[RE-wrenches] 208V residential service

[Dave Tedeyan]

Hi all,

Unfortunately this sounds like it is occasionally done on purpose by the
utility, and I don't have much leverage to get them to change it. Good to
know. I am trying to get details from them though about whether they would
drop in a 240V transformer and what the cost will be.

In the meantime I thought I would report that I left the system on to see
what would happen. Interestingly, yesterday morning the voltage was 206V,
and yet the microinverters started producing power. Enphase's datasheet
shows that the voltage range is 211-264V, but maybe those are not hard
limits. I then had to disable power production. Once we get utility
approval, I'll run it for a little bit to see if it continues to work,
before putting in a transformer.

Enphase's spec sheet shows both a max continuous power and a max continuous
current (349w, 1.45a). Does anyone know which one is the limit? Say the
system runs at 208V instead of 240V, will the microinverters just put out
less max power, or will they continue to put out 349w in the right
conditions which would be 1.68a at 208v?

Cheers,
Dave

On Thu, Oct 17, 2024 at 11:21 PM Jerry Shafer via RE-wrenches <
re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org> wrote:

> Hey team 208 volts,
>  Hawaii does this all the time usually in multi level walk ups,  and this
> will result in low output from your range, water heater and dryer. It's a
> cheap and easy solution for packem in and stackum up housing.
> Remember 208 volts can be L to L, it can also be L to N and its the same
> volts but not interchangeable or transferable. Years ago SMA made a box to
> make the 208 to N work on the early 6000U's, it did work then later on they
> got FW and HW internally to work.
> Fun times
>
> On Thu, Oct 17, 2024, 10:02 AM Steven Lawrence via RE-wrenches <
> re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org> wrote:
>
>> This is very common in and around the NYC area.  You'll need a 240V to
>> 208V transformer.  It'll be faster and nowhere near as expensive as paying
>> ConEd to drop a new bucket transformer for you.
>> On future projects, be sure to look at the electrical service
>>
>> Steven Lawrence
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