SMA Sunny Boy Earth fault / Water penetration

[VMan]

Afternoon all,
Just thought i would share my afternoon with you all.
so i have 2 x SMA Sunnyboy 1200 inveters both situated outside next to each other(IP rated of course), when i noticed an earth fault today.

Following the manual, i tested the string, + to PE and - to PE, both 0 Volts

So went onto page 59 - testing the varisitor inside.

When I started to loosen the lid of the inverter, a shed load of water came out of the inverter!!

The inverter has never been opened before since receiving it from the wholesaler!!

Ended up drying the inside of the inverter and there you have it, earth fault fixed!

Just a heads up for you all.

V.:banghead:

 

[SibertSolar]

Oh dear, sorry to hear that. You say "IP" rated but exactly what rating are they on paper? Is it IP65?

 

[VMan]

Yea it IP65, i opened the second inverter to check that, and no water at all!

 

[SibertSolar]

How strange!

 

[moggy1968]

have you spoken to SMA.
If it has leaked once it will leak again.
I would be inclined to drill a drain hole in it.

 

[SolarCity]

Perhaps the inverter lid wasn't fixed correctly in the first place?

 

[VMan]

Perhaps the inverter lid wasn't fixed correctly in the first place?

I think this was the case, will open her up again after a few days of rain to see in there has been any penetration

 

[poheZ]

i expect somewhere it will tell you to check the tightness of all screws

 

[JulianC]

It's normal for a Sunny Boy 1200 to be opened up somewhere between leaving the factory and being commissioned in order to set the language to English on the DIP switches. Sounds like whoever did it didn't put the lid back properly.