[RE-wrenches] SMA TL-22 insulation resistance error

[Dave Tedeyan]

Just an FYI, it is specifically an "insulation resistance" error that the
inverter is throwing, and not an "arc fault" error. Fortunately it is not
an arc fault. Meggering is not a bad idea, although due to the fact that
the fault is intermittent, that might not show anything?

Cheers,
Dave

On Wed, Dec 13, 2023 at 12:30 PM August Goers via RE-wrenches <
re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org> wrote:

> You might want to make sure that the SMA inverter has the latest firmware.
> It's been a long time since we've routinely installed these, but at one
> point arc faults were being falsely tripped and firmware updates from SMA
> helped with the issue.
>
>
> https://my.sma-service.com/s/article/Loading-Firmware-for-an-SB-US-TL22-or-STP-US-10-using-a-2-GB-SD-Card?language=en_US
>
> August
> Luminalt
>
>
> On Wed, Dec 13, 2023 at 9:07 AM Jay via RE-wrenches <
> re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org> wrote:
>
>> I think that using a megger etc to test the panels and wires is what I’d
>> do before I yanked out  all the
>> Wires.
>>
>> They are not that expensive anymore and maybe possible to rent one?
>>
>> Jay
>>
>> On Dec 13, 2023, at 8:53 AM, Dave Tedeyan via RE-wrenches <
>> re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org> wrote:
>>
>> 
>> Hi All,
>>
>> I am curious to hear if anyone else has run into this:
>>
>> This is the system I posted about a little while ago that had the
>> SolarWorld modules and all the module to module connectors were swollen and
>> melted. One of the inverters was giving an insulation resistance error, and
>> so after seeing the module connectors, I was sure that was the issue. We
>> replaced every single module connector with new MC4's, and then the error
>> came back!
>>
>> My next step was to swap in the junction box which strings go to which
>> inverter to identify whether the issue was on the roof or somewhere between
>> the roof jbox and the inverter. (the issue was isolated to only 1 of 4
>> strings previously). Turns out the same inverter is faulting, which leads
>> me to believe that there may be an issue with the wires in the DC conduit.
>> Maybe they got damaged by a rough wire pull at the initial installation 7
>> years ago, and its finally degraded enough to cause a problem. The fault is
>> intermittent, only showing up once every couple weeks or so, so it is
>> difficult to catch it while the fault is active.
>>
>> But my question is, could there also be something wrong with the inverter
>> itself? After spending a lot of time on this one, ideally, I would know
>> that replacing the DC wires will fix it. So I am curious if people have
>> done this, to still find that the issue was something internal to the
>> inverter.
>>
>> Thanks!
>> -Dave
>>
>> --
>> [image: Logo] <https://www.sungineersolar.com/>
>> Dave Tedeyan, P.E.
>> Owner | Sungineer Solar
>> p: he | him | his
>> a: 1653 Slaterville Rd. | Ithaca, NY 14850
>> w: www.sungineersolar.com <http://www.sungineersolar.com/>
>> c: (607) 270-0370
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-- 
[image: Logo] <https://www.sungineersolar.com/>
Dave Tedeyan, P.E.
Owner | Sungineer Solar
p: he | him | his
a: 1653 Slaterville Rd. | Ithaca, NY 14850
w: www.sungineersolar.com <http://www.sungineersolar.com/>
c: (607) 270-0370
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