New grid interactive inverter thread- GROWATT vs MIDNITE vs EG4 vs SRNE
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Exactly. This was originally about new hybrid inverters.
18kpv and megarevo 10ks are known quantities at this point.
And I agree, the Senergy midnite inverter is too expensive for the budget guys but not quite ready to compete with the higher price inverters so it's kind of in no man's land
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42OhmsPA
What's in a title?
Lots of new exciting
I'm not seeing it in the manual.
Yes, I've never used it, left my ASF WiFi dongle in the box and didn't order them with the ASP.
SA works great.
Yes but I can't find the terms. Somewhere here I read a member shipped them parts when they were troubleshooting an issue and were engaged in resolving it.
Thank you for taking the time to put all this together.
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Calling @Adam De Lay to post a comparison video between nhx and the one. Through in victron in there as well
Brucey
Solar Wizard
The eg4 12/18k is known but I think helpful when comparison shopping with the one and the eg4 8/12k
zanydroid
Solar Wizard
What about 9540?
SolArk (I think) and MidNite will ship you warranty parts stocked in the U.S. I don’t think EG4 has committed to doing that with their equipment (which might be OK at the low price point but somewhat cringe at 18kpv).
Whiles it’s nice some of the overseas sellers will warranty you parts, this seems a bit ad box/uncertain track record.
Buying two of the ones focused on in this thread will give you self-stocked (single) spare to cannibalize, and hot standby, but you lose the cost savings.
Or, maybe the game is to bank the money to buy a new one every few years, and keep one back as an active standby.
Brucey
Solar Wizard
As long as its a stable generation and they keep it available for long enough to get the same unit.
None of these have 9540 at this time since it's an inverter plus battery cert.
Curious-does solark warranty diy installs?
The warranty is a big one. On specs and price alone the srne seems to be the clear winner, but growatt has a USA presence and I've heard reports of them sending replacement inverters out when one goes bad. For example @lapsmith had a positive experience with that.
I don't personally believe that midnite will have replacement parts they can ship to the buyer - or let me say I'll believe it when I see it.
zanydroid
Solar Wizard
You can maybe ask the distributors of SolArk that question
Robin said they would do it and Dexter said he would stock them. Would you believe it if Dexter posts a video in September showing them on a stocking shelf, or do you need it in a customer’s hands?
If I see a stack of replacement parts I'll believe it.
I don't know what my 18kpv decibles reach, but I was near it yesterday when it hit 12,060 watts output for the first time. I heard it quickly spool up and I thought my shipping container was preparing for light speed. HOLD ON!
It's dead silent up to around 6000 watts going through it. I assume all these units will be "noisy" at some load and just assume placing it where you can deal with that as a trade off.
Interesting point. It seems to cover many bases in one unit. From on grid Net metering crowd to fully off grid and trying to squeeze every watt with the programable outputs. The implied high-quality appeals to those that are willing to pay more for longevity. Trouble is most are likely paying for features they don't need and wont use. On the other hand, you have them there so in the future you don't need a different unit to do additional things. If they don't plan a fully off grid unit in addition to THE ONE then it makes sense to have one unit that can do it all if they want to get into multiple markets
I bought the spendy 18kpv for a fully off grid install with the hopes that it would last longer than an unsealed unit (2x6000xp). Now I wish I had an off grid only unit, just because I hate extraneous menus. It's programed now and not a big deal I guess. I am happy with the performance BTW.
If I did it again now I probably wouldn't have bought the midnight unit due to a combination of price and the programable outputs would largely be lost me because the equipment is in its own structure away from all my loads. I got more output at a slightly lower price. Then I see the prices of the Growatt, NHX and SRNEs and want to buy them all to try out and rotate which I use depending on the week of the month.
Brucey
Solar Wizard
Sounds like a couple of Midnite Rosie's would be a better fit for you than a midnite AIO.Interesting point. It seems to cover many bases in one unit. From on grid Net metering crowd to fully off grid and trying to squeeze every watt with the programable outputs. The implied high-quality appeals to those that are willing to pay more for longevity. Trouble is most are likely paying for features they don't need and wont use. On the other hand, you have them there so in the future you don't need a different unit to do additional things. If they don't plan a fully off grid unit in addition to THE ONE then it makes sense to have one unit that can do it all if they want to get into multiple markets
I bought the spendy 18kpv for a fully off grid install with the hopes that it would last longer than an unsealed unit (2x6000xp). Now I wish I had an off grid only unit, just because I hate extraneous menus. It's programed now and not a big deal I guess. I am happy with the performance BTW.
If I did it again now I probably wouldn't have bought the midnight unit due to a combination of price and the programable outputs would largely be lost me because the equipment is in its own structure away from all my loads. I got more output at a slightly lower price. Then I see the prices of the Growatt, NHX and SRNEs and want to buy them all to try out and rotate which I use depending on the week of the month.
Adam De Lay
Solar Wizard
Maybe I’ll be able to get to it at some point. Unfortunately I’m running out of extra time (and wall space…)
kscessnadriver
Solar Enthusiast
Interesting point. It seems to cover many bases in one unit. From on grid Net metering crowd to fully off grid and trying to squeeze every watt with the programable outputs. The implied high-quality appeals to those that are willing to pay more for longevity. Trouble is most are likely paying for features they don't need and wont use. On the other hand, you have them there so in the future you don't need a different unit to do additional things. If they don't plan a fully off grid unit in addition to THE ONE then it makes sense to have one unit that can do it all if they want to get into multiple markets
I bought the spendy 18kpv for a fully off grid install with the hopes that it would last longer than an unsealed unit (2x6000xp). Now I wish I had an off grid only unit, just because I hate extraneous menus. It's programed now and not a big deal I guess. I am happy with the performance BTW.
If I did it again now I probably wouldn't have bought the midnight unit due to a combination of price and the programable outputs would largely be lost me because the equipment is in its own structure away from all my loads. I got more output at a slightly lower price. Then I see the prices of the Growatt, NHX and SRNEs and want to buy them all to try out and rotate which I use depending on the week of the month.
Honestly, I think the DIY market is in the lower priced hardware. EG4, I do see a lot of DIYs, but once you get into something like a Solark (which is basically where the MidNite competes, IMO), there aren't alot of DIYs in that space.
Me personally, I'm doing 2 Growatt SPH10000s, as my initial install (with 20kw of panels on a ground mount).
zanydroid
Solar Wizard
Heavily biased by the forum you’re on.
If you go to Enphase forum there’s a surprising number of DIYers that have gone through training and installed large all Enphase systems. I guess they’ve all been scared off from this forum.
kscessnadriver
Solar Enthusiast
I always forget about Enphase, unfairly. They're easy to install, and helped by the fact that Enphase (among others) lobbied so hard in the beginning for module level shutdown to be put in the NEC.
Don't get me wrong, I'm glad to see the variety we have now. I just don't want to see people get stuck with something they can't support in 3-5 years (which, could just as easily be me with the Growatts).
zanydroid
Solar Wizard
On top of idiot-proofing against bad string design, etc, part of what you get when you pay more for Enphase is that they're probably the most likely to survive out of all these companies:
- Publicly traded, well capitalized company (I would assume)
- American so protected from industrial policy (manufacturing is in Mexico which is also protected)
- Big regulatory moat (lobbying, building code, ...)
- Big incumbent advantage moat (installers, users, etc... it's like priuses, even if Toyota falls into a blackhole tomorrow there are so many on the road people will keep making money servicing them)
I don't see enphase outlasting any top 5 Chinese solar inverter manufacturer
zanydroid
Solar Wizard
I specifically meant outlast them in the US market. And if Enphase craters, somebody will buy them.
Did you miss the DJI ban going on right now and TikTok ban news?
China has less of a defensive moat around inverter design and production than around batteries. Everybody's just buying the same transistors. Presumably when World War 3 goes down, we can Shanghai all the EV inverter engineers into designing solar inverters, and it would be fine within a year. That kind of learning curve is likely not possible with battery production.
Yeah I missed all that. Still wishful thinking
kscessnadriver
Solar Enthusiast
Oh I do, for sure. Something something "too big to fail"
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