smoke.python
New Member
TL;DR: What are some gotchas or potential problems with the setup shown here:
I have a solar setup right now with one big inverter and a battery. Lessons I have learned (the hard way):
* You can't connect a new battery in parallel with an old battery because it isn't an *exact* match.
* If you have shade on one panel, your power from many panels connected to it is reduced.
* If you connect panels of different makes/models/brands they operate at the output of the lowest panel connected to it.
The above problems all seem incredibly silly to me and I want to design a system that can scale without having to have everything match perfectly. I may have different amounts of shade on different panels, I may buy batteries from different manufacturers, I will likely buy things at different times and no longer be able to purchase the same thing as before, etc.
My hope is that I can setup a bunch of small-ish inverters, and have each inverter connect to its own battery and its own set of solar panels. This way as I scale up my system, I can just buy more inverters and plug arbitrary batteries and solar panels into each one without having to worry about whether or not they match the other panels/batteries.
I considered micro-inverters, which seem to solve the irregular solar panel side of the problem well but they don't solve the battery problem at all. At least initially, my plan is Deye 5k because it is an inverter I can easily acquire locally, and is relatively small but big enough to handle reasonably sized batteries. I'll start with 4 of them (to replace current setup) but IIUC they can scale up to 16 managed together and I do have plans to install a lot more panels on my property and 16 should exceed all of my current scaling plans in the future. If the system can handle irregular inverters this would be great. I'll still try to stick with a consistent brand just for monitoring simplicity, but the more "modular" the setup is the better.
I am on-grid right now, but it is just as a backup for cloudy season when I can't power everything off solar only and when I have high usage days that exceed battery capacity. My grid quality is *extremely* low and the system *must* continue to work seamlessly when the grid shuts off.
My local Deye sales rep is telling me that this setup won't work but they are not able to clearly explain why, and I suspect they may be trying to upsell me on a more complicated system.
In the diagram above, the exact numbers for the solar inputs and battery sizes are meant to just be examples. The key point I'm trying to get across is that the panels and batteries are not uniform across the setup so I can't just connect them all together.
I have an experienced professional installer who will be assisting with hooking everything up, but since apparently this type of design is uncommon, I want some outside opinions for the system's design.
Will a setup like this work in general?
If not, why not?
If it will, what are some gotchas/concerns that I should consider?
I have a solar setup right now with one big inverter and a battery. Lessons I have learned (the hard way):
* You can't connect a new battery in parallel with an old battery because it isn't an *exact* match.
* If you have shade on one panel, your power from many panels connected to it is reduced.
* If you connect panels of different makes/models/brands they operate at the output of the lowest panel connected to it.
The above problems all seem incredibly silly to me and I want to design a system that can scale without having to have everything match perfectly. I may have different amounts of shade on different panels, I may buy batteries from different manufacturers, I will likely buy things at different times and no longer be able to purchase the same thing as before, etc.
My hope is that I can setup a bunch of small-ish inverters, and have each inverter connect to its own battery and its own set of solar panels. This way as I scale up my system, I can just buy more inverters and plug arbitrary batteries and solar panels into each one without having to worry about whether or not they match the other panels/batteries.
I considered micro-inverters, which seem to solve the irregular solar panel side of the problem well but they don't solve the battery problem at all. At least initially, my plan is Deye 5k because it is an inverter I can easily acquire locally, and is relatively small but big enough to handle reasonably sized batteries. I'll start with 4 of them (to replace current setup) but IIUC they can scale up to 16 managed together and I do have plans to install a lot more panels on my property and 16 should exceed all of my current scaling plans in the future. If the system can handle irregular inverters this would be great. I'll still try to stick with a consistent brand just for monitoring simplicity, but the more "modular" the setup is the better.
I am on-grid right now, but it is just as a backup for cloudy season when I can't power everything off solar only and when I have high usage days that exceed battery capacity. My grid quality is *extremely* low and the system *must* continue to work seamlessly when the grid shuts off.
My local Deye sales rep is telling me that this setup won't work but they are not able to clearly explain why, and I suspect they may be trying to upsell me on a more complicated system.
In the diagram above, the exact numbers for the solar inputs and battery sizes are meant to just be examples. The key point I'm trying to get across is that the panels and batteries are not uniform across the setup so I can't just connect them all together.
I have an experienced professional installer who will be assisting with hooking everything up, but since apparently this type of design is uncommon, I want some outside opinions for the system's design.
Will a setup like this work in general?
If not, why not?
If it will, what are some gotchas/concerns that I should consider?
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