Tesla's Biggest Rival? Enphase IQ 5P Breakdown

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👋My name’s Zach, and I’ve been in the solar industry since 2015. I enjoy talking about solar, battery storage, electric vehicles, Tesla products, and more! My goal with this channel is to provide transparent information, share my experiences, and empower both consumers and solar professionals

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0:00 Getting Started
0:57 Specs
3:03 Additional Info
5:33 Recap

[davemartin]

A word of warning about assuming you can add more Enphase batteries at a later time to increase your storage capacity. I bought a system with 2 IQ10T batteries, having been told by my installer that I could easily add 2 more, for a total of 40 kWh of storage. Only 2 years later, I tried doing just that and discovered that the IQ10T batteries are no longer available for sale, and that there is *no* way to add the new 5P batteries to my system. This makes me wonder how Enphase plans to honor my battery warranty in the event of a failure. I like the Enphase microinverter architecture for my application (I get a lot of partial shading), but this is just poor product planning and bad business practice in my opinion.

[mattvanlandingham]

I'm stuck deciding between the PW3 and the REC alpha panel. Tesla's Panels are under whelming and IQ 5Ps take up a lot of real estate for lower capacity. My aim is winter back up. Top off before a storm then stretch it with Solar, but you need the most efficient panel to do that, which does not appear to be Tesla.

[brianclough]

Why is there no 100kw battery for houses? Normally you can put a car battery and update the interfaces.

[Energy.Theory]

Do you have any videos coming out about SolarEdge? My cousin Allan loves that brand.

[freeheeler]

Do you have any experience with Sigenergy’s/PointGuard’s modular batteries? Their individual batteries offer either 5 or 10 kWh of storage each and can be stacked like Legos up to 40 kWh per inverter, which stacks on top. They also offer a car charger, which stacks under the inverter.

This is a far superior system architecture than Tesla or Enphase.
The system runs DC from the panels to the car charger and batteries, which means far less energy lost to inverters.
So, you will need 10-15% fewer solar panels than you would with Enphase.
And, each aspect of your roof can be wired as a separate string, so one shaded part of your roof won’t drag the whole system down. And, solar panels sold in recent years have built in systems that bypass shaded panels. And, most people have at least one roof aspect that isn’t shaded by trees.
And, no need to spend four extra days and spend an extra $10, 000 on a steep, hot roof wiring expensive micro inverters to each panel.
Also, if you need more storage, you can just inset another Lego battery brick onto the stack.
And, the wiring connects itself when you add another battery to the stack.
And, another advantage is that by getting the inverter, car charger and batteries from the same company, they are built to communicate with each other.
Also, you mentioned having to install a controller, yet another component, on the wall with Enphase. So, to get the same 40 kWh of storage from Tesla or Enphase, you’d need a lot of available wall space in your garage!!!

Next, buying an Enphase or Tesla battery when you live in a part of the country where you rely on heat or AC, with their measly 5 or 13 kWh of storage, is like trying to run a modern GIS, stats or graphics app using a first generation, IBM computer from the 1980s. A basic, $500 smartphone has a hundred times the capability of the old IBM computers. You’d have to install three Powerwalls or eight Enphase batteries just to keep the AC on overnight in Phoenix! That’s the road-trip equivalent of driving a first generation, 70 mile range, Nissan Leaf.

This leads to a question. I’m a planner, not an electrical engineer or Solar battery installer, but it seems like 50 kWh of storage is the bare minimum néeded for the average home. A single Powerwall can’t even turn my AC on!

The modular, software integrated, easily stackable, no wiring headache architecture of the PointGuard system seems like a quantum leap above the Tesla or Enphase systems. Not an engineer, so I don’t have a clue about the quality of the individual components, but compared to the PointGuard architecture, the Enphase and Tesla batteries seem like first generation IPhones.

Not trying to be rude or contentious here. What do you all think about the relative efficacy of the modular, PointGuard system v. Tesla and Enphase?

[WillProwse]

You can still monitor a single series string system with tigo optimizers. I don't like the setup but they are getting pretty popular for those who want that option. And they actually work really well.

[eimljos]

Nice commercial. Wouldn’t touch them. Solar panel DC>Microinverter AC to battery. Microinverter DC to charge battery > Back to AC to discharge battery. That’s 3 AC/DC conversions. DC coupled batteries are far superior and only require 1 DC to AC inversion. Enphase= I have a hammer so everyone wants us to bang in nails.