{"id":38598,"date":"2020-04-14T15:57:50","date_gmt":"2020-04-14T05:27:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/?p=38598"},"modified":"2020-04-30T17:17:47","modified_gmt":"2020-04-30T06:47:47","slug":"mil-solar-eclipse-inverter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/mil-solar-eclipse-inverter\/","title":{"rendered":"MIL-Solar Produces Australian-Made Eclipse Solar Inverter"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"MIL-Solar

The MIL-Solar Eclipse 5 kW inverter. Made in Australia and tough as a Toowoombian.<\/p><\/div>\n

Are you in the market for a grid-tied 5 kilowatt solar inverter?\u00a0 In that case there’s plenty of choice.\u00a0 I can think of nine brands I can recommend off the top of my head, but every single one of them is manufactured overseas. If you had your heart set on an Australian-made one you were out of luck.\u00a0 At least you were until now, as MIL-Solar<\/a> which is part of MIL-Systems<\/a> — a producer of electronic devices for millitaries — now manufacture Australian-made 5 kilowatt and 4.95 kilowatt solar inverters in Melbourne.<\/p>\n

At the moment they are priced around the same as a Fronius<\/a>, which is what I’d call a premium inverter, and so aren’t cheap.\u00a0 But I’m confident there are plenty of people willing to pay a premium to have an Australian-made solar inverter hanging on their wall.\u00a0 Possibly in the garage next to the Kingswood<\/a>.<\/p>\n

MIL-Systems Make Military Tough Stuff<\/h2>\n

MIL-Systems is an electronic equipment manufacturer in West Footscray.\u00a0 Their name may make it sound like they produce equipment for mills or maybe for the milliners who make hats for the Melbourne Cup, but it actually stands for Military Systems.\u00a0 A very appropriate name because they make stuff for the Australian Defence Force.<\/p>\n

I have to give the MIL-Solar portion of MIL-systems credit for being gutsy enough to not attempt to hide this, because if anything has a reputation for being unreliable or not cost effective it’s some military equipment.\u00a0 Back in the days when my cousin was serving on the Melbourne<\/a>1<\/a><\/sup> it was generally accepted things meant to go bang usually would, but everything else was hit and miss.2<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

Fortunately, I’ve heard things have gotten better recently.\u00a0 And by recently I mean in the last 30 years.\u00a0 This may be hard to believe given that, in today’s money, Australia is paying more for each F-35 Joint Strike Fighter<\/a> than they did for an entire new aircraft carrier<\/a> in 1947.\u00a0 But, unlike Donald Trump who prefers steam<\/a>, our Defence Force Chiefs now understand that electricity is a thing and items using it have to be both durable and reliable.3<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0 The items MIL-systems make for the ADF definitely look durable:<\/p>\n

\"Mil-Systems

You could win a fight just by hitting people with this stuff.<\/p><\/div>\n

MIL-Systems has done a good job of convincing me the stuff they make is dependable.\u00a0 Besides their assurances, there’s also several good reasons why we can expect MIL-Solar inverters won’t be exposed to anything approaching the usual amount of swearing military equipment is:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. It’s being produced for and sold in the consumer market, so if it’s going to make money it has to work as well or better than the competition and competition in the solar inverter<\/a> market is tough.\u00a0 The market imposes discipline often missing in military procurement.<\/li>\n
  2. It’s not being built under the assumption that, when used in situation it’s designed for, it will probably be destroyed within 6 months anyway.4<\/a><\/sup><\/li>\n
  3. It is not being physically hauled around the place by people who are sometimes not quite as delicate as they could be.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Solar Inverter Specs<\/h2>\n

    The MIL-Solar Eclipse inverter5<\/a><\/sup> is 5 kilowatts, but if you live in an area with an annoying Distributed Network Service Provider that wants to limit you to an inverter capacity of under<\/em> 5 kilowatts instead of the more usual 5 kilowatts for a single phase home6<\/a><\/sup>, there is a version that has been cranked down to 4.95 kilowatts.\u00a0 MIL-Solar says in the future they may produce one that is 6 kilowatts.<\/p>\n

    Both versions of their inverter are single phase, which is the type of power most homes have.\u00a0 Like all single phase inverters they can be used by homes with 3 phase power, although I normally recommend<\/a> getting a 3-phase solar inverter for a 3 phase home if you can manage it.<\/p>\n

    The datasheet with the full list of technical specs can be found here<\/a>, but I’ve put a cut down list of points likely to be of most interest to home owners below:<\/p>\n

    \"MIL-Solar<\/p>\n

    Not shown above, but of interest to installers will be that each MPPT has a 12 amp limit on operating input current \u00a0– which will limit design options for some split roofs.<\/p>\n

    Efficiency<\/h2>\n

    The Eclipse inverter has a maximum efficiency of 97%, but what’s important is its average efficiency under real life conditions, which is given by its European Efficiency figure of 96.3%.\u00a0 Not that long ago I would have said this is pretty good, but solar inverter efficiencies have been creeping higher and here’s how it stacks up against a range of others:7<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

      \n
    • Delta<\/a> Home Series: 98%<\/li>\n
    • Huawei<\/a> Smart Energy Center:\u00a0 98%<\/li>\n
    • Sungrow<\/a> SG5K-D:\u00a0 98%<\/li>\n
    • Solis<\/a> 3P5K:\u00a0 97.8%<\/li>\n
    • Goodwe<\/a> DNS:\u00a0 97.5%<\/li>\n
    • Fronius<\/a> Primo: 97.1%<\/li>\n
    • ABB<\/a> Uno:\u00a0 97%<\/li>\n
    • Enphase<\/a> IQ7+ microinverter:\u00a0 96.5%<\/li>\n
    • SMA<\/a> Sunnyboy:\u00a0 96.5%<\/li>\n
    • MIL-Solar<\/a> Eclipse:\u00a0 96.3%<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

      As you can see, the MIL-System inverter comes in at the bottom.\u00a0 While the 0.8% difference between it and a Fronius inverter isn’t much, it does add up over time.\u00a0 Six kilowatts of north facing solar panels in Sydney<\/a> with a Fronius would produce around 670 more kilowatt-hours over 10 years than with a MIL-Solar inverter.\u00a0 If each kilowatt-hour of solar electricity was worth 20 cents to the household the Fronius would give an extra $134 more in savings.<\/p>\n

      IP Rating 44 — Less Than Usual<\/h2>\n

      An item’s IP (Ingress Protection<\/a>) rating is a measure of how well it prevents dry stuff, like dust and spiders, and wet stuff like water and spider juice, from getting inside.\u00a0 The higher the numbers the better.<\/p>\n

      The MIL-Solar Eclipse is IP44.\u00a0 The first number is for solids with 4 meaning objects larger than 1mm can’t get inside.\u00a0 This will stop most ants but not itty bitty little ones<\/a>.\u00a0 The second number is for water with 4 meaning it can resist being splashed with water from any angle.\u00a0 All the other solar inverters I listed above are IP65, so the MIL-Solar Eclipse has considerably less ingress protection.<\/p>\n

      \"\"

      Image: DMS&T<\/p><\/div>\n

      While MIL-Solar inverters can withstand being splashed with water they need protection from storm driven rain.\u00a0 As it’s technical specs say:<\/p>\n

      \"MIL-Solar<\/p>\n

      It can go under roof eaves, but will have to be located high enough for the roof overhang to protect it, while still leaving least 30cm clearance above the inverter to allow enough air circulation to cool it.\u00a0 This may not be a problem for installers over 6 feet tall who, when they stand on either side of me, make me feel like I’m at the bottom of a well.\u00a0 But for the average8<\/a><\/sup> sized installer it may make things more difficult.<\/p>\n

      No Direct Sunshine<\/h2>\n

      While it’s not a good idea to locate any inverter in the sun, unlike other manufacturers, MIL-Solar specifically prohibits this.\u00a0 This is made obvious by the fact that it is black, which means it would rapidly soak up solar energy.\u00a0 That’s something you want solar panels to do, not inverters.<\/p>\n

      \"MIL-Solar

      I’ve been told this is high quality solar inverter electronics.<\/p><\/div>\n

      Vampire Energy Drain<\/h2>\n

      Electronic devices often consume energy when not in use.\u00a0 For solar inverters night time counts as not in use.\u00a0 MIL-Solar’s inverter has a standby<\/a> power consumption of around 1 watt.\u00a0 This compares well to other 5 kilowatt inverters:<\/p>\n

        \n
      • ABB<\/a> Uno:\u00a0 under 0.4 watts<\/li>\n
      • Goodwe<\/a> DNS: \u00a0 under 1 watt<\/li>\n
      • Solis<\/a> 3P5K:\u00a0 under 1 watt<\/li>\n
      • Sungrow<\/a> SG5K-D:\u00a0 under 1 watt<\/li>\n
      • Fronius<\/a> Primo:\u00a0 under 1 watt<\/li>\n
      • MIL-Solar<\/a> Eclipse:\u00a0 1 watt<\/li>\n
      • Delta<\/a> Home Series:\u00a0 under 2 watts<\/li>\n
      • SMA<\/a> Sunnyboy:\u00a0 5 watts<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

        While the MIL-Solar inverter is only in 6th place, the difference between drawing 1 watt at night and up to 0.4 watts, like the ABB Uno, only comes to an extra 26 kilowatt-hours over 10 years.\u00a0 If electricity cost 25 cents per kilowatt-hour at night that an extra $6.50.\u00a0 Meanwhile, the vampiric SMA Sunny Boy would have slurped down an extra $44 worth of electricity compared to the MIL-Solar Eclipse.<\/p>\n

        No Screen — Only Wifi<\/h2>\n

        As is becoming depressingly common, there is no screen on the MIL-Solar Eclipse.\u00a0 Instead it has a wireless connection so you can look up its performance on your laptop or phone.\u00a0 I don’t approve of screenlessness because my parents have gone over 70 years without learning to use the internet and they’re not going to start now.\u00a0 (Unless of course there are recipes and dirty pictures to be found on the internet, but what are the chances of that?)\u00a0 However, it does have three little lights and they can convey a surprising amount of information with their blinking and flashing<\/a>.<\/p>\n