zanydroid
Solar Wizard
I just noticed that the 4-panel Hoymiles micros have two MPPT channels with 2 panels each, while the 2-panel micros have two MPPTs. The 4-panel ones are the ones that have real cost savings over buying IQ7s as far as I can tell from retail prices, and I think reasonable people can say that the % savings for the 2-panel models is not worth the extra risk of going with a new entrant to North America along with the worse support from the manufacturer. Looks like my installer did me a minor favor by field-swapping HM-1500 for an equivalent number of HM-800.
I wish this subtlety was better conveyed in the naming scheme for the products.
That leads me to wonder, in what situations is it worth having a dedicated MPPT for each panel? If you subscribe to the idea that string inverters are fine as long as the lighting conditions are similar enough (*), it seems that it would not make a big difference.
FWIW I prefer microinverters because the wiring methods are simpler vs optimizers/RSD + string inverters and it's more plug and play.
(*) EG same roof plane so the optimal power point of all panels evolves the same over time; I definitely buy the argument and data that bypass diodes + enough independent zones within a single panel gets you pretty far
I wish this subtlety was better conveyed in the naming scheme for the products.
That leads me to wonder, in what situations is it worth having a dedicated MPPT for each panel? If you subscribe to the idea that string inverters are fine as long as the lighting conditions are similar enough (*), it seems that it would not make a big difference.
FWIW I prefer microinverters because the wiring methods are simpler vs optimizers/RSD + string inverters and it's more plug and play.
(*) EG same roof plane so the optimal power point of all panels evolves the same over time; I definitely buy the argument and data that bypass diodes + enough independent zones within a single panel gets you pretty far
