Solar PV Inverter lifespan

mickyduck55

I am almost too scared to start this thread as it feels like I am tempting fate...

Back in time when I had my system installed (2011) one of the points that was often quoted was that during the lifetime of the FIT we would be looking at replacing our inverters after about 10 years, we are now at that time. 

Have long term users found this to be true of or were people being overly pessimistic re reliability?   At the time of install I 10 year guarantees were available I didn't take one.....

I have a Sunny Boy 4000TL-20.. which has probably only been switched off half a dozen times since install... so while touching wood and fingers crossed I am ask the question;)

Martyn1981

Funny you should mention SMA. About 5yrs or so back a statement appeared on their website saying that under European conditions they expected their inverters to have an average lifespan of ........ I forget the exact figure but I think it was about 20yrs. But a year or so later when I wanted to quote and link it in a discussion (such as this) it was gone. Perhaps their averages weren't holding up as more data came in, or my suspicion, the lawyers said take that down as it could be used against them if a customer said they'd based their decision on that statement, regardless of the length of the standard warranty ...... total speculation here by me.

I also recall something called the 'bathtub curve' for electrical goods failing. It goes like this, you have a steep but declining failure rate at the very start (one side of the bath), as faulty, damaged etc items fail in the first year, then a low flat failure rate for years (bottom of the bath), then a sudden steep rising failure rate (other side of the bath) as the items wear out. Hopefully we are still in the middle of the bath playing with our rubber duckies. 

mickyduck55

Hope so.. I am still delighted with my system.. and I will be back in the black again in a couple of years having spent my FIT on batteries...

Ectophile

Some of the early ones were rubbish.  My Power One Aurora came with a 5½ year warranty.  I wondered at the time why it was such a strange length.  Of course, it died after 6 years.

Maybe the Sunny Boy ones are better made.  But don't count on it lasting the full 20 years of the FIT payments.

mickyduck55

Ectophile said:

Some of the early ones were rubbish.  My Power One Aurora came with a 5½ year warranty.  I wondered at the time why it was such a strange length.  Of course, it died after 6 years.

Maybe the Sunny Boy ones are better made.  But don't count on it lasting the full 20 years of the FIT payments.

I think it has to last 25 years....  If it doesn't I will certainly replace it

Just adding to my comment.. the deafening silence is very reassuring.. concluding that there are not many issues so far and you are all too afraid to temp fate by stating "everything is fine" 

phsci

My Nedap PR37S was originally commissioned February 2011 and came with a 5 year warranty, later extended to 6 years after a factory-supported software upgrade at the end of April 2013.  Fingers crossed, it's still working today in a loft that sees temperatures between 4°C and 40°C over a year.  Nedap are no longer supplying into the UK market but to replace my inverter today with an equivalent from another supplier would be only maybe half the price that it would have cost originally.  My inverter failure anxiety is reducing every month!

legoman62

mickyduck55 said:

Ectophile said:

Some of the early ones were rubbish.  My Power One Aurora came with a 5½ year warranty.  I wondered at the time why it was such a strange length.  Of course, it died after 6 years.

Maybe the Sunny Boy ones are better made.  But don't count on it lasting the full 20 years of the FIT payments.

I think it has to last 25 years....  If it doesn't I will certainly replace it

Just adding to my comment.. the deafening silence is very reassuring.. concluding that there are not many issues so far and you are all too afraid to temp fate by stating "everything is fine" 

I have a Sunny boy 3800, installed in 2011 with no problems...he says.
It came with a 5 year warranty which I extended to 10 years for an additional £200.00.
10 and 15 year extensions were available but the price jumped dramatically.
My installer said I might  need 2 new ones over the 25 year period.
If and when it does fail I will probably go down the battery route.

Solarchaser

Ectophile said:

Some of the early ones were rubbish.  My Power One Aurora came with a 5½ year warranty.  I wondered at the time why it was such a strange length.  Of course, it died after 6 years.

Maybe the Sunny Boy ones are better made.  But don't count on it lasting the full 20 years of the FIT payments.

My power one/aurora/abb came with a ten year warranty,  it failed at year 5 thankfully, because it turned out the 10 year warranty was not worth the paper it was on.

However when the power one inverters fail, its mostly due to a couple of relays on the main pub which can be bought for a quid each.
And alot of the time its just the solder drying up.

I picked up a faulty one last month from a lad in Newcastle,  an hour taking it apart, resoldering the relays and putting it back together and I have a working inverter for £50

The sma inverters seem to be much better made though, and by god do they weigh a ton!!

mickyduck55

legoman62 said:

mickyduck55 said:

Ectophile said:

Some of the early ones were rubbish.  My Power One Aurora came with a 5½ year warranty.  I wondered at the time why it was such a strange length.  Of course, it died after 6 years.

Maybe the Sunny Boy ones are better made.  But don't count on it lasting the full 20 years of the FIT payments.

I think it has to last 25 years....  If it doesn't I will certainly replace it

Just adding to my comment.. the deafening silence is very reassuring.. concluding that there are not many issues so far and you are all too afraid to temp fate by stating "everything is fine" 

I have a Sunny boy 3800, installed in 2011 with no problems...he says.
It came with a 5 year warranty which I extended to 10 years for an additional £200.00.
10 and 15 year extensions were available but the price jumped dramatically.
My installer said I might  need 2 new ones over the 25 year period.
If and when it does fail I will probably go down the battery route.

My son and I had systems installed at the same time same company.. mine an addition of batteries his a PV and batteries  He has a Hybrid inverter and I asked the installers about changing mine to an updated modern Hybrid Inverter... they said I would loose the FIT.  Now not sure how true that is as I didn't pursue it for obvious reasons....

gefnew

Hi
I have the same invertor as you and installed November 2011 has run without any issues.
you can monitor its performance through sunny explorer which shows errors and other related facts.
looking through the the installation manual the only thing sma Highlite that may cause a problem is a set of varistors in the system.

3.8 Varistors

Varistors are voltage-dependent resistors that protect the inverters against overvoltage. The inverter is

equipped with 3 thermally monitored varistors.

The function of the varistors can diminish with age or repeated strain as a result of overvoltage. This

can cause varistor wear. The inverter detects if one of the varistors is defective and indicates a

interference.

The varistors are specially manufactured for use in the inverter and are not commercially available.

You must order new varistors directly from SMA Solar Technology AG.
Regards.

mickyduck55

Is this it ?