Inverter not turning off at night?

[iamadoorknob]

I'm looking at my system's output and noticed it's still producing some power at night (about .002 kwh every hour). Is that just normal background noise? There is a street light right outside my house which could potentially be causing it, but would that really cause my inverter to not shut off at night? Also, will this make my inverter wear out faster?

[sensij]

What is the source of your monitoring data? What you are seeing is more likely to be consumption of the inverter in night time mode than generation.

[skipro3]

You need to provide specific information on the equipment that your system consists of. Usually for a system to generate electricity, a panel needs to produce a minimum voltage for the inverter to work with.

It's more likely that there is either a miswiring or bad component within the inverter, taking AC mains from the electric company through a leaky diode for example.

[sensij]

It's more likely that there is either a miswiring or bad component within the inverter, taking AC mains from the electric company through a leaky diode for example.

Although that is more likely than generating power from a street light, it is still not likely at all. There is nothing wrong with a grid-tie inverter that draws <5 W at night.

[skipro3]

I thought he was indicating he's generating power, not simply drawing power. I'm sure an inverter draws some power after dark, but if the inverter is showing it's generating power, then the source is from something. I can't imagine it's though the solar panels from street lights, leaving the power provided from the utility company.

[sensij]

OP has a SolarEdge inverter. SolarEdge inverters do not report anything at night, so the system output data must be coming from 3rd party monitoring, probably using a CT. If the CT isn't configured to detect bi-directional flow, it would report *any* current as generation, even if the direction of flow is consumption.

[skipro3]

I assumed he looked at his Solaredge inverter display to determine it was generating. You think he's not?

Why would he post a question saying he's looking at his system's output if he were looking at something other than his system's display??

Don't answer that. I bet you are right; he's taking some 3rd party monitoring as true data instead of checking the raw data straight from the inverter's display.

[Naptown]

I have seen this with a full moon with a sunnyboy inverter. A 5 kw system producing anout 40 watts.

[sparkle]

in line with what sensij said, my monitoring system also shows tiny power at night (inverter is completely off ). my assumption is, it just measures electricity flowing through it to power the monitoring system itself.
to confirm this, you can try turning inverter off and see if monitoring system still shows that value.