[RE-wrenches] Enphase / Inverter failures

Thu May 9 10:01:42 PDT 2013

Living on the coast of Maine, the majority of our M-215 installs
(approximately 200) are along the immediate coast, say, within a couple
thousand feet of salt water. We have had zero failures of this inverter
(M-215) since it came out. We had one non-coastal issue with AC Out Of
Frequency events that Enphase stayed on top of, including extensive
engineer inclusion and even a site visit from an engineer for Enphase out
of Boston, until the problem was fixed. I actually have high praise for
how they dealt with that situation. I do understand the problems that
still occur with the 190's and to a lesser extent the 210's, but I haven't
seen them with the 215's.

Daryl

> This is fascinating - the majority of the Enphase failures reported on
> this
> list seem to be near coastal areas. I know that is true for us. We've had
> extensive failures on the M190 and M210 units close to the ocean. We have
> yet to have a single M215 failure so I have my fingers crossed.
>
>
>
> SMA has continued to be the most reliable for us but I worry that slowly
> their fans will fail. The first gen Fronius units have been horribly
> unreliable and have all been replaced. Fronius was excellent in dealing
> with the warranty claims. The 2nd Gen Fronius have been pretty good with
> just a couple of units DOA and no long term failures yet. Power One, which
> is the most interesting to me, is still too new to judge. We've had two
> Power One failures so far. I understand that the first 10 and 12 k units
> sold in the US had really bad problems but those are fixed now. Xantrex
> was
> horrible but we still have over 100 units in operation after the capacitor
> recall.
>
>
>
> It's a real crapshoot with all these inverters!
>
>
>
> Best,
>
>
>
> August
>
>
>
> *From:* re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org [mailto:
> re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org] *On Behalf Of *Mike & Jessica
> Nelson
> *Sent:* Thursday, May 09, 2013 8:45 AM
> *To:* RE-wrenches
> *Subject:* Re: [RE-wrenches] Enphase / Inverter failures
>
>
>
> Wrenches,
>
> I have had extensive failures on 3 installs that are situated right on the
> coastal bluff in Northern California. Once you replace more than one
> inverter at one site on one day, the compensation goes from $150.00 per
> inverter, to next to nothing for the remaining. Enphase actually sent out
> their field services tech, and did a complete swap out on these 3 systems
> (with my assistance). It was a long day. But now, 2 years later, we are
> seeing more failures. One has had 4 micro failures to date. Once I get
> away
> from the coastal edge, with it's corrosive effect, the failure rate goes
> way down. I have asked Enphase to upgrade these 3 systems to the newer
> M215
> system, and am still waiting for a response. I am to the point where I
> won't install Enphase within 1/2 mile of the ocean.
>
> Michael D. Nelson
>
> MD Electric & Solar
>
> On Thu, May 9, 2013 at 8:31 AM, Will White <William.White at realgoods.com>
> wrote:
>
> It’s funny because I’ve had a very different experience from everyone
> else.  I’ve had lots of Xantrex inverters fail and a few Fronius but not
> to
> the extent that everyone else has.  I’ve only replaced a few Enphase
> inverters and they were usually dead out of the box.
>
>
>
> Thanks,
>
> Will
>
>
>
> *
> __________________________________________________________________________________________
> *
>
> Will White
>
> Regional Field Operations Manager – New England
>
>
>
> Real Goods Solar
>
> 64 Main St.
>
> Montpelier, VT 05602
>
> Tel: (802) 223-7804
>
> Cell: (802) 234-3167
>
> www.realgoodssolar.com
>
>
>
>
>
> *From:* re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org [mailto:
> re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org] *On Behalf Of *Troy Harvey
> *Sent:* Thursday, May 09, 2013 11:06 AM
> *To:* RE-wrenches
> *Subject:* Re: [RE-wrenches] Enphase / Inverter failures
>
>
>
>
>
> I don't enjoy the PLC interference problems, which are rare. When they
> have
> occurred, Enphase provided continuous technical support, including factory
> evaluation of line filters and enhanced system analysis.  Did you know
> that
> each Enphase system has a built in spectrum analyzer? Tech support can
> provide a printout of interfering signals to help in troubleshooting.
> Installing a separate AC load center to accept the AC return breakers
> helps
> with solving these problems.  I understand that the next release of
> Enphase
> inverters will be Wi-fi, eliminating the PLC protocol entirely.  When the
> communication works, (which it does most of the time) it is a very
> valuable
> resource.
>
>
>
> I find we have several times the service calls on enphase due to the
> customers thinking their system isn't working, when in fact it the flakey
> PLC network. And all that monitoring is only really telling me about the
> inverters or their networking, since the long term failure rate of the
> panels is several orders of magnitude better than even the best inverter
> on
> the market.
>
>
>
> I have only seen 2 Xantrex string inverters go out in the last 5 years (no
> surprise there) out of all of the string inverters, and all of the brands.
> But I've seen failure at everyone of our Enphase installs, and usually
> failures every year (1 or 2 dead micros per year per site).
>
>
>
> There is no argument that micros improve flexibility. And the potential
> for
> a micro to have a higher MTBF is believable. But first they need better
> design, more market experience, and will never reach 25 year lifespan like
> they say until they take electrolytic caps out of their designs.
>
>
>
> thanks,
>
> Troy Harvey
> ---------------------
> Principal Engineer
> Heliocentric
> 801-453-9434
> taharvey at heliocentric.org
>
>
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> --
> Michael & Jessica Nelson
>
> MD Electric & Solar Inc.
>
> Office: 707-884-1862
>
> Cell: 707-684-0064
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