Does the Tesla inverter allow for more production than noted?

[Mahkus]

Hi all,

Last August we had our 12.24 kW array with 2 Powerwall + (with the Tesla inverters, 7.6 kW and 3.8 kW accoridng to specs) and one Powerwall 2.

Today we had a sunny day with some big clouds and experienced the "cloud edge effect" where I was seeing 10 kW or more despite normally only seeing 8 kW on clear sunny days.

What kind of surprised me is that I opened up the app and saw 11.9 kW from solar (more than the 11.4 kW max I thought I had)...do the inverters allow more than they're rated for for short periods, or did Tesla give me two 7.6 kW inverters by accident? Is there any easy way to check?

Thanks!

 

[stagepuppy]

The Tesla inverter literature lists only 2 MPPTs for the the 3.8kW inverter vs. 4 MPPTs for the 7.6kW unit. Would it only have the two solar input terminals inside? Photo is from a Reddit discussion but looks similar to my 7.6kW unit except that I have 3 circuits used with 3 & 4 jumpered together.

 

[Laketime]

I can't speak regarding the Tesla inverters but my solar edge pair are listed at a total of 13.8kW and I regularly max out around 14.4kW with an occasional 14.5kW. And that is at the top of a well rounded bell curve, not flat topped like a clipped inverter. Based on that I would think I still have some headroom.

 

[Vines]

This question mostly revolves around the service voltage.

If your voltage is higher than 240 at the inverter, more power is delivered at the same number of amps. Inverters are rated by how many amps they output.

So for instance if your voltage is 247VAC, then an inverter rated for 32A output can output 7900w of power, where the inverter could only output 7680w at 240VAC.

Inverters can otherwise go above their amp rating briefly, but not as a continuous output for more than a short period.

 

[stagepuppy]

Vines, that's a good point... does the inverter voltage usually rise that high to push current against battery or grid voltage?