[RE-wrenches] HIQ Inverter Experience?

Daniel Tittmann daniel at greenwired.com
Mon Mar 14 13:17:19 PDT 2016


We were a test site for HiQ inverters at our warehouse in Redway ca.  long
way from the ocean, but plenty of rain.  We had to replace the "Balancers"
three times due to water damage before we switched to a string inverter.
 even at free HiQ wasn't worth the hassle.
Maybe they have fixed the issues but I would not put them in any sort of
challenging env.
Daniel

Daniel Tittmann
CTO
Greenwired
www.greenwired.com
daniel at greenwired.com
707-923-2001 (office)
707-206-5088 (Cell)

On Fri, Mar 11, 2016 at 1:19 PM, Patrick Shortell <pshortell6 at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Hi Jay,
> I did cut open one of the inverters.
> The electronics are potted but I noticed that there were studs that
> appeared riveted to the external casing which appeared to be aluminum. It
> appeared that the saltwater had entered along this stud and eventually made
> its way to the circuit board. I assume that the stud performed a grounding
> function since that model inverter is externally grounded.
> I could see the green evidence where the stud entered the potting that
> salt water had indeed passed through the potting and encountered some
> copper. I think Enphase has gone with a ground wire in the cabling
> nowadays. Maybe a new design has eliminated that route to the board.
> Pat
>
>
>
> On Fri, Mar 11, 2016 at 12:58 PM, jay <jay.peltz at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Hi Patrick
>>
>> I would add that the NEMA 6 rating is for dust/water intrusion, not
>> corrosion resistance.
>>
>> I don’t know what the metallurgy of the Enphase was/is or the HIQ.
>> But I would not make the assumption that whats bad/good for one is the
>> same for any other.
>>
>> jay
>>
>> Peltz power
>>
>>
>> On Mar 11, 2016, at 9:29 AM, Patrick Shortell <pshortell6 at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>> Hi Chris,
>> My experience with microinverters rated NEMA 6 in a salt environment was
>> an absolute disaster. I have a 50KW ground mount, Enphase M210's, Sanyo
>> 220's and within three years more than half failed.
>> The system is approx a 1/2 mile from the Ocean and about 300 Yards from a
>> bay and is also on an island.
>> We removed the microinverters and installed SMA string inverters.
>> We have similiar installations in the immediate area and the SMA product
>> has held up for 12 years.
>> My microinverter experiment ended badly and as an electrician for over
>> thirty years, the enphase product was the only product I ever saw with a
>> NEMA 6 rating.
>> My Opinion, you cant beat an SMA product in this environment.
>> Pat
>>
>> On Fri, Mar 11, 2016 at 11:39 AM, Christopher Warfel <
>> cwarfel at entech-engineering.com> wrote:
>>
>>> We are designing a 480Vac, 3 phase system for a school on an island. The
>>> system will be outdoors, about 1/2 from the ocean shore. Corrosion via salt
>>> is a real problem. We submitted some pictures to Solar Pro for an article
>>> they are writing. HIQ are NEMA 6.  I have no experience with them, and was
>>> wondering if anyone did.  Thank you, Chris
>>>
>>> --
>>> Christopher Warfel, President
>>> ENTECH Engineering, Inc.
>>> PO Box 871, Block Island, RI 02807
>>> 401-466-8978
>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> List sponsored by Redwood Alliance
>>>
>>> List Address: RE-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org
>>>
>>> Change listserver email address & settings:
>>> http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org
>>>
>>> List-Archive:
>>> http://www.mail-archive.com/re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org/maillist.html
>>>
>>> List rules & etiquette:
>>> www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm
>>>
>>> Check out or update participant bios:
>>> www.members.re-wrenches.org
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Patrick A. Shortell
>> *Licensed Master Electrician*
>> *Certified Solar Installer*
>> 71 Oregon Street
>> Long Beach N.Y. 11561
>> cell: 516-477-0221
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> List sponsored by Redwood Alliance
>>
>> List Address: RE-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org
>>
>> Change listserver email address & settings:
>> http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org
>>
>> List-Archive:
>> http://www.mail-archive.com/re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org/maillist.html
>>
>> List rules & etiquette:
>> www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm
>>
>> Check out or update participant bios:
>> www.members.re-wrenches.org
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> List sponsored by Redwood Alliance
>>
>> List Address: RE-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org
>>
>> Change listserver email address & settings:
>> http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org
>>
>> List-Archive:
>> http://www.mail-archive.com/re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org/maillist.html
>>
>> List rules & etiquette:
>> www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm
>>
>> Check out or update participant bios:
>> www.members.re-wrenches.org
>>
>>
>>
>
>
> --
> Patrick A. Shortell
> *Licensed Master Electrician*
> *Certified Solar Installer*
> 71 Oregon Street
> Long Beach N.Y. 11561
> cell: 516-477-0221
>
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> List sponsored by Redwood Alliance
>
> List Address: RE-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org
>
> Change listserver email address & settings:
> http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org
>
> List-Archive:
> http://www.mail-archive.com/re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org/maillist.html
>
> List rules & etiquette:
> www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm
>
> Check out or update participant bios:
> www.members.re-wrenches.org
>
>
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org/attachments/20160314/e10e138b/attachment-0002.html>


More information about the RE-wrenches mailing list