Hello,
I am new here with my balcony solar system mounted at the roof of my garden house. Its 2 panels are looking directly to the south now. So sometimes there are more than 600 Watts to collect ;-).
Next spring I will raise the output value to 750 or better 1000, anyway if 1000 ever would be delivered. Thx for the instructions.
Now my question:
Also I would like to add 2 more panels, one in eastern and one in western direction.
What about the input power ? Can I increase this in software too in any way ? Or is it a hardware limit ? The input of MIC 600 has now a limit of 1050 Watts.
I am afraid of killing the MIC if I'd put 4×450W panels on a series connection to the MIC. Has anyone experiences about it ?
Thx AnotherTux
I guess you have no real clue about what you are doing, right ?
If you trust the guy who had started the topic then his actions would create a MIC 1000 or MIC 1500 or MIC 2000 out of your MIC 600
If you believe in that where do you have to look for the input limitations ?
If you do not believe in him then you would do it your way and believe in 1050 Watt limitations.
If you would believe in his mod then you would check for the right inverter like a MIC 2000 if you upgrade that to 2000 which you can do already.
What do you want to kill if you trust him and his mod and you did everything right?
Nothing, if you stay inside the specs of the MIC 2000 cause if he is right all those inverters from MIC 600 to MIC 2000 are the same except the settings or maybe the firmware, but so many have reported succes by just changing settings, not even changing the firmware.
And if you start to check for the specs compare those data of all mic 600 up to mic 3300 and you will finally find a major difference:
2 groups: mic 600 to mic 2000 which all weigh the same of 6000 gramm, while the mic above the mic 2000 are all 6200 gramm
And then you do not really seem to know what you are doing with the panels. You have 1 single mppt for all the mic series inverter
You have already modules facing south, now you wanna add more or replace those with 4 new ones with 450 Wp cause before you had mentioned 600Wp (the p is important, not nice to have if you speak about modules, cause inverters have W as limitation).
If you put 4 modules into 1 string in a series you will achieve what ?
Nothing at all, maybe the output will even decrease below the current 600W cause you have no basic understanding about a string, shadow and all the limitations that are going on. You are doing guesswork and you would play around and might find out : 1800 Wp in 1 string with less output than the old 600 Wp system with 2 panels ?
In a string like in any chain the weakest part determines the strength or here the output.
If you put 2 panels on your south roof with a 30° angle and also on each side 1 panel with also 30° - which you can do as an experiment on the ground far easier - then let us know which is the panel with the lowest output ?
right, in the morning the west facing one maybe with 30 W while the east one will pushing 200W and the 2 south ones together 200 W or so.
12 am and the south ones will produce on a sunny day 900 W and the east and west ones will be about 250 W each.
Ok, what do you expect to earn in the morning `?
30 W + 200 W + 2x 100W = 430 W ?
Wrong, the weakest panel determins the output which will be 30W x 4 = 120 W in total
12 am and you will not see 250W + 250W + 2x 450 W = 1400 W, just 4 x 250W = 1000W
And in the evening the same as in the morning cause now the east one will be the weakest.
East - West combination does only work in 1 separate string with the same number of panels on each side and same panels, but that will need a single mppt cause in this case the east and the west panel have to be connected in parallel, not in serial !
Then the voltage will be the same and only the current will flow without the limitations you would have in a serial connection, the current of each panel would add up, while in a serial connection the voltage would add up, but the lowest current determine the output.
In a parallel connection the voltage would be nearly the same for the same panels in a similiar angle to the sun , just opposite to each other.
Your idea will need a second mic inverter to get a 2nd mppt tracker and input. Your 1800 Wp from 4 panels are too less for the smallest Growatt Min 2500 I guess which has 2 mppt and can be cheaper than 2 mic 600 which is over 500€. If you get 2 mic 600 for 460€ or so they are less and would run good as mic 1000 with you 900 Wp panels on each of these, if you have the right input voltage especially from the east west setup cause I assume those panels are running with just 38 V or so.
Why? The mic 600 starts from 50 V upwards which would require 2 panels east in serial and 2 panels west in serial together in parallel
East would generate 76V like west 76V which would allow the start. And the east 2 in series have to be connected in parallel with those 2 in series from the west with such a y connector attached.
And I guess you will argue that this is far too expensive. Yes, might be true, but maybe you should look for 6 - 8 smaller sized and cheaper or even used panels just to get over the 50V. Then you might run 2x 250 Wp in east direction and 2x 250 Wp in west direction and 2 x 250 Wp facing south. All sides will be over 50V and therefore the MIC 600 will start. With 500 Wp from the south you have a great output, but you could even got for bigger ones like 350 Wp each.
The east - west orientation is something for bigger systems for houses and what not. You will have to buy a 2nd inverter and at least 4 used 250 Wp panels for about 250€ the mic 600 inverter and 360€ for 4 used panels, so 600€ in total
Or you simply need to think bigger, but then you have to go for the MIN 2500 and sell the MIC 600, but with the opportunity to let the system grow over time by adding panels cause the MIN 2500 should be capable of up to 5000 Wp based on the spec sheets.
Sell the MIC for 175€ , get a MIN 2500 for 450€ and then you paid 275€ instead of 220€ for another MIC 600.
Regardless which inverter, you will need more panels and the easiest way would be to get 4 used ones with 300 Wp or so for the east west inverter.
