[RE-wrenches] micro-inverters

Thu Sep 15 16:56:58 PDT 2016

The SMA SB240 microinverter is discontinued.

Brad

On Thu, Sep 15, 2016 at 9:04 AM, William Dorsett <wmdorsett at sbcglobal.net>
wrote:

> Brad, which has been discontinued, the SMA 240’s or Trimetric? While we
> don’t have a large collection of Enphase systems, after they are installed
> when needed to think of them at all, we have a consensus among owners of
> satisfaction especially in terms of monitoring and troubleshooting that
> goes with microinverters.
>
>
>
> I’m learning new features on Enphase’s website constantly. For what string
> inverter can you see a continuous graph of DC volts and input current, AC
> output volts and current, as well as frequency and internal temp of the
> inverters at the module level? At this point we may have slightly over 1%
> failure rate on systems that are up to six years in the field. Keep in mind
> that while there is talk of capacitors failing, SMA 240’s also uses a row
> of paralleled caps.
>
>
>
> And I sense an uptick in installer support.
>
>
>
> There is one area where string inverters have an advantage and that is the
> ability to place a lightening arrester between the module(s) and the
> inverter, making micros more vulnerable in that regard.
>
>
>
> Bill Dorsett
>
>
>
> *From:* RE-wrenches [mailto:re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org] *On
> Behalf Of *Bradley Bassett
> *Sent:* Thursday, September 15, 2016 10:02 AM
> *To:* RE-wrenches
> *Subject:* Re: [RE-wrenches] micro-inverters
>
>
>
> My SMA micro-inverters have been rock solid for a couple of years. They do
> not taper off and do not communicate with the Sunny Island. The only issue
> I've had is that it seems that an internet connection is needed for the
> monitoring to work, even for the local monitoring. If there is no
> monitoring ie: power outage for the neighborhood DSL, then there is no
> direct way to see if they are working or not. Indirectly when off grid, my
> Trimetric is the best source of information on charge or discharge. A
> separate kWh would of course provide more accurate info on their status.
>
> I believe that these have been discontinued now though.
>
>
>
> Brad
>
> AEE Solar
>
>
>
> On Thu, Sep 15, 2016 at 6:46 AM, Drake <drake.chamberlin@
> redwoodalliance.org> wrote:
>
> Is it the consensus that Enphase 215 inverters on are the most reliable
> micro inverters (even though the tech support may be lacking these days)?
>
> Someone on this list mentioned that the SMA micros had a rocky time of it.
> What were the problems with these?
>
> Do the SMA micro inverters taper charge when AC coupled with Sunny Islands?
>
> Drake Chamberlin
>
>
>
>
>
> *Athens Electric LLCOH License 44810CO License 3773NABCEP Certified Solar
> PV 740-448-7328 <740-448-7328>*http://athens-electric.com/
>
> At 03:24 PM 9/14/2016, you wrote:
>
>
> Re 190's.
>
> Not much to learn from dissecting a swollen 190. Most of the time the
> swelling is caused by electrolytic capacitors that have failed. Some very
> high current capacitors actually have brackets to bolt them down to
> minimize swelling.
>
> Frank BZP.
>
> BZ Products INC.
>
> 8801 Gravois Rd.
>
> St.Louis MO 63123 USA
>
> 314-644-2490
>
> www.bz-products.net
>
> On 9/14/2016 1:58 PM, Benn Kilburn wrote:
>
> You guys should really cut one of those swelled up ones and share the
> photos with us :)
>
> Benn Kilburn
> SkyFire Energy Inc.
> 780-906-7807
>
> On Sep 14, 2016, at 11:14 AM, Jerry Shafer <jerrysgarage01 at gmail.com >
> wrote:
>
>
> The 190's had component issues which case them to balloon up
> Jerry
>
> On Sep 14, 2016 10:11 AM, "William Miller" <william at millersolar.com >
> wrote:
>
> Colleagues:
>
> We have M190s fail in beach installations. Some have had the cases swell
> up like there is a tumor inside. I haven't cut them open to see what's
> inside because they need to go back to manufacturer.
>
> William
>
> On Sep 14, 2016, at 9:32 AM, Jerry Shafer <jerrysgarage01 at gmail.com >
> wrote:
>
>
> Mike
>
> I also work near the ocean, its all around me here in Hawaii, we have had
> the 190's fail but not to environmental conditions and very few issues with
> 215's. Do you have any pics of the damage as l have seen very little salt
> issues.
>
> Jerry
>
> On Sep 13, 2016 9:11 PM, "Mike Nelson" < mdelectricsolar at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> I've had so many Enphase failures it's kind of ridiculous. We install most
> of our systems near the ocean so corrosion has played a big factor. The
> newer micro inverters are holding a much better, 215 and 250's. I have
> learned over the years that SMA makes the best product, and I mostly stick
> with them. Sometimes micro inverters are requested or really fit the
> installation particulars, so I still use them occasionally. I haven't yet
> tried solar edge.
>
> Michael D Nelson
>
> MD Electric & Solar, Inc.
>
> 707-684-0064 mobile
>
> 707-884-1862 office
>
> www.mdelectricsolar.com
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
> On Sep 13, 2016, at 6:23 PM, Rebecca Lundberg < rebecca.lundberg at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>
> Esteemed wrenches,
>
> I'm hoping the experience of this list can help give us a broader
> perspective on the current market performance and as a secondary concern,
> tech support (or lack thereof), from solar micro-inverter manufacturers.
>
> Are others having much trouble with micro-inverters? We have had repeated
> issues with several different brands on our systems in Minnesota:
>
> - 8 Enphase systems with mostly M210 and M215, have had to repeatedly go
> back to sites to replace units. The new replacement ones seem to be lasting
> better (we sure hope they will). Enphase is harder to contact in recent
> years, but we're happy they at least provide a predictable stipend. Are you
> also having to replace a lot of this brand of product? Are the newer models
> holding up better?
>
> - We gave a new inverter busbar design concept a try (tenKsolar) and
> though the micro-inverters were supposed to take turns and be 'redundant,'
> the ones with APS micro-inverters needed 100% replacement and the ones with
> Lead Solar micro-inverters have a problem where if one of them fails it
> appears to send a signal to all the rest so the entire busbar stops working
> -- in action it's far from redundant. When we purchased the tenKsolar Rais
> Inverter Bus (RIB) the spec sheet didn't tell us what brand of
> micro-inverter they would use as the OEM so we couldn't research the
> viability of the product or company or warranty stipend (or lack there-of)
> of the micro-inverter OEM. We assumed it was a tenKsolar product and they
> would provide warranty replacements, service, and tech support, but our
> experience has been far from that. When something goes wrong tenK says
> 'it's not our product that's failing' because they don't actually
> manufacture the micro-inverter (it's an OEM), the micro-inverter company
> says 'it's not our product' because tenKsolar has it wired and used in a
> very unique manner specific to the tenKsolar product, so both manufacturers
> are backing away from any responsibility. A 25-year warranty on the
> inverter busbar is a great concept but if/when something goes wrong there
> is no support and no apparent warranty at all except maybe they will send
> us a new component that needs several hours of work to re-install, so
> either the installer does the warranty work for free or the customer has a
> very unexpected expense to get their system back up and running a year or
> two after it was installed; we think both scenarios are unacceptable (from
> our installer perspective :-), do any of you have experiences you can share
> here?
>
> I'm wondering if the climate in MN makes us an anomaly. Based on these
> micro-inverter experiences we feel like the Rapid Shutdown rule has forced
> us to use dc optimizers on residential applications whether we want to or
> not -- is that pretty much what all of you are doing too?
>
> Rebecca Lundberg
>
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