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microinverter recommendation

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Smasher3545

New Member
Joined
May 27, 2023
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Location
Austin, TX
Hi all,

I'm starting my first DIY PV system. It'll be grid tied. I've purchased 5 Jinko Solar Tiger Pro 72HC-TV solar panels. These are the specs from the data sheet:
JKM535M-72HL4-TV NOCT STC
Maximum Power (Pmax) 535Wp 398Wp
Maximum Power Voltage (Vmp) 40.81V 37.98V
Maximum Power Current (Imp) 13.11A 10.48A
Open-circuit Voltage (Voc) 49.42V 46.65V
Short-circuit Current (Isc) 13.79A 11.14A

I was looking at the available microinverters on Amazon and see there's Hoymiles and Enphase. I was leaning towards the Hoymiles.
They have the following models:
1200 NT
300 NT
350 NT
600 NT
700 NT
1500 NT

Any recommendations on which one to go with?

thanks!
 
I like string inverters.
Some advantages, some disadvantages: If RSD is required, that's a separate box; with microinverters it wouldn't have been needed.

Will you want battery backup? IQ8, likely only Enphase battery works. IQ7 or Hoymiles, I think those are successful with other brand battery inverters.

All in one/hybrid inverters may be the lowest cost way to get PV and battery, and for some battery is optional, can add later.

Do you know the grid-tie net metering requirements for your location and utility?
 
Smasher3545 said:
JKM535M-72HL4-TV NOCT STC
Maximum Power (Pmax) 535Wp 398Wp
Maximum Power Voltage (Vmp) 40.81V 37.98V
Maximum Power Current (Imp) 13.11A 10.48A
Open-circuit Voltage (Voc) 49.42V 46.65V
Short-circuit Current (Isc) 13.79A 11.14A

I was looking at the available microinverters on Amazon and see there's Hoymiles and Enphase. I was leaning towards the Hoymiles.
They have the following models:
1200 NT
300 NT
350 NT
600 NT
700 NT
1500 NT

Any recommendations on which one to go with?
Click to expand...

For JKM535M you are looking at the wrong generation, those model numbers look like HM- series. HMS series is better suited for the cell size that outputs 13A, and they also have more per-port capacity.

For maximum savings you want HMS-2000 (4 port). 2T version will probably be cheaper than 4T version because it only has two trackers instead of four trackers so less hardware inside. For 5 panels that would be 1 HMS-2000 and 1 HMS-500.

I use HM-series but my panels have cells resulting in<10A I_mpp and only 400W total output.

Five panels feels like a bizarre number of panels to use for grid tie. You're going to be incurring a ton of permitting and paperwork overhead for such a small system.

535W is a weird size for DIY because it's going to be a serious PITA to get something that big on a roof. I think those are heavier than the OSHA limit, so if commercial installers don't want to do it, why would you? Or are you doing ground mount?

There is a Hoymiles distributor on the forum -- ncsolarelectric. I've bought from him before. Provides great support.
 
this is the link to the Hoymiles inverters

I chose 5 because of the size of the area I have to work with. I have a mobile home, so no installer will install on it, but I had a porch roof extension built specifically for putting solar panels on.

thanks for the tip on ncsolarelectric, I'll check them out.

No plans for battery.

I went with the panels I picked because I was able to get a deal on them from solar steels without having to buy a pallet. 5 is the most I can fit.
 
Pretty sure his current advertised price for HMS-2000 is better than the HM1500 Amazon price you linked.

Generally speaking I don’t like buying any solar stuff on Amazon unless it’s stuff off the critical safety path like tools.

535W panels should be fine with HMS-2000. That one is designed for monster panels.

I don’t believe Enphase has microinverters that are a good match for 535W, and there is higher compatibility risk with Enphase in that they sometimes have a narrower electrical compatibility range than HM inverters.

You may need to buy converter connectors if the Jinko solar panels come with Jinko connectors instead of MC4 like what the HM/HMS come with.
 
Hedges said:
I like string inverters.
Some advantages, some disadvantages: If RSD is required, that's a separate box; with microinverters it wouldn't have been needed.

Will you want battery backup? IQ8, likely only Enphase battery works. IQ7 or Hoymiles, I think those are successful with other brand battery inverters.

All in one/hybrid inverters may be the lowest cost way to get PV and battery, and for some battery is optional, can add later.

Do you know the grid-tie net metering requirements for your location and utility?
Click to expand...
Do you know if the Solaredge wave inverters require a separate CCA box for their optimizers? I always assumed that was built in to their inverters.
 
zanydroid said:
Pretty sure his current advertised price for HMS-2000 is better than the HM1500 Amazon price you linked.

Generally speaking I don’t like buying any solar stuff on Amazon unless it’s stuff off the critical safety path like tools.

535W panels should be fine with HMS-2000. That one is designed for monster panels.

I don’t believe Enphase has microinverters that are a good match for 535W, and there is higher compatibility risk with Enphase in that they sometimes have a narrower electrical compatibility range than HM inverters.

You may need to buy converter connectors if the Jinko solar panels come with Jinko connectors instead of MC4 like what the HM/HMS come with.
Click to expand...
oh I didn't know to check on the cables, thought MC4 was standard. per the spec sheet:
TUV 1×4.0mm

yeah NC Solar Electric has a sale on the Hoymiles inverters. thanks!!
 
That microinverter accepts 4 panels but not 5. So $500 works with 4 panels, need to spend $1000 to use 5 panes.

2150W of panels for a 1200W inverter. That's the thing with microinverters, they lag behind panels.

Are you getting a permit, or going guerilla and hoping no one notices backfeed?
I suggest string inverter. Look for used, maybe SMA or Fronius, if guerilla. If permitted, you need one that complies with latest code.
5s would be 250 Voc, approach 300V cold.


ImAnIdiotPleaseBePatient said:
Do you know if the Solaredge wave inverters require a separate CCA box for their optimizers? I always assumed that was built in to their inverters.
Click to expand...

I think SolarEdge takes care of its own optimizers.
I've heard mixed reports on reliability.
 
Smasher3545 said:
oh I didn't know to check on the cables, thought MC4 was standard. per the spec sheet:
TUV 1×4.0mm

yeah NC Solar Electric has a sale on the Hoymiles inverters. thanks!!
Click to expand...

I don't know what TUV connectors are, I thought that was a lab.

If you have them in hand and can post a picture of the connector we can identify it. It's not really a big deal though, just like an extra $6-$10 per panel to make the adapter cable. And you only need to make 5x2. I made 25x2 by hand for my project.
 
Hedges said:
That microinverter accepts 4 panels but not 5. So $500 works with 4 panels, need to spend $1000 to use 5 panes.
Click to expand...

There's a 1 port available, it's $200. So only maybe 20% cheaper than Enphase would be if they also made a 500W microinverter.

My recommendation is HMS-2000 (4x500W) + HMS-500 (1x500W) if microinverters is the desired architecture.

5 panels is in the sweet spot of a bunch of AIO/Hybrid MPPTs out there.

For a small installation like this I don't think the extra pain of DC wiring is that big of a deal.
 
Hedges said:
2150W of panels for a 1200W inverter. That's the thing with microinverters, they lag behind panels.
Click to expand...
That's the thing with ENPHASE microinverters...

Fixed that for you.

Here is the HMS-2000 datasheet. It's even futureproof to the next monster size cell - 16A maximum input current per port 25A maximum ISC. I've even considered parallel'ing 250W panels into these. It will fit under the limits.

 
ImAnIdiotPleaseBePatient said:
I was only responding to Hedges saying he like string inverters but they would require a separate box for RSD. Think some won’t which might be relevant for this guy.
Click to expand...

Meaning, if you use a string inverter and RSD is required, you have to add RSD box per panel (or several panels). Not required for microinverter.
If RSD not required it is simple, all the more reason to use a string inverter. Spend less money, harvest more power (all the panels produce), more efficient.

Assuming no need to comply with grid-support features (like sub-metered inside a mobile home park?) then an old SWR2500U would be ideal, might be had for a couple hundred dollars.

But like Zany said, around the sweet spot of a cheap AIO. Which is more attractive if you like backup, battery or batteryless.

zanydroid said:
That's the thing with ENPHASE microinverters...

Fixed that for you.
Click to expand...

Touché
 
I think you can do 1x RSD per two panels with some voltages (not these 72 cell ones) with the 80V code shutdown limit, or use dual port RSD for any panel size up to 80V.

Haven't seen that many one port two panel devices, I know SolarEdge has a line of optimizers that work that way, so you can put 2 60 or 54 cell panels in series into one optimizer.

I'm not sure how sub-metering would affect grid support... it still flows out to the same grid, the watts don't know that they crossed a meter boundary.

One issue with 5S is that it is either pushing or below minimum RSD string length. I did a quick google search and SMA says 6s is the minimum.
 
Hedges said:
Meaning, if you use a string inverter and RSD is required, you have to add RSD box per panel (or several panels). Not required for microinverter.
If RSD not required it is simple, all the more reason to use a string inverter. Spend less money, harvest more power (all the panels produce), more efficient.

Assuming no need to comply with grid-support features (like sub-metered inside a mobile home park?) then an old SWR2500U would be ideal, might be had for a couple hundred dollars.

But like Zany said, around the sweet spot of a cheap AIO. Which is more attractive if you like backup, battery or batteryless.



Touché
Click to expand...
Ahhhh, I gotcha.
 
For 5 panels I think the ~$700 of the HMS microinverter package is hard to beat. That's basically the minimum price of a new grid tie string inverter before any RSD hardware, and 5 panels is on or beyond the edge of hitting random problems if you use RSD. Pretty sure this is why Hedges mentioned looking for used.

The main reason for string, and very compelling one, would be the easier hybrid/of-grid/battery story. You might need to get plucky and need to wire up a standalone RSD transmitter in a creative way to bypass the minimums. ($700 is not going to buy you a grid tie compliant hybrid string inverter)
 
All that said. I think all you're on the hook for losing if you chose wrong is $700 on the inverters. And you'll probably get a couple years out of that before you decide to change.

For such a small, accessible setup, if you pick the wrong horse to back you can rewire within a handful of hours.
 
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