Thank you so much for the video. I have just received a quote for a solar panel installation with the Huawei 6kW inverter spec'd and am trying to make sense of this all. Kudos to you for not editing your rowdy teenager out of your video, this is refreshingly authentic!
Have just had Solis Hybrid Inverter installed today (in my hall, not attic) but it won't be connected up until solar panels are installed next week - delay because of rain. I know zilch yet about the technical side but glad Solis gets the thumbs up here. Btw, love the family interaction in your video.
Hi, You can't directly compare the two systems because the output voltage of the Solis system will most likely be higher if the panels are wired as one string (2x black DC cables at the inverter). The Solis system has more panels and a higher yield (Kw output) The higher DC voltage on the solis system will mean that the inverter will be more efficient, plus the inverter will turn on earlier in the morning and turn off later in the evening, especially in lower light conditions/less irradiance in autumn and winter. I hope this makes sense and helps explain why the system with the Solis inverter is yielding more energy
That may be true about direct comparisons but that observation has proven true. Solaredge struggles with low light by comparison and this comparison most certainly helps to appreciate when not to use Solaredge, ie with fewer panels. Glad to admit it might look better with more panels
Taking the technical content out it was great to see a video showing real life family issues lol. Technically though that is interesting, I remember researching for my previous house inverters and systems and ended up getting the SolarEdge, everything suggested it was the best. I am running 2 solis now, though not sure what size they are though a trip into the loft is due soon so will take a look. Hoping when powerdifferent finally get back to me they will offer a larger solis as part of expanding my smaller 2.4 array.
The Solar Edge panels are better of laying above the other panels. The sun has an inclination of only 15 degrees in December which gives much more shadow on the lower placed panels.
Just got a good quote for a setup with Solis. Planning to use home assistant on a raspberry pi to monitor everything. Will also have a pylontech battery too!
Thanks for the update. That is good to hear as we are having a 2 string system (6kW) installed in 3 weeks. I had discounted the Solar Edge offering as we have zero shading that would significantly impact generation and so I opted for the Solis inverter with QCell panels. Result.
Excellent video. I'm currently getting quotes from various installers and those selling the Huawei are asking for almost €1500 more for comparable solis units. Also your teenager should be outside in the cage during daylight hours 😅😅
Like it!🤣 Huawei isn't the cheapest but does have the benefit of single Optimisers which might lower costs if shading of single panels is an issue. Having seen the huawei interface I'd prefer Solis between the two
@@EVPuzzle it will be an issue with my chimney stack. On my way into work at 6am I pointed my workshop security camera at the back of the house to see exactly where the shadow will fall from the stack. The arrays will be 6 at the front of the house with no shadow but I'm pretty sure the back 6 will have some shadow. Is there anyway around this at all with the solis inverter
Not if the shadow moves no so you either optimise them all or none. Depends how long the shadow stays on the panels. Time for a Timelapse of the day. 🙄
@@EVPuzzle yeah I'm putting together a time-lapse gif for the installers. No point using solis at all if the drop from shadows is going to wipe out a large portion of generation
Thanks for this. I had a quote today and all the gear they want to flog is Huawei. I had a feeling it was more because they can get a good deal on it than its the best available. I think I will go elsewhere.
If the Solis/Huawei set has more panels chained in it they could push higher voltage in low light and fire up the inverter earlier compared to the weaker system.
You need your strings to be as close as possible to the grid voltage of even a little above for low light generation. I expect the main reason the smaller string struggles is that you can’t achieve the cut in voltage for as many hours and all those 20 and 50 watt hours add up. Smaller inverters do often have lower cut in voltages, but if you oversize the inverter, even slightly, it will really hurt the annual generation. The other issue is if solis are a bit generous with their algorithm inside their inverters. An in line ac meter is your best bet good on you for making the video!
Your situation is so similar to mine it’s scary! I have a Solis inverter…Instead of ripping the house apart for an ASHP so I’m going with Jigsaw heat panels and a Tesla powerwall 2. The main reason is other batteries such as Givenergy have a maximum output of 3kW, rather than the 5/7kW of the powerwall. Payback time is not great, but much better than the heat pump, which I think suffers because it has to realistically be on all the time.
You're exactly why I post these videos as we're not alone out there. Makes me feel a bit less extreme knowing others are thinking and trying the same things
I was considering the Givenergy but i hadn't got to the part where they are limited to 3kW output yet. Looks like it may be the Powerwall after all along with a heat battery in place of the gas boiler
@@RichardABW it’s a case of correct system design from panal spec to inverter spec, location,and surroundings.any monkey can fill your roof with panels and excess batteries which will waste your money and deliver nothing.
No it's Solaredge design, their optimisers aren't great with few numbers of panels so much so it won't even fire up with 3 panels. Solaredge better with higher number of panels on long strings
@@EVPuzzle solaredge are only designed for multiple roof evelations with different pitch roofs and should be used with short string Optimizers for low start up,best all rounder is Tigo,Huawei or enphase,or a commercial application where rapid shut down and arc detection is needed. No need for any Optimizers unless shading by trees chimnies,or misshaped roofs.
Awesome review, man of my own heart. Perhaps the start up voltage is a bit skew wiffy perhaps (all inverters show a minimum start up voltage ) perhaps?
Yes all seperate, AC connected solar inverters each connect as any solar inverter would on its own. The only unique thing is the AC connections all meet in a consumer unit before the grid connection so I can monitor the collective solar power coming in.
This is really interesting. Does the combiner box have any kind of software? I remember being told that if you hook 2 inverters onto the same phase they end up fighting each other as one sees the grid voltage as that of the other inverter. Maybe this Is BS? Or you can manually set a max grid voltage on both to overcome this? I know the Solis ones can talk to each other, but I never needed to look into it.
Inverters, best Enphase Mirco inverter, string inverter fronius or SMA. Some makes of panel are suited for lower light. I own a fronius inverter. Having seen friends, Enphase kick ass.
I installed a Solis Hybrid Inverter Solis-RHI-1P10KW-HV inverter and Soluna Battery Soluna 15KWh Pack HV battery a few month ago. I am still getting the system tuned and understanding the performance. The system is just not working properly. Our lights are flickering at night and the Soluna battery doesn't kicking frequently. I don't know if the system is bad or the installer is incompetent. This has been going on for over 8 months now.
We've had a Huawei Sun 3.8kw inverter with luna battery installed. Can anyone tell please : after a power cut (such as grid power failure) when the inverter re-starts, will connect to wi-fi etc. automatically and commence working? Thanks!
So, what are your opinions now after another 2 years' experience ? How do you find local monitoring & control of the three inverters (comparisons ?) & how do they work with flexible tariffs ?
I only use the inverter data to update a speadsheet. Importing data to Home Assistant has made monitoring much easier. Solar inverters are just providing power, completely independent of tariff issues . You either use it or export it, there's no control over that. The control comes from batteries and smart devices that can use the power .
@@EVPuzzle So that would be your Victron bits & bobs then ? I was researching a Solis 3-phase hybrid inverter . . but saw comments that it was difficult to interface with HA & Octopus flexible tariffs.
@@TommysDaddy I'm missing where you're going or trying to get to with this. The only issue with cheap rate tariffs at times overnight is setting your car to charge in the period and also charging your home battery at that time . Not draining your battery whilst ev charging is important too. None of that has anything to do with the data from inverters. Octopus agile is the tricky tariff as the cheap periods change every half hour potentially so there's more changes. Intelligent tariff is similar that charging periods can change unexpectedly If the periods are fixed it's easy you just set a schedule . Only the solaredge storedge solution prevents customers changing schedules as far I'm aware. It's not complicated if you look at what's happening in simple terms
Hi I have just had fitted a solis s6 3.68kw inverter with a 4.1 kw array , I'm not on the export tariff yet , is there anything I need to do on the settings side ,
I've got a Solis RAI-3K-48ES-5G ac coupled controller for battery storage. The problem is I'm using deep cycle lead acid batteries which should be ok because they're in the battery selection list on the HMI. The yellow alarm light keeps coming on together with the message "Battery temp cold (or Warm or Hot)" as there's no temperature sensor on the unit I'm just concerned that the alarm might be compromising the system performance.
Is it the orientation of the panel eg landscape or portrait. Does the actual cell absorb less light from the low angled sun in the winter compared the angle of light in the summer eg more closer to 90' relative to the cell. Does rotating the cell by 90' cause your losses.
I don't think so but I'll check just to be sure. The fact I'm comparing 3 systems gives a sort of cross check so I think I'm safe to say the difference is the inverters. Solaredge panels are horizontal but the huawei and solis systems both used the vertical panels yet yielded different values, Solis better, Huawei worse
@@EVPuzzle had my PV system installed and commissioned 3rd November with Huawei 3.6kw inverter as you've got and it demanded a firmware update straightaway. Version ending 109, might be worth checking it's got latest firmware installed
@@EVPuzzle same as mine. Hopefully as time goes on and bugs are ironed out and improvements are developed and it will become a solid inverter.............or I'll get it ripped out and fit a Solis
Let's hope so. On reality the losses in efficiency might be outweighed by the optimiser benefits . It's a clever system with this Huawei. I love Huawei kit by the way. All our phones and tablets are Huawei
Is this not purely down to start up voltages and mppt ranges of each inverter? I've taken the liberty of checking the specs of the Solis Mini 5G which has a startup voltage of 90v, the huawei is most likely 120v so it won't wake up until there's more light hitting the panels, losing out of generation either end of the day. I'm not sure how the Solar Edge compares because the startup voltage on their specs is listed at 350v but I don't know how optimisers complicate the direct comparison.
As the solaredge stays the same in my test and only solis and Huawei change using identical arrays the differences are pretty reliable imo Startup voltage is key and Solaredge needs more voltage. I submitted a support call to solaredge who were unable to improve it or explain why they weren't performing better
My installer gave me a choice of a Sofar, Solis and Growatt, because I need dual MPPT and only have 11 panels over 2 elevations the Solis and Sofar require a higher voltage to wake up, so I went with the Growatt as it only needs 100v.
The performance of the inverter depends on its rated power in proportion to the string sizes. So a 2.4 kW inverter oversized for 3.6kW of panels will do much better in low light than a 3.6kW rated inverter from the same company. A five kW inverter on the same 3.6kW of panels will do even worse. Then there is the number if panels in each string, the more panels the better the low light performance. So if you had two Solaris inverters on those panel sets you would not see a consistent performance ratio at low light levels.
Could I just get some clarity on the S6 in the product names I am seeing when looking for a new Solis inverter. Is this just the same thing they do with phones, give it a letter and an increasing number to show it's a newer version? And what does the 4G and 5G refer to. I know they are mobile phone networks. Is that what this refers to?
Hi Nigel, interesting as always. I do wonder tho where you say is one inverter comparable, in the instance of one's PV panels higher up the roof, is it possible to swap the PV Panel inputs between the inverters and then take the figures, or is there too much reconfiguration on the inverters each time the PV panels are swapped? I would imagine if able to look as soon as swapped you would immediately see if a big difference, or would you need to await a whole days or more stats? Anyway, keep it up, certainly getting me to start to pursue an installation and better use of supplies
It's clever and does both. If you have one panel in shade you Just need one optimiser apparently. It works well Without any optimisers too(my Config). My only complaint is low light performance
I use huawei and the low light generation is very good, there are issues with the recording of daily PV power generation as the system often fails to record PV power when the usage graphs clearly shows low PV power generation and the grid use is lower.
Another really useful video. Are you south facing? I’m E-W so will have to have panels on both sides of the house which will increase costs for a decent output. Including car fuel saving, what do you think is the payback period?
My roof is E-W facing I've got 4.5kw on the west facing roof. I'm getting 3-4kw per day at the moment if its clear skies. I'm looking forward to seeing what the system does in the summer. Once I've seen that I'll decide between a bigger battery to take advantage of the off peak period with Go, or adding a smaller array to the south facing wall to try and catch more of the low winter sun
Technology keeps improving year after year. Solar panels and batteries keep getting less expensive every year making them accessible to more people with limited budgets.
I've recently installed the Solis hybrid Seems like a solid piece of kit although there do seem to be times it is running the house from the battery while exporting all the solar to the grid. (when the solar is
I've not seen how well the solis balances the grid import export. Jonathan Portfield up in Orkney has the solis so might be worth reaching out there for comparison
Have you ever thought about SMA inverters? They are doing 10 year free warranty on them at the moment. As I only have space for 7-8 panels on the roof, looks like I'm stuck with 2.5kw max, which might not be a lot in the winter... Unless someone knows where I can get standard size 400w panels from?
Sma seem very reliable with a good interface so yes I've looked at them. I think standard size is still closer to 300w. Isn't the best efficiency still only 24% so not that much better than cheaped panels at 19%
To be honest the accuracy isn't important it's the variance that shows the low light inefficiency. Inverters might not be accurate but they're consistent. I do measure both though for accuracy
Thank you for your thorough review and for highlighting the performance of Solis inverters. We appreciate your support and are glad to hear that our inverter has been a reliable choice for you. Keep up the great work in promoting clean energy solutions!
Question: why did you change the Solis for a Huawei? I ask as I am considering changing my 10 yr old Powerone 3.6 for a Solis. Did the Solis stop working?
Thanks for the video + info. I'm trying to understand if accepting a 3kw inverter for 4kw of panels my installer is offering to install, whereas I'm trying to insist on a 3.6kw. would I be correct in saying the 3.6kw will generate more electricity, especially in poor conditions?
@@testrunaintit thanks. But is was just because they had stock of the 3k and the 3.6k wasnt available immediately. Glad I insisted on the 3.6 as it's been working really well for me, including the additional 600w of usable electricity for my household load 😁
Hi Nigel, I’m looking for a bit of help and I know you have a vast amount of knowledge when it comes to inverters… I’ve already got a Solis S6 5kw inverter installed and I’ve also got a Solis s6 1.5 kW inverter that I’m planning to install with around a 1 kWp of spare panels, can I just install the inverter or does it need to linked somehow to my existing inverter?.. both inverters are not hybrid I’ve got a separate ac battery. Hope you or your viewers can help me. Thanks again Rob
Its prettig hard to compare the hield of systems like this. The Huawei will simply have more conversion losses due to the DC connected battery. I think losses will be higher during the darker months, because almost all energy will be used to charge the battery and thus higher losses during these months.
Anyone had any experience of Growatt before? I’ve just brought a system of 19 380w JA half cell panels, Growatt SPH6000 inverter and Growatt GBLI6531 6.5kw battery can’t wait to get it all installed. Next step electric car.
I'm commenting on this a few months later having just watched your battery install video. I saw your Solis inverter has the WiFi date dongle the same as mine (Solis 6kw connected to a new 7.4kw East West array in Derbyshire) and having compared February's solar data with yours, you had a much better month, maybe a bit early to read anything into that, but I was 50% (174kw) of yours! I wondered if you manually transfer your daily data from Solis cloud or somehow automate that?
@@EVPuzzle Same as I do then, I've asked Solis Europe on email if it's available as a CSV so we'll see. I've also had some data stick blackouts where is failed to connect some mornings on power up, have you had any such issues?
Yes and sadly it doesn't store data so doesn't refresh, I suspect ethernet dongle is the way to go , more reliable . Overall it does the job for me but I'll be using the Victron total view much more going forwards
@@EVPuzzleInteresting that you have similar issues, I agree the lack of storage means the data 'holes' are unrecoverable. I should get the Zappi and Eddi installed shortly so I'll use that CT data too. Hopefully when/if my Powerwall arrives I'll use that data and some level of control as well.🤞🏻 Appreciate your comments. 👍🏻
No it's just the immersion heater in a standard tank. The Eddi gets wired after your immersion switch and before the tank so effectively its on all the time and the Eddi controls when to heat the water and when not to and limit the kw power to exactly what spare solar energy you have.. Works very effectively. Have a look through my older videos there's lots of data and information in there from when I first Installed it... Same time as my 2nd solar array
hello ev puzzle ive been watching your videos. im ready to jump in. Ive put some money together. Where do i start? what do you recommend if I choose to go full energy independent?
Off grid potentially? I'd start by monitoring your usage if you haven't already. Anyse it to death to determine your needs for energy both now and in the future. EV charging etc Think whole picture, home, hot water, heating, car and plan for an ultimate goal. Then it's taking steps. Add solar. Maximise your potential and add more than you think you need. You'll want more so doing it now saves money installing twice. Unless you deliberately want to install solar in 2 stages, maybe roof then ground array etc. Think wind too if going off grid, you'll need power in winter without the grid.. Reliability is the no. 1 factor for wind even more than power
Interesting, because I thought SolarEdge would easily out perform the Solis with the technology and the independent optimisers on each panel. After-all, that's why most people install SolarEdge because its supposed to out perform traditional Solar Strings (where-by any deteriorated panel affects the rest of the string). The trouble is there are so many factors its probably impossible to know if this is a quirk of your particular installation or whether it would be the same for other people too.
I agree and installers believe it too. Its supposed to be the best but its not, not in all situations. The more shade the better it performs. Might also be the size of my array 8 panels isn't a lot and maybe it'd perform better with bigger arrays and inverters. I'm certain a Solis 2.5kw inverter would give me much better performance but I'd miss the solaredge app
Interesting, I'm about to have a 8kwh solar system with Huawei 10kwh battery system installed (based on a number of options from installer). Mine will have the huawei optimizers installed though
@@EVPuzzle yes, might not need it to be honest but vat went the day I was about commit, so the system was still cheaper with the opt Inc compared to opt-less +vat
Inverters make a sound don't they?Is there any difference in the sound the inverters make? Any thought to be particularly quiet? Thanks, currently researching.
Course I will but remember I test cars not just for videos but for my own interest so I'm not like some TH-camrs testing cars just for the video clicks and income. ID3 test has to be done soon
@@EVPuzzle may be its a matter of asking for time to do before you start asking does any one what anything in the ?? room with in the next xx time also do remind them that making noise while you are working will result in you interupting them when talking to there friends
"Power Director distracted by Teenager", keeping it real 😂 When you said 'software is not as good' does that mean it is 'good enough' or 'not good enough', can you share more details or be more specific?
There's lots more detail in my previous updates but to save you watch several solis is rather basic. It gives dat month and year solar stats but not grid import or export and no consumption data. The interface on Solis does provide decent live data either, Solaredge is better at that. Basically I find I very rarely look at the solis app, I tend to use myenergi or solaredge instead, just looking at solis for the monthly figures. It's App is more basic, fewer graphs, less detail. It suits those that don't want to look at graphs or data very often. Solaredge is just a slicker solution. Huawei is half way between the two, more data and graphs, important export plus battery data but no live data just 5 minute refresh and the timers for charging are very very awkward to get to from a seperate direct connection to the inverter not via the app. To look at historical battery soc across two days is sadly awkward on huawei taking maybe a dozen clicks to get there. Other solutions like victron is much easier to use. I think much of it is how professional the programming is. You get what you pay for and some companies have built apps and portals on the cheap it seems so their brochure can show a pretty picture and say they have an App. Hope that helps
I am just starting out on this journey and one of the solutions I am considering is a Solis inverter…I just need to consider if the lack of professional software is a major concern or minor blip!
Just for solar I think its fine but if your thinking hybrid and battery be aware the interface for changing timers is on the inverter not on an app so you have to go to the inverter to set timers. If you were on Agile outgoing changing export timers it'd be nightmare. Solis might improve the software of course but in the 3 years I've had mine, it's hardly changed at all. If you're going battery to the battery software might mean you don't care about the solis app. Add a givenergy battery and that sees your solar too so you end up just using the Givenergy app and dont need the solis one much at all. I'd love to swap out my solaredge inverter for solis to gain efficiency and kwhs but I'd miss the solaredge app. Tough choices
@@EVPuzzle Whilst I understand the concept of SolarEdge and optimisers we have a clear, shade free roof, so not sure it is worth the extra investment - some AUS vlogs I have seen also don’t seem convinced with some of their ‘claims’ around optimisation. I like the sound of GivEnergy battery but we have three phase supply that would need 3 of their inverters. Who was it that said Solar and battery is easy??? 🙄
Love the fact that someone’s making Tea & Sandwiches in the background. Great video as always.
Thank you so much for the video. I have just received a quote for a solar panel installation with the Huawei 6kW inverter spec'd and am trying to make sense of this all. Kudos to you for not editing your rowdy teenager out of your video, this is refreshingly authentic!
Authenticity and all the data, thanks for watching and your comments 👍
Have just had Solis Hybrid Inverter installed today (in my hall, not attic) but it won't be connected up until solar panels are installed next week - delay because of rain. I know zilch yet about the technical side but glad Solis gets the thumbs up here. Btw, love the family interaction in your video.
Interesting thank you. I'm just installing 12kW on my roof with a 3 phase Solis S6 inverter. Should be up and running mid November.
Hi, You can't directly compare the two systems because the output voltage of the Solis system will most likely be higher if the panels are wired as one string (2x black DC cables at the inverter). The Solis system has more panels and a higher yield (Kw output) The higher DC voltage on the solis system will mean that the inverter will be more efficient, plus the inverter will turn on earlier in the morning and turn off later in the evening, especially in lower light conditions/less irradiance in autumn and winter. I hope this makes sense and helps explain why the system with the Solis inverter is yielding more energy
that's what I was thinking. . . was it something 14 panels for the Solis & 8 panels in series for the SEdge ? No idea how many for Huawei.
That may be true about direct comparisons but that observation has proven true. Solaredge struggles with low light by comparison and this comparison most certainly helps to appreciate when not to use Solaredge, ie with fewer panels.
Glad to admit it might look better with more panels
Taking the technical content out it was great to see a video showing real life family issues lol. Technically though that is interesting, I remember researching for my previous house inverters and systems and ended up getting the SolarEdge, everything suggested it was the best. I am running 2 solis now, though not sure what size they are though a trip into the loft is due soon so will take a look. Hoping when powerdifferent finally get back to me they will offer a larger solis as part of expanding my smaller 2.4 array.
The Solar Edge panels are better of laying above the other panels. The sun has an inclination of only 15 degrees in December which gives much more shadow on the lower placed panels.
Thanks a lot for sharing this "hands on" experience. I was in doubt how the Solis would perform.
Love the video!!!! Love the interruption so real. Thank you. With huawei updates in software would you change the grade??
No , I'm still of the opinion hardware is excellent , software not so
Glad I’ve got a Solis inverter coming! Hope your teenager enjoyed her snack! Made me chuckle 😁
I've got a 5kw Solis inverter, apart from the WiFi dongle not connecting to my Network I'm very pleased with it 👍
Just got a good quote for a setup with Solis. Planning to use home assistant on a raspberry pi to monitor everything. Will also have a pylontech battery too!
Love how you deal with the wains 😂👍🏼
Thanks for the update. That is good to hear as we are having a 2 string system (6kW) installed in 3 weeks. I had discounted the Solar Edge offering as we have zero shading that would significantly impact generation and so I opted for the Solis inverter with QCell panels. Result.
Excellent video. I'm currently getting quotes from various installers and those selling the Huawei are asking for almost €1500 more for comparable solis units. Also your teenager should be outside in the cage during daylight hours 😅😅
Like it!🤣
Huawei isn't the cheapest but does have the benefit of single Optimisers which might lower costs if shading of single panels is an issue.
Having seen the huawei interface I'd prefer Solis between the two
@@EVPuzzle it will be an issue with my chimney stack. On my way into work at 6am I pointed my workshop security camera at the back of the house to see exactly where the shadow will fall from the stack. The arrays will be 6 at the front of the house with no shadow but I'm pretty sure the back 6 will have some shadow. Is there anyway around this at all with the solis inverter
Not if the shadow moves no so you either optimise them all or none. Depends how long the shadow stays on the panels. Time for a Timelapse of the day. 🙄
@@EVPuzzle yeah I'm putting together a time-lapse gif for the installers. No point using solis at all if the drop from shadows is going to wipe out a large portion of generation
Thanks for this. I had a quote today and all the gear they want to flog is Huawei. I had a feeling it was more because they can get a good deal on it than its the best available. I think I will go elsewhere.
If the Solis/Huawei set has more panels chained in it they could push higher voltage in low light and fire up the inverter earlier compared to the weaker system.
More panels is always the answer
No
You need your strings to be as close as possible to the grid voltage of even a little above for low light generation.
I expect the main reason the smaller string struggles is that you can’t achieve the cut in voltage for as many hours and all those 20 and 50 watt hours add up.
Smaller inverters do often have lower cut in voltages, but if you oversize the inverter, even slightly, it will really hurt the annual generation.
The other issue is if solis are a bit generous with their algorithm inside their inverters. An in line ac meter is your best bet
good on you for making the video!
Your situation is so similar to mine it’s scary! I have a Solis inverter…Instead of ripping the house apart for an ASHP so I’m going with Jigsaw heat panels and a Tesla powerwall 2. The main reason is other batteries such as Givenergy have a maximum output of 3kW, rather than the 5/7kW of the powerwall. Payback time is not great, but much better than the heat pump, which I think suffers because it has to realistically be on all the time.
You're exactly why I post these videos as we're not alone out there. Makes me feel a bit less extreme knowing others are thinking and trying the same things
I was considering the Givenergy but i hadn't got to the part where they are limited to 3kW output yet. Looks like it may be the Powerwall after all along with a heat battery in place of the gas boiler
Two inverters gives you more power.. Its All possible
Love it! You should have got them on camera!
5 minutes after that she nearly missed her bus. A few naughty words. That would've made you laugh too
LOVING your face staring at the person behind the camera! LOL
Great analysis. Very helpful as I need to make a decision on Solis or Solar Edge. For the price, I might be better off with the Solis.
What did you choose? I'm now having the same dilemma.
Have huewaei inverters improved since this?
They've changed so I guess they've improved but not sure about software , I haven't looked to be honest
Great video Nigel. Take all your savings and buy yourself a shed in the garden, good insulation and a little mini split unit; perfect man cave!
Now there's a very good idea
The reason for this difference is the start up voltage of the inverters and the minimum mppt voltage.
Could this be less of an issue with a more powerful panel?
@@RichardABW it’s a case of correct system design from panal spec to inverter spec, location,and surroundings.any monkey can fill your roof with panels and excess batteries which will waste your money and deliver nothing.
No it's Solaredge design, their optimisers aren't great with few numbers of panels so much so it won't even fire up with 3 panels. Solaredge better with higher number of panels on long strings
@@EVPuzzle solaredge are only designed for multiple roof evelations with different pitch roofs and should be used with short string Optimizers for low start up,best all rounder is Tigo,Huawei or enphase,or a commercial application where rapid shut down and arc detection is needed.
No need for any Optimizers unless shading by trees chimnies,or misshaped roofs.
Not true Solaredge design their systems for all types of Installation
Awesome review, man of my own heart. Perhaps the start up voltage is a bit skew wiffy perhaps (all inverters show a minimum start up voltage ) perhaps?
No they're definitely different. It's only marginal but solis vs huaewi in winter using the same panels gave significant differences in winter.
Do you have these inverters running together and could you show how you have done this.
Yes all seperate, AC connected solar inverters each connect as any solar inverter would on its own. The only unique thing is the AC connections all meet in a consumer unit before the grid connection so I can monitor the collective solar power coming in.
This is really interesting. Does the combiner box have any kind of software?
I remember being told that if you hook 2 inverters onto the same phase they end up fighting each other as one sees the grid voltage as that of the other inverter. Maybe this Is BS? Or you can manually set a max grid voltage on both to overcome this?
I know the Solis ones can talk to each other, but I never needed to look into it.
Inverters, best Enphase Mirco inverter, string inverter fronius or SMA. Some makes of panel are suited for lower light. I own a fronius inverter. Having seen friends, Enphase kick ass.
I installed a Solis Hybrid Inverter Solis-RHI-1P10KW-HV inverter and Soluna Battery Soluna 15KWh Pack HV battery a few month ago. I am still getting the system tuned and understanding the performance. The system is just not working properly. Our lights are flickering at night and the Soluna battery doesn't kicking frequently. I don't know if the system is bad or the installer is incompetent. This has been going on for over 8 months now.
have you tried a cattle prod? ... for the teenagers?
We've had a Huawei Sun 3.8kw inverter with luna battery installed. Can anyone tell please : after a power cut (such as grid power failure) when the inverter re-starts, will connect to wi-fi etc. automatically and commence working? Thanks!
So, what are your opinions now after another 2 years' experience ? How do you find local monitoring & control of the three inverters (comparisons ?) & how do they work with flexible tariffs ?
I only use the inverter data to update a speadsheet. Importing data to Home Assistant has made monitoring much easier. Solar inverters are just providing power, completely independent of tariff issues .
You either use it or export it, there's no control over that. The control comes from batteries and smart devices that can use the power .
@@EVPuzzle So that would be your Victron bits & bobs then ? I was researching a Solis 3-phase hybrid inverter . . but saw comments that it was difficult to interface with HA & Octopus flexible tariffs.
@@TommysDaddy I'm missing where you're going or trying to get to with this. The only issue with cheap rate tariffs at times overnight is setting your car to charge in the period and also charging your home battery at that time . Not draining your battery whilst ev charging is important too. None of that has anything to do with the data from inverters.
Octopus agile is the tricky tariff as the cheap periods change every half hour potentially so there's more changes. Intelligent tariff is similar that charging periods can change unexpectedly
If the periods are fixed it's easy you just set a schedule . Only the solaredge storedge solution prevents customers changing schedules as far I'm aware.
It's not complicated if you look at what's happening in simple terms
How do you think the Solis would compare to a SolarEdge HD Wave inverter as opposed to the SolarEdge Compact inverter?
Depends on shade. If none I wouldn't go solaredge. Just not convinced or heard anything to prove they're better But the app is nicer
Hi I have just had fitted a solis s6 3.68kw inverter with a 4.1 kw array , I'm not on the export tariff yet , is there anything I need to do on the settings side ,
Not if its working. I don't touch the physical device, I only use the solis App for monitoring
thanks alot for reply , keep the video,s going 👍
Great, i just had 2 x huawei inverter installed
I've got a Solis RAI-3K-48ES-5G ac coupled controller for battery storage.
The problem is I'm using deep cycle lead acid batteries which should be ok because they're in the battery selection list on the HMI.
The yellow alarm light keeps coming on together with the message "Battery temp cold (or Warm or Hot)" as there's no temperature sensor on the unit I'm just concerned that the alarm might be compromising the system performance.
Unknown error messages keep me awake at night. Hope you find out what's wrong or if it's a red herring
Is it the orientation of the panel eg landscape or portrait. Does the actual cell absorb less light from the low angled sun in the winter compared the angle of light in the summer eg more closer to 90' relative to the cell. Does rotating the cell by 90' cause your losses.
I don't think so but I'll check just to be sure. The fact I'm comparing 3 systems gives a sort of cross check so I think I'm safe to say the difference is the inverters. Solaredge panels are horizontal but the huawei and solis systems both used the vertical panels yet yielded different values, Solis better, Huawei worse
Before condemning the Huawei inverter, it's relatively new to the market. It's performance could be improved in firmware updates.
Agreed. One update to the App so far but not great. Huawei are software giants but so far nothing to be excited about... Only 3 months in though
@@EVPuzzle had my PV system installed and commissioned 3rd November with Huawei 3.6kw inverter as you've got and it demanded a firmware update straightaway. Version ending 109, might be worth checking it's got latest firmware installed
Much appreciated, I'll check versions.
That's was easy.
V200R001C00SPC109
@@EVPuzzle same as mine. Hopefully as time goes on and bugs are ironed out and improvements are developed and it will become a solid inverter.............or I'll get it ripped out and fit a Solis
Let's hope so. On reality the losses in efficiency might be outweighed by the optimiser benefits . It's a clever system with this Huawei.
I love Huawei kit by the way. All our phones and tablets are Huawei
I tempted to buy solis 10kw hybrid no vendors is offering anything bigger than 8kw hybrid . SOlis is 1/3 of the price..
You must have a big pv array needing 10kw inverter
Hi Nigel is either inverter a hybrid with battery storage ?
Is this not purely down to start up voltages and mppt ranges of each inverter?
I've taken the liberty of checking the specs of the Solis Mini 5G which has a startup voltage of 90v, the huawei is most likely 120v so it won't wake up until there's more light hitting the panels, losing out of generation either end of the day.
I'm not sure how the Solar Edge compares because the startup voltage on their specs is listed at 350v but I don't know how optimisers complicate the direct comparison.
As the solaredge stays the same in my test and only solis and Huawei change using identical arrays the differences are pretty reliable imo
Startup voltage is key and Solaredge needs more voltage.
I submitted a support call to solaredge who were unable to improve it or explain why they weren't performing better
My installer gave me a choice of a Sofar, Solis and Growatt, because I need dual MPPT and only have 11 panels over 2 elevations the Solis and Sofar require a higher voltage to wake up, so I went with the Growatt as it only needs 100v.
The performance of the inverter depends on its rated power in proportion to the string sizes. So a 2.4 kW inverter oversized for 3.6kW of panels will do much better in low light than a 3.6kW rated inverter from the same company. A five kW inverter on the same 3.6kW of panels will do even worse. Then there is the number if panels in each string, the more panels the better the low light performance. So if you had two Solaris inverters on those panel sets you would not see a consistent performance ratio at low light levels.
Could the orientation (portrait/landscape) make a difference to panel output?
Unlikely
Could I just get some clarity on the S6 in the product names I am seeing when looking for a new Solis inverter. Is this just the same thing they do with phones, give it a letter and an increasing number to show it's a newer version? And what does the 4G and 5G refer to. I know they are mobile phone networks. Is that what this refers to?
I think so yes , better chipset and design , although the new ones are bigger units too
@@EVPuzzle I went for the Solis 5g in the end and am very pleased so far.
Hi Nigel, interesting as always. I do wonder tho where you say is one inverter comparable, in the instance of one's PV panels higher up the roof, is it possible to swap the PV Panel inputs between the inverters and then take the figures, or is there too much reconfiguration on the inverters each time the PV panels are swapped? I would imagine if able to look as soon as swapped you would immediately see if a big difference, or would you need to await a whole days or more stats?
Anyway, keep it up, certainly getting me to start to pursue an installation and better use of supplies
Sounds like you're on the way ...well done
Q does Huawei handling panel by panel like a optimizer or arrange on lowest panel?
It's clever and does both. If you have one panel in shade you Just need one optimiser apparently. It works well Without any optimisers too(my Config). My only complaint is low light performance
I use huawei and the low light generation is very good, there are issues with the recording of daily PV power generation as the system often fails to record PV power when the usage graphs clearly shows low PV power generation and the grid use is lower.
In one of your previous vids you said the Solis was worse than solaredge?
In what context? Software app wise yes perhaps
Another really useful video. Are you south facing? I’m E-W so will have to have panels on both sides of the house which will increase costs for a decent output. Including car fuel saving, what do you think is the payback period?
Yes South, payback much better with current energy prices. Go for it. Original payback video I think I said 6 to 7 yrs
My roof is E-W facing I've got 4.5kw on the west facing roof.
I'm getting 3-4kw per day at the moment if its clear skies. I'm looking forward to seeing what the system does in the summer.
Once I've seen that I'll decide between a bigger battery to take advantage of the off peak period with Go, or adding a smaller array to the south facing wall to try and catch more of the low winter sun
Both... Both 😉😂
Top stats again. Food for thought. Cheers.
Well done you managed things very well good data. Bob from Kent
Thanks Bob
Technology keeps improving year after year.
Solar panels and batteries keep getting less expensive every year making them accessible to more people with limited budgets.
And the message is getting through to more people every day
I've recently installed the Solis hybrid
Seems like a solid piece of kit although there do seem to be times it is running the house from the battery while exporting all the solar to the grid. (when the solar is
I've not seen how well the solis balances the grid import export. Jonathan Portfield up in Orkney has the solis so might be worth reaching out there for comparison
Have you ever thought about SMA inverters? They are doing 10 year free warranty on them at the moment. As I only have space for 7-8 panels on the roof, looks like I'm stuck with 2.5kw max, which might not be a lot in the winter... Unless someone knows where I can get standard size 400w panels from?
Sma seem very reliable with a good interface so yes I've looked at them. I think standard size is still closer to 300w. Isn't the best efficiency still only 24% so not that much better than cheaped panels at 19%
Hi Edward do you have a south facing gable end ?
Can I charge my solar batteries with generator during the winter months.
Sounds an odd thing to do unless you're off grid
Are they identical kW inverter ratings?
Yes 3.68kw
Are you measuring the AC power of each inverter externally. I know that power measurements on inverter is not very accurate.
To be honest the accuracy isn't important it's the variance that shows the low light inefficiency. Inverters might not be accurate but they're consistent. I do measure both though for accuracy
We are getting fitted solis mini inverter, hope this will be ok
Thank you for your thorough review and for highlighting the performance of Solis inverters. We appreciate your support and are glad to hear that our inverter has been a reliable choice for you. Keep up the great work in promoting clean energy solutions!
More than welcome . Great products deserve good reviews
Thanks Nigel.
Question: why did you change the Solis for a Huawei? I ask as I am considering changing my 10 yr old Powerone 3.6 for a Solis. Did the Solis stop working?
A test...
@@EVPuzzle Thank you!
Thanks for the video + info. I'm trying to understand if accepting a 3kw inverter for 4kw of panels my installer is offering to install, whereas I'm trying to insist on a 3.6kw. would I be correct in saying the 3.6kw will generate more electricity, especially in poor conditions?
Its likely the oposite... the smaller the inverter the better in low light conditions (less overhead to move...)
@@testrunaintit thanks. But is was just because they had stock of the 3k and the 3.6k wasnt available immediately. Glad I insisted on the 3.6 as it's been working really well for me, including the additional 600w of usable electricity for my household load 😁
Might be interesting to measure the surface temperature of each transformer - should be proportional to the current
Happy to try that. Solaredge has unusual venting compared to others, allowed to install closer to other devices
Hi Nigel, I’m looking for a bit of help and I know you have a vast amount of knowledge when it comes to inverters… I’ve already got a Solis S6 5kw inverter installed and I’ve also got a Solis s6 1.5 kW inverter that I’m planning to install with around a 1 kWp of spare panels, can I just install the inverter or does it need to linked somehow to my existing inverter?.. both inverters are not hybrid I’ve got a separate ac battery. Hope you or your viewers can help me. Thanks again Rob
Growatt 10KTL 3 -XH Hybrid what about this one
Its prettig hard to compare the hield of systems like this. The Huawei will simply have more conversion losses due to the DC connected battery. I think losses will be higher during the darker months, because almost all energy will be used to charge the battery and thus higher losses during these months.
Im comparing generation, yield etc. Battery is irrelevant as that is after yield Is measured
Anyone had any experience of Growatt before?
I’ve just brought a system of 19 380w JA half cell panels, Growatt SPH6000 inverter and Growatt GBLI6531 6.5kw battery can’t wait to get it all installed. Next step electric car.
Not really the theme of the video, but is that Elm Hill in the picture behind you?
Norwich bor here couldn't help but notice
It is. My Dad made the original seat around the tree many years ago
@@EVPuzzle Wow! My sister was proposed to on that seat :-)
Full of love
I'm commenting on this a few months later having just watched your battery install video. I saw your Solis inverter has the WiFi date dongle the same as mine (Solis 6kw connected to a new 7.4kw East West array in Derbyshire) and having compared February's solar data with yours, you had a much better month, maybe a bit early to read anything into that, but I was 50% (174kw) of yours! I wondered if you manually transfer your daily data from Solis cloud or somehow automate that?
I take the daily kWh value and manually update a spreadsheet to combine with my other array
@@EVPuzzle Same as I do then, I've asked Solis Europe on email if it's available as a CSV so we'll see. I've also had some data stick blackouts where is failed to connect some mornings on power up, have you had any such issues?
Yes and sadly it doesn't store data so doesn't refresh, I suspect ethernet dongle is the way to go , more reliable . Overall it does the job for me but I'll be using the Victron total view much more going forwards
@@EVPuzzleInteresting that you have similar issues, I agree the lack of storage means the data 'holes' are unrecoverable. I should get the Zappi and Eddi installed shortly so I'll use that CT data too.
Hopefully when/if my Powerwall arrives I'll use that data and some level of control as well.🤞🏻 Appreciate your comments. 👍🏻
Can you introduce your solar system to heat hot water in your house please? Thanks
It does via our Eddi device
@@EVPuzzle Thanks for your reply. Do you need a special water tank to be installed in your house?
No it's just the immersion heater in a standard tank. The Eddi gets wired after your immersion switch and before the tank so effectively its on all the time and the Eddi controls when to heat the water and when not to and limit the kw power to exactly what spare solar energy you have.. Works very effectively.
Have a look through my older videos there's lots of data and information in there from when I first Installed it... Same time as my 2nd solar array
Hi I use a Solar i boost which works very well.
hello ev puzzle ive been watching your videos. im ready to jump in. Ive put some money together. Where do i start? what do you recommend if I choose to go full energy independent?
Off grid potentially?
I'd start by monitoring your usage if you haven't already.
Anyse it to death to determine your needs for energy both now and in the future. EV charging etc
Think whole picture, home, hot water, heating, car and plan for an ultimate goal.
Then it's taking steps. Add solar. Maximise your potential and add more than you think you need. You'll want more so doing it now saves money installing twice.
Unless you deliberately want to install solar in 2 stages, maybe roof then ground array etc.
Think wind too if going off grid, you'll need power in winter without the grid.. Reliability is the no. 1 factor for wind even more than power
Do you have any idea how much i should expect to pay for a solar inveter instalation ? Exact same model which I have
Thanks for your insight.
Interesting, because I thought SolarEdge would easily out perform the Solis with the technology and the independent optimisers on each panel. After-all, that's why most people install SolarEdge because its supposed to out perform traditional Solar Strings (where-by any deteriorated panel affects the rest of the string).
The trouble is there are so many factors its probably impossible to know if this is a quirk of your particular installation or whether it would be the same for other people too.
I agree and installers believe it too. Its supposed to be the best but its not, not in all situations. The more shade the better it performs. Might also be the size of my array 8 panels isn't a lot and maybe it'd perform better with bigger arrays and inverters. I'm certain a Solis 2.5kw inverter would give me much better performance but I'd miss the solaredge app
Has anyone tested Solis vs Fronius?
Interesting, I'm about to have a 8kwh solar system with Huawei 10kwh battery system installed (based on a number of options from installer). Mine will have the huawei optimizers installed though
On every panel?
@@EVPuzzle yes, might not need it to be honest but vat went the day I was about commit, so the system was still cheaper with the opt Inc compared to opt-less +vat
No worries, 8kw and 10kwh sounds good, you'll fill than pretty quick in summer
@@EVPuzzle let's hope so!
How about you do retake without all the interruptions? - its very annoying when you pause. You could edit out the periods when there is noise.
If I did it again I could turn comments off too🤣
Switch the inverters to test.
bit confused. Isn't 71% better than 61% ?
I hope your dinner went well!
Inverters make a sound don't they?Is there any difference in the sound the inverters make? Any thought to be particularly quiet? Thanks, currently researching.
LOL, "I can't help it" - that is usually what I hear from my little teenager...
Glad you enjoyed my leaving that in. Its worth a laugh seeing real life😂
Jow is solis compared to your vectron
Solis is Basic. Victron is advanced and full of features
Optimisers are a waste of money in .most cases
Anyone have a sonnen battery and inverter?
It's Hwa-way.
ur so kool ,i cant help it
The kids basically couldn’t care less. 😂
😂😂😂 ❤ so cute ending
Useful to know
Wait until the wife goes out, change the locks & then do your video.
Can you do more car reviews,this stuff goes right over my head .i wish it didnt as i have solar panels.your car reviews are really good......😍🌻🌞
Course I will but remember I test cars not just for videos but for my own interest so I'm not like some TH-camrs testing cars just for the video clicks and income. ID3 test has to be done soon
Did you kill the wife when the video end's 🤔
must have a word from your off stage staff to not make noises while your recording. hehehehe.
you must not be paying them enough wages.
Like it 👍 maybe I should try rewards rather than moaning. This TH-cam lark isn't easy I assure you.
@@EVPuzzle may be its a matter of asking for time to do before you start asking does any one what anything in the ?? room with in the next xx time
also do remind them that making noise while you are working will result in you interupting them when talking to there friends
I need an office... A shed!
@@EVPuzzle you can not call it a shed a small wooden lodge maybe with lights and heating - who do you need to see to get funding
Project manager. It's on the list after more PV, the ultimate battery and my next EV with heating system and wind turbine in there somewhere.
"Power Director distracted by Teenager", keeping it real 😂
When you said 'software is not as good' does that mean it is 'good enough' or 'not good enough', can you share more details or be more specific?
There's lots more detail in my previous updates but to save you watch several solis is rather basic. It gives dat month and year solar stats but not grid import or export and no consumption data. The interface on Solis does provide decent live data either, Solaredge is better at that.
Basically I find I very rarely look at the solis app, I tend to use myenergi or solaredge instead, just looking at solis for the monthly figures. It's App is more basic, fewer graphs, less detail. It suits those that don't want to look at graphs or data very often. Solaredge is just a slicker solution.
Huawei is half way between the two, more data and graphs, important export plus battery data but no live data just 5 minute refresh and the timers for charging are very very awkward to get to from a seperate direct connection to the inverter not via the app. To look at historical battery soc across two days is sadly awkward on huawei taking maybe a dozen clicks to get there. Other solutions like victron is much easier to use.
I think much of it is how professional the programming is. You get what you pay for and some companies have built apps and portals on the cheap it seems so their brochure can show a pretty picture and say they have an App.
Hope that helps
I am just starting out on this journey and one of the solutions I am considering is a Solis inverter…I just need to consider if the lack of professional software is a major concern or minor blip!
Just for solar I think its fine but if your thinking hybrid and battery be aware the interface for changing timers is on the inverter not on an app so you have to go to the inverter to set timers. If you were on Agile outgoing changing export timers it'd be nightmare.
Solis might improve the software of course but in the 3 years I've had mine, it's hardly changed at all.
If you're going battery to the battery software might mean you don't care about the solis app. Add a givenergy battery and that sees your solar too so you end up just using the Givenergy app and dont need the solis one much at all.
I'd love to swap out my solaredge inverter for solis to gain efficiency and kwhs but I'd miss the solaredge app. Tough choices
@@EVPuzzle Whilst I understand the concept of SolarEdge and optimisers we have a clear, shade free roof, so not sure it is worth the extra investment - some AUS vlogs I have seen also don’t seem convinced with some of their ‘claims’ around optimisation.
I like the sound of GivEnergy battery but we have three phase supply that would need 3 of their inverters.
Who was it that said Solar and battery is easy??? 🙄
Me either. I'd use solis if I had choice again
Kids!
Women 😊😂❤
Teenagers 🤬