Ooof. So nice to have the impression that the video presenter on this complex and divisive topic lacks bias, a perceived relationship to a product, or unquestionable certainty. So thank you. I'm still in the shadows with installer suggestions on offer though. Bit your vid is helping in the right direction .
Just got a 18 panel system with solar edge. I think I made the right choice. Should be easier to expand and add a battery. The price was 17 k and about 5 years to pay off.
About pricing now (speaking about the Inverters)... I'm doing a lot of DD on Freelancer Finance channel... From all my research Solaredge is maybe $500-$1k less... for a system that costs 30-60k... and will last 25 years... it's a no brainer to use Enphase and not worry about a central inverter failing even for a day (if not for months).
SolarEdge "99% efficiency" claim is misleading. DC optimizers (upstream from the inverter) have ~2% loss each, which conveniently gets ignored in the marketing material.
Optimisers have 0.5% dc to dc conversion loss, not 2%. Even with that, the benefits of fixing the voltage on the roof so it hits the inverter sweet spot all day means you will always see more efficiency from solaredge than any other tech. Micros are just like string inverters, only tiny. No dc control, still subject to finding efficiency in their band of operation.
@@brentthesolarguy Heads up this is the main salesman for solaredge in australia. His company is going insolvant because of the mainstream adoption of the bypass diode. More like solaredgecase
First you say a single inverter is bad, then you say it is good. I have 2 SolarEdge inverters. The SE3800H has failed 3 times now in 3 years. SolarEdge doesn’t cover the service calls to do the warranty replacements. And, SolarEdge support is practically NONEXISTENT! They will not respond. I am fed up with SolarEdge!
Good video and fortunately I have both an Enphase solar system of 10Kw and a SolarEdge one of 5Kw. I like them both, but I prefer the Enphase one where I get maximum wattage due to the IQ8-H microinverters.
The rectifier comment is partially true though it may be simpler to state that their Inverters are Bi-directional as the Microinverters in the batteries are bi-directional. Also there are 6 inverters per 5kwh battery so redundancy is x6 for the same amount of stored energy. If one X-BAT inverter fails the homeowner still has access to all the storage. In this case the Battery fills the low production gaps of the Solar if a cloud passes over. Enphase allows PCS controls so you can put 30-40Kw on a roof when the Main Panel or utility limits you to 7.68kw the way Enphase does it is far superior because if you connect a car to charge it the system will release all the power and yet limit what only goes to the grid.
Another thing most people miss is that just because you are charging batteries from DC in the case of Solaredge, does not mean there is no energy conversion taking place. An optimizer is called a DC to DC converter for a reason. Another DC to DC conversion also happens when charging the battery from solar. Thus it is not accurate to say there are no loses in a DC coupled system. And after 9.5 years in the PV industry, with more than 2000 sites on our fleet and multiple NABCEP certifications, I'd always pick Enphase over Solaredge any day of the week and twice on Sundays.
Enjoyed your video - thank you. I am looking at a future home DIY 48V battery backup system, and have a partially shaded property that could greatly benefit from micro-inverters or optimizers. I've only heard rumours but, is there an off-grid micro-inverter or optimizer system available? Would very much appreciate your input. Thanks so much.
For Enphase you would just need to add another circuit. It's designed this way to increase safety and longevity. At this point these are about the same as far as comparisons. The other nuance is the amount of copper wire and gauge required for long DC runs.
Good question. No particular reason - honestly I just pulled the spec sheet from a folder on my computer where I keep a bunch of datasheets and I guess I never downloaded the IQ8 datasheet when it came out. The CEC weighted efficiency is still 97% on the IQ8s though so it doesn't make much of a difference in the context of what I was talking about. I'll make sure I'm using the newest versioned datasheets on my next video though! Thank you!
With SolarEdge, if you have a bad connection on the roof, it is almost impossible to find it. Each optimizer has six MC-4 plugs and six sockets and they are wired in series like old-fashioned Christmas tree lights on the four string plugs/sockets per optimizer. If you have 13 PV panels and optimizers you have 6 x 13 x 2 = 156 MC-4 male and female connectors that can go bad. If the inverter does not connect to the optimizers due to one bad series connector it goes into "night mode" and production drops to zero. Try and find that poor connection in the wiring underneath the panels without lifting up all the panels, and even then, you might not be able to tell which of the 156 connectors has failed to carry current. Enphase doesn't have that problem; all a bad connection creates is the loss of one panel's contribution, since they are all in parallel.
hey sorrosh thanks for the explanation very helpful and in depth. how do you size the solar edge inverter size according to panel size (ie. 4kw 10 400w panels) thx
Glad you liked the video! And good question, this would make a good standalone video on its own. I'll do my best to simplify oversizing a SolarEdge Inverter to a few sentences. For a 4kW sized system, you'd either spec a 3kW or 3.8kW SolarEdge Inverter. Which you choose depends on environmental factors such as ambient temperatures, panel orientations, expected real-world outputs from the panels, and customer goals. As a general rule (in my opinion) you want to aim for 10% - 30% oversizing. Basically, you want to load the inverter up such that it is producing the maximum amount of power that it can handle without producing significant clipping/power losses during the peak production hours during peak production days in the year. Hope this helps!
I’ve had my 10.5 kw solar system with SolarEdge inverter system for three years. On the anniversary of the system the inverter died. It was down for a month with free replacement. Luckily it didn’t affect the yearly production, that bad. We have been ahead of this grid game with SCE, so far. We produce more KWH than we use, but they charge us .30/kwh used, and they give us .09/kwh that we send back to them. I’ve heard it’s going to get worse. That is why I am starting my investigation into battery storage for this SolarEdge system. Except for the house AC, we can disconnect Edison and live off grid. I just don’t know how much battery I need. Any formulas or charts I’m going to need to figure this out??
The pricing for microinverters is linear. There are scaling advantages with string inverters, a 2x larger inverter is not 2x more expensive. That is why Enphase is expensive for larger systems. You made it sound like string inverters are old technology and not really competitive any more. That is not true at least internationally. With the advancement of technology, string inverters have become the better choice in most cases. Especially if you have no shading issues. When you have different orientations you can just use multiple smaller string inverters. Solar panels can handle shading better nowadays and they have become cheaper. So most people add one or two more panels and get the cheaper string inverters. I used to live in a place where our HOA had a SolarEdge inverter. It worked well, but for my current location I will go for a string inverter and battery backup. I have no shading issues and a single orientation.
SolarEdge is NOT “the best of both worlds”. Like a string inverter, the SolarEdge inverter is a single point of failure. One of our 2 SolarEdge inverters has gone down 3 times now in the past 7 months, and it took 3 months to get it replaced. You acknowledged that, but seemed to brush it off as an “oh, well”. That is completely unacceptable! If they never went down, that would be one thing, but that’s not the case. We will be dumping our SolarEdge devices for something else - not sure what, yet.
I don't think your point on if one panel in a string is shaded, the rest are brought down is true, at least not anymore. Several hands-on videos out there that debunk this, at least with modern panels. Doesn't mean there aren't other issues but I see far too many pushing this point when it's not true.
Modern panels use bypass diodes and other internal circuitry to prevent partial shading of a panel from lowering the output of the rest of that panel, however, you still need either a DC optimizer or a microinverter to solve this on the string level so that all panels in the string don't lower their output to the lowest performing panel. Cheers my friend
This video has flaws, some of what you said is no longer true for some years now, pretty much all the solar panels made today have internal loss removal diodes that greatly reduce losses for shading or mismatching wattage of panels. The bad thing about microinverters is that you lose about 5 to 10% of the power your panels make because they lose energy in heat when going back and forth between DC to AC and back to DC for batteries and batteries DC going to AC which can be bad if you only have a small array. Both Enphase and SolarEdge both have positives and negatives. Pretty much all the new solar panels made in the last 4 or 5 years have these diodes that remove losses.
There is no way to compare a central inverter with micro inverters. This is the moment when people needs to understand that for a non significantly difference of money they are able to get a micro inverter system. I don’t wanna explain the reasons, there is too many information about this but definitely, it’s no brainer decision to move forward with a mirror inverters, also, if you move with SunPower, the company I work with, I will show you why it’s not just about inverters, but the choice of the panels, and also the important consideration in efficiency terms and quality of materials. As I said, anyways, I highly suggest to move with a micro inverter system instead.
Realy bad video! Panels these days are pritty good... - a diode and solarpanel compare.... 😂 - if you do not have a lot of shade - just put them in a string... micros are just costly and do not add value all the time! The big fields don use these... they never break! Micros warrenty sucks...
I have to assume it's because Enphase batteries require additional rectification and inverters inside of them since they are AC-coupled. I'd imagine this is one of the big contributors to the price
Ooof. So nice to have the impression that the video presenter on this complex and divisive topic lacks bias, a perceived relationship to a product, or unquestionable certainty. So thank you. I'm still in the shadows with installer suggestions on offer though. Bit your vid is helping in the right direction .
Just got a 18 panel system with solar edge. I think I made the right choice. Should be easier to expand and add a battery. The price was 17 k and about 5 years to pay off.
About pricing now (speaking about the Inverters)... I'm doing a lot of DD on Freelancer Finance channel...
From all my research Solaredge is maybe $500-$1k less... for a system that costs 30-60k... and will last 25 years...
it's a no brainer to use Enphase and not worry about a central inverter failing even for a day (if not for months).
SolarEdge "99% efficiency" claim is misleading. DC optimizers (upstream from the inverter) have ~2% loss each, which conveniently gets ignored in the marketing material.
Optimisers have 0.5% dc to dc conversion loss, not 2%. Even with that, the benefits of fixing the voltage on the roof so it hits the inverter sweet spot all day means you will always see more efficiency from solaredge than any other tech. Micros are just like string inverters, only tiny. No dc control, still subject to finding efficiency in their band of operation.
Do you need optimizer? I don’t think so while en phase you need it
@@brentthesolarguy Heads up this is the main salesman for solaredge in australia. His company is going insolvant because of the mainstream adoption of the bypass diode. More like solaredgecase
First you say a single inverter is bad, then you say it is good. I have 2 SolarEdge inverters. The SE3800H has failed 3 times now in 3 years. SolarEdge doesn’t cover the service calls to do the warranty replacements. And, SolarEdge support is practically NONEXISTENT! They will not respond. I am fed up with SolarEdge!
Good video and fortunately I have both an Enphase solar system of 10Kw and a SolarEdge one of 5Kw. I like them both, but I prefer the Enphase one where I get maximum wattage due to the IQ8-H microinverters.
Very good explanation, very simple for homeowners to understand.
The rectifier comment is partially true though it may be simpler to state that their Inverters are Bi-directional as the Microinverters in the batteries are bi-directional. Also there are 6 inverters per 5kwh battery so redundancy is x6 for the same amount of stored energy. If one X-BAT inverter fails the homeowner still has access to all the storage.
In this case the Battery fills the low production gaps of the Solar if a cloud passes over.
Enphase allows PCS controls so you can put 30-40Kw on a roof when the Main Panel or utility limits you to 7.68kw the way Enphase does it is far superior because if you connect a car to charge it the system will release all the power and yet limit what only goes to the grid.
Another thing most people miss is that just because you are charging batteries from DC in the case of Solaredge, does not mean there is no energy conversion taking place. An optimizer is called a DC to DC converter for a reason. Another DC to DC conversion also happens when charging the battery from solar. Thus it is not accurate to say there are no loses in a DC coupled system. And after 9.5 years in the PV industry, with more than 2000 sites on our fleet and multiple NABCEP certifications, I'd always pick Enphase over Solaredge any day of the week and twice on Sundays.
Enjoyed your video - thank you. I am looking at a future home DIY 48V battery backup system, and have a partially shaded property that could greatly benefit from micro-inverters or optimizers. I've only heard rumours but, is there an off-grid micro-inverter or optimizer system available? Would very much appreciate your input. Thanks so much.
For Enphase you would just need to add another circuit. It's designed this way to increase safety and longevity.
At this point these are about the same as far as comparisons. The other nuance is the amount of copper wire and gauge required for long DC runs.
great video, but why didn't you use the data sheet for IQ8 models?
Good question. No particular reason - honestly I just pulled the spec sheet from a folder on my computer where I keep a bunch of datasheets and I guess I never downloaded the IQ8 datasheet when it came out. The CEC weighted efficiency is still 97% on the IQ8s though so it doesn't make much of a difference in the context of what I was talking about. I'll make sure I'm using the newest versioned datasheets on my next video though! Thank you!
Iq8 output is 360w, iq7a is 366w, so hes being kind by showcasing their previous, better micro, lol
With SolarEdge, if you have a bad connection on the roof, it is almost impossible to find it. Each optimizer has six MC-4 plugs and six sockets and they are wired in series like old-fashioned Christmas tree lights on the four string plugs/sockets per optimizer. If you have 13 PV panels and optimizers you have 6 x 13 x 2 = 156 MC-4 male and female connectors that can go bad. If the inverter does not connect to the optimizers due to one bad series connector it goes into "night mode" and production drops to zero. Try and find that poor connection in the wiring underneath the panels without lifting up all the panels, and even then, you might not be able to tell which of the 156 connectors has failed to carry current. Enphase doesn't have that problem; all a bad connection creates is the loss of one panel's contribution, since they are all in parallel.
hey sorrosh thanks for the explanation very helpful and in depth. how do you size the solar edge inverter size according to panel size (ie. 4kw 10 400w panels)
thx
Glad you liked the video! And good question, this would make a good standalone video on its own. I'll do my best to simplify oversizing a SolarEdge Inverter to a few sentences. For a 4kW sized system, you'd either spec a 3kW or 3.8kW SolarEdge Inverter. Which you choose depends on environmental factors such as ambient temperatures, panel orientations, expected real-world outputs from the panels, and customer goals. As a general rule (in my opinion) you want to aim for 10% - 30% oversizing. Basically, you want to load the inverter up such that it is producing the maximum amount of power that it can handle without producing significant clipping/power losses during the peak production hours during peak production days in the year. Hope this helps!
A kilowatt is 1,000 Watts
I’ve had my 10.5 kw solar system with SolarEdge inverter system for three years. On the anniversary of the system the inverter died. It was down for a month with free replacement. Luckily it didn’t affect the yearly production, that bad. We have been ahead of this grid game with SCE, so far. We produce more KWH than we use, but they charge us .30/kwh used, and they give us .09/kwh that we send back to them. I’ve heard it’s going to get worse. That is why I am starting my investigation into battery storage for this SolarEdge system. Except for the house AC, we can disconnect Edison and live off grid. I just don’t know how much battery I need. Any formulas or charts I’m going to need to figure this out??
Nice vid but need to update for Enphase IQ8 please
Why did you leave Sunbright?
The pricing for microinverters is linear. There are scaling advantages with string inverters, a 2x larger inverter is not 2x more expensive. That is why Enphase is expensive for larger systems.
You made it sound like string inverters are old technology and not really competitive any more. That is not true at least internationally. With the advancement of technology, string inverters have become the better choice in most cases. Especially if you have no shading issues. When you have different orientations you can just use multiple smaller string inverters. Solar panels can handle shading better nowadays and they have become cheaper. So most people add one or two more panels and get the cheaper string inverters.
I used to live in a place where our HOA had a SolarEdge inverter. It worked well, but for my current location I will go for a string inverter and battery backup. I have no shading issues and a single orientation.
SolarEdge is NOT “the best of both worlds”. Like a string inverter, the SolarEdge inverter is a single point of failure. One of our 2 SolarEdge inverters has gone down 3 times now in the past 7 months, and it took 3 months to get it replaced. You acknowledged that, but seemed to brush it off as an “oh, well”. That is completely unacceptable! If they never went down, that would be one thing, but that’s not the case. We will be dumping our SolarEdge devices for something else - not sure what, yet.
If you a homeowner don’t buy SolarEdge I did 3 replacements for 1 home within a month because it was refurbished equipment
I’m having the same experience.
Theyre both great folks. Pick whichever fits your preferences.
My SolarEdge inverts have failed 4 times - 3 in the last year, and it took them 3 months to get the replacements to me.
I don't think your point on if one panel in a string is shaded, the rest are brought down is true, at least not anymore. Several hands-on videos out there that debunk this, at least with modern panels. Doesn't mean there aren't other issues but I see far too many pushing this point when it's not true.
Modern panels use bypass diodes and other internal circuitry to prevent partial shading of a panel from lowering the output of the rest of that panel, however, you still need either a DC optimizer or a microinverter to solve this on the string level so that all panels in the string don't lower their output to the lowest performing panel. Cheers my friend
This video has flaws, some of what you said is no longer true for some years now, pretty much all the solar panels made today have internal loss removal diodes that greatly reduce losses for shading or mismatching wattage of panels. The bad thing about microinverters is that you lose about 5 to 10% of the power your panels make because they lose energy in heat when going back and forth between DC to AC and back to DC for batteries and batteries DC going to AC which can be bad if you only have a small array. Both Enphase and SolarEdge both have positives and negatives. Pretty much all the new solar panels made in the last 4 or 5 years have these diodes that remove losses.
There is no way to compare a central inverter with micro inverters. This is the moment when people needs to understand that for a non significantly difference of money they are able to get a micro inverter system. I don’t wanna explain the reasons, there is too many information about this but definitely, it’s no brainer decision to move forward with a mirror inverters, also, if you move with SunPower, the company I work with, I will show you why it’s not just about inverters, but the choice of the panels, and also the important consideration in efficiency terms and quality of materials. As I said, anyways, I highly suggest to move with a micro inverter system instead.
You made a huge mistake by compared them. Both companies doing a very BS job.
Realy bad video! Panels these days are pritty good... - a diode and solarpanel compare.... 😂 - if you do not have a lot of shade - just put them in a string... micros are just costly and do not add value all the time! The big fields don use these... they never break! Micros warrenty sucks...
enphase battery fucking expensive against SolarEdge Batterys what you can build up
I have to assume it's because Enphase batteries require additional rectification and inverters inside of them since they are AC-coupled. I'd imagine this is one of the big contributors to the price
This isn’t about BATTERIES - it’s about inverters.
Solar edge is rubbish but you get the added bonus of the souls of thousands of Palestinian children,if anyone can live with that