Solar PV Inverter lifespan

gefnew

here is the link i used to see  manual.
SUNNY BOY 3000TL/4000TL/5000TL - Installation Manual (renewableenergyhub.co.uk)

Solarchaser

mickyduck55 said:

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....

Nope, not true.
However if you were to charge the battery through mains and discharge through fit meter, then you would lose fit as meter is seeing more than the solar generation 

gefnew

Mine looks like this.

gefnew

Hi mickyduck
here a bit more info on fault codes for future ref.
/www.inbalance-energy.co.uk/Inverter-Faults/sma-sunnyboy-inverter-faults-repairs.html

mickyduck55

It Looks OK

jimjames

Sunny Boy HF3000 here, installed in 2011. Mine is outside so does have a bit more abuse with the weather but so far so good. 

gefnew

HI micky duck
My solar immersion diverter fitted 2013 still going strong no problems.

mickyduck55

gefnew said:

HI micky duck
My solar immersion diverter fitted 2013 still going strong no problems.

I had no luck with my first two diverters.. both failed just out of warranty.....  https://solarimmersion.co.uk/ return to factory repair I think £70... the Solic is fine but not compatible with battery storage

EVandPV

Fronius inverter here installed Feb 2012 and still going strong (touches plenty of wood).
 It's in our loft and I hardly ever look at it from one year to the next. 
Is there much involved in replacing them when the time comes or is it a job for a spark ?

Dave_Fowler

EVandPV said:

Fronius inverter here installed Feb 2012 and still going strong (touches plenty of wood).
 It's in our loft and I hardly ever look at it from one year to the next. 
Is there much involved in replacing them when the time comes or is it a job for a spark ?

When my Mastervolt Sunmaster XS3200 failed after 8 years I fitted a Solax inverter myself.  Obviously you have to take all the precautions of turning off the AC supply and then the DC supply to the inverter.  The power connections to the inverter (L N E) were identical as were the DC connections.  You need to go through the new inverter set-up to set the country, and voltage details (plus any maximum current limitation set by the DNO).  If you're not up to doing this yourself, you'd need a sparky who understands how to complete these set-up procedures - not just any 'yellow pages' sparky. The information is all there in the installation manual.  Beware the inverters are rather heavy if, like mine, it has to be hauled up into the loft.

Dave F