All of my enphase failure are in the desert (Utah) We have had Power-one units in the field for 5 or 6 years.
- Troy Harvey On May 9, 2013, at 10:28 AM, August Goers <aug...@luminalt.com> wrote: > This is fascinating - the majority of the Enphase failures reported on this > list seem to be near coastal areas. I know that is true for us. We've had > extensive failures on the M190 and M210 units close to the ocean. We have yet > to have a single M215 failure so I have my fingers crossed. > > SMA has continued to be the most reliable for us but I worry that slowly > their fans will fail. The first gen Fronius units have been horribly > unreliable and have all been replaced. Fronius was excellent in dealing with > the warranty claims. The 2nd Gen Fronius have been pretty good with just a > couple of units DOA and no long term failures yet. Power One, which is the > most interesting to me, is still too new to judge. We've had two Power One > failures so far. I understand that the first 10 and 12 k units sold in the US > had really bad problems but those are fixed now. Xantrex was horrible but we > still have over 100 units in operation after the capacitor recall. > > It's a real crapshoot with all these inverters! > > Best, > > August > > From: re-wrenches-boun...@lists.re-wrenches.org > [mailto:re-wrenches-boun...@lists.re-wrenches.org] On Behalf Of Mike & > Jessica Nelson > Sent: Thursday, May 09, 2013 8:45 AM > To: RE-wrenches > Subject: Re: [RE-wrenches] Enphase / Inverter failures > > Wrenches, > I have had extensive failures on 3 installs that are situated right on the > coastal bluff in Northern California. Once you replace more than one inverter > at one site on one day, the compensation goes from $150.00 per inverter, to > next to nothing for the remaining. Enphase actually sent out their field > services tech, and did a complete swap out on these 3 systems (with my > assistance). It was a long day. But now, 2 years later, we are seeing more > failures. One has had 4 micro failures to date. Once I get away from the > coastal edge, with it's corrosive effect, the failure rate goes way down. I > have asked Enphase to upgrade these 3 systems to the newer M215 system, and > am still waiting for a response. I am to the point where I won't install > Enphase within 1/2 mile of the ocean. > Michael D. Nelson > MD Electric & Solar > > On Thu, May 9, 2013 at 8:31 AM, Will White <william.wh...@realgoods.com> > wrote: > It’s funny because I’ve had a very different experience from everyone else. > I’ve had lots of Xantrex inverters fail and a few Fronius but not to the > extent that everyone else has. I’ve only replaced a few Enphase inverters > and they were usually dead out of the box. > > Thanks, > Will > > __________________________________________________________________________________________ > Will White > Regional Field Operations Manager – New England > > Real Goods Solar > 64 Main St. > Montpelier, VT 05602 > Tel: (802) 223-7804 > Cell: (802) 234-3167 > www.realgoodssolar.com > > > From: re-wrenches-boun...@lists.re-wrenches.org > [mailto:re-wrenches-boun...@lists.re-wrenches.org] On Behalf Of Troy Harvey > Sent: Thursday, May 09, 2013 11:06 AM > To: RE-wrenches > Subject: Re: [RE-wrenches] Enphase / Inverter failures > > > I don't enjoy the PLC interference problems, which are rare. When they have > occurred, Enphase provided continuous technical support, including factory > evaluation of line filters and enhanced system analysis. Did you know that > each Enphase system has a built in spectrum analyzer? Tech support can > provide a printout of interfering signals to help in troubleshooting. > Installing a separate AC load center to accept the AC return breakers helps > with solving these problems. I understand that the next release of Enphase > inverters will be Wi-fi, eliminating the PLC protocol entirely. When the > communication works, (which it does most of the time) it is a very valuable > resource. > > I find we have several times the service calls on enphase due to the > customers thinking their system isn't working, when in fact it the flakey PLC > network. And all that monitoring is only really telling me about the > inverters or their networking, since the long term failure rate of the panels > is several orders of magnitude better than even the best inverter on the > market. > > I have only seen 2 Xantrex string inverters go out in the last 5 years (no > surprise there) out of all of the string inverters, and all of the brands. > But I've seen failure at everyone of our Enphase installs, and usually > failures every year (1 or 2 dead micros per year per site). > > There is no argument that micros improve flexibility. And the potential for a > micro to have a higher MTBF is believable. But first they need better design, > more market experience, and will never reach 25 year lifespan like they say > until they take electrolytic caps out of their designs. > > thanks, > > Troy Harvey > --------------------- > Principal Engineer > Heliocentric > 801-453-9434 > tahar...@heliocentric.org > > > _______________________________________________ > List sponsored by Home Power magazine > > List Address: RE-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org > > Change email address & settings: > http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org > > List-Archive: > http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org > > List rules & etiquette: > www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm > > Check out participant bios: > www.members.re-wrenches.org > > > > > > -- > Michael & Jessica Nelson > MD Electric & Solar Inc. > Office: 707-884-1862 > Cell: 707-684-0064 > _______________________________________________ > List sponsored by Home Power magazine > > List Address: RE-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org > > Change email address & settings: > http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org > > List-Archive: > http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org > > List rules & etiquette: > www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm > > Check out participant bios: > www.members.re-wrenches.org >
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