Hi all

am still trying to decide on which panels to use on my additional string and would appreciate some advice.

The best price/watt panel that my installer can offer is the JA Solar 490W - however I am not sure if it makes sense on the 5kW Sunsynk. Here the specs:

The IMP at 12.90A is significantly higher than the 11A that the Sunsynk MPPT supports. This means, that the production will be clipped and I will never be able to draw the full power from the panels, correct?

The alternative would be the JA Solar 455W:

This makes more sense, or?

What would you recommend?

Thanks in advance

Hey Andy, I am also busy with this nerve racking problem. What to buy, does it work for my house, Is it a good investment for the future etc. Vassen the mentor, "Qoute", Stay within spec of the equipment you are installing and using. Thats what I am following as its really good advise. I bought the 8kw Sunsynk so these would work there. Also I am thinking in a year or two we are at 550w to 600w per panal and then the 450w like I have will be really down in prices. Regards

I bought 365 watt panels last year at this time and now there are close to 500 watt panels available, there are already 660 watt panels available in other countries, so as @Vassen says, buy based on your inverter and not worry about the future

If I were  you, I'd buy the 8kW inverter and offset the price difference vs the 5kW by buying fewer panels now with max power available to match 8kW inverter....Gives you a long term growth path.. I have a maxed out 5kW inverter,  panels to max allowed..To upgrade I need a new inverter...$$$$$!

Edited May 28, 20215 yr by FixAMess

Thanks all !!

8 hours ago, Tariq said:

buy based on your inverter and not worry about the future

Absolutely agree. Am not planning to upgrade again in the near future. Am planning this will be the last of the 'upgrade itch'

7 hours ago, Vassen said:

If you get the higher power panel at the same price as the lower power, then it makes sense

The price difference is about R150 between the 455W and the 490W

7 hours ago, Vassen said:

Where i think it does make sense is for cloudy days then the higher power panels will perform a little better. However, we don’t have that many cloudy days in SA, except for this year in Jan/Feb. 

My question is what power I can expect even on good days from the 490W panels. With VMP at 38V and the inverter clipping at 11A, will I actually ever get more than 420W from these panels?

8 hours ago, Vassen said:

Bottom line, I would go with the 455w panels. 

That was also my starting feeling - so thanks

5 hours ago, FixAMess said:

I'd buy the 8kW inverter

 I did originally order the 8kW but then changed to 2x 5kW as it gives me 4 strings vs 2 strings (and I want to connect 3 into different directions)

1 minute ago, Vassen said:

That’s true. You are better off saving the R150. My point was only that on cloudy days you would a little higher output but not worth it in this case. 

Thanks

Hi Wolfandy. 
 

The latest firmware on the 5kw Sunsynk is 3161 which has upgraded each MPPT to 13A. 

5 hours ago, Leshen said:

The latest firmware on the 5kw Sunsynk is 3161 which has upgraded each MPPT to 13A. 

Thanks for the info, Leshen 👍

That means that latest firmware actually increased the specs of the inverter beyond what is printed on the label? 

10 hours ago, wolfandy said:

Absolutely agree. Am not planning to upgrade again in the near future. Am planning this will be the last of the 'upgrade itch'

@wolfandy, i said the same thing and upgraded four times starting with a 1 kW Axpert to the 5 kW sunsynk within ONE year 😔😔

2 minutes ago, Tariq said:

i said the same thing and upgraded four times starting with a 1 kW Axpert to the 5 kW sunsynk within ONE year 😔😔

😝 I know that problem - but I have already been down that road.

I started off with 1x Axpert, 1x Pylon US3000, and a few panels. Gradually expanded the system to 2x Axpert, 4x Pylon, Victron MPPT, and 12x panels. Now upgrading to 2x 5kW Sunsynk and adding 8 more panels (total 8.5kW PV then). 

Don't really think that I will need more than that (even though there will still be an idle MPPT string on one of the Sunsynks 😉)

@wolfandy, in light of @Leshen's new info on the 13 amp rating , then look at the least expensive per watt, the larger the panel, less installation work, better use of roof space.

4 hours ago, wolfandy said:

Thanks for the info, Leshen 👍

That means that latest firmware actually increased the specs of the inverter beyond what is printed on the label? 

Yes. It says 11A on the inverter sticker however with 2160 firmware the max was 9.9A but they fixed that to 3161 to allow 13A 

2 hours ago, Tariq said:

look at the least expensive per watt, the larger the panel, less installation work, better use of roof space

Fully agree - and have already asked my installed to adjust the order

1 hour ago, Leshen said:

It says 11A on the inverter sticker however with 2160 firmware the max was 9.9A but they fixed that to 3161 to allow 13A 

Thanks for the detailed insights - really helpful !!

Because of my limited roof space, would consider the larger panels, but is there a market with reasonable prices for 355 watt panels

2 hours ago, Leshen said:

Yes. It says 11A on the inverter sticker however with 2160 firmware the max was 9.9A but they fixed that to 3161 to allow 13A 

Are you sure that this is for all models? I know with the 8K Sunsynk MPPT's recent increase from 18 to 22A, Sunsynk's  Whatsapp support group wanted photos of the inverter's info sticker to be sure before confirming.

1 minute ago, YellowTapemeasure said:

Are you sure that this is for all models? I know with the 8K Sunsynk MPPT's recent increase from 18 to 22A, Sunsynk's  Whatsapp support group wanted photos of the inverter's info sticker to be sure before confirming.

That’s what I was told by Sunsynk. 5kw MPPT is 13A and 22A for the 8kw. 
 

I’ll check again with them. 

53 minutes ago, Leshen said:

That’s what I was told by Sunsynk. 5kw MPPT is 13A and 22A for the 8kw. 
 

I’ll check again with them. 

I just noticed that the 2 Sunsynks that I received are physically different to each other. The 1st board is V1.4 and the 2nd V1.5

Both inverters were ordered together and will be paralleled. Do I need to be worried about the different revisions - other than obviously having to expect different firmware versions once starting them up?

4 minutes ago, wolfandy said:

I just noticed that the 2 Sunsynks that I received are physically different to each other. The 1st board is V1.4 and the 2nd V1.5

Both inverters were ordered together and will be paralleled. Do I need to be worried about the different revisions - other than obviously having to expect different firmware versions once starting them up?

Hi Yes. You will notice that V1.5 has no fan at the bottom like V1.4. They have installed a bigger heat sink to cater for this. 
 

You just need both firmware versions to be the same. So when commissioning the inverters, start them up with the battery and PV array and leave the AC off. Do the firmware upgrades etc and on the Multi Inverter menu, on the master inverter, tick parallel, tick master and SN01. On the slave inverter, tick parallel, Slave and SN02. 
 

Then you can turn on AC supply to the inverter and lastly the inverter load. 

1 minute ago, Leshen said:

You just need both firmware versions to be the same.

Thanks Leshen

How do I update the firmware? Can you please help?

14 minutes ago, wolfandy said:

Thanks Leshen

How do I update the firmware? Can you please help?

Once the inverters are online, send me both serial numbers and I’ll request an update. Should take around 5 minutes. 

5 minutes ago, Leshen said:

Once the inverters are online, send me both serial numbers and I’ll request an update. Should take around 5 minutes. 

Awesome - thanks. Will do

So the update gets pushed onto the inverter remotely? Does the logger need to be connected? Or how do they receive the udpate?

24 minutes ago, wolfandy said:

Awesome - thanks. Will do

So the update gets pushed onto the inverter remotely? Does the logger need to be connected? Or how do they receive the udpate?

Yes remotely. Your logger needs to be connected to the inverter and connected to a wifi network via the Solarman app.

1 hour ago, Leshen said:

Yes. You will notice that V1.5 has no fan at the bottom like V1.4. They have installed a bigger heat sink to cater for this. 

@Leshen, I had originally bought a 3.6 Sunsynk, it  did not have a fan either, running at around 3 kW load, the heat sink would get so hot that you could not keep your hand on it for long, the heat sink was exactly the same as the 5 kW,  have you installed one with no fan ? 

     The inverter was advertised with a fan AND two mppt’s ,SA version only comes with one ( was an honest mistake, is rectified in Ellie’s ads now ), so got Keith and Ellie’s to swap out for a 5 kW

10 minutes ago, Tariq said:

@Leshen, I had originally bought a 3.6 Sunsynk, it  did not have a fan either, running at around 3 kW load, the heat sink would get so hot that you could not keep your hand on it for long, the heat sink was exactly the same as the 5 kW,  have you installed one with no fan ? 

     The inverter was advertised with a fan AND two mppt’s ,SA version only comes with one ( was an honest mistake, is rectified in Ellie’s ads now ), so got Keith and Ellie’s to swap out for a 5 kW

I have installed a few, it has an internal fan. I'm sure the engineers have catered for this with the bigger heatsink. Note that Victron MPPT controllers are the same, ie no fan and gets hot to the point that you can't keep your hand on it for long. Goodwe 4.6ES also doesn't have a fan. 

8 minutes ago, Leshen said:

Note that Victron MPPT controllers are the same, ie no fan and gets hot to the point that you can't keep your hand on it for long.

Yup - my Victron 250V/100A was getting hot to the point that I mounted a fan underneath to blow air against the heatsink...