What happens if a microinverter fails?

Sterlingtimes

It hasn't happened yet. If a microinverter or its associated panel were to fail, would it always fail so as to be open-circuit, i.e. could the faulty components just be left on the roof forever? Losing one out of 14 may not be catastrophic: there would just be less generation.

pinnks

Good question. Aren't microinverters still in a string, i.e. in series, whereas SE are in parallel? If so it would seem likely that the system would go open-circuit and fail.

I am sure one the gurus will know.

gefnew

Hi sterlingtimes
Because they function independently, microinverters are inherently more reliable:
there's no single point of failure in a microinverter system. Plus, we're obsessive about quality, and our products reflect that.

• If one panel goes down, the others won't go down with it.
• Enphase microinverters undergo the most rigorous product testing in the industry.
• regards
• gefnew

Sterlingtimes

Thank you, gefnew, That is exactly what I wanted to know. So in the event of a failure, I might just decide to leave tyyhe broken components alone and let the remainder continue.

Heedtheadvice

So Enphase are obsessive about quality znd rigerous testing.
Not sure if the OP's inverters are Enphase?


To support the information that there is no singke point of failure perhaps info on failure mode analysis conducted would clarify what is most likely in terms of a failure?


Not only that the 'failure' might be nothing to do with the inverter failing such as it could be a cable fault (e.g. rodent damage) or water ingress or a whole host of ofher reasons......