Solar panels

[rotten_66]

From what I have read and seen the "best" inverters are SMA or Aurora, Xantrex and Latronics seem to be the next level down.
Aero-sharp though seems to be very hit and miss, on the Whirlpool and ATA (Alternative Technology Association) discussion sites I have read of people being on their 3rd one in about a year due to failures, so it is one brand that I am going to avoid,


Ron

[ian]

Artme
is your inverter exposed to the sun?

we were talking solar panels at work today and "apparently" if the inverter gets too hot it plays up.
I'm not sure what "too hot" means, but the colleague who has had his system since early last year has had to put a roof over the inverter to protect it from direct sun light

[rotten_66]

Inverters produce heat as they process the electricity that you generate from DC to AC, and they need to be able to exchange this heat to the surrounding air to cool. Direct sunlight adds extra heat and this can cause them to overheat and shut down for safety reasons. Some brands have big vanes to dissipate the heat, some a small fan to move air about check your own one to see what it has.

Try to avoid those with a cooling fan as it adds moving parts and uses power and one more thing to fail or wear out,

Ron

[artme]

Ok Fellas, some answers. Sorry they are bit tardy in arriving but we have had no end of internet problems.

I believed I was getting a Xantrax inverter but I think it may be an Aero-sharp! Bummer!

Inverter is on the souther side of the house. No direct sun. Temp peading is always 32* or below.

No shade on panels.

Rang company again and they will send out a technician. Thing seem to be working rndomly ATM.

[malb]

It would be usefull if there was a way to track through the hstory in the machine to get error codes for the fault.

Some possible causes of precautionary shutdown include,

Mains voltage out of inverter acceptable range (high or low), or supply disruptions

High mains harmonic/noise content ( ineffectively filtered inverters/SCR speed controllers in the neighbourhood)

High mains DC content (someone operating half wave rectified equipment/SCR speed controllers in neighbourhood)

Panel DC voltage below inverter tracking range

Panel Dc voltage above inverter maximum input voltage

Over temperature

To qualify for rebates etc the inverter used has to be on an approved devices list. The units on the list are capable of taking medium voltage DC power and converting it to mains power, but there is range of units and prices. One thing that distinguishes the high end units from the low end ones on the list is their capability for handling adverse conditions.

If you were told that you were getting Xantrex and you received something else without prior consultation, check what is listed in the initial purchase contract (not the installation manifest) and take action if you were not supplied the equipment you were supposed to.