Upgraded at last

[sharpener]

Mods please move this if it is not in the right place!

3.24kW extra generation consisting of 8 x 405W panels on Victron charge controller finally commissioned yesterday (as per new sig.) after contacting more than 20 different companies over the last 6 months.

First measurements show for a given light level they generate 3% more than the earlier 3.68 kW nominal array. But it is 11 yrs old now and anyway I suspect this is not a like-for-like measurement, there is a proper 3rd party meter to measure the net output from the AC inverter but I have no idea how the Victron MPPT arrives at the DC generation figure or how accurate it is.

[nowty]

Its probably not a fair comparison because the AC inverter is doing a DC to AC conversion and the Victron Charge controller is doing a DC to DC conversion so the efficiency should be higher on the Victron. Of course you still have the batteries having to do their DC to AC conversion when being discharged.

https://www.cleanenergyreviews.info/blo ... ry-storage

But if your using the power straight away directly from the AC inverter, then AC coupling is more efficient. Having both gives you the best of both worlds, but best not worth overthinking it. As you've found, getting the panels up there was the major challenge.

[Joeboy]

Congratulations Sharpener, glad you got there in the end! .