SolarEdge Inverter Startup Error New Install

[boaterva]

Just had my PTO for my PV install for Tesla panels (43 310 W panels, east/west housetop install, 15 east, 28 west) and the inverter has this startup error, which comes and goes. 18x7B

The manual says it’s ‘grid too high’ (overvoltage?). TE says it’s an arcing issue, which makes little sense if it works at all and has scheduled a repair visit for a month from now. (As seems to be normal recently!)

The front panel shows Vac at 244 usually.

In the meantime, the inverter continues to work, but throws the same error randomly and then restarts once in a while throughout the day.

I’m getting about the output I expect (this is the first sunny day, one side of the house has generated what I’d expect, will see this PM on the west side) so it all seems to be working but am confused about the random error. (This is panels only, PWs are coming in January, we hope.)

I had all 43 optimizers show up, last I looked, only 42 were ‘OK’ on the inverter main screen.

Any comments/advice? Leave it running? Anything I can do to troubleshoot or correct? Thanks!

 

[VT_EE]

There is nothing you can or should do. SolarEdge warranties the hardware and will most likely be remotely troubleshooting it for a Tesla. I initially had an issue with my inverter, and SolarEdge worked with my installer to replace a board. Don’t worry, it will get fixed.

 

[boaterva]

There is nothing you can or should do. SolarEdge warranties the hardware and will most likely be remotely troubleshooting it for a Tesla. I initially had an issue with my inverter, and SolarEdge worked with my installer to replace a board. Don’t worry, it will get fixed.

Thanks for the info. Too bad they can’t do anything for a month! I asked if DOA new installs could get priority and no real response. My sales guy is looking to see if anyone cancels but that’s about it.

 

[supratachophobia]

Whatever happened with this error?

 

[briandolan]

Yes, I too am interested in what happened here as well. I’ve had the local utility out multiple times, they made some “adjustments” and the error and cycling went away for about 6 weeks for me. Then inexplicably the inverted started to cycle again multiple times a day, many times to the point where I’m barely producing any energy. Tesla has been out multiple times but they keep pointing back to the same 18x7B error indicating high voltage. It’s frustrating to be between the utilities and Tesla here so I’m very interested in how this was resolved.

 

[MD38]

Yes, I too am interested in what happened here as well. I’ve had the local utility out multiple times, they made some “adjustments” and the error and cycling went away for about 6 weeks for me. Then inexplicably the inverted started to cycle again multiple times a day, many times to the point where I’m barely producing any energy. Tesla has been out multiple times but they keep pointing back to the same 18x7B error indicating high voltage. It’s frustrating to be between the utilities and Tesla here so I’m very interested in how this was resolved.

As I understand it, there are multiple reasons why you might get high-voltage faults. Here's the summary of the issue that I had: we had high grid voltage issues-- meaning that the voltage of our utility/grid lines were about 10 volts too high, which was the root of the problem. Voltage readings on our property ranged from lows in the upper 240's with highs above 263. Our large solar array (38kw) made the otherwise low(er) readings of ~250 spike to above 260 during sunny days, high output times. So, the starting problem of high grid voltage, combined with high production in our solar panels, often pushed the voltage above 261, at which point at least one of our three (3 x 11.4kw) SolarEdge inverters would trip. When one of the inverters tripped, the resulting lowered output of our solar array (reduced by 1/3) would drop the line voltage below the tripping threshold, which allow the tripped inverter(s) to come back online after about 5 minutes. And then this would repeat as long as the sun was out and high in the sky.

The first solution, which wasn't really a solution, was that (after several hours of trouble-shooting over the phone with SolarEdge) the tolerance of the inverters was increased slightly-- from something like ~262 to ~264. This did not fix the problem, but it slightly reduced the frequency of the faults.

Ultimately, it was an issue with the grid voltage simply being too high. I reached the right person at the utility company, with the help of our solar installer, and they eventually (after about 4 months) reduced the line voltage by an average of about 8 volts. This has been enough to keep voltage during the highest times of the day comfortably below 260.

By the way, one thing that I did that helped a little prior to the utility company fixing the lines-- and I did this mainly to experiment-- was to turn on all the high-draw appliances in the house during those high-voltage times (dryer, oven, heat pump, hot water, etc). This usually lowered the voltage by 1 or 2 volts, and was sometimes enough to keep the inverter(s) from tripping.

I've heard that more rural areas, like where I am, can have higher voltage issues. I don't know if this is the case or not. Also, I should mention that-- again, this is from some of the research I did several months ago-- the high-grid fault issue could be the result of the gauge of wire, connecting the solar panels to the main electrical panel, being to small. Luckily, this was not the problem here, since it would have been a big job to replace that underground line given the distance between the panels and our electrical panels here on our farm.

Hope this helps.

 

[Ampster]

the high-grid fault issue could be the result of the gauge of wire, connecting the solar panels to the main electrical panel, being to small.

I am not sure I agree with the conclusion of your research. Smaller wire size (larger AWG number) would normally result in voltage drop. That would create the same result as turning on some large loads.

 

[supratachophobia]

Update on our end:
SolarEdge says the error is not something to be concerned about and that is does happen sometimes. They did not respond to follow-up questions (yet) on what those exact thresholds are or ways to mitigate the problem from happening. I will say that it has not happened again since, although I have been seeing some abnormal production hiccups at the same time every-day and so I'm looking into seeing if the two are related. Have not received that exact error that I know of yet. The error log tracking on the website does not strike me as intuitive so maybe I'm missing it in there.

 

[mongo]

I am not sure I agree with the conclusion of your research. Smaller wire size (larger AWG number) would normally result in voltage drop. That would create the same result as turning on some large loads.

Related to this:
The wires from solar panel to breaker panel would not be a problem unless using micro inverters. If the system is generating net power the drop is between you and grid, so it ends becoming a voltage rise at the inverter. Grid is the load in this case.

Normal setup has the poco set the transformer output high (above nominal) so that the house panel is in range after the drop of the service lines under normal load. If there is no load, the house is at the transformer voltage. If the house is generating, it will end up at a higher voltage than the transformer.