[RE-wrenches] SolarEdge inverter blowing fuses

[Jason Szumlanski]

Ugh - no joke - we just found another one this morning with a blown fuse.
Pic attached. It's really a nightmare.

Check out how discolored the top of the left fuse is (again). Always the
same fault...

Jason Szumlanski
Florida Solar Design Group




On Mon, Nov 1, 2021 at 8:43 PM Jason Szumlanski <
jason at floridasolardesigngroup.com> wrote:

> See attached image. Notice the discoloration on the top of the left fuse.
> It's always the same thing, same place.
>
> Jason
>
> On Mon, Nov 1, 2021, 8:30 PM Jason Szumlanski <
> jason at floridasolardesigngroup.com> wrote:
>
>> I should also mention that it has nothing to do with ambient heat. This
>> has occured in all seasons and with disconnects in direct sunlight on a
>> south wall and disconnects in air conditioned garages.
>>
>> It's just a garbage product. We switched to Square D for 60A D222NRB
>> fusible disconnects and are also using their 100A circuit breaker
>> enclosures which are cost effective. The D223NRB is also a good fusible
>> disconnect, but pricey.
>>
>> Jason
>>
>>
>> On Mon, Nov 1, 2021, 8:24 PM Jason Szumlanski <
>> jason at floridasolardesigngroup.com> wrote:
>>
>>> It's the disconnect. We had dozens of this subpar disconnect design fail
>>> on Enphase systems. The 2 Pole has the same issue.
>>>
>>> GE gave us some nonsense answer that it's General Duty and not designed
>>> for continuous high power. Even 40A combined Enphase systems will blow a
>>> 60A fuse.
>>>
>>> What you will find is the fuse will blow on one side and then
>>> replacements will blow at decreasing intervals until it blows daily. Our
>>> experience is the left side (of the 2-pole)  is far more problematic for
>>> some odd reason. It's not the fuse brand either.
>>>
>>> I believe the design fault is how the blades only hit a single contact
>>> on one side when they close. The Square D alternative has the blade
>>> slipping between two contacts.
>>>
>>> Sadly we have had to replace so many of these and most are supply side
>>> interconnections, which make it tricky and expensive.
>>>
>>> Jason Szumlanski
>>> Florida Solar Design Group
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On Mon, Nov 1, 2021, 4:26 PM Dave Tedeyan <dave at sungineersolar.com>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Hi All,
>>>>
>>>> I am servicing a system that keeps blowing fuses on the AC side,
>>>> although it
>>>>  appears that everything is sized correctly. It is a SolarEdge
>>>> SE11400A-US inverter.
>>>>  Max continuous output current is 47.5A x 1.25 = 59.4A. There is a GE
>>>> TG3222R
>>>>  60A AC disconnect, and it is wired up with #6 THHN wire. The terminals
>>>> were tight
>>>>  and there was no evidence of arcing or burning in the past. This is
>>>> indoors, and not
>>>>  exposed to sunlight. No extra conductors are in the conduit.
>>>>
>>>> But they say that they need to replace a fuse roughly once per month.
>>>> Has anyone
>>>>  seen this before? Could there be some kind of fault in the inverter
>>>> itself that
>>>>  occasionally induces extra current? Is there any way to tweak the
>>>> settings so that it
>>>>  actually produces a bit more than 11.4kw? I appreciate your thoughts.
>>>>
>>>> Cheers,
>>>> 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) 288-2898
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