Aiko comet panels.

[NoraBatty]

Thanks Mart.

The walls are stone, as you can see, and are very uneven. Alot of faffing will possibly be needed to get them to lie exactly on a 90° plane, and not at 95 instead, so it is a very good point that even laying at 85° would be better.
I plan to use unistrut, so could definately use a smaller rail above and bigger below.
I would then have to take the possiblity of a little slither of panel to panel shading in play, so will look into it.
If that is the case, slightly smaller panels would give a better gap between the top and bottom panels
The planning officer here, when i enquired 2 years ago about the possibility, said 200mm extrusion from the house, so definatly possible to maximise tilt


Yes, the 2 horizontal can be flipped to vertical and take up the same spacing.
Not quite sure why i decided on horizontal, but i thought, with the bar split in the middle, it would look more "window ish" that way, compared to the other.
Horses for courses i think.
If i did go with the smaller panels, they would definately be put vertically, so.... the real answer is, just a quirk of my brain i guess

[AlBargey]

If i go with a victron multiplus 5kw, as i think i will, start up voltage is about 180-190v
I assume this is fine given 5x625w panels with a voc of 51-52V

Do you mean Victron Easy Solar? 180-190v start up of a Multi is a reference to the AC input. You still need an MPPT for controlling DC from the panels, and Victron MPPT's will start up at 5volts above battery voltage.

If looking at large panels, Canadian Solar also do a 660W: 1303 x 2384mm, or JA Solar make a 595W: 1134 x 2333mm

[Fintray]

Nora, what Smartsolar charger are you intending to use to connect these panels to the Multiplus and are you hoping for a single string or two strings?

Edit - That's what I was looking at Al as 5 of these panels would exceed the input voltage of any of the Smartsolar units.

[Mart]

The planning officer here, when i enquired 2 years ago about the possibility, said 200mm extrusion from the house, so definatly possible to maximise tilt

I think you are right, everything I can find suggests 200mm too. Glad I mentioned it now, as that allows for around triple the tilt (200mm bottom 50mm top v's 100mm/50mm).

Quick check just based on my location in Cardiff and a 4d tilt, 86d pitch, suggests ~40kWh pa difference per kWp installed.

But no idea if that would look better, worse, or no difference, as I assume the looks are a consideration for wall mounted panels.

Best of luck.

[NoraBatty]

If i go with a victron multiplus 5kw, as i think i will, start up voltage is about 180-190v
I assume this is fine given 5x625w panels with a voc of 51-52V

Do you mean Victron Easy Solar? 180-190v start up of a Multi is a reference to the AC input. You still need an MPPT for controlling DC from the panels, and Victron MPPT's will start up at 5volts above battery voltage.

If looking at large panels, Canadian Solar also do a 660W: 1303 x 2384mm, or JA Solar make a 595W: 1134 x 2333mm

No. I mean, the ac input of a the multi.
In the event that i have to do the hybrid install myself and stick to a g98, due to not having an installer, then i will go down the dc route to connect these, and the roof solar will be moved over to the hybrid.
I have not looked at what charge controllers i would need for it, as this is my least preffered, last resort option for the system. But i know i will be able to add them on the DC side if neccessary. However that may look with whatever charge controller needed, 2 strings, 5 strings or whatever.

Granted i have never used a hybrid inverter before, but my understanding of them is that they are just grid tied inverters that have the extra functions of AC passthrough, and inverting AC to DC as well as the normal DC to AC.
As in, i can treat it like a normal grid tied inverter, add the string to the mppt on the inverter, but add batteries to it and draw from the grid as well.
Is this thinking not right?

[NoraBatty]

The planning officer here, when i enquired 2 years ago about the possibility, said 200mm extrusion from the house, so definatly possible to maximise tilt

I think you are right, everything I can find suggests 200mm too. Glad I mentioned it now, as that allows for around triple the tilt (200mm bottom 50mm top v's 100mm/50mm).

Quick check just based on my location in Cardiff and a 4d tilt, 86d pitch, suggests ~40kWh pa difference per kWp installed.

But no idea if that would look better, worse, or no difference, as I assume the looks are a consideration for wall mounted panels.

Best of luck.

90° vs 86° is a 30kw difference up here apparently. Still very muxh worth the mention. Thank you.

[Fintray]

If i go with a victron multiplus 5kw, as i think i will, start up voltage is about 180-190v
I assume this is fine given 5x625w panels with a voc of 51-52V

Do you mean Victron Easy Solar? 180-190v start up of a Multi is a reference to the AC input. You still need an MPPT for controlling DC from the panels, and Victron MPPT's will start up at 5volts above battery voltage.

If looking at large panels, Canadian Solar also do a 660W: 1303 x 2384mm, or JA Solar make a 595W: 1134 x 2333mm

No. I mean, the ac input of a the multi.
In the event that i have to do the hybrid install myself and stick to a g98, due to not having an installer, then i will go down the dc route to connect these, and the roof solar will be moved over to the hybrid.
I have not looked at what charge controllers i would need for it, as this is my least preffered, last resort option for the system. But i know i will be able to add them on the DC side if neccessary. However that may look with whatever charge controller needed, 2 strings, 5 strings or whatever.

Granted i have never used a hybrid inverter before, but my understanding of them is that they are just grid tied inverters that have the extra functions of AC passthrough, and inverting AC to DC as well as the normal DC to AC.
As in, i can treat it like a normal grid tied inverter, add the string to the mppt on the inverter, but add batteries to it and draw from the grid as well.
Is this thinking not right?

Can you clarify which inverter you are going to put in as the Multiplus doesn't have the option of directly connecting the PV panels to it, you would still need a charge controller.

[NoraBatty]

Seems i was right in what i thought. Hybrids do have mppts for input. However the multiplus doesnt and needs charge controllers.
Apologies for the mix up.

This makes things much more interesting and i will be able to ignore the need for optimisers.

How many strings? At least 2.
What Charge controllers? Unsure yet. I now need another day of faffing to see how i can best change things up and take advantage.

[NoraBatty]

Do you mean Victron Easy Solar? 180-190v start up of a Multi is a reference to the AC input. You still need an MPPT for controlling DC from the panels, and Victron MPPT's will start up at 5volts above battery voltage.

If looking at large panels, Canadian Solar also do a 660W: 1303 x 2384mm, or JA Solar make a 595W: 1134 x 2333mm

No. I mean, the ac input of a the multi.
In the event that i have to do the hybrid install myself and stick to a g98, due to not having an installer, then i will go down the dc route to connect these, and the roof solar will be moved over to the hybrid.
I have not looked at what charge controllers i would need for it, as this is my least preffered, last resort option for the system. But i know i will be able to add them on the DC side if neccessary. However that may look with whatever charge controller needed, 2 strings, 5 strings or whatever.

Granted i have never used a hybrid inverter before, but my understanding of them is that they are just grid tied inverters that have the extra functions of AC passthrough, and inverting AC to DC as well as the normal DC to AC.
As in, i can treat it like a normal grid tied inverter, add the string to the mppt on the inverter, but add batteries to it and draw from the grid as well.
Is this thinking not right?

Can you clarify which inverter you are going to put in as the Multiplus doesn't have the option of directly connecting the PV panels to it, you would still need a charge controller.

Hi Fintray, yes i just posted that.
I thought it did havw the ability. Hence why i was confused as to why you were both asking.

[AGT]

So you could use 10mm screwed rod, resined into 12mm holes the rod long enough to give you the bottom dimension out- say 200mm and the top rail fixed direct with screws/ penny washers?