String & Sub Array Monitoring
Greater Array Visibility For Optimal Performance
Large solar electric systems often contain thousands of modules grouped into hundreds of strings. Failures in individual solar modules, or entire strings of modules, can go unnoticed for long periods of time. These failures drive down system output and cut into profitability.
How can you identify these array-based system failures efficiently and cost effectively? Fat Spaniel provides the integrators and owners of large commercial photovoltaic systems two monitoring options for tracking the performance of their solar arrays:
String Monitoring
Fat Spaniel’s string monitoring feature provides maximum visibility into the health of your solar array. Smart string combiner boxes, combined with Fat Spaniel Insight Manager, tracks the performance of every individual string of modules, to enable faster pin-pointing and repair of problems.
Because Fat Spaniel Insight Manager relies on external hardware (sensors installed in combiner boxes), this solution is more expensive to implement. To keep costs to a minimum, Fat Spaniel works with a select group of smart string combiner box manufacturers who “Fat Spaniel Enable” their products. Visit the Compatible Third-Party Monitoring Hardware page for the complete list.
String Monitoring Benefits
- Remotely monitor individual string performance using Fat Spaniel Insight Manager
- Maximize long-term system performance and return on investment
- Catch small problems with failed modules or entire strings before they become costly
- Generate SMS and email alerts automatically in the event of string failure
- Compatible with “Fat Spaniel Enabled” smart combiner boxes from leading manufacturers
Sub-Array Monitoring
Because most commercial- and industrial-scale inverters typically include sub-array monitoring hardware as an integral feature, Fat Spaniel’s sub-array monitoring feature provides an intermediate level of visibility into solar array performance at modest cost.
Sub-array monitoring meshes perfectly with large solar installations made up of large numbers of modules. Modules are consolidated on the roof into sub-arrays by non-intelligent DC string combiner boxes. The output of these string combiner boxes is in turn consolidated at the inverter, and then sent to Fat Spaniel Insight Manager.
Benefits
- Most cost-effective way to monitor solar electric sub-array performance
- DC monitoring approach that is easiest to maintain over the life of the system
- Factory configuration of the sub-array combiner and monitoring hardware means no additional boxes to install or wires to run in the field
- Web-based display shows comparison of multiple sub-array’s performance to quickly spot problems