Solar panels and battery - any real world reccomendations?

Kot said:
Tigo are not what I wanted, they are not anything like SE optimisers hence the low cost,
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Tigo are optimisers, they work by bucking the voltage on underperfoming panels (reduce the voltage output of underperfoming panels to increse the current across the string back to un-shaded levels) and they offer very similar monitoring to SE. It’s lower cost because you don’t have to buy one manufacturer’s much more expensive inverter and battery. The actual optimisers themselves are comparable in cost (£40 vs £60) to solar edge’s. See my previous post for two reports (albeit selected by Tigo themselves) outperforming SE in various scenarios including shading.

Also here for a similar question on SE vs Tigo vs Enphase and some useful links from there https://forum.cleanenergyreviews.info/t/tigo-vs-solaredge-for-heavy-shading/1546/6
"SolarEdge usually requires a minimum of 8 panels to operate efficiently. This is because the SolarEdge inverter requires a combined 360 volts from all the optimisers, and standard optimisers only boost to a maximum of 60 volts. If you have less than six panels un-bypassed, the inverter will go offline. In short, the SolarEdge system does not work well in heavy shade."
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I’m glad you like your SE system it is great tech, but it is not correct to that it is the only or necesarily the best option when it comes to dealing with shading.
 
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Kot said:
Lots of reviews for and against Tigo, here is 1 reviewer who initial was positive about Tigo, but delved further and changed his view. https://www.mcelectrical.com.au/tigo-optimiser-recall/
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Yes I found that also when I was doing my research, it's the one main negative rant I found. His main point is that in his view there is a firmware issue on some of the Tigos and that Tigo quietly solved it via firmware update but only if you have the Tap and CCA ie what is required for them to connect to the internet but you'd be missng out to not to have those and Tigo advise you not to 'blind deploy' them so it's a mute point imo.
His other point "If you didn’t have Tigo installed, that panel would have used the bypass diode to bypass the shaded portion of the panel" is the same for Solar Edge or any other optimiser and is heavily dependent on type of shade and the specification of the panel itself and then you get into the issue of bypass diode burnout and minimum number of active panels to maintain the string.

I'm not saying Tigo is a universally perfect solution, but for performance I have seen no evidence that SE justifies its extra cost over other module level optimisation approaches that are available.
But as ever views differ so I'm not knocking the SE purchase, just that there are other options and they are mostly lesser-known.

IIRC correct another forum user in this thread had a Tigo fail and didn't have panel level reporting so had a hard time identifying it. They are also quite easy to connect wrongly if your installer ignores the big yellow tags and I think that can cause them to fail which could be an expensive ****-up.

Ps. I also agree with all of @Mercenary Keyboard Warrior 's points below re optimisers.
 
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When I looked at solar a year or so ago, wanting to understand before I got quotes I was leaning quite heavily to optimisers.

Eventually I was put off by a couple of things, failure rate. They do fail, where as panels actually failing is quite rare, optimisers (like inverters) are the most likely point of failure. I think it was in the 5% region at 10 years (ie 1 in 20 would be likely to fail within 10 years) and that goes up afterwards.
Annoyingly I didnt save the link from what I can see. As such I would only personally get them if there was a real need, like significant part string issues, or they were being installed where they could be accessed without having to go onto the roof.
(I have seen some installers will loft install but may tuck under panels).

Secondly panels are better now. More bypass so less direct impact from partial shading anyway.

I would be careful buying micro inverters unless you really need them. Risk of failure, added cost, thats some risk to ROI timescale.
 
Ron-ski said:
I believe there was also a forum member that had multiple Tigo failures, and the system was replaced with SolarEdge. Their installer had stopped fitting Tigos IIRC.
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Correct, that was me.
4 of 12 burnt out, top of the cases cracked/melted.

So far, SE running perfectly

Of all the people I phoned to help fix it (reasons why I didn't only talk to the installer, but I won't go over that again) none if them fit tigos!

Forgot to put, these started to fail in a few years
 
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Was the burn outs like this thread? https://www.reddit.com/r/solar/comments/144j15k/tigo_ts4_modular_level_power_electronics_melt_down/

Solaredge have also had reliability issues, but the new S series of optimisers seem to have a very low failure rate, time will tell.

Another blog worth discussing https://www.deegesolar.co.uk/solaredge_vs_tigo_optimisers/
quote ---
The SolarEdge inverter converts the DC power into AC power, designed to work specifically with the SolarEdge power optimisers. Compared to traditional string inverters, the SolarEdge inverter is more cost effective, and more reliable. In addition, with a record-breaking 99% efficiency, SolarEdge guarantees an improved ROI, independent of string length and temperature. Providing an amazing 33%-50% less loss than the market standard.

Whereas Tigo uses a normal, complete inverter, SolarEdge’s inverter spilts the traditional inverter into two parts. Firstly, the DC-to-AC is fixed inside an inverter casing to your wall ready for servicing. This provides a user interface, stores the systems communication devices. Secondly, the MPPT and DC-to-DC, they put onto the roof itself. As a SolarEdge system it running MPPT on every panel rather than the entire array, it is able to get more power out of the system.

In addition to its functionality as a DC optimised PV inverter, the single phase inverter also has the ability to manage battery storage, EV Charging, and other smart devices.
 
Kot said:
Tigo are not what I wanted, they are not anything like SE optimisers hence the low cost, did extensive research and had maybe 10 home surveys and a lot more armchair google earth surveys, used easy-pv to check etc, so glad I went down the SE route. I have shading early morning from trees and chimney shadows etcbut you wouldn't think so. Since 11th May I have generated 2.49Mwh of which 1.02Mwh exported to grid. I am a heavy user with a pool pump and a daughter part time baking business etc etc The app actually shows each panel and what power it is producing individually.
The inverter IP65 and battery IP55 both are outside they are rated for indoor or outdoor. Ensure you have the SE Modbus meter included in your quote as this is essential for monitoring https://midsummerwholesale.co.uk/pdfs/solaredge-energy-meter-flyer-29.10.18.pdf
Make sure your installer gives you installer access for desktop so you can manage energy profile of battery make it a condition of the contract.
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Thanks, will do. Very helpful
 
Btw I went for the Solar Skirt thingy for pigeon protection. Is that good or are there any downsides apart from the cost? I read somewhere about raising temps due to reduced airflow
 
Ron-ski said:
Difficult to say, it does cause a reduction in output, it is noticeable, your probably better off googling for a decent answer.
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Harbz said:
My installer seems to think its not an issue as there is adequate airflow with gaps.
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Ron-ski said:
They are right, it's not an issue, heat does cause a reduction in output, but it's minimal, panels get hot in the sun regardless.
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I am sure it varies depending on make/model of panels but mine do suffer quite a bit from heat.

My system is rated at 4.5kw and I have seen it do that on a day where there are clouds/sun, they cool under the cloud then when the cloud goes and the sun hits them the power spikes a bit until they quickly warm up again.

They are after all pretty much flat black surfaces they are absorbing all of that light which then turns to heat.

So, basically on most days past about spring, on a completely clear day my system wont go much higher than about 3.2kw peak due to the heat.

To be honest though, knowing the installer I used I can imagine these panels are probably not top of the line, so I reckon most "decent" panels you would probably be looking at less heat effeciency drop.
 
Harbz said:
Btw I went for the Solar Skirt thingy for pigeon protection. Is that good or are there any downsides apart from the cost? I read somewhere about raising temps due to reduced airflow
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I have lots of trees and pigeons so it was a must for me, I have a black mesh, its galvanised steel coated with black pvc around the panels. Remember the panels are on a rail system so there is about 2 to 4" clearance depending on installation, plenty of space to allow air flow around the panels. Just google it to get an idea what it looks like.
 
BUDFORCE said:
I am sure it varies depending on make/model of panels but mine do suffer quite a bit from heat.

My system is rated at 4.5kw and I have seen it do that on a day where there are clouds/sun, they cool under the cloud then when the cloud goes and the sun hits them the power spikes a bit until they quickly warm up again.

They are after all pretty much flat black surfaces they are absorbing all of that light which then turns to heat.

So, basically on most days past about spring, on a completely clear day my system wont go much higher than about 3.2kw peak due to the heat.

To be honest though, knowing the installer I used I can imagine these panels are probably not top of the line, so I reckon most "decent" panels you would probably be looking at less heat effeciency drop.
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If you can find your panels you will be able to lookup the impact.
Mine are 0.37% per degree C.
The base number is 25 C I think as a standard.

They say the panels can be as much as 30 degrees above ambient in full strong sustained sun.
 
Mercenary Keyboard Warrior said:
If you can find your panels you will be able to lookup the impact.
Mine are 0.37% per degree C.
The base number is 25 C I think as a standard.

They say the panels can be as much as 30 degrees above ambient in full strong sustained sun.
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Just checked what I will be getting and they are Jinko Tiger Neo 54c 420W N-Type All Black Mono. Quick check online says it's 0.30% per C loss.
 
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