SolarEdge Inverter Failure

[Ryoga]

My SolarEdge inverter went to 0 power output 3 days ago, which may seem to be a just a random failure until you consider the history. This is the third SolarEdge inverter to have failed while in use at my home in three years. Every year the inverter has failed in either July or August, which is the hottest time of the year where I live. Assuming there isn't another problem in the solar energy setup, it appears that the inverter seems to have a problem with operating at high ambient temperatures. Why can't SolarEdge make a reliable inverter? I didn't install this system, and so far the inverter has been replaced each year under warranty, but the whole experience is not what I expected.

[solar pete]

Hello Ryoga, and welcome to solar panel talk. Sorry to hear about your experiences, we have a few Solar Edge experts roaming these halls but I am not one of them (personally not a fan of there service department) however to be able to offer any usefull help we need to know a lot more detail, things like
1. Where are you (country, state, county)
2. Exact configuration of the system, eg how may panels, what type and wattage, exact model of the inverter and the power optimisers
3. How is it stung how many panels in a string
4. Who installed it, are they professional with lots of experience or are they brand new to solar
5. Do you have any shade issue, do some of the panels get shaded at different parts of the day
6. Where is the inverter mounted, is it protected from the elements, or is it in full sun or full rain when its raining

We need to know all this stuff in order to offer anything meaningful, cheers

[J.P.M.]

Another entry in the list of posts about SolarEdge problems.

[Ryoga]

My first post was mostly just venting about the absolute consistency (3 failures in three years) I have had so far on the inverter. All the specific information is as follows:
1. Where are you (country, state, county) - I am in USA, California, eastern Kern county (earthquake central in the Mojave desert)

2. Exact configuration of the system, eg how may panels, what type and wattage, exact model of the inverter and the power optimisers
The system consists of 16:290W SolarWorld (SW290SILVER) panels, 16:P300-2NM4ARS SolarEdge optimizers, and a SolarEdge SE3800H-US inverter.

3. How is it stung how many panels in a string
The panels are laid out as 2 rows of 8. I haven't gone up on the roof to verify the string arrangement, but I suspect it was done as two eight panel strings. It is 103F outside so any rooftop examination would have to done first thing in the morning.

4. Who installed it, are they professional with lots of experience or are they brand new to solar
I don't want to list the installer by name unless I have some confidence that the installation is the source of the failures. Needless to say, this installer has been doing systems in my city for a while and has used SolarEdge inverters exclusively for string installations. The person who does the monitoring setup with SolarEdge for the installer told me he had the same inverter and panel configuration at his house and has not experienced problems.

5. Do you have any shade issue, do some of the panels get shaded at different parts of the day
Generally there is almost no shade on the panels except for very early in the morning or late in the afternoon. The panels are located on the east side of the roof with a north/south ridge line. The power output graphs on the SolarEdge monitoring site typically shows a half sine wave for each day with a small deviation at the end of the day when some shading starts occurring.

6. Where is the inverter mounted, is it protected from the elements, or is it in full sun or full rain when its raining
The inverter is located on the east side of the house under the eaves of the roof. It does get full sun first thing in the morning, but it is usually in the shade by noon. The only way it could get wet is from a lot of wind during a rainstorm, but considering we only get about 4 inches of rain per year even this is unlikely.

[Ryoga]

Correction to number 3 above. I looked at the panels this morning and I think the wiring conforms to a U shape with one end going into a junction box. So it looks like all 16 panels are connected in one string.

[nwdiver]

My first post was mostly just venting about the absolute consistency (3 failures in three years) I have had so far on the inverter. All the specific information is as follows:
1. Where are you (country, state, county) - I am in USA, California, eastern Kern county (earthquake central in the Mojave desert)

2. Exact configuration of the system, eg how may panels, what type and wattage, exact model of the inverter and the power optimisers
The system consists of 16:290W SolarWorld (SW290SILVER) panels, 16:P300-2NM4ARS SolarEdge optimizers, and a SolarEdge SE3800H-US inverter.

3. How is it stung how many panels in a string
The panels are laid out as 2 rows of 8. I haven't gone up on the roof to verify the string arrangement, but I suspect it was done as two eight panel strings. It is 103F outside so any rooftop examination would have to done first thing in the morning.

4. Who installed it, are they professional with lots of experience or are they brand new to solar
I don't want to list the installer by name unless I have some confidence that the installation is the source of the failures. Needless to say, this installer has been doing systems in my city for a while and has used SolarEdge inverters exclusively for string installations. The person who does the monitoring setup with SolarEdge for the installer told me he had the same inverter and panel configuration at his house and has not experienced problems.

5. Do you have any shade issue, do some of the panels get shaded at different parts of the day
Generally there is almost no shade on the panels except for very early in the morning or late in the afternoon. The panels are located on the east side of the roof with a north/south ridge line. The power output graphs on the SolarEdge monitoring site typically shows a half sine wave for each day with a small deviation at the end of the day when some shading starts occurring.

6. Where is the inverter mounted, is it protected from the elements, or is it in full sun or full rain when its raining
The inverter is located on the east side of the house under the eaves of the roof. It does get full sun first thing in the morning, but it is usually in the shade by noon. The only way it could get wet is from a lot of wind during a rainstorm, but considering we only get about 4 inches of rain per year even this is unlikely.

That's frustrating; Hopefully just bad luck, we just installed our first SE inverter last month... so far so good. The temperatures in your area are high but still should be far lower than what the inverter is designed for. Are you back up and running yet? At least everything is covered under warranty but I'm sure the lost production sucks...

Still anecdotal but this does appear to be more points in favor of SMA which IMO is still the king of grid-tie inverters at least in terms of cost and reliability. I've got ~100 inverter-years with SMA with 0 problems.

[Ryoga]

System is still down at this point, which is particularly bad when you consider this is the time of year that it should be at its highest power production. The latest SE inverter worked about 10 straight months with no problems. The monitoring available for end users from SE is probably okay for most people since it shows daily power production. For me, I don't consider this sufficient because I want to know the power output on each panel as a diagnostic tool.

[nwdiver]

System is still down at this point, which is particularly bad when you consider this is the time of year that it should be at its highest power production. The latest SE inverter worked about 10 straight months with no problems. The monitoring available for end users from SE is probably okay for most people since it shows daily power production. For me, I don't consider this sufficient because I want to know the power output on each panel as a diagnostic tool.

You should be able to get that. I was able to provide that access to our first SE customer.

[ButchDeal]

System is still down at this point, which is particularly bad when you consider this is the time of year that it should be at its highest power production. The latest SE inverter worked about 10 straight months with no problems. The monitoring available for end users from SE is probably okay for most people since it shows daily power production. For me, I don't consider this sufficient because I want to know the power output on each panel as a diagnostic tool.

The monitoring provided by solaredge includes module level monitoring and configurable alerts with graphs and everything. Ask your installer to grant full & owner level access to you so you can see all of it ( which they should have done already).