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Hi guys

I'm interested to hear if many of you are returning to faults on either your own or installs by others? If so, what kind of faults are occuring?

Just trying to build up a picture or any recurring theme of faults to help with some research we are going.

Any input greatly appreciated.

Sean @ Access Renewables
 
We've done a couple where we have changed inverters, mostly when there is a big ugly chimney bang smack in the middle and the system has been put on a single MPPT inverter.
 
on our systems...

1 x inverter fault, 1 x electrical fault due to installer error which caused the CPD to trip, 1 x meter needing to be moved to a more accessible location, and multiple faults with the remote display units for both SMA and Power-One. We've also had a couple of isolators fail on installation, but I think they were probably all down to the sparks drilling above them while the covers were off, so a load of brick dust got in and clogged up the mechanism.

on someone elses install
we got called out to what turned out to be a totally burned out MC4 connector on the roof on someone elses installation, where the cable had been left hanging on the roof, and it hadn't been tightened fully to form a seal around the cables, allowing water in to the connector when it rained we think.
 
on our systems...

1 x inverter fault, 1 x electrical fault due to installer error which caused the CPD to trip, 1 x meter needing to be moved to a more accessible location, and multiple faults with the remote display units for both SMA and Power-One. We've also had a couple of isolators fail on installation, but I think they were probably all down to the sparks drilling above them while the covers were off, so a load of brick dust got in and clogged up the mechanism.
.

Just one inverter fault? I don't know if you've been lucky or if we've been unlucky. We've had to replace 3x Power Ones, 2 SMAs, 1x Chinese inverter that I can't remember the name of and one Kostal Piko.

Forgot to mention in my original post. We have been back dozens of times to faulty remote displays and have now removed them from our guarantee.
 
Just one inverter fault? I don't know if you've been lucky or if we've been unlucky. We've had to replace 3x Power Ones, 2 SMAs, 1x Chinese inverter that I can't remember the name of and one Kostal Piko.

Forgot to mention in my original post. We have been back dozens of times to faulty remote displays and have now removed them from our guarantee.

We used to give away the Wattson meters for free- That was stupid of me- that's all we really get problems with, we no longer offer them
 
Just one inverter fault? I don't know if you've been lucky or if we've been unlucky. We've had to replace 3x Power Ones, 2 SMAs, 1x Chinese inverter that I can't remember the name of and one Kostal Piko.

Forgot to mention in my original post. We have been back dozens of times to faulty remote displays and have now removed them from our guarantee.
well, one I can remember. Actually, I think it might be 2, but involving the same inverter that got sent back to sma, then returned with a no fault found, then had to be sent back again.

ah, removing the remote display units from the guarantee... now there's an idea.
 
We have replaced 2 x steca 10,000 due to computer failier and one steca 2000 master that didn`t work strait out of the box, i think we have been lucky up to now, all other types of inverters have worked ok, had lots of trouble with sunnybeams.
 
We must have been very lucky - no replacements of any kind at all, thought we might have to replace an inverter but it turned out to be a simple setting issue that the customer hadn't understood. Mind you we won't have done as many jobs as a lot of you - just under 100. We haven't installed monitors on very many of our systems I think they are massively overpriced for what they do and seeing what you're all saying about having to go back to them I'm pleased we didn't.
 
Same with us really - Not a high volume of jobs. Did have a faulty Fronius inverter straight out of the box once. Fronius sorted out a replacement quickly.

We also generally tend not to bother with monitoring devices unless asked. Had no end of trouble with a Sunnybeam not picking up a signal seemingly due to an RSJ mounted between it and the inverter.
 
Comms problems on remote systems - bains of our lives. Usually down to internal IT people not kowing how their system are configured and what protocols the firewalls need to let through, either that or poor quality of of service from ISP meaning that routers need to be continually rebooted - then the comms needs to come up in a specific order .. We've automated it all now and problems appear to have gone away :) . Though the IT departments, ISP's and Inverter / monitoring system suppliers weren't much help..
 
In that case we have been very unlucky. The manufacturers have all suggested as much. It has been a right pain to sort them - one of them was in York and another two of them were in Swindon.
 
As margins start being squeezed these are the sort of things that are going to really put the industry under strain. Can you afford to drive 200 miles and take a day out to change a faulty isolator?
 
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I drove 4 hours to scotland yesterday to swap a solar edge power box (30 mins max) and drove back another 4 hours ... £200 in fuel!!!

mmmmm !!!
 
On one job we swapped 1 power stage set last year and it has just had another 2 about a fortnight ago on a Fronius cl 36 which is fed from a east facing thin film array and has been spitting out random fault codes periodically since it went in , yet the other cl 36 sat next it fed from a west facing array has been 100% spot on since it went in .
And a ig 20 with total failure , yet again Fronius as i would not touch anything else when we were installing .

I can not fault Fronius on their warranty , they have stood both without question , and even reimbursed us around £120+vat for our trouble on the first cl 36 power stage set , and when you bear in mind our yard and that array is only about a 8 mile journey away from their main Head Quarters in Milton Keynes i thought that was quite reasonable !
 
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I drove 4 hours to scotland yesterday to swap a solar edge power box (30 mins max) and drove back another 4 hours ... £200 in fuel!!!

mmmmm !!!


Time for an installers network - there's probably enough of us here that respect each other - to carry out other's maintainance ...
 

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