DIY SolarEdge Upgrade?

[bdo21]

I have an existing solar system with a 9Kw SolarEdge three phase inverter. It is only 4yrs old but I want to add batteries, backup and EV charging so SolarEdge said I should replace the inverter with their latest model.

It is impossible to find an installer who has availability to do this so I was debating doing it myself with an electrician. Is this feasible? It should presumably be a straight forward swap for the inverter with existing cabling and then connecting the other devices looks easy but can I get access to the configuration tools and is there much configuration/tweaking of settings to do which you need experience for?

Thanks!

 

[Mike 134]

Hopefully others in England with knowledge of your building codes can give you some direction.

 

[bdo21]

I will be using a qualified electrician for all the wiring so I am compliant with building regs. But my question really is whether I can configure everything or do I need to be a SolarEdge installer to have access to the relevant software or is it tricky/needs experience to configure correctly? Thanks

 

[Mike 134]

I will be using a qualified electrician for all the wiring so I am compliant with building regs. But my question really is whether I can configure everything or do I need to be a SolarEdge installer to have access to the relevant software or is it tricky/needs experience to configure correctly? Thanks

Here in USA, I DIY my solar edge system but I'm also a licensed electrician which made it easy to get the software from solar edge. They just need to verify you're an electrician, solar experience not needed they have online training courses. Have you electrician do it for you. If I can figure it out anyone can

 

[BlueMarblePA]

Here in USA, I DIY my solar edge system but I'm also a licensed electrician which made it easy to get the software from solar edge. They just need to verify you're an electrician, solar experience not needed they have online training courses. Have you electrician do it for you. If I can figure it out anyone can

I have an existing solar system with a 9Kw SolarEdge three phase inverter. It is only 4yrs old but I want to add batteries, backup and EV charging so SolarEdge said I should replace the inverter with their latest model.

It is impossible to find an installer who has availability to do this so I was debating doing it myself with an electrician. Is this feasible? It should presumably be a straight forward swap for the inverter with existing cabling and then connecting the other devices looks easy but can I get access to the configuration tools and is there much configuration/tweaking of settings to do which you need experience for?

Thanks!

I am thinking of bringing the AC from the Solaredge inverter into the Gen-In input of a hybrid inverter - Solark.

 

[bdo21]

Here in USA, I DIY my solar edge system but I'm also a licensed electrician which made it easy to get the software from solar edge. They just need to verify you're an electrician, solar experience not needed they have online training courses. Have you electrician do it for you. If I can figure it out anyone can

So it isn’t plug and play - if I get the wiring done by an electrician and add a battery to an existing inverter, will it just work or does it need someone with SolarEdge software?

Thanks

 

[Mike 134]

So it isn’t plug and play - if I get the wiring done by an electrician and add a battery to an existing inverter, will it just work or does it need someone with SolarEdge software?

Thanks

There is some simple commissioning to be done to get it up and running. I used a Solar Edge app on my smartphone called "setapp". Check out the app see if it allows you to open and explore its features. Only done one install so I'm not well versed in what you can/can't do as a DIYer.
I was 100% self-taught by spending time on their website to getting my Solar edge system up and running.

 

[y0bailey]

You will have to AC couple your SolarEdge inverter to a hybrid inverter to accomplish your goal. Source...I did it. Another route I didn't pursue was swapping my SE inverter to a different model capable of battery storage...but then you are stuck using higher voltage batteries and have limited choices there.

You can't just take your current solar panel strings and swap them into a different inverter because SolarEdge optimizers on the panels are only compatible with the SolarEdge inverter. If you want to use a different inverter you will be removing every SE optimizer and swapping it with another optimizer capable of providing rapid shutdown. Expensive and I didn't want to get on my scary roof.

I AC coupled my current SE grid-tied inverter to an EG4 18kpv and it's been fantastic thus far.

 

[BlueMarblePA]

You will have to AC couple your SolarEdge inverter to a hybrid inverter to accomplish your goal. Source...I did it. Another route I didn't pursue was swapping my SE inverter to a different model capable of battery storage...but then you are stuck using higher voltage batteries and have limited choices there.

You can't just take your current solar panel strings and swap them into a different inverter because SolarEdge optimizers on the panels are only compatible with the SolarEdge inverter. If you want to use a different inverter you will be removing every SE optimizer and swapping it with another optimizer capable of providing rapid shutdown. Expensive and I didn't want to get on my scary roof.

I AC coupled my current SE grid-tied inverter to an EG4 18kpv and it's been fantastic thus far.

Agree.

I have not yet ac coupled my solaredge se-7600 inverter (9.8kw roof top) system to my Solark 15k (5.6kw ground mount with Hopefully more soon). But that is my long term plan. The benefit of AC coupling is the ability to use the standard 48V batteries as mentioned above. I am using Pytes v5.

I am trying to decide what is the best way to use the Gen input - - AC coupled solar with a three pole switch so I can alternate between solar and a portable generator OR to get something like a eg4 chargeverter and then just charge the batteries directly