question

warrenporteous avatar image
warrenporteous asked

Do I need 2 MPPTs for a setup with arrays in 2 directions

Hi - I'm pricing a Victron based solution and getting conflicting guidance. I will use 12 x 455 w mono panels with 6 facing North and 6 facing West. I would like to know how many MPPTs to install.


One supplier is saying that since the panels are mono there will be minimal interference and only 1 MPPT required.


Another saying for each direction I need an MPPT, therefore 2 MPPTs


Would greatly appreciate any advice, thanks

MPPT Controllers
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3 Answers
seb71 avatar image
seb71 answered ·

One MPPT solar charger for each array facing a certain direction.

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next-day-solar avatar image
next-day-solar answered ·

Totally agree, you need a tracker for each 'condition' , so you will need 2 x MPPT's unless you are going for a higher voltage MPPT, like the 450/100 which has 2 trackers built in. Based on your array size, if you are going for DC PV, looks like you will need 2 x MPPTs, as your VOC is likely to be higher than 450V in series.

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alan avatar image
alan answered ·

If the arrays were east/west you could get away with them paralleled (provided Voc and Isc were in specs of the reg). Both strings need to be identical.
Here is a good whitepaper on the topic
https://www.fronius.com/~/downloads/Solar%20Energy/Technical%20Articles/SE_TA_Efficient_East_West_orientated_PV_systems_with_one_MPP_Tracker_EN.pdf

Since they are n and w each will need a tracker. EDIT : Apparently they also work well in a N/E or N/W parallel config.

Some more info here.
https://www.solarquotes.com.au/blog/an-eastwest-spit-of-solar-panels-on-a-single-string-can-work-well/


As previously stated the new RS has multiple trackers in the one unit.

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