Seth's Man Handles

Our solar system was recently commissioned. The company had a special deal on the inventory they had, which was good stuff but not perfectly matched electronically.

The panels themselves are Hyundai 440W (HiN440NFBK) but the microinverters were only rated at 300W max (Enphase IQ8+). The effect is at peak sun the output would clip “a little“, so I was told. Sure enough that is already happening big time:

We are getting 2600W at peak, which is 289W per panel. So we are missing out on ~150W per panel. Instead of a ‘mesa’ on that plot we could see more of a mountain.

To upgrade, am thinking of DIYing this. I think I need:

1. Installer level access to the Enphase system (via an app)
2. New correctly sized microinverters from Enphase (9 of them) that can deliver more power at peak
3. Time to go in the roof and swap out old for new
4. Reconfigure the array in the Enphase app

This is a good man handle project. I’ll go get started and report back, but accomplished two giant steps already.

I registered in the Enphase University and completed the certification for microinverter installation. All online, free, and on my phone. Took a couple of hours.

I got installer access to my system by going on my existing Enphase owner app and chatting with support. They looked up my training certificate and I’m in! Great company, love the ecosystem they built for owner support.

Second big step was I found and purchased the new inverters on eBay (IQ8HC-72-M-DOM-US). Max power is 380W, so in theory we’ll see 3400W (30% boost).

Economics? Ok fine. $1300 upgrade, $.19/kwh, blah blah blah blah.  if we add the cost into the original system and factoring the added production we shorten the payoff period by a only couple of months. The whole system pays for itself in about five years! The best part is, we got the main system installed before Trump could take away the federal tax credits for Solar