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Heat load in BTU of an inverter

I’m in the process of installing (2) SMA-8000 units at my home. I have 84-240 watt panels or 42 panels per inverter. I want to build an insulated box around the units and air condition the inverters. What is the BTU released by the units for AC sizing.

 

Mike

Comments

Mike,This is not a question we get very often. Inverters tend to be designed for high temperature operation and are usually only protected from the sun with a shade. 
I'm going to guess that at 8000W of input power, 3% of that is lost as heat (let's assume the inverter is 97% efficient). So, that's 240W of heat that has to be dissipated at 3.414 BTU / Watt equals 819 BTU per hour. 

Thanks for posting this.  I live in the desert of AZ and have noticed a significant decrease in solar production throughout the summer.  My peak production day always occurs in mid-May.  I plan to box in my 3 SB7000US and air condition them.  My calculations are based on your post above.  99 panels x 240 watts x 3 percent heat loss x 3.414 BTU per Watt = 2433.5 peak BTU/Hr to dissipate.  I'll try to follow up when I get it done.

Submitted
12 years 1 month ago
Asked by
Greentech Renewables