Praemon Posted August 4, 2022 Share Posted August 4, 2022 (edited) Hi all, So I have a Sunsynk 5kw + Hubble 5kw battery system and looking to add solar panels. An installer has quoted me for 10x 460w panels (4x North-West at 30 degree angle, and 6x flat on garage roof facing North-East at a 5 degree angle). There's going to be some extra loss due to the flat laying panels (but decent coverage most of the day), however, my main concern is that I will be over sizing what I can actually consume. I use about 550kWh a month (so around 15 - 20kWh a day), and it's split between essential (mainly aircons and heaters) and non-essential (solar geyser, stove, tumble dryer, etc). I don't plan on adding another battery anytime soon. Since my usage is fairly low, do you think I'm adding too many panels and will lead to excess wasted energy due to the limited battery capacity (ie. I can only consume so much while the panels produce energy, and the battery can only last a few hours when there's no production)? Thanks. Edited August 4, 2022 by Praemon Correcting directions of facing panels Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PsyWulf Posted August 4, 2022 Share Posted August 4, 2022 Rather too many panels than too few,for the less-than-sunny days to have some production rather than nearly nothing I rate Piper, Praemon, hoohloc and 2 others 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sc00bs Posted August 4, 2022 Share Posted August 4, 2022 I wouldn't call it "wasted" energy but rather non-utilised It is also worthwhile bearing in mind that whilst you may have loads of "non-utilised" energy on sunny days in summer. You will be less likely to run out of solar power on overcast days and in the winter months especially from your flat roof due to the sun travelling much closer to the horizon in winter. The Sunsynk 5kw will use up to 6500W of DC power. It is however not uncommon to oversizing the panels to >7500W to ensure sufficient production on those lower solar radiation days. Main thing is to move as many of your non-time sensitive loads to during the day. e.g. Geyser heating etc WannabeSolarSparky, Terminal3k, Clint and 1 other 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terminal3k Posted August 4, 2022 Share Posted August 4, 2022 2 hours ago, Praemon said: Hi all, So I have a Sunsynk 5kw + Hubble 5kw battery system and looking to add solar panels. An installer has quoted me for 10x 460w panels (4x North-East at 30 degree angle, and 6x flat on garage roof facing East). There's going to be some extra loss due to the flat laying panels (but decent coverage most of the day), however, my main concern is that I will be over sizing what I can actually consume. I use about 550kWh a month (so around 15 - 20kWh a day), and it's split between essential (mainly aircons and heaters) and non-essential (solar geyser, stove, tumble dryer, etc). I don't plan on adding another battery anytime soon. Since my usage is fairly low, do you think I'm adding too many panels and will lead to excess wasted energy due to the limited battery capacity (ie. I can only consume so much while the panels produce energy, and the battery can only last a few hours when there's no production)? Thanks. I definitely don't think its too many panels. Having an east / west split reduces your total production by 10-20%. I have 12x540w (east west), and on cloudy days my 1x hubble 5.5kw doesn't fully charge (when other loads are being used). Praemon 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Praemon Posted August 4, 2022 Author Share Posted August 4, 2022 Thanks all for the replies. Will go ahead with it then Terminal3k 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zsde Posted August 4, 2022 Share Posted August 4, 2022 (edited) Always remember though to ensure your strings are below the max DC Voltage for the Inverter. An excess of Amps will be clipped, too high a Voltage will burn your MPPT. I oversized my panels too and it was worth the while as even on cloudy days I still get decent yields. Edited August 4, 2022 by zsde BritishRacingGreen, Sc00bs and Scorp007 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scorp007 Posted August 4, 2022 Share Posted August 4, 2022 50 minutes ago, Praemon said: Thanks all for the replies. Will go ahead with it then The 6 on the garage roof laying flat. Is that a flat roof or what is the angle? Do you intent using both MPPTs or only 1? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Praemon Posted August 4, 2022 Author Share Posted August 4, 2022 9 minutes ago, Scorp007 said: The 6 on the garage roof laying flat. Is that a flat roof or what is the angle? Do you intent using both MPPTs or only 1? It's 5 degrees facing North-East. The others are North-West (I incorrectly stated in my original post the directions). I'm not sure what the intent is from the installer for the MPPTs, but I'm assuming using both (1 string on each MPPT)? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scorp007 Posted August 4, 2022 Share Posted August 4, 2022 (edited) 4 hours ago, Praemon said: It's 5 degrees facing North-East. The others are North-West (I incorrectly stated in my original post the directions). I'm not sure what the intent is from the installer for the MPPTs, but I'm assuming using both (1 string on each MPPT)? Just ensure he uses both and not all of them in 1 series string. Having said that a string of 4 is cutting it fine for the MPPT to start. Edited August 4, 2022 by Scorp007 zsde 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clinton DCB Posted January 25, 2023 Share Posted January 25, 2023 Hi, forgive me but I have a linked question. I too have the SunSunk 5KW inverter (about to be installed). Some installers quote 550KW, others max 460KW size panels. What is the largest size panel which can be used with this inverter which will not violate the warranty / cause other challenges. I am not technical, I simply want to ensure I buy the right size panels upfront? Appreciate any guidance. Thank you, Clinton Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mzezman Posted January 25, 2023 Share Posted January 25, 2023 1 hour ago, Clinton DCB said: Hi, forgive me but I have a linked question. I too have the SunSunk 5KW inverter (about to be installed). Some installers quote 550KW, others max 460KW size panels. What is the largest size panel which can be used with this inverter which will not violate the warranty / cause other challenges. I am not technical, I simply want to ensure I buy the right size panels upfront? Appreciate any guidance. Thank you, Clinton It's difficult to answer without knowing the current and VOC of the panels in question. If you exceed the MPPT current then the inverter will clip / limit to the max. However if you exceed the voltage on the MPPT then it will blow and no warranty will fix that So you always size the string on an MPPT to be below voltage and near max current for best performance. kire and zsde 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris_S Posted January 26, 2023 Share Posted January 26, 2023 (edited) 17 hours ago, Clinton DCB said: Hi, forgive me but I have a linked question. I too have the SunSunk 5KW inverter (about to be installed). Some installers quote 550KW, others max 460KW size panels. What is the largest size panel which can be used with this inverter which will not violate the warranty / cause other challenges. I am not technical, I simply want to ensure I buy the right size panels upfront? Appreciate any guidance. Thank you, Clinton 550W panels are normally around 49V and 13A. Max PV Watts for a 5K SS is 6500W I like bigger better. I would do 14x 550W on 2 strings of 7. That would be 7700W on a full sun day and the inverter might limit you a bit but in winter/overcast days you'll be happier Edited January 26, 2023 by Chris_S mzezman 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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