Solar Pumping Inverters for
Distributors & Installers

In most cases yes, if the pump is a standard AC induction motor whose power, voltage and phase sit inside the range a HOBER inverter states for its AC output. We check the nameplate data before recommending a model, because the inverter is matched to the pump rather than to the array.

Start from the pump’s rated power. Each model states the maximum AC pump power it is adapted for, and the inverter is chosen so the pump sits inside that figure rather than at its edge. Send us the nameplate and we will name the model.

It depends on the pump power, the daily working hours, the local irradiation and the PV window the chosen inverter states. There is no single panel count that suits every site: the array is sized on those four inputs, and we do that sizing with you.

On the models whose datasheet states an AC input, yes. The AC feed supplements the array when solar power falls and disconnects again when it recovers, so the pump keeps running without an operator. Models without that input run on solar alone.

No. The inverter works from the array, and where fitted from the AC input. For pumping, storing water is usually more economical than storing electricity, and it is what most sites do.

Yes. Most of the 220/240 V models state a single-phase pump output and are also stated as compatible with three-phase pumps; the 11 kW model states a three-phase output only. Which of the two applies to your pump is read from its nameplate.

Where a model states remote monitoring, it supports a monitor and controller as an option: a 4G/WiFi module on most models and GPRS SMS on the 45–132 kW models. The cabinet models carry a display and an I/O set of their own. Whether a given model reports, and over which link, is confirmed against the selected model.

Yes. Dry run, detected by sensor or by software, is in the protection list the datasheet prints for the range, together with water level control, over- and under-voltage, over-current and over-temperature.

Yes. The inverter drives the AC motor, and the duty — deep well, surface, booster or wastewater — sets the flow and the head the pump has to hold. The same range drives all four duties, and the pump nameplate decides which model is matched to it.

Pump power, voltage and phase, the pump model if you have it, the required flow, the required head, and the country the project is in. Send them through the inquiry form or by email — a photo of the nameplate answers most of them at once.

A solar pump inverter is built to run a pump from a PV array: it tracks the array’s maximum power point as the sunlight and the module temperature change, so the drive uses the power that is there. An ordinary VFD is built for a mains supply, and it should only be fed from PV where its own manufacturer approves that input and the solar control function. When the array cannot supply enough power, the drive slows, stops in a controlled way or shuts down on protection — which of those applies, and how it returns afterwards, is a fact about the selected model.

Models, manuals and datasheets ↗

Vmp sets the string’s operating voltage, which has to sit inside the drive’s working or MPPT window; Voc sets the highest voltage the string can reach, which is the figure checked against the absolute maximum input voltage. Series-connected module voltages add, and Voc rises as the modules get colder, so that check is made at the site’s lowest expected module temperature from the module data. The drive’s start-up voltage is a third and separate check. A string that meets the array’s wattage can still exceed a voltage limit, so both figures are checked before the array is ordered.

Installer support ↗

Parallel strings add current: with identical strings the operating currents add, and the short-circuit currents are assessed separately, with the corrections the module instructions require. The limit that matters may apply to one input, to one tracker or to the whole unit, so it is read per model rather than from the array’s wattage, and the combiner, the fuses, the isolators, the connectors and the cable ratings are checked with it. A string count printed on a page is a configuration figure, not permission to add strings.

Combiner and protection components ↗

The DC window states which array voltages the drive can work with; it does not state how much power is there. Start-up voltage, the sustained operating range, the MPPT window and the absolute maximum input voltage are four different figures, and in weak light the voltage can look acceptable while the current and the power are too low to hold the duty the site needs. Whether a lower-voltage drive or a built-in booster suits a site is decided from that site’s energy and hydraulics, not from the window alone.

Built-in booster inverters ↗

The pump runs while the array still supplies enough usable power for the drive to start and to hold the duty: the output falls with the light, and the pump stops when it can no longer meet the head it is asked for. More panels raise the available energy, but only inside the limits the selected model states for voltage, input current and array size — and strings added in series and in parallel do not behave alike, so the array is re-checked rather than simply extended. Where water has to be available through long cloudy periods, storage or an approved hybrid input is part of the design instead.

Hybrid solar pumping ↗