SM3320-RF-EV(#1): 12.5A out, 0 ~ 43V Out, RF

The SolarMagic™ SM3320-RF-EV reference design integrates a power optimizer and a low-cost 2.4GHz radio to add a remote shutdown feature to a PV system. The remote shutdown feature can be used during installation, maintenance, or emergency situations to de-energize the PV system.

Although its principal purpose is to communicate shutdown intent, this RF system is 2-way and can be used for a wide variety of communication applications, including monitoring, security and identification.

The SolarMagic™ SM3320-RF-EV is based off of the SM3320-1A1 power optimizer, and shares all of its best-in-class power optimization features. This includes its ability to mitigate real-world mismatch, its 99.5% peak efficiency, and its Panel-Mode operation. In addition, the same ultra-low profile form factor of the original SM3320-1A1 is maintained so that it can be integrated into the same junction box designs. This evaluation board should work as a power optimizer even without a transmitter

The wireless RF communications in the SM3320-RF-EV is implemented using a low-cost Nordic nRF24LE1 chip. This is a low-cost, 2.4GHz radio and 8051 microcontroller on a single chip. The 2.4GHz radio uses narrow band modulation (as opposed to direct sequence spread spectrum), which can be used either with or without frequency hopping. Example software is provided that implements the remote shutdown feature on the 8051 microcontroller in the nRF24LE1.