Solar Guppy wrote:
Not sure why you would change out over the Evergreens, the watt per sq inch is the same ( or very similar )
It's a bit of a story but what the heck. I started out with a ST1500 and 4 Evergreen 102W. All was well until my utility voltage went up beyond 255V and the inverter started shutting off. My brother in law said he complained to the utility once about the high voltage because his line conditioner also cut out and they told him too bad. I just assumed I was out of luck. Xantrex sent me a GT 2.5 since my ST manual said it would work up to 264V. I ordered 4 more Evergreen 102W figuring that would give me enough voltage once I switched the panels to 24V from 12V. Well wasn't I surprised when the new panels came and they had MC connectors and were stuck at 12V rather than the wiring boxes on the original 4 that could be set at 12 or 24.
In the mean time I had ordered a new pole mount large enough for 12 panels (future expansion) which required a new 6" mast over the 4" mast I had the 4 panels on. Anywho, even with 12 panels at 12V I don't have enough voltage to use the GT so I called the utility and said that I was afraid my electronics might be damaged and is this high voltage OK for motors? A few weeks later I come home from work and my voltage is down 4 or 5 volts. Kewl, now the ST won't cut out. I install the new equipment and run 2 strings at 48V which by the way gave me about 150% increase rather than 100% because the inverter comes on sooner and runs later. Probably more efficient too.
I've put the GT on ebay several times with no bites so now I'm thinking about using it again which means changing my panels. Hence the reason for getting rid of the Evergreens. Now that I have about CDN$1500 in my new mount I went looking for the panel configuration that would give me the highest output and would fit on this mount. I found that 10 BP 170W or 175W panels would fit perfect but while I was checking prices on line I stumbled across the ASE-300's at 315W and now 320W. There would be a bit more overhang but I'm fairly well sheltered from the wind so I'm not concerned about it. 10 BP's would give 1750W but 6 ASE's could give 1920W. Starting this fall (supposedly) Ontario is going to start paying $0.42/kWh for everything produced, not just net so the more the better.