The sound that Tesla solar inverter makes

[arnolddeleon]

I held my camera next to the inverter to record the really faint pumping noises that it makes. I thought some folks would find this interesting.

This was near solar noon, this is a 4 kW inverter with about 4 kW of panels on a NW facing roof. Inverter was on the SW wall of my house in sun. The glass door felt cool to the touch.

New video by Arnold de Leon

photos.app.goo.gl

 

[Electrph]

interesting .. is this noise unique to Tesla branded inverter vs solaredge etc?
I have heard the pumping noise of powerwalls when they are rapidly charging or discharging ... which is cool was not aware inverter made noise

 

[JeremyWhaling]

I have one of these likely in my future, with a 4kW expansion. Does this version have two MPPT channels? Are you using one or both channels?

Can you show what the config web page looks like?

 

[arnolddeleon]

I have one of these likely in my future, with a 4kW expansion. Does this version have two MPPT channels? Are you using one or both channels?

Can you show what the config web page looks like?

According to the specs it has two MPPT channels. Here is an album of photos including some pictures/videos I had already shared

Tesla Inverter

10 new items added to shared album

photos.app.goo.gl

 

[arnolddeleon]

interesting .. is this noise unique to Tesla branded inverter vs solaredge etc?
I have heard the pumping noise of powerwalls when they are rapidly charging or discharging ... which is cool was not aware inverter made noise

I'm not aware of any other residential solar inverters that use liquid cooling so I suspect they are currently unique. The noise is similar to the sound the powerwalls make (which I'm sure is not a coincidence).

 

[Electrph]

I'm not aware of any other residential solar inverters that use liquid cooling so I suspect they are currently unique. The noise is similar to the sound the powerwalls make (which I'm sure is not a coincidence).

I was not keeping up on the inverter thread otherwise I would have known liquid cooled .... duh hence sound

 

[jboy210]

Nice. A liquid-cooled unit is more likely to stay in the optimal performance temp range and not be subject to output reductions that conductive cooled, and even fan-cooled units like my Deltas are. If my Delta units die I will be requesting Tesla inverters as a replacement.

 

[JeremyWhaling]

My current system has a 3.8 kW solar edge, no fan just a big aluminum heatsink. I think everything under 11kW for solar edge is only passively cooled.

 

[ZCulture]

I have the exact same noise coming from my Tesla brand inverter. The noise starts at sunrise, and comes and goes. I was not expecting any noise so got the inverter mounted against the bedroom wall, and now it wakes me up every morning...

Did you find a solution? Tesla says there's nothing wrong with the install so it will be a separate fee to relocate the inverter.

 

[arnolddeleon]

I expected the sound because I knew it had a liquid cooled system. I was careful about what wall it was installed on because the coupling with a wall could magnify the sound.

Tesla in the past would caution people about Powerwalls and the outside wall they would be installed to make them aware about it. I would press on them if they didn't tell you that it made noise. One of my older inverters is completely passive cooled so it wouldn't have this issue. On the other hand I have another set of older inverters that really loud with theirs fans.

 

[wwhitney]

I was not expecting any noise so got the inverter mounted against the bedroom wall, and now it wakes me up every morning...

You could try having the inverter remounted on vibration isolators like these:

Center Bolted Mounts Bushings

Two-piece mounts isolators are designed to withstand vehicular applications and off-the-road equipment. Can be installed in large trucks and heavy-duty construction equipment. The top and bottom parts are providing rebound protection and vibration isolation in axial and radial directions. Center...

vibrasystems.com

That might require rigidly mounting a support bar on standoffs to the structure, and then mounting the inverter to the support bar with the vibration isolators. It also would be best to ensure that any connections to the inverter have a short length of flexible conduit to reduce vibration transmission.

So that's a bit of rework. But I did this for my tankless water heater and it made a big difference.

Cheers, Wayne

 

[kairojya]

I held my camera next to the inverter to record the really faint pumping noises that it makes. I thought some folks would find this interesting.

This was near solar noon, this is a 4 kW inverter with about 4 kW of panels on a NW facing roof. Inverter was on the SW wall of my house in sun. The glass door felt cool to the touch.

New video by Arnold de Leon

photos.app.goo.gl

I didn’t realize the standalone (portrait oriented) Tesla inverter had the glass cover like the GW2 has. I think your video confirms that something is up with my inverter (PW+). I can hear the coolant circulating but barely over the fan noise!

 

[scottjoh]

In your pictures it looks like a common choke popped open around the bundle of wires in the bottom right of the metal shielded box.