SW4024 arcing [RE-wrenches]

[Chuck Heath, SunPower]

Fellow Wrenches - We installed this off-grid system almost a year ago. 
Two stacked SW4024's, 2 - C40/DVM's, DC250, 85-33 HUP battery, Trace 
battery monitor and 2 - 60A AC bypass boxes with mechanical lockouts (one 
for each Trace). PV is 12 - SR100's, soon to be doubled in size.

Client ran generator last evening to charge battery. Everything normal 
until he used house R/C to shutdown generator. Then, some lights went out 
while others stayed on. Walked out to Power House to find DC breaker for 
Lower Trace tripped. He reset that breaker and immediately noted: 
     -arcing near the DC end of the Lower Trace 
     -the fan running on high 
     -a red error light
     -the display of the Upper Trace went blank, but continues to operate 
normally. 

He quickly shut down the Lower Trace using the DC breaker, then called 
me. The Upper Trace display returned to normal after shutting down the 
Lower Trace.

Today I advised him by 'phone to leave both AC bypass breakers on 
Generator so there are no AC loads on either Trace. Asked him to again 
energize Lower Trace by turning on DC breaker for same. He did. This time 
there was no fan noise, no arcing, no dimming of Upper Trace display. He 
now reports scrolling the Error Menu (#5) shows a "Heatsink Overtemp" 
error. He said when the failure occurred last night he did not notice any 
warmth or heat on the Lower Trace case. No odor of fried electronics 
either.

He's opened some J-boxes and reports no sign of water in conduit or roof 
leaks in the Power House. Upper Trace continues to operate normally. He 
also reports there were no heavy AC house loads when he switched from Gen 
back to Trace, except the Trace chargers while using the generator. I 
purposely did not ask him to clear the error or try to reboot the Lower 
Trace (I wanted to know what the Error menu said first).

Besides Trace tech support on Monday, what ideas might you have? The 
client is 220 miles away.

Chuck Heath "Plugging into Sunshine since 1989" 



 

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