[RE-wrenches] AP Smart failure

[Jeremy Coxon]

Bill,

This was the subject of a thread last year on this forum.  Briefly- we had a very negative experience with APSmart RSD last year.  SMA inverter threw all sorts of weird errors after about a week of normal operation.  It would operate normally if a hard reset was preformed each morning.  Spent many hours on SMA tech support calls. Changed inverter, problem persisted.  We then attempted to get support from APSmart in concert with SMA level 2 folks, but very high language barrier and zero accountability - we purchased their high output signal device and spent time installing that even though we had a good RSD signal from the inverter.  We checked every connection, wire, panel, etc and found nothing.  Eventually, inverter threw an arc fault code so We went back up on roof, removed panels and found that one of the APSmart RSD’s had essentially exploded. There was molten plastic on the roof, a big flame mark under 2 panels and on the roof.  Thankfully, it was a metal roof with no leafy materials so 911 wasn’t called!  Bottom line, I won’t ever be using their equipment agin.  They completely failed to understand the magnitude of this failure, which is what bothered me the most.  The customer lost all faith in going solar and was on the brink of asking us to remove the system. We lost money and a lot of good referrals on that job. So yeah, I’m NOT a fan.

 Hopefully you’ll be able to see this pic:
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Jeremy Coxon NABCEP 
Certified MWBE

Sent from my iPhone

> On Feb 8, 2022, at 10:20 AM, frenergy <frenergy at psln.com> wrote:
> 
> If an AP Smart fails does it sometimes or always take out the string.  And how is it found in the string?  Any melted or near fire type failures out there?
> 
> Bill
> 
> Feather River Solar Electric
> Bill Battagin, Owner
> 4291 Nelson St.
> Taylorsville, CA 95983
> 530.284.7849
> CA Lic 874049
> www.frenergy.net
> 
> 
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