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diy solar

grouping multiple Solar Roof Tiles/Shingles per Tigo optimizer?

f2calv

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Jun 10, 2021
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So I'm installing solar roof tiles but unfortunately I have a dormer window in my roof so some of my solar roof tiles will be shaded for part of the day (see photo below).

The solar tiles are Planum PV from Nelskamp in Germany, their technical data;
  • Max power output = 90Wp
  • Vmp = 10.02 V
  • Imp = 9.01 A
  • Voc = 11.97 V
  • Isc = 9.70 A
A number of Tigo TS4-A-O optimizers seem like a good solution (another thread here) to optimize the power output when each string is partially shaded, the Tigo documentation is good but I don't see any information about specifically using optimizers with solar roof tiles, and solar roof tiles have a much smaller power output than traditional panels.

I haven't had any luck speaking with local 'solar experts' about this topic (solar tiles and/or optimizers are clearly not popular yet it seems) so I'm wondering if I anyone has some useful input/ideas here...

Below is a roof layout plan which shows the areas where I think TS4-A-O optimizers should be placed. I plan to wire between 2 and 4 solar tiles in series and then connect each group of tiles to an optimizer, purchasing 6 optimizers in total, is this a valid plan?

1623333358632.png

Or, do I need to purchase a separate optimizer per module?
I don't think a separate module would work because the volts output/Vmp of a single module is not in-between the threshold of 16 to 90 Volts that the TS4-A-O can handle and in addition a single optimizer per module is going to work out as very expensive...

Here is the shading 'in action' at 08:30 CET just to complete the picture;
1623333398477.png

Thanks in advance for any input, but go easy as I haven't done much electrical engineering for 20 years...
 
I don't see any problem paralleling or serial connection groups of modules to a tigo optimizer - as long as you stay within the optimizers voltage and wattage limitations. You're much more likely to cook a optimizer if you overvolt it (rather sensitive to overvoltage conditions), if you overamp I believe all that will happen is it clips production.
 
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