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. In this case its 9,350W (obviously you'd never want to do this). You might think I'm mad but I've spoken to Fronius and SMA about this.

Are you sure you spoke to Fronius about this? There is no way that the 3000TL can output 9,350W. It may well cope with the higher power but it certainly won't process it. I believe the only way to truly damage an inverter is to use a voltage which is too high.

The 3000TL AC output is not 16A.
 
Thanks for all the replies. You have confirmed what I already thought and I will contact the installer to discuss swopping the 3000TL for something more appropriate. My preference would be the 3600TL as all the cables etc are in the correct positions and should make for a easier/quicker job.
 
So in the real world why does the IG TL 3.6 yield more with 16 panels when I put them through PV SOL?

PV SOL is not the real world imo...350 v 120..or even 200v if you dont lower power one kick in voltage.
The power one or sma will wake up earlier and go to bed later. The TL sma are second choice.
We had a case of over voltage with a sma 4000 tl, we took it out, put in a power one 3.6OUTD and no problems with the over voltage.
 
Start up voltage? If you have 4kWp of panels on a roof I don't think you'll be getting much issue getting up to 350v, especially on the Fronius IG TL 36 as its characteristics tend to mean that the system is wired up on one string.

Generally speaking, it doesn't take much light to get a decent voltage and enough to fire the inverter and I think that the benefit of a low start up voltage is often overstated. Unless I have missed something?
 
I do have 16 panels (4kWp) on a single string and as you say, they don't struggle to produce 350V.
 
Are you sure you spoke to Fronius about this? There is no way that the 3000TL can output 9,350W. It may well cope with the higher power but it certainly won't process it. I believe the only way to truly damage an inverter is to use a voltage which is too high.

The 3000TL AC output is not 16A.


I think you may misunderstand me, you can input 9,350W of DC, not output it. If you check the SMA data sheet the max AC output for a 3000TL is 16A, have a look.....
 
I think you may misunderstand me, you can input 9,350W of DC, not output it. .....

I definitely did misunderstand you. While it probably won't damage the inverter by connecting too much power to it, I don't think the OP is concerned about this. I think it is the OP concern that he may have an undersized inverter as it will mean that he isn't getting the maximum benefit from his system.

If you check the SMA data sheet the max AC output for a 3000TL is 16A, have a look.....[/QUOTE]

I don't see how this can be. If the maximum power output of the inverter is 3000w then you would need a grid voltage of around 180v to get 16A.

The maximum current you would expect from the inverter at 230v is 13A - in reality, I'd imagine that the output current is dependant on two things - the DC power and the grid voltage. The output power will never be above 3000w.

Again, I'm always ready to be proven incorrect.
 
I posted a similar question following the installation of my panels in November.

I have 16 x Hyundai HIS-250MG panels connected in 2 x 8 strings to a Sunny Boy SB 3000TL-20.

This inverter and configuration is as recommended by Sunny Design. I was expecting a 4000TL to be recommended but this was not the case according to the company installing. I ran the Sunny design software for myself and sure enough the 3000TL-20 is the only one the software recommends. All the ones above 3000 and below 4000 were coming up as incompatible. Although not recommended, the software allowed the 4000TL to be selected as it was compatible (it was only recommended for 17 panels). The 4000TL gave an estimated annual yield marginally above the 3000TL-20 by about a half-dozen kWh so I'll be losing less than £5 per year by keeping the 3000.
 
I've checked the figures and the 4000TL looks fine to me for 16 Hyundai 250w panels, unless I'm looking at the wrong data sheet. What does Sunny Design flag up as being an issue for the panels? Oversized?

I'd say a 3kW inverter on a 4kW array is undersized.
 
Start up voltage? If you have 4kWp of panels on a roof I don't think you'll be getting much issue getting up to 350v, especially on the Fronius IG TL 36 as its characteristics tend to mean that the system is wired up on one string.

Generally speaking, it doesn't take much light to get a decent voltage and enough to fire the inverter and I think that the benefit of a low start up voltage is often overstated. Unless I have missed something?

£ FOR £ Power one is the best, lower kick in and will peak over 3.68. Sorry to be so closed minded but I think power one have it all. I would prefer a warehouse full of P1 as not all have perfect 4 kw roof.
 
My reading of the data sheets also made me think that the 4000 would be recommended but the Sunny Design software doesn't agree.

If the 4000 is manually entered in then there are no incompatibility issues and the annual estimated output is calculated. I don't know why Sunny Design does not offer the 4000 as a recommendation... but it doesn't.
 
I'd agree that Power One takes some beating for the price. I think Fronius IG TL range is the best for pure, unshaded yield. SMA are best for features and range. Power One are a good all rounder. The 3.0 model especially. Kostal Piko are a very good alternative.
 
My reading of the data sheets also made me think that the 4000 would be recommended but the Sunny Design software doesn't agree.

If the 4000 is manually entered in then there are no incompatibility issues and the annual estimated output is calculated. I don't know why Sunny Design does not offer the 4000 as a recommendation... but it doesn't.

Very odd. I'm going to download the software and try to work out what I'm missing.
 

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