- Number of AC phases supported
- Supported input and output power
- Solar inverters are usually selected 20% lower than PV array peak power, due to solar array losses.
- Supported input and output voltage range (esp minimum input voltage)
- Supported input and output current.
- Output waveform - Sinewave, quasi-sinewave, square wave.
- Output frequency – 50Hz in Europe, 60 Hz in the USA.
- Continuous output power
- Peak output power (less useful)
- MPPT input voltage range.
- Number of MPPTs (can connect and optimize multiple power sources separately)
- Good enclosures - IP65 for protection from dust and water.
- MCB Protection: the grid power always has voltage fluctuations, chances for short circuit, MCB Saves Inverter from High Voltage and Short circuit failures.
- Noise
- Good LCD displays
- Remote monitoring: Mobile phone wifi interface to monitor power supply/ generation.
- Bypass switch (won’t require swapping plugs)
Maximum power point tracking MPPT
- Helps inverter to extract max power from panels.
- Problem: Consider a 130-watt solar panel (7.39 amps at 17.6 volts). If these 7.4 Amps are used to charge a 12V battery, we are finally using 88.8 watts. The remainder is 48W lost as heat.
- Solution: The charge controller looks at the output of the panels and compares it to the battery voltage. It then figures out what is the best power that the panel can put out to charge the battery. It takes this and converts it to best voltage to get maximum AMPS into the battery +++(how??)+++.