[RE-wrenches] Enphase M190 current limiting

[Rebecca Lundberg]

Thanks for the reply. I reported it to Enphase but have not heard back yet.
Since one of these updates happened 5 months ago I was surprised the
manufacturer hadn't notified installers in the interim before they did a
more wide spread update, which is why I wrote to this list. I'm not in tech
support, but seeing what it did to our inverter back 5 months ago I
certainly wouldn't have continued the 'upgrade' and pushed that firmware
update to the rest of the units! I think most people didn't notice so they
just went ahead. I know MN temperatures are more extreme than other parts
of the country so perhaps we've seen more failures than others have. But
this site with 8 M190s was doing just fine before the 'update.'

Rebecca


>
> From: RE-wrenches [mailto:re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org] On
> Behalf Of Louis Woofenden
> Sent: Wednesday, 03 February, 2016 11:48
> To: RE-wrenches
> Subject: Re: [RE-wrenches] Enphase M190 current limiting
>
>
> Hi Rebecca and all,
>
> We're experiencing the same thing on several M190 sites, though not all.
> Interestingly, M190s that have been replaced are not having the same
> problem.
>
> According to Enphase, it is a software problem. My understanding is that
> they are rolling back software updates on affected devices to solve the
> problem, but I'm not clear on the exact order that will happen.
>
> Not sure if being a squeaky wheel on particular systems is going to hurt
> or help. Kind of disappointing that they didn't properly beta test any
> software updates on all types of microinverter devices before rolling them
> out to all customers. Seems like that would be common sense.
>
> Best,
> Louis
>
> --
>
> Louis Woofenden
> Engineering Director
> Net Zero Solar, LLC
> 101. W. 5th St., Tucson, AZ 85705
> Arizona ROC #248710, 259756, 259521
>
> Phone:  <tel:520.207.4053> 520.207.4053 Ex. 2
>
> Cell:  <tel:520.237.5040> 520.237.5040
> Fax:  <tel:520.203.7230> 520.203.7230
>
> NABCEP Certified PV Installation Professional?
> NABCEP Certified Solar Heating Installer?
>
>
>
> Luke Christy wrote:
>
>
>
> Hi Rebecca,
>
> After you posted this I looked at the power production history for several
> of our Enphase sites with M190s, and the same thing is happening. Inverter
> output is being clipped at 140W across the board.
>
> This seems like a pretty big deal in terms of potential lost production
> for a lot of users.
>
>
>
> Have you brought this up with Enphase?
>
>
>
> -Luke
>
>
>
>
>
> NABCEP Certified PV Installation Professional?: Certification #031409-25
> NABCEP Certified Solar Heating Installer?: Certification #ST032611-03
> CoSEIA Certified PV Installer
>
> Solar Gain Services, LLC
> PO Box 531
> Monte Vista, CO 81144
> sgsrenewables at gmail.com
> 719.588.3044
> www.sgsrenewables.com <http://www.sgsrenewables.com/>
>
>
> On Jan 31, 2016, at 21:08, Rebecca Lundberg <
> rebecca.lundberg at powerfullygreen.com> wrote:
>
> I just noticed that several of our sites with Enphase M190s are current
> limiting at 140 watts. These units used to clip at 199 watts so I feel like
> our customers just lost a potential 30% of their power output. It appears
> to be related to a firmware update 520-00008-r01-v01.08.00. We've got one
> site with just 8 units, 1 of them got this firmware update back in
> September and has been limiting to 140w since then, 5 of them got this
> update in late January and have been limiting to 140w since then, the other
> two are at a previous firmware version and are performing as we would
> expect up to 199w. Have any of you noticed this same thing? Do you know
> what this is about? It doesn't feel very fair on the user end of things.
>
> Sincerely,
>
>
> Rebecca Lundberg
> Powerfully Gree
>
> ? n?
>
> Minnesota
>
>
>
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> --
> --
>
> Louis Woofenden
> Engineering Director
> Net Zero Solar, LLC
> 101. W. 5th St., Tucson, AZ 85705
> Arizona ROC #248710, 259756, 259521
>
> Phone:  <tel:520.207.4053> 520.207.4053 Ex. 2
>
> Cell:  <tel:520.237.5040> 520.237.5040
> Fax:  <tel:520.203.7230> 520.203.7230
>
> NABCEP Certified PV Installation Professional?
> NABCEP Certified Solar Heating Installer?
>
>
>
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