Author Topic: Do I have 'perfect' solar panels, or is my Goodwe XS wacko (most likely)  (Read 779 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline prutserTopic starter

  • Regular Contributor
  • *
  • Posts: 65
  • Country: nl
I just installed 2 PV panels and a Goodwe GW-700-XS-11 inverter.
Yesterday at the end of the day, switched it on for the first time (not much sunshine anymore), the system supplied around 75W, which seemed sensible. When it became darker, the produced power dropped to approx 20W, but during the night it remained around 20W (varying slightly, so no static data).
20W in nearly  dark condition seems unlikely.  There is a street lantern at approx. 15m,  but assuming the street lantern has a 50W lamp, it will not generate 20W in 2 PV panels considering the light losses and PV efficiency  ;D

Since this inverter is transformerless, I can imagine (due to a defect) some voltage appears at the DC terminals causing the inverter to stay 'on', however I would not expect any measured current: (current, if any) would flow in the opposite direction in such a case (this depends of course on the current sense circuit and calculations).

Tonight I will hook up some multimeters at the PV wires to see what's really happening, but I was just wondering if anyone has experienced something similar ?
 

Offline fourtytwo42

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 1189
  • Country: gb
  • Interested in all things green/ECO NOT political
I have two 1Kw arrays pointing in different directions in parallel.

My inverter works down to ~2W (input) before it finally gives up and it never picks anything up at night that I am aware of even in strong moonlight.
It wakes up at dawn and shuts down at dusk but I must admit none of the panels are looking at any streetlights.
I have always been suspicious of transformerless inverters, just my age I expect lols but just be careful probing the PV side, treat it as if you are probing the grid!

Best I can do for an all day plot, red is power
« Last Edit: May 19, 2024, 10:16:36 am by fourtytwo42 »
 

Offline prutserTopic starter

  • Regular Contributor
  • *
  • Posts: 65
  • Country: nl
Before hooking up the multimeter I just performed some other tests:

Turned off the DC switch       -> display shows AC power 22.7W / PV voltage 38.9V
Disconnected both PV wires  ->  AC power 22.7W / PV voltage 38.9V   ( Goodwe invented the PV less PV power source  ;D )

Picture attached which shows the inverter display with at the left bottom side both unconnected PV inputs.  In this state it does not produce power, but
draws approx. 7.5W from the mains.

When switching off (and on again) the connection to the mains, the inverter remains off (and does not consume mains power) until PV is connected.



 

Offline fourtytwo42

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 1189
  • Country: gb
  • Interested in all things green/ECO NOT political
It's not unusual for a GTI to consume a small amount of power from the grid in whats called "night mode" ie no PV power, this normally just powers it's zero-cross detector (1W tops), but some like there pretty LCD's to remain lit or smartphone interface to remain working in which case the "night mode" consumption is higher.

Unfortunately when buying commercial products we are left at the mercy of often inexperienced developers who produce mediocre products, although I have my own inverter my CCTV system is commercial and is riddled with these kind of shortcomings............
 


Share me

Digg  Facebook  SlashDot  Delicious  Technorati  Twitter  Google  Yahoo
Smf