Panel Chain

A string that is one panel too long looks fine all summer, then pushes the inverter past its limit on the first cold winter morning. One panel too short, and on a hot afternoon the voltage sinks below the working window. Panel Chain does the temperature arithmetic so every string sits inside the inverter's limits, all year. Enter the panels and inverters you actually fit, straight from their datasheets: open-circuit and working voltage, currents, temperature figures, the inverter's maximum DC voltage, working window, start-up voltage, inputs and current per input. Set the site's coldest morning and hottest afternoon. Panel Chain corrects each panel's voltage to those extremes and gives the fewest and most panels per string, why the next one up would fail, and how many strings an input can take on current. A voltage ruler shows the inverter's working window and maximum, with the chosen string drawn from its hot afternoon voltage to its cold morning open-circuit voltage. Change the count and watch it move. Enter the number of panels on the roof and Panel Chain spreads them across the inputs, keeping parallel strings the same length and saying plainly what is left over. Save the design as a site. When it is built, record each string's open-circuit voltage and the module temperature. Panel Chain says whether it is as expected, about one panel short, or may have a reversed panel, charts every check, and learns how each panel model really reads against its datasheet on your own jobs. Panel Chain is a design aid built from the datasheets you enter. The installer remains responsible for the final design, protection and local rules. It holds no prices or quotes, needs no account, and works offline.