Gents,

          My solar system consists of Growatt SPF 5000 ES Inverter with an Easy Power 5.1kw battery and 6x265w solar panels. I need more power and would like to add more panels but don't get the same rating panels. Will it be ok to add 6x410w panels to the system? Meaning, can I mix the panels?.The installer will calculate the max volts/amps and make sure that everything stays within the Inverter's limitations and spec. All the work will be done by the installer who did the installation.

Regards,

                Dries

@Saluki hi the 265 panels are quite old and will be hard to find. 

Your inverter only has one mppt which means you cannot mix panels. You could have 2 parralel string of 9 amp panel or one string of newer 16- 18 amp panels. The pricing on panels is quite favorable currently to go for the latter.

It is advisable to maximize on favorable pricing to get enough panels to last the life of the system in an system with one mppt. I was reading about 800 watt panels 4 years ago.

Edited February 12, 20242 yr by Buyeye

20 hours ago, Buyeye said:

@Saluki hi the 265 panels are quite old and will be hard to find. 

Your inverter only has one mppt which means you cannot mix panels. You could have 2 parralel string of 9 amp panel or one string of newer 16- 18 amp panels. The pricing on panels is quite favorable currently to go for the latter.

It is advisable to maximize on favorable pricing to get enough panels to last the life of the system in an system with one mppt. I was reading about 800 watt panels 4 years ago.

I

On 2024/02/13 at 9:04 AM, Saluki said:

I

I would like to add more 265w panels but can't get any. The 265w panels are new out of the box and installed last year in May..To change out the existing 265w panels with say 450w+ will be a waste of money for me.. 

I'm surprised you were able to get those last year. 3 years ago we were already struggling to get 360 watt panels.

Maybe other members can think of easier solutions. Your inverter is very popular you could try and swap it for one with 2 mppt like the luxpowertec sna5000 and use the second mppt for different panels.

@SalukiI had the same problem and decided to ad a extra MPPT to the existing Inverter. Is working good with no problems.

Just now, Chris Louw said:

@SalukiI had the same problem and decided to ad a extra MPPT to the existing Inverter. Is working good with no problems.

I'm interested in how you add an extra mppt?

25 minutes ago, Buyeye said:

I'm interested in how you add an extra mppt?

I added 1 MPPT 2 years ago and have added another MPPT a year ago. The 3 Pylontech batteries is connected to a busbar. The Inverter and 2 MPPTŚ is connected to the busbar each with fuses and circuitbreakers. The MPPT can be programed to run with any BMS. I use Solarassistant to monitor. At this stage the Solarassitant is not connected to the extra MPPT but I get al the battery info from the Pylontech. ( Watts in and out of batteries. )

3 minutes ago, Chris Louw said:

I added 1 MPPT 2 years ago and have added another MPPT a year ago. The 3 Pylontech batteries is connected to a busbar. The Inverter and 2 MPPTŚ is connected to the busbar each with fuses and circuitbreakers. The MPPT can be programed to run with any BMS. I use Solarassistant to monitor. At this stage the Solarassitant is not connected to the extra MPPT but I get al the battery info from the Pylontech. ( Watts in and out of batteries. )

Thanks, do you have examples of the devices and costs?

20 minutes ago, Buyeye said:

Thanks, do you have examples of the devices and costs?

I bought a Epever XTRA3415N from Thesunpays. It is a 30A 48v MPPT and cost was R2445 plus cable for coms R130. The 2nd one I had to import because they had no stock.

3 hours ago, Buyeye said:

I'm surprised you were able to get those last year. 3 years ago we were already struggling to get 360 watt panels.

Maybe other members can think of easier solutions. Your inverter is very popular you could try and swap it for one with 2 mppt like the luxpowertec sna5000 and use the second mppt for different panels.

Up to a few months ago Mecer were still selling 265W panels. 

I have a string of 6 270W and I could always get more if I wanted. Don't just ask 1 seller is the key. 

Hi Chris, 

How does the mppt controller comms with bms, or are mppt only control based on battery voltage?

 

regards

37 minutes ago, FlipSnyman said:

Hi Chris, 

How does the mppt controller comms with bms, or are mppt only control based on battery voltage?

 

regards

I have also used the Epever and no comms to BMS. The MPPT has all the settings via voltage one can think of. Here and there it will also indicate if one uses a voltage too low/high based on settings already set. 

Then one can export the settings and even change them in a text editor and import the new settings. Although they can all be set when one views the settings. 

@FlipSnyman With all the battery settings of the Epever I get better control of the battery charging than with the Axpert inverter. The MPPT disconnects in case of over voltage and also display a warning on the display. If connected to a PC the max charging voltage is on display. There is a lot of info avialable of panel, battery and MPPT and  graphs of pv production.