Step-by-Step Guide: Installing a Solar PV Array with Enphase Microinverters | Renewable Energy

[@gavinderbyshire5535]

Great video, we are just looking at installing Enphase products and this really helped in the process of installing. Great system

[@thomasjacques5286]

Getting ready to have 31 Q Cell 405-watt PV panels along with 31 Enphase IQ8A inverters on a "grid-tied" system with 1 to 1 Net Metering. We'll add some batteries next year.

[@eugenrullz]

Just for my own curiosity, why the mid clamp are not on the longside (15-20% from edges) and are mounted on the short side. I have yet to see a panel manufacturer to indicate this time of mounting. It can be done but with a pannel with no more than 1.8m lenght.

[@stephenbrickwood1602]

Did you get an answer ? I had the same question. 😮

[@eugenrullz]

@@stephenbrickwood1602 nope. But im sure that this was a bad instal. Dont know why would they upload this tonyoutube though 🧐

[@glassdomedesign]

Very helpful - we have 4 panels with IQ7As at the moment with the Tesla 2 battery and gateway. We’re thinking of adding more panels but on an outbuilding. Is it as simple as wiring these into a circuit and the system will pick them up? Or do they need to be programmed to the gateway to make them work?

[@walterarmstrong3117]

Great video and a nice job. Did you use the IQ7+ or the 7A?

[@mikerowe123]

Love the content guys! Very informative, nice visuals and great products. Keep it up👏👏

[@dorewoodman]

Thank you Mike, we really appreciate your comment

[@TheBigT.]

Another great install!

[@dorewoodman]

Thanks Ian

[@Helsingfors-h2c]

I'm wondering what would happen if a gas meter located near breakers had some gas leakage and the breakers were switched on at the same time.

[@daveglu]

like your content, wish the "background" music wasn't louder than the content.

[@kingrs]

Another great video. I have the same issue with the loud music too. Couple of questions: 1. The Waygo push wire connectors are normally meant for solid core cable, the 4mm - 2 core - Q cable, is multi-core, do you crimp a ferrule onto the mutli-core before clamping into the Wago? 2. Is the 3 core multi-core cable coming out of the roof, a 4mm flex or solid core? 3. Do you have to add another gland to the Wiska box (3 in total) for the earth wire for the panels, or is it somehow piggy-backed on the Q cable? 4. When clamping the rails on the short edge of the panels, I notice your clamp position is very close to the top edge of the panel for the top rail, would this impact snow and wind loading? Many thanks for all these useful videos - they certainly help me a lot..

[@gslongdistance]

There is no battery backup on this install. Are the Enphase batteries available in the UK yet? If not, what do you suggest as best paired with the Enphase micro-inverter system?

[@dorewoodman]

Hi, unfortunately the Enphase Battery isn’t available in the UK as yet but there is speculation that it will hopefully arrive by the end of the year. We have installed a number of Alpha batteries with Enphase, they are a great option and features that enable a control from a pretty user friendly app with lots of data to boot. We do have a video with Alpha and Enphase with another on the way shortly.

[@bernardholdsworth2171]

Does a smart meter have to be installed for these?

[@dorewoodman]

No, but we would install a generation meter and metered Enphase Envoy

[@kn4cc755]

I've watched many videos on KZbin showing solar system installs using Enphase equipment and NOBODY shows the commissioning/startup process. There must be some reason, either the process is restricted by Enphase or the installers are protecting their market in some way. Of course, this means that all maintenance going forward will be closed to any but those installers. If that business fails, so does your system. Not acceptable.

[@malpracticesurf]

Hi just wondering for the consumption ct what you are using? I got a CT-100-SPLIT-ROW supplied with the envoy but there is no chance of it fitting around the 25mm2 meter tails like it looks like you have managed in this video. I can see different models in the us but can’t find a supplier in the uk. Cheers great video very helpful.

[@dorewoodman]

Thanks for the comment and watching our video. The 200 split is available if requested but at a cost and they are massive in comparison. We have met with Enphase on a number of occasions and requested they look into a more suitable size for the UK market, let’s hope they make a change soon

[@malpracticesurf]

@@dorewoodman don’t know if this is useful to you but I did some research and found that the MyEnergi MYEN-CT100-16-05 ct clamp is the same spec as the enphase ones so I bought one and tried it and it works fine and fits nicely around the meter tails.

[@constructioneerful]

Why do the microinverters have to be directly underneath the panel - why can’t they be in a cluster somewhere in the loft attached to their respective panels by wire?

[@dorewoodman]

It would be a great idea, although the Q cables aren’t currently long enough and it would require a number of cable entry points through the roof. The Q cable is much thicker than a standard PV1 cable.

[@stephenbrickwood1602]

​@dorewoodman dc to the microinverter inside and then standard ac feed as usual. A short dc extension lead ?????

[@sidperry7748]

A couple of questions if I may , the cable going into the top of the 20 amp rcbo is that 4mm or 6mm cable ? And does that feed the ac power to the bus bar of the consumer unit ? I have watched a lot of these on youtube and have asked the same question but nobody has given me an answer? It seems strange the consumer unit has to be supplied with 25mm cable from the meter and only 4 or 6mm cable from the solar . Does that mean the rcbo is working in reverse or have I got it all wrong ? Sorry for my ignorance on this subject but I find it very interesting and I think this is way we are all heading . Great videos 👍 I have watched several of yours now . One last question is 20 amps the maximum load that can be supplied from the solar at any one time and the rest has to be drawn from the main supply to the house? Thanks

[@dorewoodman]

The cable coming out of the 20A RCBO is 4mm. This more than required but future proofs the installation and allows for voltage drop. The Q cable on the roof supplied by enphase is however 2.5mm. You are correct in saying that the generated AC power is fed down this cable, through the RCBO and then distributed to the other loads/circuits (or exported) via the bus bar. Meter tails are 25mm for a 100A fuse as they can withstand over this amount of current. If the current exceeds 100A, then the fuse will trip prior to the cable reaching its limit. This is a similar principle to the 4mm cable and 20A breaker (recommended by Enphase). On this installation, we have 9 panels with Microinverters capable of outputting 366VA each, so roughly 3.3KW. so are only capable of outputting a max of 14A. The Microinverters do also draw current when there is no generation and the RCBO would trip if there were a fault and the current draw was to exceed 20A. Put simply, the overload element of an Mcb/RCBO is disconnected by a bi metallic strip. As a circuit becomes overloaded and more current passes through this strip it heats up, bends and disconnects. So in theory this will operate irrespective of the direction of current. The maximum amount of current which can be supplied by the Microinverters will be dependant on the amount of inverters. In optimal conditions, the power outputted will increase in multiples of 366 per inverter installed (for the IQ7A), so roughly 1.6A per Micro-inverter. Remaining power requirements could then be supplemented by a battery or the grid. Hope this helps a bit.

[@sidperry7748]

@@dorewoodman Thanks for your reply, yes that was a great help . I can see by your work that you are good installer and the people that may have used your services would have had a good and honest job done .

[@kingrs]

@@dorewoodman Re. Enphase Q cable core size - I thought this was 4mm (12 AWG), but if you google it, it says 2.5mm. Maybe the 3 phase is 2.5mm and 1 phase is 4mm - not sure now.

[@nic47531]

Do enphase microinverters hum underneath panel like a string inverter would?

[@dorewoodman]

No that we have noticed or that customers have commented on

[@Chris-hy6jy]

Are those Jinko Tiger Neos?

[@codecraftacademy25]

what happen if a grid is off i mean do not provide electricity dose this micro grid generate electricity

[@walterarmstrong3117]

My understanding is that it will not unless the latest IQ8 micro inverters are used.

[@tonymatthews1053]

Are you aware that Fusebox RCBO's are NOT bi-directional?

[@m23605]

He doesn't seem to know the difference between energy and power so wouldn't trust him with other basic knowledge.

[@rich1483]

They are now, just brought new ones out.

[@HalkerVeil]

My god that roof is horrid.

[@m4vr1ck]

35p per kwh that's $0.45USD why is electricity so expensive in the UK I got mad when they raised it from $0.08 to $0.11 do you not have nuclear power

[@barriedear5990]

It has come down a bit since then, but the war in Ukraine caused prices to spike as gas supplies were cut.

[@m23605]

Electricity price is generally is 3-4x the price of natural gas. Also, almost all energy tax is put on electricity and almost none on gas. The market has been rigged to encourage gas use which is piped directly to residential properties in most cities and towns.

[@GWAYGWAY1]

What the hell use is a solar system to the customer if it shuts down for SAFETY when the mains is lost???? How do you tell him is completely devoid of electricity and his freezer thaw out the fridge dies and they will be sitting in the dark without anything to do. Why can the solar system and any battery not keep the house live because of the god safety? Is it because the feedback to the mains in not possible because a switch over device cannot know when the mains goes off as there is still 230 volts available to it. The policy of solar appears to be the advantage of the power companies financial position. Surely there has to be some sort of standby power available to keep it all going , I had a power down for a week because of a u found wet fault in the mains several times in the passed year until they replaced the whole cable system along the road.

[@deepknowledgetown]

That's where ATS comes in to limit the power produced from solar panels and stop it from exporting to grid during power outage. Your installer should be able to give you more information on this.

[@zweriuskriegsman]

If you're a serious installer, you don't talk about generating 16 kW a day..... Please guys amounts of energy are in kWh and power is in kW. Sometimes it's said right and sometimes it's wrong. Please take care. Another thing: when you make these video's please try to make the volume of music and spoken words about the same. Now sometimes the music is so loud that I have to rduce the volume setting, but then I can hardly understand what's said when a section with spoken words is following....

[@dorewoodman]

Noted, appreciate the comment and feedback.

[@peterkacandes5905]

No fall protection? If that is even legal in England? Crazy and wreckless for your employees, the company, and the client. Very irresponsible. IMHO.

[@HalkerVeil]

Unfortunately solar actually drops property value in any realistic sense. People don't understand it and don't want the headache. They especially get turned off by the complexity of paying off panels that are leased, only to have the company take the panels away afterwards since you don't own them in the first place. So many scams in the solar industry have turned people off. And it becomes very difficult to target your market in selling your house.