Tim's blah blah blah

PV installation diagnostics & analysis

I recently bought a new house and here I document my installation & panel diagnostics.

N.B. 20250501 - it seems my setup clips power during sunny days when I max out the single-phase inverter (3680W). The inverter switches on/off every ~minute even though it’s not overhated and there’s no high voltage. Diagnosis is in progress.

N.B. 20250615 - it seems my setup has mixed S500 / S500B optimizers, this was an error of the installer and has since been fixed.

N.B. 20250627 - the logical and pysical layout are completely separate - the logical layout is determined by what order the installer scanned the optimizers, the other depends on how they are physically installed on your roof. I needed a map of the physical layout indicating the serial number per panel to reconstruct the physical layout.

Hardware

I have the following setup:

Total PV: 6600Wp

Comparison

Generation compared to setup nearby - energy (energy/kWp)

March 2March 3.March 4.Jul 20.
My setup (6.6kWp)15.6 (2.4)13.0 (2.0)16.5 (2.5)29.7 (4.5)
Langerak (6.4kWp)13.9 (2.2)10.5 (1.6)13.5 (2.1)31.9 (4.9)
Our House (6.9kWp)14.9 (2.2)10.7 (1.6)14.3 (2.1)29.6 (4.2)
Vleuten20 (6.4kWp)25.6 (4.1)16.7 (2.7)29.3 (4.7)32.5 (5.1)
Veenendaal (3.6kWp)15.5 (4.3)8.4 (2.6)8.2 (2.3)NA.

N.B. 20250501 - it seems my setup clips power during sunny days when I max out the single-phase inverter (3680W). The inverter switches on/off every ~minute even though it’s not overhated and there’s no high voltage. Diagnosis is in progress.

Logical layout

N.B. 20250615: it seems my setup has mixed S500 / S500B optimizers, this was an error of the installer as they are not compatible (solaredge.com) and has since been fixed.

I have these inverters:

  1. S500-1GM4MRM-NA52
  2. S500-1GM4MRM-NA52
  3. S500-1GM4MRM-NA52
  4. S500-1GM4MRM-NA52
  5. S500B-1GM4MRM-NM51
  6. S500B-1GM4MRM-NM51
  7. S500B-1GM4MRM-NM51
  8. S500B-1GM4MRM-NM51
  9. S500B-1GM4MRM-NM51
  10. S500-1GM4MRM-NA52
  11. S500B-1GM4MRM-NM51
  12. S500B-1GM4MRM-NM51
  13. S500B-1GM4MRM-NM51
  14. S500B-1GM4MRM-NM51
  15. S500B-1GM4MRM-NM51
  16. S500B-1GM4MRM-NM51

Physical Layout

N.B. 20250627 - the logical and pysical layout are completely separate - the logical layout is determined by what order the installer scanned the optimizers, the other depends on how they are physically installed on your roof. I needed a map of the physical layout indicating the serial number per panel to reconstruct the physical layout.

Physical layout - finally reconstructed after two years

Futile attempt

Check layout from 230501 DGLL As built legplan compleet dak met toelichting blok D.pdf

Physical layout - showing cable flow but not mapping to logical layout as entered in the inverter

Trying to match the order in my logical setup to the physical string:

Doesn’t seem to match.

Check order from Triple solar e-mail vs power peak:

  1. blue down’ / early
  2. blue down’ / late
  3. blue up’ / late
  4. blue down’ / late
  5. blue up / late
  6. blue down / early (peak spread out)
  7. blue up / early
  8. green up / low power early late (peak spread out)
  9. orange down / late
  10. orange up / early
  11. orange down / early
  12. orange down / early
  13. orange up / orange up / late
  14. orange down / green up / late
  15. green up / orange down / late
  16. blue up / late

Cannot figure this out, seems inconsistent. Manually check panels on roof? It seems there are 7 big panels, 7 small panels, and 2 small or big.

#Home-Improvement #Smarthome