<div dir="ltr">Thank you all for your suggestions, support and shared experiences. I have no resolution <div>at the moment, but will plan to update everyone with what I find out. Moving forward, I am </div><div>planning to look into noise on the AC side, as well as continue to look for patterns in terms</div><div>of days, time, and conditions for the faults.</div><div><br></div><div>I know that the inverters have fairly recent firmware (2.62.30R) but SMA is soon to push new</div><div>firmware to their -22 inverters. I already have the update and can install it next time I am there.</div><div>It will be interesting to see if new firmware will have any effect.</div><div><br></div><div>Cheers,</div><div>Dave</div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br clear="all"><div><div class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div><br></div><div><b><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif">--</font></b></div><div><b><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><br></font></b></div><div><b><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif">Dave Tedeyan</font><br></b></div><div><b>Project Engineer</b></div><div><br></div><div><b>Taitem Engineering, PC</b></div><div>109<font color="#000000"> S. Albany Street, Ithaca, NY 14850</font></div><div><font color="#000000">Voice: <a value="+16072771118">(607) 277-1118 x121</a></font></div><div><a href="http://www.taitem.com/" target="_blank"><font color="#000000">www.taitem.com</font></a></div></div></div></div>
<br><div class="gmail_quote">On Tue, Nov 15, 2016 at 10:40 AM, August Goers <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:august@luminalt.com" target="_blank">august@luminalt.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div lang="EN-US" link="blue" vlink="purple"><div class="m_5364707036800077870WordSection1"><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1f497d">Dave,</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1f497d"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1f497d">It is particularly interesting that you have two inverters with intermittent arc faults. I’ve been following this thread, and agree that looking for noise on the AC side makes sense. Definitely update firmware too!</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1f497d"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1f497d">That said, I thought I’d share a recent arc-fault story to this list. We had a very persistent arc fault occur about a year ago. We replaced the inverter, checked all DC-side wiring over and over, and could not find anything. The arc fault intermittently persisted. The client had a big fountain pump so we thought maybe that was the culprit. After a couple of months of troubleshooting we disabled arc fault detection and everything ran fine for about a year or so. Then, the client called us up and decided to expand his system. We added a few panels to the roof and rewired all the DC strings. During this process one of our installers found a melted MC4 connector:</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1f497d"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1f497d"><a href="https://goo.gl/photos/SR2ApXmoPcRcLZQu8" target="_blank">https://goo.gl/photos/<wbr>SR2ApXmoPcRcLZQu8</a></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1f497d"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1f497d">So, it turns out that we had a real arc fault after all! We had checked the MC4 connections over a year ago and did not find this connector assembly issue – apparently the terminal wasn’t fully seated into the connector. In all fairness, it would not be easy to see whether the connector was seated properly if the arcing wasn’t bad enough to show signs of wear. We are giving our crews regular safety talks and training on all sorts of splices and proper MC4 assembly methods to avoid arc-faults and loose connection issues. It takes a lot of persistence.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1f497d"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1f497d">August </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1f497d"> </span></p><div style="border:none;border-top:solid #b5c4df 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in"><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"">From:</span></b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif""> RE-wrenches [mailto:<a href="mailto:re-wrenches-bounces@lists.re-wrenches.org" target="_blank">re-wrenches-bounces@<wbr>lists.re-wrenches.org</a>] <b>On Behalf Of </b>Dave Tedeyan<br><b>Sent:</b> Thursday, November 10, 2016 10:14 AM<br><b>To:</b> RE-wrenches<br><b>Subject:</b> [RE-wrenches] SMA Arc-Fault</span></p></div><div><div class="h5"><p class="MsoNormal"> </p><div><p class="MsoNormal">Hi All, </p><div><p class="MsoNormal"> </p></div><div><p class="MsoNormal">Maybe someone will have some ideas for why a couple inverters keep arc faulting:</p></div><div><p class="MsoNormal"> </p></div><div><p class="MsoNormal">-There are two SB7000TL-22 inverters, Sunpower branded.</p></div><div><p class="MsoNormal">-3 Strings of 7 SPR-327's to each inverter. Kept separate until the inverter.</p></div><div><p class="MsoNormal">-Ground mount about 50' from the shed where the inverters are located (indoors)</p></div><div><p class="MsoNormal">-Simple grid connected system, no batteries.</p></div><div><p class="MsoNormal">-There is a whole house generator co-located in the shed.</p></div><div><p class="MsoNormal">-We interconnect by using piercing taps on the line side of the generator transfer switch</p></div><div><p class="MsoNormal">-There has been only one power outage there since the system was installed in April, but the generator fires up weekly.</p></div><div><p class="MsoNormal"> </p></div><div><p class="MsoNormal">-The arc faults have been happening on both inverters. Sometimes only one at a time, sometimes both will go within a day of each other.</p></div><div><p class="MsoNormal">-The events have been approximately one a month, but sometimes more, sometimes less.</p></div><div><p class="MsoNormal"> </p></div><div><p class="MsoNormal">-We have already checked every single connection in the system twice, by two different people.</p></div><div><p class="MsoNormal">-We have replaced the underground wires (and they looked just fine)</p></div><div><p class="MsoNormal">-We have replaced all home runs.</p></div><div><p class="MsoNormal">-We have replaced both inverters.</p></div><div><p class="MsoNormal">-Arc faults are still happening.</p></div><div><p class="MsoNormal">-Arc faults are not always on the same day/time of the week.</p></div><div><p class="MsoNormal"> </p></div><div><p class="MsoNormal">I am wondering if this can be caused by the generator? </p></div><div><p class="MsoNormal">Has anyone run into a situation like this or something similar?</p></div><div><p class="MsoNormal"> </p></div><div><p class="MsoNormal">Thanks for your help,</p></div><div><p class="MsoNormal">Dave</p></div><div><div><div><div><div><p class="MsoNormal"> </p></div><div><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">--</span></b></p></div><div><p class="MsoNormal"> </p></div><div><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Dave Tedeyan</span></b></p></div><div><p class="MsoNormal"><b>Project Engineer</b></p></div><div><p class="MsoNormal"> </p></div><div><p class="MsoNormal"><b>Taitem Engineering, PC</b></p></div><div><p class="MsoNormal">109<span style="color:black"> S. Albany Street, Ithaca, NY 14850</span></p></div><div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black">Voice: <a href="tel:%28607%29%20277-1118%20x121" value="+16072771118" target="_blank">(607) 277-1118 x121</a></span></p></div><div><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://www.taitem.com/" target="_blank"><span style="color:black">www.taitem.com</span></a></p></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>
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