Has anyone had experience with a solar battery?

[Miguelito Loveless]

10. Well, there are two main choices

String or micro.

String means one BIG inverter that ties all of the panels together, and aggregates the power to your home/grid.

Pros:

- Cheap
- Lots of vendors
- Proven tech

Cons:

- Single point of failure
- Requires an optimizer to properly handle shade
- Some people find them unsightly (can be a problem for HOAs).

Microinverters are small, and one fits on each panel

Pros:

- Redundant. Single failure only affects a single panel.
- No optimizer required
- Nothing to mount on side of house

Cons:

- More expensive
- Newer tech (though, so far quite reliable)
- More complex array since you go from a single inverter, to one inverter per panel. 20 panels, 20 inverters.

Best string inverter - SolarEdge
Best Microinverter - Enphase

When a battery pack is added for backup/daily use, you have to make sure your inverters can work properly with a battery, and are hooked up correctly (according to code) to your power panel/grid connection.