SMA4000TL versus Power One 3.6............FIGHT

[Frank Amey]

Thanks to all who have given me advice so far. I have taken on board that Suntech 250 Black Pearls are a good choice for me.

The quotes differ drastic between the choice of inverter. Which is best for my 16 panel array, I require a remote display?

I have been lead to believe the Power One will start delivering sooner than the SMA is one good reason.

Also I wish to get best output for my array. Both are fine by me I will listen to your advice to make my final decision.

Is Power One more expensive.:thinking:

Regards

Frank

 

[Worcester]

I require a remote display

So do a lot of people for the first three months, then they gather dust in the kitchen draw

However, there are some good solutions available:

The SMA SB4000-TL has bluetooth built in, get Sunny Explorer for free and you can monitor all the data on your pc, download it, send it to spreadsheets to your hearts content! - Go to Maplins and get a 100m Bluetooth dongle, nost built in ones are strong enough, USB 2.0 Bluetooth Version 2.0 EDR 100m Swivel Dongles : Bluetooth Dongles : Maplin
(Why bother with SunnyBeam when this is free!)

The Power-One offering appears a little less mature, you can run an RS-485 cable from the inverter to your laptop/pc and use their desktop software, or they have a radio module that can be installed in the inverter, or you can have a wired(RS-485) display and bluetooth link that to your pc/laptop. You'll have to pay for those bits, and I doubt many installers have any experience with them.

 

[SolarCity]

From the suppliers we use, the Power One inverters are slightly cheaper. The wireless display is a little more expensive, however, as a seperate device is required to link it to the inverter - whereas the SB4000TL has Bluetooth built in.

I'd say that the SB4000TL is better from a gimmicks points of view. As Worcester says, Sunny Explorer is quite handy - from an installer's point of view, I love it! On my simulations, the Power One 3600 offers a better yield - mainly because the 4000TL is a little oversized.

The 4000TL can be a bit irritating as prior permission from the DNO is required before you can install it. Depending on the DNO, this can take a bit of time.

 

[Frank Amey]

So do a lot of people for the first three months, then they gather dust in the kitchen draw

Yeah, know what you mean. My power genie is in there somewhere:aureola:

I have a couple of quotes with the Power One being the dearer with identical panels. Just reading up further before I decide.

 

[MorganPVI]

Forget about the Power One monitoring system they are prone to break, get a Geo Solo instead.

 

[solarsavings]

I thought Power one had launched a new version, £200 a pop mgith put people off.

 

[Graeme Harrold]

From a self-consumption point of view, the SMA 4000TL comes with a nice built in relay to allow things to be powered up depending on set variables in the inverter

 

[ingflying]

Power One maybe the cheaper one.

 

[Frank Amey]

Just declined a quote from a disgruntled company who politely requested feedback on why I had declined them. On mentioning I had chosen one with a Power One Inverter they stated they could also supply that and give the savings back. They state they have stopped using Power Ones and prefer to install SMA as they have had reliability issues with Aurora.

I'm still undecided, I thought I had made my mind up 100%.

Keep reading Frank:juggle2: