Best Solar Inverters in 2022 

Thanks Andrew for the input! Really appreciate it ;)

Deye buy deye is half the price on battery and dont pay extra subscription on your smart meter to show you data😅😅

Yup. Had two of those on one house, then went to the LVX6048WPs to use with my SMA inverters in an AC coupled micro grid

Hey Dan! If you don't have shading issues, you really don't need it, you do loose the option of viewing panel level monitoring. But your installer is right, your panels will be divided into strings and will have a certain voltage that can be measured. If it doesn't fit as it should they will know one of the panels is wrong. This happens very rarely that a panel break. VERY RARELY. If something will go wrong it will be the inverter that will be easily fixed at the ground level by a technician so much easier access than rooftop as far as mircos. You sma inverter will be monitored by you, SMA and probably your installer. SMA has an excellent customer service, so if the inverter fails and needs replacement they do it automatically, so they will ship it to your installer, and they will swap it for a new one. :) Is it a rooftop install? If so there will be a need for a rapid shutdown device if no optimizers ae installed. But I a sure they have that included. I hope that helps! If you haven't seen the panel video here is the link: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-wy5H3lTQ3lQ.html&lc=UgzrOGu15WkAloaSQrt4AaABAg

Not bad, but the effect of optimizers is still viewed as too good, real world testing shows how small (if any) difference even in heavy shaded conditions is. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-UQ9Szhl1ceQ.html

I advise strongly against anything Solaredge they fail a crazy percentage of the time.

We install on average 40 optimisers a week! Very rarely get problem!

Thank you so much for saying that :) I appreciate it!

Deye buy deye is half the price on battery and dont pay extra subscription on your smart meter to show you data😅😅

Wow, thank you! I hope to bring more videos soon! :)

Deye buy deye is half the price on battery and dont pay extra subscription on your smart meter to show you data😅😅

Why buy expensive panels? My first 10 were new 370w panels. My LV 6548 can handle 8000w. Being cheap I contacted Santan Solar and picked up a dozen 340w used panels for $65 each. Laid them out, plugged them in and I just about doubled my capability for under $800. Another thing you seldom see mentioned is that a shattered panel will usually still produce as if it was never shattered. I have one of the original panels that was shattered and 3 years later it still produces the same. A little bit about the used panels. You hear talk about degradation and panel output over time. While true, it really isn't any problem. I seldom produce 100% of what I am capable of producing. It takes the perfect sun to get them all going at maximum capacity. On normal days I only produce 3/4ish of the rated capacity. They also tell you that you will get about 5 good hours of sun a day. Lol. Today I started producing the load my house draws at 7:12am by noon my batteries were full and if it's like yesterday I will cover the typical draw until sometime after 7pm. Basically I produce my full load for 12 hours at this time of year. Summer longer, winter is tricky. Even overcast days I cover my usage fine. Sometimes it takes 2 days to charge the batteries to full. Batteries will kill you. Unless you are rich. Another thing I get a kick out of is the angle and precise alignment for maximum voltage. Again it's rare when the sun hits just right. You could invest in expensive sun tracking mounts. Or you could toss them flat on the grass, plug them together and produce all you need. I'm sure you hear to keep them clean? I thought that. I will log before and after cleaning, guess what I found? It's impossible to tell any difference because the sun moves over time, the clouds come and go, your voltage rises and lowers. I can tell you that I have never noticed any difference between clean and unclean panels after cleaning them. And again if I produce everything I need, and my batteries top off everyday I don't care if I produce extra power. If my panels degrade I can plug in a couple more to make up for the loss as long as I meet my voltage and watts limits on the all in one charge controller I'm good to go. Solar does not have to be expensive. I also intentionally went with an off grid system for a bunch of reasons but the main one is I live in Florida. I have had my power knocked out for up to two weeks. By law, grid tied systems are disabled to protect linemen from back feeding. So a grid tied system is worthless during a power outage. That's where 21.4kWh of expensive LiPo4 batteries comes in. Power goes out and I never know it's out.

@@fauxque5057 Good times :)

The inverters she is talking about are expensive and not worth the money. Plus most of the expensive inverters are now made in China. If you want a system that can power your home and car their are much more dependable and safe products.

Deye buy deye is half the price on battery and dont pay extra subscription on your smart meter to show you data😅😅

Thanks for the comment, you are definitely right! Either microinverters or panel level devices like rapid shutdown or power optimizers which serve the purpose. :)

Hey Mauricio! Thank you for sharing your opinion. I am with you 100%! :) - Martyna

Hi there Mauricio, what state do you install in?

Deye buy deye is half the price on battery and dont pay extra subscription on your smart meter to show you data😅😅😅

Very interesting what you are saying about the fires. I do wonder if its a quality issue, because string inverters like SMA and Fronius are equipped with very sensitive software, anytime there is an arc fault detected system should protect itself and shut off. Often times we have to go out to the site to inspect everything before the system can be turn back on. Will definitely look into what you are suggesting for the back up and grid tied systems. Thank you for your feedback! We are just getting started so this is super helpful. I really appreciate it :) Martyna

@@solartimeusa a pleasure Martyna - I am interested in how a string inverter detecting an arc fault can "turn off" all the massive power coming to it if there is an arc fault. By the time the inverter sees it you have high voltage and high ampage power playing an arc welder on your roof - which gives our fire fighters the absolute shivers. Faulty DC isolater installs (and in the past there have been way too many in Australia) mean you can have a runaway energised system on your roof that can be exceedingly difficult to de-energise unless you can shade the affected arrays - like with a fire blanket to block the sunlight. At that point what the inverter chooses to do or not is kind of irrelevant - especially if your roof or walls above the inverter are alight - happened to a house 6 doors up from us. No one was injured - just a twelve year old kid who was rescued - but the house burnt down - and insurance rebuilt it a year later - but very scary. To me that is nothing to do with what panels or what inverter and all to do with was all the wiring safe. Mirco inverter solutions cost more - but being conversion at the panel means no high voltage DC anywhere - so I guess it means it would be a lot harder to cause an arc fault with low voltage AC.

The fires are caused by arc-fault which is only a characteristic of a high-DC wire architecture (string inverter or DC optimized system). Won’t happen with micros

Deye buy deye is half the price on battery and dont pay extra subscription on your smart meter to show you data😅

They appear to be a premium installer and more than likely don't have a lot of experience with those more budget minded solutions.

Glad it was helpful! Hope you got your system installed!! :)

Indeed! Tigo Optimizers are dirt cheap when compared to micro inverters and work just as well and can be used on a premium hybrid string inverter for optimal DC coupled battery backup solutions.

Tigo makes a device that does rapid shutdown and monitoring but not optimization. Optimizers add ~$30 per panel and make no difference in performance if there's no shade.

Great idea Mark! I agree! Sometimes it’s worth paying extra to get more data for sure! Glad you’re going solar!

@@Chris-ie9os Thanks! I did not look at the Tigo offerings close enough so see that the TS4-A-S does both. The only issue is that I don't see it offered very many places for a decent price. So I have seen some data online that using optimizers on panels with no shade will compensate for slight differences between panels. But is it worth the extra money and the loss in efficiency? Any opinions?

@@markhastings9037 On one project I installed Ss and one O to see the difference. There wasn't one. The only benefit would be that if the panel is optimized and shaded you'll get a few watts instead of 0 since once the bypass diodes are triggered output of the shaded section is 0. Optimizers just aren't worth the added cost. Another factor to consider is you need additional equipment for the S and O but the F uses sunspec which is built into most string inverters. So the cost of module level monitoring is ~$200 + ~$20 per panel.

Exactly the system Martyna installed on our home in 2021, were hands on system owners ourselves, very pleased!🙂

Thank you too! ;) Martyna

We will definitely be talking about it very soon! We did not include it in this video because it is a good battery/hybrid option. We will be talking about battery back up options in the coming weeks. One thing I would say about Generac is that it is a solid company that has been in business long, so I would not be too worried about them going out of business compared to some other young micro or string manufacturers. Hope it helps, Martyna

Thank YOU for sharing. I am surprised that you could not find the issue on the roof. Unfortunately those sunny boys are super sensitive so if the issue repeated even after replacing it with a new sunny boy, then issue must be elsewhere. Please let me know if / when they replace to fronius ( which is a phenomenal product) if the issue persists.

@@solartimeusa SMA asked my permission to monitor and make changes to y system remotely which I granted. I thought they thought the Shade Fix feature was the culprit but other than upgrading firmware I never heard anything from them on the issue nor did the installer. Not at all pleased with their responsiveness to the issue considering it could have been a safety issue. No where did any connection show evidence of arcing.

You shouldn't. There is no "DC energy" stored on the roof. You will have DC strings with high DC string voltage running into your string inverter, this can be 200-300V of DC voltage per string, depending on number of panels and inverter specification. If installers follow NEC code and guidelines, you should be fine and this DC wiring is no more dangerous than AC wiring running on the roof.

No.

Sol-Ark is a very solid option for sure! We have done many of those systems. As far as adding a battery to it, look for Signature solar, or BigBattery. They will have sales from time to time, and you can get a 48V battery fairly cheap. - M

Sol-Ark is pretty much the best bang for buck when it comes to hybrid inverters and battery backup thanks to Sol-Ark being battery agnostic allowing you to buy any 48V system. You will need a battery for power in a grid down situation, it does not do island mode in grid-tie mode without battery. Also, the 8K is non-stackable, only their 12K and 15K units can be connected in parallel should you decide to expand your system later.

Thank you Tony :) definitely recommend RU-vid! There are many different webinars that are available here. I would also try to use as many independent websites that are not fully affiliated or paid by certain manufacturers to be able to get unbiased opinion. Lots of Solar Facebook groups as well.

@@solartimeusa Much appreciated and keep up the good work!

Don't worry about clipping. I have 19.4 kW of panels connected to a 15kW inverter. You can easily go over with panels by 30% over the inverter's rated power granted you meet the Voc and Isc limits with your strings. 20 kW of inverter would be way overkill for that setup. Remember, those panels only produce 16 kW at 25C/77F at full sun with perfect angle towards the sun. The odds of all those things happening all at once is slim to none and the inverter will clip in those scenarios which is fine. More importantly the Inverter will still operate close to its max at lower sun angles and higher temperatures for longer parts of the day if you oversize your PV panel array.

Hey! That will be a hybrid / batter inverter option. For those who just want to go solar without back up, the cost of a hybrid is not always ideal. But I will definitely cover Sol ark soon! I’m a big fan, especially since they are located 20 miles from us! 🤘🏻

@@solartimeusa Ahhhh, I didn't realize you were only talking about grid-tie inverters here! With today's crazy weather patterns and stressed grid systems, I can't imagine opting for a grid-tie only system, but I get their appeal, simplicity, and lower price-point. And nice job on these videos! I'm new to the channel and honestly clicked to see if the cutie had a clue, but I was impressed you're more than just a pretty face! Awesome!

She's not doing china inverters . Solark the company is in Texas but their equipment is manufactured by DYE Inverters in China.

I wish I had seen this question, I asked the exact same question today. :-). And I 100% agree with your assessment, I would not install a simple grid-tied setup in 2022, the benefit of a hybrid inverter with battery is well worth the cost.

Deye buy deye is half the price on battery and dont pay extra subscription on your smart meter to show you data😅😅😂

We have to test it for both sma max fronius then! Thanks for letting me know ;)

Then your going from DC (panel) to AC (inverter) back to DC (battery), then back to AC (household use)...

Definitely working on it very soon!:)

That video is coming next week! :) Stay tuned!

No it does Not…. Maybe the installer is not familiar with the product. What other options do they give you? Martyna

@@solartimeusa he said a good we?

yes!!!! Super important to properly size it, and mostly what you see in the market is pairing 400 watt panels with IQ8+ which have an output of little under 300 watts! Maybe you will like the video i posted like 6 minutes ago... talking about micro vs. string... ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-4K_q7hGFLuo.html Martyna

10000% agree! So So So true! Always look for a reputable long standing company that will take care of service. -Martyna

The brands presented are all Tier 1 brands, highly popular and premium all across the world. Your door-to-door sales folks probably try to sell lower tier brands and your DIY crowd also tends to gravitate towards more economic solutions, ones you consider "mainstream".

Sol-Ark hybrid string inverters definitely support this feature, I can't speak to the rest of these. The only reason you would not want to send power to the grid is if you are doing things on the shady side and refuse to file for permission to operate. There is no net benefit to not sending power to the grid.

@@greg_takacs - Near impossible to get permission and a net meter contract unless the system is signed off by a licensed electrician. Good 'ol boy club in action. Electrician wants hundreds just to come out and take a look. They won't even consider an owner installed system even though I paid the premium for a UL1741 certified grid tied inverter - it will never run independently. In fact, system ran for a year before they even realized I was back feeding. It wasn't much power, but the standard meter reads absolute power so I was being charged for the power coming in and going out.

@@g-whiz286 I don't think it's good ol' boy to ensure that what you have complies with the grid requirements. I'm not saying you can't do the work properly, I'm just saying the electrical company will "trust but verify". And the easiest way to verify is by making sure the system was either installed or signed off on by someone who's licensed to do so. Again, you may have done it all by the book or even better but the electricity provider won't just trust your word which is understandable. The inability to find someone to sign off on your system is the problem and I'm sure it's a money problem. You are probably willing to pay their hourly rate to come out and inspect your system. But they also want you to pay for the risk and responsibility they're taking on by signing off on your system. Then there is the added cost to swap out your meter from your utility provider, it is definitely something you should bear. If you want to play in the grid's sandbox you have to play by the rules.

Your last sentence, "If you want to play in the grid's sandbox you have to play by the rules" is exactly why I asked my original question. I don't want to export power meaning I don't want to play. It's not really worth it to me. I a good long summer day, I may produce 18 kWh and our usage is about 25 kWh/day.

@@g-whiz286 the problem is that technically you have to get ANY grid-tied inverter inspected and obtain PTO even if you choose not export to the grid. It's not that you export, it's the fact that you connect a device that COULD export is the rule. Having said that, I did operate my hybrid inverter in home consumption mode before obtained PTO a week later because there isn't a whole lot of ways your utility provider can tell that you're using a grid tie inverter without seeing actual export from you.

Best hardware on the market , with the worst customer support , very dated control interface , etc. Not to mention one of the most expensive.

Keep in mind it's not a one size fits all though. I have one array (on my detached garage)with a string inverter (SMA) since there is just about no shade there at all. On my other array which is on my house, I have a chimney that hits up to 3 of the 8 panels depending on time of the year and have Enphase microinverters on them. Zero issues with any of my inverters so far but I'm only 3 years in.

@@whattheschmidt I agree, I just prefer the solution that offers maximum reliability for energy generation.

@@Janhalasz another benefit of my SMA - failure is way less likely under the panels on the roof :). Would be easy to swap out the 5.1kW Inverter. I do like my Enphase mixroinverters though that I installed myself.

We will definitely talk about Generac option very soon! It will be part of the battery inverters. :)

I appreciate that! Thank you again! Definitely more to come in 2023!

Deye buy deye is half the price on battery and dont pay extra subscription on your smart meter to show you data😅😅

Did you install your self ?

@@nelsonantony3077 no way.. requires cutting into roof tiles

@JDDD33 How have things gone with Solar Edge? Any inverter issues as of yet? I understood that they had a run of bad capacitors in their inverters but that was around COVID start and I was hoping they've worked through that. However, still saw postings throughout 2022 showing homeowners with a lot of failed inverters, SolarEdge not being responsive or very slow in being able to get replacements, and replacement inverters failing.

Deye buy deye is half the price on battery and dont pay extra subscription on your smart meter to show you data😅😅😂😂😊

Thank you!

Deye buy deye is half the price on battery and dont pay extra subscription on your smart meter to show you data😅😅😊

Thank you for the idea :) I am working on a video about batteries now, there will be a few coming soon!

Agreed. Microinverters are pretty bad idea if you want to add batteries and have the ability to run the system in island mode. Now Enphase does have solutions to this problem but it's clunky and lossy and most importantly expensive! There are much better alternatives if your goal is battery backup.

You do this if you DO NOT wish to mess with batteries at all, which in my case I do not. I just want to reduce my electric demand as it is on a two tier level depending on amount used. I can save 25% just by avoiding the upper tier. I also install my own systems and am qualified.

@@n8sabill That's all fine, but here in TX, the land of open electricity market and no net metering, anyone installing solar in 2022 without battery backup is doing it wrong.

Will definitely want to review this product! Thank you for sharing!

Hey Rodelio, There is very little product that is 100% made in USA. And to be honest I trust more to German products than USA made. Not because I am not a patriot. But USA made products tend to be expensive and cant compete with European or Asian products... and often go out of business because of that. The German products I mentioned are high quality for sure, and the company SMA has been in business since 1982. Hope that helped. If you have more questions, feel free to ask. - Martyna

Hi John, I just posted a video regarding what you said: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-4K_q7hGFLuo.html Hope you will give it a try. :) Let me know your opinion...

That will definitely be part of our battery inverters video! Coming soon 👍🏼🤘🏻

Their Snap RS problems and still no generator compatibility is my big problem with generac right now

It definitely is a newer product, so I would personally wait for a bit so that they can actually test them. Anything new can always come with small glitches that they will have to address as users test their products. Generac as a company/manufacturer will be a solid pick in my opinion because they probably will not sink in the near future, however, they are trying to get their peace of a solar pie, so not all their decisions are going to be right form the get go. Test of time will show.

@@solartimeusa 100% generac isn't going anywhere. They've bought up a bunch of solar biz, so they have to homogenize them into one biz

Hi Jason, I am so sorry to hear that this is the case for you with Solar-edge. Is the company sending you replacement units, or are you buying them new? Solar-edge also has a rebate that they pay out to cover replacements. I believe it is $150 or $200. If you ever have to completely ditch SolarEdge, SMA or Fronius would be my best pick. They have far less failure issues. I had SMA for the past 6 years with no issues.

@@solartimeusa Thank you for your reply and I am considering moving away from SolarEdge. Do you know if SMA or Fronius would work with the remaining SolarEdge rooftop components. And again, thank you.

Hey Mark, each inverter will have a minimum panels you will have to place on a string to get it started. I am not sure what kind of panels you have bought. Maybe try a local electric/ solar distributor for help?

The system would have to be down for several months to make up for the cost premium of micro inverters.

@@Chris-ie9os with today's supply chain issues, some micro inverters are back logged nearly a year. Apsystems was back logged 9 months when I tried finding one last fall.

@@Chris-ie9os give me some examples, this is mine. A microinverter cost $150 (Enphase IQ7Plus), an optimizer cost $80, a 7.6kw String Inverter cost around $1.8~2k, let say you use 335w panels, so around 24 panels for a 7.6kw system, in this case you will need 24 optimizers ($1,920)+ the Inverter ($1,900), total should be $3,800 while a microinverter system could cost you $3,600 (24x150), plus around $220~400 in cables). As you can see, is practically the same, the microinverter comes with a 25 year warranty (vs 12 of an SI), can be expanded without limits and of course, you don't have to run high voltage over the roof.

@@federicov362 Why do you even need optimizers? The installs where they are useful are very rare in my experience. They add value in maybe ~10% of my installs... Here's an example. My last install was 9.49kW on a 7.6kW inverter using TIGO rapid shutdown for ~$20 per panel (26x365w). The 7.6kW SMA inverter was $1350. That's 520 + 1350 = $1870. For micros that would have been $3900 + $220 (cables) + $600 (Combiner) + $130 (monitoring). So that's ~$4800 for Enphase vs ~$1870 for SMA + Tigo vs $4100 for SolarEdge.

@@Chris-ie9os Did you read my post? I said String Inverter + optimizer ended up costing almost the same that microinverters, I never said it was cheaper vs a system without optimizers. Besides, thats a good price for a SMA, never saw it less that $1500. Not sure why you are making a $130 fee for monitoring, the Combiner comes with the Enphase Envoy. For a $2.5k difference (less after rebate), I still prefer Enphase, is more secure (less cable, lower voltage), I can find the issue if one panels goes down, it comes with 25 year warranty, easier to install, they release an update very often and I see as a more robust system (more installers going to microinverters only), but I understand besides the cost, a lot of installers don't want to switch because they are afraid of learning something new that is different what they have been doing in the last couple of years.

Thank you ;)

@@solartimeusa hi