Review for SolarEdge

10/17/2014
Anonymous Bolton, MA

Great power inversion design

An inverter is the most efficient when the input and output voltages are constant. The SolarEdge design uses a DC/DC converter at each panel (called a Power Optimizer) that works with all the panels in the string to provide a very narrow variance of voltage to the inverter. The inverter then only needs to convert that very steady DC voltage to AC voltage. Very efficient and very effective. If panels are shaded, the Power Optimizers reconfigure their outputs so that the combined voltage is roughly 350 volts The end result being that an output drop on one or more panels does not impact the overall effectiveness of the others.<br /><br />The result is that I get great power even as the clouds pass by.<br /><br />Best of all, the inverter talks to the Power Optimizers over the power cables so that specific panel outputs are known and monitored. <br /><br />Built-in monitoring by direct web connection is a nice feature too. All inverters should be this sophisticated.