Wisey

Too right Plonkster. Looking at Red or Blue now Grid tied is where its at... Ethekwini coming through at last with three phase I have been begging and waiting for... Can anyone make a suggestion for sourcing SMA Sunny Boy AV-41?

Good morning again everyone In the last few days, some hard lessons have been learnt . I'm not out to knock the Axpert inverter, as when it works, it works. And as I expected from the beginning these inverters would be a hassle when they did eventually pack up. I did not expect I'd have to toss them out completely. They are incompatible with the newer version modern firmware version (4.3). 1) Axpert inverters are not backed up after the warranty period. 2) The replacement main board is not far off the cost of an entire unit

Thanks

Can anyone make any suggestions on who to send two Axpert 5Kva main boards to - for repairs please?

Would love to but Victron prohibitively costly. I am improvising until Eskom supply installed. Which appears to be on the horizon...out there somewhere...

All PV inputs on one array are connected in the combiner box and a single output (via the surge protector) is then split to the four inverters. I think the 3 and 4 panels to each inverter is a better arrangement. The combiner box is not setup that way so I will adapt it accordingly. That way the Wp can never exceed 4000Wp. Will do on all other suggestions. Thank you Anyone out there willing to carry out repairs on the main boards?

All PV inputs on one array are connected in the combiner box and a single output (via the surge protector) is then split to the four inverters. I think the 3 and 4 panels to each inverter is a better arrangement. The combiner box is not setup that way so I will adapt it accordingly. That way the Wp can never exceed 4000Wp. Will do on all other suggestions. Thank you Anyone out there willing to carry out repairs on the main boards?

What is your view on these RCT's?

Yes. There could be something in that. However, the 4kWp is never exceeded. I have monitored the display on a bright day at noon and have never seen anything over 3kWp. That said (if it is a PV voltage issue) I have in the past connected one string at a time . I was aware yesterday of connecting and disconnecting a string 'under load'. A bit tricky. Probably best to disconnect and reconnect at night.

These are the replacements Apologies - I see Maximum open circuit voltage is 145VDC Any opinions on this course of action would be appreciated

Please see pic attached. I would say yes they from the battery side No sun on the inverters. They are well ventilated Please PM me your contact details Coulomb

Thanks for your contributions Hoping mine will prevent this happening to someone else. To answer your questions phil.g00 1) PV voltage I tested prior to disconnection as a matter of ensuring all strings were optimised. There was a variation of about a half a volt between strings. Output from both combiner boxes was approx. 103V, as you know the inverter is rated for 145 VAc please see model pic attached 2) I use 2 combiner boxes with 7 strings of 3 panels fused in each From 2 x combiner boxes I have two feeds connected (in parallel) to all four Inverter PV inputs 3) The sun was high. I would say optimum exposure - peak The discovery now is these units (pls see attachment) are the old spec 145VDC and later models are 450VDC - they are not compatible! The MOSFET's are available My thinking towards a solution is the following: 1) the two early models (145VDC) - parallel connected (Inverter Pair 1) as one AC supply to one DB, with one array of 21 PV's - seperated from second AC supply (Inverter Pair 2) to second DB with later models in parallel and second 21PV array. Send the main boards off to be repaired and hold them as back up. (Any suggestions would be welcomed on who to send them to). As mentioned I am in Durban. I would also appreciate any thoughts on the following: 1) Using the battery bank (6 x 4 x 12V 250Ah) ie. 6x48V as a common bank to both Inverter pairs with common utility and generator feed to both or should I split the battery bank too? Again, much appreciate the contribution All the best

At this stage trying to source MOSFET CSD19505kcs - no one in Durban has stock - Mantech etc.

System worked perfectly...cabling never altered

Hi Coulomb. Thank you 1) The generator was not connected 2) The generator and utility are seperated by isolators and a 63A contactor ie. only one supply possible to the inverters. The coil on the contactor is activated when the generator starts and the supply then changes over. 3) Neither the utility nor the generator were connected. They are latent. 4) As mentioned, I turned the isolators to the battery bank on, connected the PV supply from the combiner box and then switched the Inverter on to supply AC to the DB That is when it blew. No shorts on the AC side - protected by RCD - been functioning well I suspect it might be an issue with the parallel connection system or the PV supply? PV supply at 103,2V. Battery level was at 53V Will take a look at your link. Trying to source the transistors and have made contact with Heinz. We agree there may be additional component damage Might be best to change the main boards - follow the instructions on start up meticulously and try again Send the boards up to JHB for repairs?

Hi Guys (not so Wisey here today) As the title clearly states...disaster!! Yesterday was the day I chose to add a 20Kva diesel generator to my existing Solar set up. 4 x Axpert MKS 5Kva's in parallel, 42 x 250W PV's, 24 x 250Ah batteries. Eskom utility. The generator is seperated from the utility by a 63A contactor. This system has been functioning beautifully for 6 months. Providing daytime power to two households. Topping up from the utility at night - 10A Back to yesterday. Before terminating the generator supply, I turned off all of the inverters at the switches, isolated the utility, battery bank and PV supply. Then terminated the generator and utility and switched back on again. Firstly supplying power from the batteries, then the PV's. I turned on the switch of the master inverter first, then the slaves. No utility. I heard components in two inverters blow, immediately isolated the battery supply and then the PV supply Pulled the inverters apart and discovered 9 x MOSFET transistors blown on one inverter and 3 on the other (MOSFET CSD19505kcs) My question please: 1) Is there any chance of salvaging the main boards or should I replace? 2) If replacement of main boards - from who and where. (I am Durban based but obviously am prepped to ship in) 3) Has anyone else experienced this and repaired successfully? Not feeling so good about myself this morning so hoping someone can change that with a bit of sunlight through the gloom? All the best Wisey

Agreed. The roof is aluminium corrugated. The corners will all be lightning protected by bonding to 1m copper earth spikes/rods, driven down to approx 1,5 metres. Panels and Combiner box earth bonded to those. This earth seperated from the AC side (Inverters and Eskom) for reason you point out above. Unfortunately do not have an earth tester to measure the resistance. Relying on my outstanding relationship with Mother Nature for assistance with the objective risk.

Hi Plonkster Once again, thank you for the information. Yes, that post is 3 years old. Once again much to mull over and quite likely a few more questions to follow. Will offer some feedback and pics once complete. All the best Wisey

Good morning everyone Please assist with the following. My query on the earthing issue now is 1) does the below apply to all makes of the Axpert inverter? 2) Does this prevent tripping of the Inverter EL (which I am having a problem with) - all circuits and loads have been tested as fault free. SuperDIY posted the following on this forum and I was wondering if anyone has experimented and had success with this: Quote SuperDIY: "The most promising option looks like this: 1) Live and Neutral inputs on the inverter(s) need to be connected before the main ELR 2) All Earth connections on all inverters and inside all DBs needs to be bonded. 3) ELR must be connected on inverter(s) output. 4) To ensure that ELR on inverter output will protect against leakage currents the following needs to be done: 4.1) The Main Switch in the Main DB (from where the inverter is fed, must not break the Neutral. The other option is to connect the inverter input Neutral to before the Main Switch in the Main DB to ensure that the Neutral Earth bond before then Main switch is always in circuit. 4.2) The Neutral input and Neutral output on the inverter(s) need to be bonded." Unquote Look forward to your input All the best Wisey

Geepers...thanks for the input everyone. A helluva lot to digest and process and will do so over the next few days As you can no doubt tell, I am dabbling here. So I ask you to please be patient with my knowledge base. 1) Thanks Gnome, I am aware of circuit breakers and the Earth leakage (I have) does not provide overload protection 2) Jaco I currently have 'without overload protection' so obviously in Eskom DB and Inverter DB will have a range of breakers (10, 20 and 40 Amp) allocated to the various circuits and the relative load/conductor diameters as per code specs. Some circuits (Stove and Inverter Utility are Eskom circuits and are 40Amp breakers) 3) Thanks Plonkster for the detail, I will certainly get back to you asap. The pricing looks very reasonable. Great guys have a fine evening. The full moon is rising clearly over the Indian ocean and its time to have a chow. All the best Wisey

Hi Everyone And thanks to the administrator for accepting my profile on this site. I have the following equipment to be installed: 4 x 48V 5KVA Axpert inverters 24 x 250Ah 12V Sonic batteries (6 strings of 48V) 42 x 250 Watt PV panels 1 x 20KVA Diesel generator Only yesterday, through this site (and not the supplier) I learned the Axpert inverter cannot be certified compliant unless it is classified as a 'UPS'. Please see attached wiring diagram sent by the supplier. For me this is catastrophic from a safety POV and obviously the lack of connection capability to the municipal Earth to qualify for the COC. My questions please: 1) Does anyone know of a way around the common earthing issue and a method of tying into the municipal earth? 2) I understand the thermal magnetic trip switch on the earth leakage relay (Chint 63A) is obviously not connected to municipal earth. So is there any reason it is insufficient as a protection mechanism in the event of the specified 30Ma rating and thermal increase in the conductor. Can it be relied upon (obviously after being tested) to provide adequate earth leakage protection from the Axpert inverter ? Thanks in anticipation of your responses All the best Wisey