diy solar

diy solar

What I'm learning about DIY Enphase and Hoymiles Microinverters

Anybody taking bets on when Enphase starts requiring a monthly subscription with some of their equipment?
Not my worry..I have no need for any of those extras like generators or System Controllers. I like the simplicity of their GT operation and installation and I have the complexity I need in my hybrid inverter.
 
Interesting.
In Sonoma County my inspector was more concerned with my DIY gaffs and did not ask about the grid profile. I didn't have the Envoy installed when I got finaled so I had no way to prove that anyway I had assumed, since I bought the IQ7s new in California that they would already be set up that way. Later when doing a software upgrade on the Envoy I also uploaded the complete list of profiles and was amazed at how many iterations of Rule 21 there were.
Maybe it is just my county that is very anal about this.
How many years ago did you get your IQ7 setup officially approved/inspected?
 
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How many years ago did you get your IQ7 setup officially approved/inspected?
A year ago. Maybe he was distracted by the few wires he saw from the ground that were drooping under the panels. They weren't touching the roof but I had to zip tie them for the next inspection. He did not go on the roof.
 
Anybody taking bets on when Enphase starts requiring a monthly subscription with some of their equipment? They make nice stuff, already charge a premium, have government rules protecting their market from cheap knock off competitors, and yet they still want to charge extra to allow a generator to couple up.
That is exactly what I'm afraid of because they require that I have a cellular modem to connect the SC2 to the Envoy redundantly. At some point, they will start charging me a monthly fee for the Cellular and it will be more than I'm saving with my solar system each month.
 
Duke Power here so I get. I have a lot of high loads at primary residence, 5ton Heat pump, 3ton Heat pump, and a pool pump being a few and I am consistently pulling 1.5kw if not more so only connecting one will be absorbed right away. Simply to test each one.
Duke in Charlotte, NC pays 1-to-1 and has a low facilities charge of $14/mo. Why do you need a battery at all? I'm on Energy United up in Statesville, NC and they only pay wholesale $0.0463/kWh for export, so a battery is a necessity to get the most out of it.
 
... but you are pushing it way too hard imo...

...you're pushing your agenda hard too...
Breath deep, hold it.... okay let it out slow.... Everybody relaxed now? ;) Click here for more.

Thanks for not taking it further, I like hearing about microinverters and would hate to see the thread closed by moderators or any members kicked off the forums.

If you think they're skirting the line and just want to let them know about the forum rules then email them privately. If you suspect they're over the line please click the report button and let the moderators decide.

But honestly, any public accusation/warning a member just makes you look bad and creates hard feelings with the other party. That leads to drama and because everyone is entitled to defend themselves it frequently escalates. Most of us aren't here for the drama, we just want to hear about cool things, experiments folks have done, or to help out where we can.

Think of this thread as "what I learned while messing with Hoymiles" and it makes sense that the OP is talking A LOT about Hoymiles microinverter.

We all talk about what we know.

I'm sure folks are more than tired of me talking about how great Enphase tech support is or the superiority of microinverters over string inverters. I'm sure it seems like I'm pushing Enphase too, but that's only because I can't talk about experiences with Sol-Arc, SolarEdge, SMA, etc. That doesn't mean I'm in Enphase's pocket, I do like their products, but also dislike the price.

...cheap chinese crap...
Good stuff is made in China. In fact, Enphase's microinverters are made in China & Mexico. The difference is Cheap Vs. Quality. Cheap doesn't mean bad, but it probably isn't going to mean UL compliance, good QA, or great tech support. While there are great companies there, China also suffers in that there are few consumer protections making a ripe environment for unscrupulous business practices. Caveat emptor.
 
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Duke in Charlotte, NC pays 1-to-1 and has a low facilities charge of $14/mo. Why do you need a battery at all? I'm on Energy United up in Statesville, NC and they only pay wholesale $0.0463/kWh for export, so a battery is a necessity to get the most out of it.
I want a battery because I can ;). Of course there are occasional outages and I travel most of the time for work. Would like to have some resiliency for family with battery/hybrid inverter. I also really enjoy all this technology. Allows me to use my electrical engineering degree for something. Sure as hell don’t use it for work anymore.
 
That is exactly what I'm afraid of because they require that I have a cellular modem to connect the SC2 to the Envoy redundantly. At some point, they will start charging me a monthly fee for the Cellular and it will be more than I'm saving with my solar system each month.
Generac charges me $50 year on each of my Generacs for wifi connected Mobile Link. If I want cellular it's $69.95 year. Their cellular propane monitoring system is $50 year. Unfortunately everyone, car manufacturers, Sirius, Netflix and everybody else now charge either a monthly or yearly subscription fee. I highly doubt Enphase is going to charge much more than Generac so unless you save less than $10 month you should be ok. As far as the generator activation fee from Enphase goes, Sirius charges to activate your car radio and DISH charges to activate your receiver- no difference just money on their pocket........
 
Ok, I took the dive into the enphase training. Only have the storage module left to complete all. Have to admit they have some pretty slick equipment. Probably going to start a big debate here with this question. AC or DC from roof down to equipment, which is actually safer and less prone to cause an issue or fire (enphase vs Sol-Ark or other [arc detection] with Tigo RSD)?

IMO enphase is the way to go for PV and AC couple something else to it for backup. BUT when you start adding the costs of enphase Controller 2 and and it’s batteries which you can incrementally add, it’s really not far off from AC coupling Outback/Schneider/Solark. Actual battery prices are the big variable here and depends on how much inverter power one actually needs.
 
My experiment setup for testing the Export Control is almost complete. I need the cable to go out to the combiner box, and I need to connect a switched AC load of some sort to test transient back feed.

I have 2, 12V @50Ah, PowerQueen batteries, (I wanted 3 but $$.) I'm using the 100A DC breaker just as a switch. I have a 15A, MDA-15 fuse, rated to 250VDC, UL Listed, and a UL Recognized fuse holder rated 600VDC. Then I have the Hoymiles HM-350NT microinverter, the HM AC connector, the output wires waiting for the long cable to arrive, the voltage sense, and the current sensors. The white wire is Neutral, which I need to bring into the meter only.

Objectives:
1. Test the zero-export capabilities and learn how they work. Also, verify if the SolarEdge $89 meter will work rather than the CSS $400 meter, because they look the same... :unsure:
2. Test the transients and see how much margin there is between shutting down a load and what gets back-fed to the grid.
3. Test the HM-350NTs ability to operate from a battery. :unsure:
4. Test a Undervoltage relay to protect the battery, and possibly an Undercurrent relay to absolutely protect against back-feed/export.


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Search "Hoymiles heat issues". Some say they run extremely hot.
I tested the HM-350NT vs the Enphsae IQ8Plus and the HM-350NT was a couple of degrees cooler and physically cooler to the touch. The outside is a solid, cast aluminum heatsink. Enphase is plastic and sheetmetal. You decide which can pull away more heat from the inverter.
 
I had one of those and when I went to use it, I couldn't find it. I think it got borrowed for taking temperatures in 2020.
ROFL... my wife "borrowed" mine a few days after I got it years ago, now it's a permanent kitchen tool.
 
ROFL... my wife "borrowed" mine a few days after I got it years ago, now it's a permanent kitchen tool.
I'll spring for a new one, one of these days, but I actually do have the temperature data from the Hoymiles HM350-NT during the time it was operating. It's august, temperatures and humidity were both very high, but partly cloudy with afternoon showers. This chart shows the highest temperatures reported. Looks fine to me.

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