufactured by a company called Power-One and are the second best selling inverters on the planet. (The best selling are SMA in case you didn’t know)

So news of Power-One being sold, lock, stock and barrel to Swiss engineering conglomerate ABB, made me sit up and take notice.

Why?

Two reasons: [Read more…]

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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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