No output from Solar Panels?

Nellybee

Hello
I was wondering if any of you knowledgeable people can give me a idea why i have no output from my panels.They were ok up until Monday then i noticed i was getting no output in kw on the downstairs display.So i went to check the invertor and the message on there was no output for 24hrs .Could all 10 panels stop working at the same time or if 1 was down would it still output from the other 9. Theres also a click from the invertor now and again .Any help would be appreciated......thanks

Martyn1981

Hiya, couple of initial checks. Is there any chance that the weather has been bad enough to reduce generation to zero? It would have to be very grey, but possible, and the inverter my click as it tries to switch on, but isn't seeing quite enough power to start generating.

Another quick fix, is there any chance that a fuse (MCB, RCB etc) has tripped? Have you looked at the consumer unit, if that's where the PV is wired into, to see if it's trip, has tripped?

Anything look strange about the generation meter? I'm not sure what to look for here, does it still have the previous total up till Monday?


Others will hopefully have quick check ideas too. After that it could be an inverter fault, is there any error message on the display, or perhaps a break in the circuit, panel failure, connector coming apart etc, which might need an engineer!

Best of luck.

mickyduck

My system has done this once before happily just turning off the inverter and turning back on again sorted it......

Ectophile

To turn it off and on again, turn off both the AC and DC isolators that should have been fitted to your system. Wait a bit, then turn them on again.

lstar337

Ectophile wrote: »

To turn it off and on again, turn off both the AC and DC isolators that should have been fitted to your system. Wait a bit, then turn them on again.

For the OP's information, is there a sequence for this?

Logic for me says COLOR="DarkRed"]Removed due to Mart's clarification[/COLOR But that is a total guess!

Martyn1981

lstar337 wrote: »

For the OP's information, is there a sequence for this?

Logic for me says DC OFF -> AC OFF -> PAUSE -> AC ON -> DC ON But that is a total guess!

My system has lots of warning stickers saying that you shouldn't switch the DC off whilst the inverter is under load. So it's AC off, DC off, DC on, AC on.

In the case of a power cut, then that too would be AC off, though of course artificially, not via the isolators.

Speaking of isolators, that's another possible source for the problem, didn't someone on here once say that their isolator burnt out because it hadn't been wired up properly (or was that on Navitron). So the isolator is a potential location for a broken circuit.

Ectophile

Mine doesn't have any stickers like that. But it makes sense. DC is more prone to arcing across the switch contacts if switched off under load. On AC, the arc extinguishes itself pretty quickly.

jimjames

I've had this happen to me before. I did the standard off-on cycle but it didnt fix it so ended up calling out the installers to look. They did the same but for a longer period which sorted it.
So if it doesn't work with a short off/on cycle then leave it a few hours or overnight and see if that is any different.

EricMears

Martyn1981 wrote: »

Speaking of isolators, that's another possible source for the problem, didn't someone on here once say that their isolator burnt out because it hadn't been wired up properly (or was that on Navitron). So the isolator is a potential location for a broken circuit.

If it was an isolator fault, I'd really expect the inverter not to be showing any messages but post #1 seems to be saying that it was reporting zero output and I'm sure he/she would have mentioned if it was completely dead.

I suppose it is possible that the inverter has some sort of internal battery which keeps the message screen working but that ought to run out pretty soon.

I'd certainly agree with switching the system off then back on again (and repeating with a longer down period if necessary) before calling out the original installer.


To answer a point from #1 that doesn't seem to have had a response : if it's a single string inverter then just one faulty panel (or one broken cable) would indeed stop any of them from generating. If it's a dual string job then only half of them would be affected.

jimjames

EricMears wrote: »

To answer a point from #1 that doesn't seem to have had a response : if it's a single string inverter then just one faulty panel (or one broken cable) would indeed stop any of them from generating. If it's a dual string job then only half of them would be affected.

Interested to clarify this. I've not got on to the roof to check wiring but if one cable was broken then would that not just reduce the output so any panels on that cable no longer generated? Or are all panels connected to each other in a ring?

EricMears

jimjames wrote: »

Interested to clarify this. I've not got on to the roof to check wiring but if one cable was broken then would that not just reduce the output so any panels on that cable no longer generated? Or are all panels connected to each other in a ring?

It's my understanding that SPs are connected in series. If it's a single string inverter then all panels will be in the same circuit. A dual (or even multi ?) string inverter will still have SPs in series but the individual circuits will be independent of each other. Hence one faulty SP or one broken wire will shut down a whole circuit (which may or may not mean the inverter becomes completely out of action).

Situation may of course be different if you have something like Solar Edge.