Solar Problem

firefox1956

Had a solar system installed April 2011.
All worked fine until this morning ( was actually working yesterday) when I noticed the sun shining (!!) & thought I would see how much I was generating.
Inverter seems to have shut down shut down.
Turned everything off & back on according to shutdown & starup procedures but nothing.
No green / red / or blue lights at all on inverter but the screen lights up.
Inverter type & picture of inverter screen attached.
No error codes that I can see.......
Anybody any ideas what might be wrong ??
https://www.dropbox.com/s/8xshph76hxtsagy/2016-02-14%2011.01.05.jpg?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/corc959t5ocd90i/IMG_20160214_110200169.jpg?dl=0

pinnks

Have you checked the trip switch at your distribution box - the solar must have one, though that said, if that is off then I would not expect to see anything lit on the inverter screen...

firefox1956

Checked the trip covering the PV all OK.
Double checked everything........complete mystery.
But its looking like there is no power coming from the solar panels to me.
Maybe some wires from them become disconnected ???

pinnks

Possible of course but seems unlikely unless something or someone has been at them. Vermin chewing the wires perhaps?

firefox1956

Double checked all the wiring, as far as I can anyway.
Looks like the supply is coming from the panels OK but it would appear that the inverter is 'dead'.
I will contact SMA on Monday. They seem to have a pretty good support system.
Thanks for your help & suggestions.

pinnks

Do you use Sunny Explorer over Bluetooth or LAN? It's a free Windows- only download from their site. It has some status etc information which might give you an idea of what is going on. Equally, if you are web-connected with the inverter you can see some error logging etc in Sunny Portal. Otherwise I have found the support guys at SMA to be really helpful and usually quick to respond.

firefox1956

Now that was a good idea !!!
Never used the Sunny Explorer or the bluetooth connection but set it all up last night.
I have downloaded all the inverter data & will contact SMA today re my problem.

firefox1956

Update....
Guys that installed the solar system 4 years & 10 months ago have been out & tested the system.
Agreed that the inverter has packed up completely & they are arranging with SMA to replace it under the 5 year warranty.
I would have expected it to have lasted longer..........

Exiled_Tyke

Well at least your getting a new inverter five years down the line. Sounds like a good result to me.

legoman62

firefox1956 wrote: »

Update....
Guys that installed the solar system 4 years & 10 months ago have been out & tested the system.
Agreed that the inverter has packed up completely & they are arranging with SMA to replace it under the 5 year warranty.
I would have expected it to have lasted longer..........

Good news....Best time of the year for an inverter to fail too:D

My SMA inverter is in it's 5th year:eek:

gefnew

Good morning
Some information about sma inverters,if your inverter is under 5 years old you can still extend the warranty if you visit the sma GB web site.
Regards
Gefnew