Batteryless inverter recommendation [RE-wrenches]

Wed Feb 27 18:00:00 PST 2008

Joel and All,

90% of our installations are in San Francisco and many are within just a few blocks of the beach. During much of the season we have dense fog which literally drenches the solar panels and racking with moisture, especially in the wee hours of the night when it gets chilly. We commonly inspect previously installed systems and it is amazing how wet they get when it's foggy. I'm definitely concerned about corrosion so everything we install is stainless steel or aluminum with the exception of some hot dipped galvanized strut.

That said, I can't say I can see a whole lot of corrosion related issues when comparing the major inverter manufacturers. Maybe I'm missing something. Heat sinks and enclosures might corrode if they're not made of properly anodized aluminum, stainless steel, or otherwise protected. PCBs and other internal components will corrode if they are not properly coated and/or selected. Screws and other fasteners will do the same. The list goes on. We've only been installing these products for a about 3.5 years, so long term data isn't available.

Anyone out there having problems with inverter corrosion?

Now that I think of it, corrosion and material longevity in general would be a great topic to discuss on wrenches. I've heard that the coastal area of Florida has bad corrosion problems; where even good quality aluminum racking gets white and powdery. I suspect that people located in Arizona and thereabouts don't have the same issues. And furthermore, I'd think that only old-time Wrenches really know what actually happens out in the field after 5, 10, 20, or 30 years. I've seen standard zinc plated hardware rust out in less than a year....

What do y'all think?

August Goers 

Luminalt Energy Corporation
4000 Irving Street 
San Francisco, CA 94122

Office: 415.564.7652
Mobile: 415.559.1525
august at luminalt.com
www.luminalt.com

----- Original Message ----
From: Joel Davidson <joel.davidson at sbcglobal.net>
To: RE-wrenches at topica.com
Sent: Wednesday, February 27, 2008 7:55:51 AM
Subject: Re: Batteryless inverter recommendation [RE-wrenches]

Hello August,

Thanks for the feedback about the Xantrex GT. Do you think its enclosure 
will hold up under coastal conditions?

Joel Davidson

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "August Goers" <august at luminalt.com>
To: <RE-wrenches at topica.com>
Sent: Wednesday, February 27, 2008 6:28 AM
Subject: Re: Batteryless inverter recommendation [RE-wrenches]

>
> What has been people's experiences with Xantrex over the past couple of 
> years? We've installed probably an equal number of Fronius, Sunny Boy, and 
> Xantrex units and have had the most failures with our Fronius units. That 
> might of just been a fluke.
>
> From my perspective, the natural convection cooling of the Xantrex is a 
> strong advantage, not to mention the fact that the wide MPP voltage range 
> makes it easy to string out a variety of module configurations.
>
>
> August Goers
>
> Luminalt Energy Corporation
>
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----
> From: Doug Pratt <dmpratt at sbcglobal.net>
> To: RE-wrenches at topica.com
> Sent: Tuesday, February 26, 2008 9:41:09 PM
> Subject: RE: Batteryless inverter recommendation [RE-wrenches]
>
>
> Fronius completely dips their power boards, with all components, so they 
> can
> tolerate spray. Most mfr's only coat one side.
>
> Fronius has been our most trouble-free brand historically. But if we just
> look at shipments within the past year, it's a dead heat between Fronius,
> SMA, and PV Powered. They're all producing flawless units. Much improved
> over 5-6 years ago!
>
> Doug Pratt
> DC Power Systems
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Carl Hansen [mailto:Solarwks at cybermesa.com]
> Sent: Tuesday, February 26, 2008 5:34 PM
> To: RE-wrenches at topica.com
> Subject: Re: Batteryless inverter recommendation [RE-wrenches]
>
>
> I've noticed the Fronius has excellent ventilation, in fact I was a little
> surprised at just how "open" it was, looked to me like it couldn't handle 
> a
> serious driving rain and definitely not a kid with a hose. Has anyone else
> noticed this? Its not sealed up tight like the Sunny Boy units
>
>  Carl Hansen
>
>
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