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SolarMagic Power Optimizer
By la7qz, Section Solar Posted on Wed Jun 17, 2009 at 07:23:23 PM MST
Impressive claims. Any experience or comments?

Hi
Have any of you guys come across this product from National Semiconductor. The claims are pretty impressive, but the proof of the pudding is as they say in the eating.
http://www.solarmagic.com/products
One question that comes to mind is how does this compare to simply adding more panels in a "bang for the buck" equation.
Something like this (maybe in a downscaled version) could be very useful on a sailboat where shading is impossible to prevent and one quickly runs into real estate problems when adding panels. The best one can hope for is to spread the panels around the boat so that most of them are unshaded most of the time.
Owen, Donna and Sparky
Living off grid on Renewable Energy on our sailboat in the Caribbean.

SolarMagic Power Optimizer | 6 comments (6 topical)

Re: SolarMagic Power Optimizer (3.00 / 0) (#1)
by ghurd on Wed Jun 17, 2009 at 02:45:46 PM MST

Bang for the Buck is hard to guess when they do not list a price that I could find.

They put a lot of effort into videos, yet did not bother to add a pdf or 2 about operation? Seems a little fishy (attempt sail boat humor).

Nat Semi sells parts based on their pdfs. Could be it is vaporware or prototypes.
Lets them adjust the price based on projected unit sales, or abandon the project.

The videos sort of makes me think it uses fet circuits as bypass diodes.

The videos also show an advantage toward the array with the do-hickeys installed.
At 1:55 it is fairly obvious the other array has more cells and more acres shaded.
It may be more obvious at the 15~20 second mark.

Going out on a limb with a WAG: It will have no value in a 12V or 24V system unless the system has a MPPT controller with a considerably higher voltage PV input than the battery bank.
G-

Re: SolarMagic Power Optimizer (3.00 / 0) (#2)
by Airstream on Wed Jun 17, 2009 at 03:09:48 PM MST

Interesting bit of web design there, reminds me of Microsoft's Help dialogue's very own "Microspeak Language" in the awful repetitious wording of things, events and properties that offer no help whatsoever... and as always dropping a chart of what might possibly be wire connector choices in the middle of a pre-schoolers science lesson sure makes it look official!

Note: by visiting that site you automatically agree to the "Site Terms of Use" that specifically state:

. ...without limitation, You agree not to use the Site: (a) to harvest, collect, gather or assemble any Materials for other than internal, noncommercial use; AND (c)You agree not to use the Site to make the Site, or any Materials contained on the Site, available to any unauthorized third party; etc.

Anyway, since I can't speak about their product or anything written on that site, or even visit the site again, a similar theme of fiction would need to tap the internal happy special bliss ways of photon touched energy tides usually kept safe behind tempered glass...

Re: SolarMagic Power Optimizer (3.00 / 0) (#3)
by dnix71 on Wed Jun 17, 2009 at 08:50:47 PM MST

It looks like a mini MPPT for each panel. The cost and efficiency probably make it suitable only for marginal solar installations where there is no better way to do it.

It does make sense in a way. In a series string a shaded panel wouldn't choke the current through because the current passes through the device and not the panel. A digital flash unit from a camera jacks up the voltage to a usable level and then the pulse is sent to the strobe. Put a bunch of those in series with a battery and you have a pulsed charger.

I've thought of doing something like that myself. If you put a polarized cap/Schottky diode on a panel and passed the series string from cap to cap, then a bad panel doesn't choke the current.

Re: SolarMagic Power Optimizer (3.00 / 0) (#4)
by boB on Wed Jun 17, 2009 at 11:16:39 PM MST

Yes, getting around the panel, choking the current is pretty much the idea for this...

The idea on the Solar Magic (SM) is that, instead of just bypassing the partially shaded panel, the SM is supposed to gain back the part of that module that ~can~ be re-gained. i.e. maybe 50 percent or so of that module ?? (depending on the amount of partial shading of course)...

Another way to look at this SM thingie is for a PV array with 1 partially shaded string or more, instead of the main inverter or charge controller or whatever mainly using the un-shaded strings, the SM will boost the partially shaded strings MPP voltage back to the other non-shaded strings' MPP Voltage. Now, you ~could~ just add one box of some sort to one string that might get partial shade and accomplish the same thing in this scenario. Supposedly, there are other companies making such boxes, but I don't think there is one besides National doing this one per module thing.

The price I have heard for this is $199 each. A bit steep for my liking. I think
I'd just take more care to keep shading off parts of my array. You would need to add one box to each module that will be getting partially shaded (and fully shaded too I suppose ?) You might need a bunch of these $200 boxes to be useful.

I also understand that that AEE and Real Goods are the ones to start distributing these. Don't think I'd use them, but it's kind of a neat idea and I'd buy one to look inside of it of course. I like taking things apart.

boB

[ Parent ]

Re: SolarMagic Power Optimizer (3.00 / 0) (#5)
by ghurd on Thu Jun 18, 2009 at 07:14:22 AM MST

The SMs were series connected. Wouldn't that mean the circuit tries to match the shaded PVs current to the others, at a lower voltage? Buck voltage until the current matches?

It would make sense something that size and in series uses an MPPT controller. Any idea why the additional Blocking Diode is necessary?

Must not be too complicated. Complicated circuit and a 20 year warranty in the same package?
G-

[ Parent ]

Re: SolarMagic Power Optimizer (3.00 / 0) (#6)
by dnix71 on Fri Jun 19, 2009 at 08:36:31 PM MST

I wish I was back in college 30 years ago. I had a professor of analog devices (computers) who could have cooked up something simple to do that in his head, or on the back of an envelope.

If the US could plot ICBM trajectories with analog computers, making a small booster cheap for each panel couldn't be hard. If every panel had the same mini mppt, then they could all just be manually set to pulse at the same voltage. Shaded panels would just fire less often.

The mini mppt solves one other problem in a series string - impedance matching. The panels in the string don't have to match each other as long as the circuit never sees the panel.

[ Parent ]

SolarMagic Power Optimizer | 6 comments (6 topical)

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Poll

Do you think this technology is worthwhile in a real world application?
No, this is a waste of time.
It may be in the future once it matures and prices come down.
Yes, this will be of real benefit to a large number of solar installations.
Yes, but there is already something better on the market.

Votes: 3
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Related Links

� http://www .solarmagic.com/products
� Also by la7qz

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