Is the Goodwe GW5000D-NS Good value?
Take a deep dive into whether the GoodWe GW5000D-NS is suitable for you
Take a deep dive into whether the GoodWe GW5000D-NS is suitable for you
The development of solar makes the decision of which equipment to use harder than before. The more products there are, the harder your choice becomes.
Goodwe’s D-NS series provides quality inverters at an affordable price. The GW5000D-NS is their standard 5kW inverter model. It has a compact design 30% lighter than other similar inverters and high efficiency of 97%. It comes with software that will help to maximize lifespan. Also provides you an interface easy to use by Wi-Fi.
Most Goodwe´s inverters are cheaper than some other Brands like Huawei or Fronius. Some differences include temperature ranges and quantity of connected panels. But in normal household use, Goodwe is more than enough.
All these make GW5000D-NS an excellent choice and good value for money.
Overview of the Goodwe D-NS series
German Photon magazine ranked Goodwe inverters as 2nd on residential inverters and Top 5 for commercials. You can see more Goodwe´s awards right here.
Goodwe has been upgrading their series taking the best characteristics of the before. That is the case of D-NS one, who inherited the best feature of the past SS and DS series.
The D-NS is a 2 x MMPT (Maximum Power Point Tracker) inverter. An MPPT is a device that regulates the voltage that comes in from the panels. Having 2 means you may use panels in the roof in 2 different directions.
The inverters are able to use indoors or outdoors thanks to the IP65 weather ratings. They use a fanless design that allows low noise, and a cooling system via natural connections.
Goodwe D-NS series use a WiFi module to communicate via wireless connections. You can access the monitoring system via your smartphone or computer by an app. In this app, you can check the status of your system, the energy it produces, and the power.
One of the recurring criticisms of the series is the 5-year warranty. Some other manufacturers offer longer than 5 years. You can see the catalog of the D-NS series and other Goodwe´s inverters here.
The GW5000D-NS has a low start-up voltage of only 120V and a panels range of operation of 80-550V. This in combination with the fanless design makes it a good option for household systems.
It comes with these features:
Inverters connected to the grid must have anti-islanding protection. This consists of 2 schemes, one active and the other passive. The gs5000D-NS has them integrated.
If an unplanned islanding effect happens, the inverter will stop the supplying power.
When the gs5000D-NS detects a short circuit, it stops power within 0.1s to ensure internal circuitry isn’t damaged.
The GW5000D-NS has integrated an input reverse polarity protection. That means that if the PV array has a polarity reversed because the installation was done incorrectly, the system will not suffer any damage. When the polarity is positively connected, the inverter will work as usual.
Is important to note that all these protection functions comes as standard amongst inverters from other manufacturers too. This section highlights that even though Goodwe comes at a lower price, it doesn’t do so at the cost of safety.
The inverter´s size needs to meet the size of the panels. If the panel size is bigger, and the inverter size isn't adequate, then the efficiency of the system will be reduced.
In this review, we won't talk about how to choose the correct size. You can learn about it here. But, keep that in mind before choosing any inverter.
The standard efficiency of a residential inverter is around 95% - 99%. If sized adequately, the GW5000D-NS meet this with a 97% efficiency average.
The reliability of this model is standard compared with other similar inverters. With a failure on 1 inverter in 150 installed each year.
The LCD interface is one of the most debatable features of the new era inverters. Other manufacturers are starting to use a led interfaces with local app connectivity. This allows reading inverter status and failure points.
The GW5000D-NS come with a WiFi module for wireless communications. In combination with an RS485 port for line communications. You can access your data via their smartphone app called EziViewer or even use the web browser.
Through this app, you have access to many features of the behavior of the inverter. Even more if you have a bank of batteries connected.
You can see a chart of power (W) produced over the day. This allows you to see the hours of the day when the inverter works more. You can do the same with energy (kWh). You can see a chart of the energy produced over the day.
But, the list of features you can see doesn´t stop there. You can see the current and voltage from the grid. The panel information like current, temperature, or voltage. Even the battery's status can be checked by this interface.
You can look at the inverter´s performance by looking at its history. This app notifies you about any inverter failure or problem via email.
The app checks the inverter´s status every day, week, month to send you the correct information. You can set a particular day to see the performance, current, or voltage and the app will send you an email.
Is important to remark that in the default mode your maximum voltage is 262V. And when it reaches that, the software will shut the voltage down. To avoid this, the software allows you to set the maximum voltage allowed, 270V.
You can set up your Goodwe WiFi following these instructions.
You have to take in mind that the cost of the inverter should around the 10-20% of the total system.
A problem in the inverter would translate into a direct fail of the whole energy supply. This is why people need to check the features of each inverter in the budget set. So, this decision is a balance between price range and inverters quality.
One of the characteristics of Goodwe's inverters is their cost-effective prices. This is because of the high scale of production in China.
At the time of writing this article, GW5000D-NS is around $600 to $800. Which is great for the features it gives. Goodwe's inverters are cheaper than others that offer the same features.
In general, Goodwe will cost most than Growatt, but less than brands such as Fronius or SMA.
The features of GW5000D-NS are enough for home use. Even in some cases for commercial use. So, it is useful to know the specifications of the inverter needed, to avoid paying more than is necessary.
Something important to be aware of GW5000D-NS is the base 5-year warranty of the D-NS series. The weakest point of the inverter. Compared with other similar inverters that have a 10-year warranty.
To solve this, Goodwe offers an extra 5-year part only warranty. But this will upgrade the inverter cost of a little.
Below is an extraction of the data from Growatt, Fronius, and Goodwe:
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