Solar inverters: what one does, the four types, and how a hybrid works
The inverter is the box on the wall that turns what the panels make into electricity the house can use. It is also the part that decides whether the system can have a battery, what happens in a brownout, and how many panels the roof can carry.
Below: what it does, the four kinds, what a hybrid inverter adds, and one hybrid’s datasheet read line by line and sized against a panel sold here. It is the same check we run on a battery and inverter job. For what happens on each side of it, see the solar panel diagrams and the solar battery page.
What a solar inverter does
Three jobs. First, conversion: panels make direct current, and the house and the grid run on alternating current at 230 volts. Second, tracking: a panel makes its most power at one particular voltage, which moves with heat and light through the day, and the inverter keeps finding it. That is the MPPT on the sheet. Third, protection: when the grid goes down, the inverter has to stop feeding it.
The third one surprises people. A line crew working on a dead line has to be able to trust that it is dead, so an inverter connected to the grid must detect the loss and disconnect, which is called anti-islanding. It is the reason a system without a battery goes dark in a brownout, and the reason a hybrid has to separate the backed-up circuits from the street before it can run them. What happens in a brownout, drawn.
The four types of solar inverter
They differ in two things: whether there is a battery, and whether there is one inverter or one per panel.
- String inverter, also sold as grid tied or on grid
- One box on a wall, with the panels wired to it in one or more strings. It turns their DC into AC for the house and sends any surplus out through the meter. It has no battery connection, so when the grid goes down it has to stop, and the house goes dark with the street.
- Hybrid inverter
- A string inverter with a battery port and a backed-up output. It decides, moment to moment, whether the panels’ power goes to the house, the battery or the grid, and it can run chosen circuits from the battery when the grid is down. The section below reads one hybrid’s sheet.
- Off-grid inverter
- Takes its power from a battery bank and runs the house with no utility connection at all. Built from separate parts it needs a charge controller between the panels and the battery; an all-in-one off-grid unit has one built in.
- Microinverter
- A small inverter behind each panel, or each pair, on the roof. Every panel works on its own, so one shaded or dirty panel does not drag the others down, and the wiring that comes off the roof is already AC. There are more units to fail, and they are on the roof when they do.
Hybrid solar inverters: what the battery port changes
Deye, which makes both kinds, puts it in one line: an on-grid inverter’s main job is to convert the panels’ DC into usable AC, and a hybrid goes a step further and works with batteries to store the surplus. In practice a hybrid has four connections where a string inverter has two: the panels, the battery, the grid, and a separate output for the circuits you want kept live.
That separate output is the point. Only what is wired to it stays on in a brownout, so choosing those circuits, for example the lights, the fridge, the fans and the internet, is part of the design. Everything else on the main board goes dark with the street, the same as without solar.
A hybrid also has its own MPPT inputs, so a home system with a battery needs no separate charge controller. And because it decides where the power goes, it can be set to charge the battery at one time of day and use it at another; the Deye sheet allows six time periods.
One hybrid inverter’s datasheet, line by line
The Deye SUN-5K-SG04LP1-EU-SM2, a 5 kW single-phase hybrid, from Deye’s own specification table, read on 12 October 2026. It is an example for reading the sheet, not a recommendation.
- Rated AC power
- 5,000 W, 5,500 VA maximum
- What it can deliver to the house and grid continuously. This is the number in the model name, and it is the inverter’s size.
- Maximum PV input power
- 8,000 W
- How much panel it will take. It is larger than the rated output on purpose: panels rarely make their full rating on a hot roof, so an array bigger than the inverter keeps it working near its rating for more of the day. The sheet also prints a 10,000 W “PV access” figure; plan to the lower one.
- Maximum PV input voltage
- 500 V
- The hard limit. The panels in one string, at their open circuit voltage on the coldest morning, must stay under it. Exceed it and the inverter is damaged rather than limited.
- MPPT voltage range and start-up
- 150 to 425 V, starts at 125 V
- The window the string has to work inside to make full power. Rated PV input voltage is 370 V, near the top of it.
- MPP trackers
- 2, one string each, 18 A operating and 27 A short circuit per tracker
- Two trackers means two roof faces, or two string lengths, can each run at their own best voltage.
- Battery
- Lead-acid or lithium-ion, 40 to 60 V, up to 120 A charge and discharge
- A low-voltage battery, the 48 V class. With lithium it adapts its charging to the battery’s own management system.
- Off-grid peak power
- 2 times rated power for 10 seconds
- About 10,000 W for ten seconds, which is what starts a motor, a pump or an aircon compressor on battery.
- Efficiency
- 97.6 percent maximum, 96.5 percent European weighted
- The weighted figure averages across part loads, the way a day actually runs, so it is the more honest of the two.
- Operating temperature
- -40 to 60 °C, derating above 45 °C
- Derating means it turns its own output down to protect itself. A west wall in April afternoon sun is past 45 °C. Mount it in shade with air round it.
- Protection and grid standards
- Anti-islanding, AC and DC surge protection, insulation and residual current detection; IEC 61727 and IEC 62116 among the grid codes listed
- Anti-islanding is the feature that makes it stop feeding a dead line. IEC 62116 is the test procedure for it.
- Enclosure, scaling and warranty
- IP65, up to 16 in parallel, 5 years, or up to 10 years depending on the installation country
- The warranty is set per country, so read the one on the papers you are given rather than the brochure.
Sizing panels to it: voltage, then current, then power
The panel is the JinkoSolar JKM600N-72HL4-V, the same 600 W panel the solar panel calculator uses. Its open circuit voltage is 52.95 V at 25°C and rises 0.25 percent for every degree colder. At a 10°C dawn, deliberately cold for a lowland roof, that is 54.94 V a panel.
- Most in one string, by the 500 V limit at 10°C
- 9 panels
- Most in one string, by the top of the 150 to 425 V window at 44.06 V each
- 9 panels
- Fewest in one string, by the bottom of the window
- 4 panels
- One string’s current against 18 A operating and 27 A short circuit
- 13.62 A and 14.25 A
- Most panels in total, by the 8,000 W PV input
- 13 panels
So the fullest layout is 13 panels as one string of 7 and one of 6, one on each tracker: 7,800 W of panel on a 5,000 W inverter, a ratio of 1.56. On the coldest morning the longer string reaches 384.5 V, under the 500 V limit. A house that uses less would run fewer, and the sizing starts from the bill, not from the inverter’s maximum.
Then the battery. The Deye RW-F10.2 on the solar battery page is 51.2 V nominal, inside the inverter’s 40 to 60 V. The inverter can push 120 A, about 6.1 kW, but the battery’s own recommended current is 100 A, about 5.1 kW, and the lower of the two is the one that holds. Read both sheets; the smaller number on either one is the limit.
The inverter warranty, and where the inverter goes
The two sheets on this page give the warranties side by side. The Jinko panel carries a 12 year product warranty. The Deye inverter carries 5 years, or up to 10 years depending on the installation country. Ask for the inverter warranty card with the quotation, because it is the shorter of the two. Heat matters too: the sheet starts turning the inverter’s output down above 45 °C, so a cool, shaded, ventilated wall is worth asking for at the survey. Panels, batteries and inverters, and how long each lasts.
What people ask about solar inverters
What does a solar inverter do?
Panels make direct current. A house, and the grid, run on alternating current at 230 volts. The inverter converts one to the other, runs the panels at the voltage where they make the most power, and disconnects from the grid when the grid goes down so that it never feeds a line somebody is working on.
What are the types of solar inverter?
Four: a string inverter for a grid-tied system, a hybrid inverter that adds a battery, an off-grid inverter that runs from a battery with no utility connection, and microinverters fitted behind each panel. Which one is right depends on whether you want backup in a brownout and whether the roof is shaded in parts.
What is a hybrid solar inverter?
A grid-tied inverter with a battery connection and a backed-up output. In daylight it runs the house from the panels and charges the battery from the surplus. In a brownout it separates the backed-up circuits from the dead line and runs them from the battery.
Can a hybrid inverter work without a battery?
It depends on the model. Some run as a plain grid-tied inverter with the battery added later. Whether yours does, and what it does in a brownout with no battery fitted, is in its manual, so ask for the model number with the quotation and check before you buy.
What size inverter do I need for my solar panels?
Size the inverter to the house and the panels to the inverter’s PV limits. A 5,000 W hybrid like the one on this page takes up to 8,000 W of panel, which is 13 panels of 600 W, and each string has to stay between 4 and 9 of those panels to stay inside its voltage window.
Can I add a battery to my existing grid-tied solar system?
Yes, two ways. Replace the inverter with a hybrid and connect the battery to it, or keep the grid-tied inverter and add a hybrid beside it on the AC side, which the Deye sheet on this page calls AC coupling. Which is better depends on the age of the inverter you have.
Tell us what you want kept on in a brownout
Send your monthly kilowatt-hours and the circuits you want backed up. You will get a written answer naming the inverter, its size, the panel layout and the battery it pairs with.
Tell us the property and what you are trying to cut, and you will get a written answer with a size and a next step. No visit is booked and nothing is charged for asking.
Sources: Deye, SUN-3/3.6/5/6K-SG04LP1-EU-SM1/SM2 specification table, deyeinverter.com, read 12 October 2026, the 5 kW column; Deye, hybrid inverter category page, read 1 October 2026; JinkoSolar JKM580-605N-72HL4-(V) F8 datasheet, read 1 October 2026, the 600 W row; Deye RW-F10.2 product page, read 1 October 2026. Named products are examples used for the arithmetic, not a quotation or a recommendation.