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hjwood avatar image
hjwood asked

Replacement panels

I have a question on replacement panels. in November last year we had a very significant hail storm in Lydenburg South Africa, which resulted in a complete roof replacement. needless to say the solar panel array was smashed. my system consists of a Victron Quattro 5KVA 48V Inverter / Charger, 2 x Victron BlueSolar MPPT 150/70-MC4 (12/24/36/48V-85A) and a Victron Colour Control GX, ET112, Pylon Tech Lithium Ion Battery - 19 kWh Usable Power (10 x 2.4kW). the solar array consisting of 2 banks of 9 x Canadian Solar CS6U-325Wp MaxPower PV Panels (smashed by hail)

Q: In South Africa these panels are no longer available, and only higher wattage panels are, starting at 415W. What would be the best option to optimally replace the panels to compliment the other hardware?


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kevgermany avatar image kevgermany ♦♦ commented ·
Best is going to depend on what's locally available and relative price.

To fully use your MPPTs you need 3500 watts of panels or more for the cloudier winter days.

Voc and how the panels are wired are most important. Be careful not to exceed the input voltage of 150 by summing the Voc of each panel string. And making an allowance for cool temperature Voc rises. bBut I'm saying this as a sanity check. Talking to local dealers is best.

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Alexandra avatar image Alexandra ♦ commented ·

@hjwood

Panlelspecifications like Voltage Open circuit are important as mentioned. Some VOC are higher like Canadians and Jinkos some are lower like Longi, this allows for more panels in strings.

With 415w you will likely only be able to get 2 in a string maybe 4 strings - 5 at a push (but you need to watch the short circuit amps there you can put a max of 50A in at min temps.) a 150/70 on a 48v system. I am not a fan of the bigger panels for this reason, and handling is a bit more awkward.

You can size an array using your locally sourced pv information on the online mppt calculator for Victron or download the excel sheet and play with a few variations. And check if it in acceptable limits.

Panels are rated at 25°C so make sure you set the min temps for your area, they can overvolt the charger and kill it at lower temps.

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ejrossouw avatar image ejrossouw commented ·

If you are going to use the existing mounting rails, be mindful that the size of panels can vary e.g. 1,048mm x 1,940mm for a 415W JA panel vs 996mm x 1,689mm for older 325W JA panels. This may or may not be an issue depending on the approach you are going to take.


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