Finally my Sunny Boy inverter has died

nobby1963

Hi All,
After nearly 14 years ( November 2011 install ) this morning our inverter has died, or so it seems.
I noticed that the light that normally flashes to show that our Immersun is diverting excess generation to heat our hot water wasn’t flashing even though we had full sun on our panels.
A quick check of the Sunny Beam showed zero generation also.
Ive tried checking fuses and a re-boot of the power to the inverter too but sadly no change.
Our original installer is still in business so I’ve contacted him and he’s coming out on Tuesday next week as that’s the earliest he can make it.
So, I’m guessing that there may be others who have gone through this experience, any suggestions of the best course of action ?
I should just add that we are currently looking to move to west Wales from Devon so not really looking to invest in the obvious battery setup although clearly that would be the the way to go if we were planning on staying here.
Cheers in advance.
Nobby.

Netexporter

It was generally accepted that you'd need an inverter replacement over the notional 25 year lifespan of a solar installation, so your timing is about right. As you are moving, I'd just get it swapped (assuming it isn't repairable) for an equivalent unit. The good news is that inverters are much cheaper, these days.

As an aside, I made the move from Devon to west Wales about 3 years ago. The solar's surprisingly good here.

nobby1963

Netexporter said:

It was generally accepted that you'd need an inverter replacement over the notional 25 year lifespan of a solar installation, so your timing is about right. As you are moving, I'd just get it swapped (assuming it isn't repairable) for an equivalent unit. The good news is that inverters are much cheaper, these days.

As an aside, I made the move from Devon to west Wales about 3 years ago. The solar's surprisingly good here.

Cheers, 
Yes, back in 2011 we were told that probably the inverter would last around 10 years, so we’ve exceeded that easily.
I can see that prices have obviously dropped and in an ideal world a straight swap would be great for us but looking online it seems that SMA have changed their model line up, hardly surprising in 14 years !
I will see what happens when we get a few quotes next week.
BTW we are near Okehampton now and are looking in the area of a Saundersfoot / Tenby / Narbeth triangle.

QrizB

I swapped my early-2012 KACO Powador a couple of years ago. The replacement was (and still is) a Solis, which is towards the budget end of the market but does the job and also means I get an app that lets me see generation curves and assorted statistics.

(The app is optional, and required me to buy a wifi stick for the inverter.)

You're luckier than me; mine failed in midsummer and cost me 2-300kWh of generation! At least an October failure shouldn't dent your statistics too much.

nobby1963

QrizB said:

I swapped my early-2012 KACO Powador a couple of years ago. The replacement was (and still is) a Solis, which is towards the budget end of the market but does the job and also means I get an app that lets me see generation curves and assorted statistics.

(The app is optional, and required me to buy a wifi stick for the inverter.)

You're luckier than me; mine failed in midsummer and cost me 2-300kWh of generation! At least an October failure shouldn't dent your statistics too much.

Cheers,
Yes as far as timings goes it could definitely be worse !
Apart from looking at costs online of just the inverter units I have no clue as to the costs of swapping the inverter for new.
No doubt it will be more than I hoped but regardless the solar installation was without doubt one of our best decisions as far as a return on our investment.
Nobby.

Heedtheadvice

You might've considered a hybrid if you were going to stay so that future addition of batteries might then be easier.....

But if the price of a hybrid inverter is similar then why not do the same and then make it one of the selling points of the property.

Martyn1981

Heedtheadvice said:

You might've considered a hybrid if you were going to stay so that future addition of batteries might then be easier.....

But if the price of a hybrid inverter is similar then why not do the same and then make it one of the selling points of the property.

Yes .... but!

Not knocking the idea, that is actually what I've done, and I too have a first FiT rate system (Aug 2011).

But, you will get an impact on your FiT, if you charge DC side batts from the grid. Not the end of the world, but an AC side system may be preferable. For later (lower) FiT rates, and non-FiT PV, it's not relevant.

Of course, the counter argument is then that you'll get double losses on the leccy stored for an AC side batt (PV to AC, to DC for batts, to AC for house), so horses for courses. You may/will also need DNO permission for the AC batt, as it adds to the potential export of your house.

The reason I went DC side, was that the DNO would not give me anything more, but DC side batts allowed me to add 3kWp to the existing PV, whilst retaining the same 3.68kW limit on the inverter. The batts mopping up the difference, so no curtailment/clipping .... so long as I make sure I've emptied enough room before the PV starts peaking around 5-6kW.