November 10, 20169 yr OK so my inverter just blew up. We had a major storm here in Pretoria. The water really came down in our area. So hard that the roof where my inverter is mounted could not carry the water. The water then came down the walls and right through the inverter. Boom and that is that. My kit is insured. So now to look for a new inverter that does not have any fans and can grid tie.
November 10, 20169 yr Sorry to hear that JDP. My developers office flooded this afternoon. He is on the Eastrand of JHB. Luckily nothing electrical was on the floor, otherwise he would have been seriously hurt or worse. So what are you going to get next? SMA maybe?
November 10, 20169 yr 8 minutes ago, The Terrible Triplett said: So what are you going to get next? SMA maybe? He said no Fan. So Goodwe, SMA or Fronius I presume :-)
November 10, 20169 yr 2 minutes ago, Mike said: yep, IP20 - goodwe & replus IP65 Back when you mentioned the issues in coastal regions, I checked the docs for my blue unit. It's IP21, which means it can technically handle water dripping from above. Dripping. It probably won't like a stream of any magnitude.
November 10, 20169 yr 12 minutes ago, plonkster said: He said no Fan. So Goodwe, SMA or Fronius I presume :-) He said no Fan.
November 11, 20169 yr Hmm something to consider when wall mounting equipment. Maybe some spacers so it it not completely flush with the wall.
November 11, 20169 yr My thoughts exactly... A nightmare!! A few rubber washers between the wall and the inverter - will help alot...
November 11, 20169 yr It was the wind the forced the water under the overhang. The metal roof is under the tile roof of the house and the wind was blowing so strong that it forced the water back and down the wall. Don't think a spacer would have helped. It was a mini waterfall.
November 11, 20169 yr 2 hours ago, JDP said: It was the wind the forced the water under the overhang. The metal roof is under the tile roof of the house and the wind was blowing so strong that it forced the water back and down the wall. Don't think a spacer would have helped. It was a mini waterfall. Having seen how wind can push water through the seams of a tile roof in the Western Cape (aka Kaap van Storms)... I won't say I'm too surprised. Of course it is somewhat unexpected when it happens, seeing that it happens so infrequently, but afterwards it always seems so obvious init? On my back porch where I have like 3 meter of overhanging roof but a strong wind will still bring the water right to the back door. It seems you guys are having the November we had in 2013. That was a bad one. The local Medi-clinic flooded completely, but not only that: Storm water got into the sewage system causing sewage to back into the hospital! In one theater they had to finish a cesarean with their feet in the water and evacuate them afterwards. Our kids' daycare was so badly damaged we couldn't send them back for a week. All this happened while we were out of town too :-)
November 14, 20169 yr Unlucky! But you are insured and now you can find a grid tied fanless unit. Every cloud has a silver lining I guess. Let us know which unit you settle on. If I could do it over again, knowing what I know now I would have also gone with a fanless IP65 grid tied inverter with the option to disable power exporting to the grid and with 2 x MPPT's with a wide operating voltage (100-500) Maybe in a couple of years there will be something along these ones at a reasonable price, just need my axpert to hold out until then!
November 14, 20169 yr Ok so what units are out there that will 1) Works like the Infini. True hybrid by combining 3 power sources. 2) dont have any fans 3) 5kw and up pv generation Wont break the bank. My Infini went in today. It looks like it blew a fuse and a triac
November 14, 20169 yr http://www.fronius.com/cps/rde/xchg/SID-924C8345-03276994/fronius_international/hs.xsl/83_35333_ENG_HTML.htm#.WCnWxcvRbqASent from my GT-I9195 using Tapatalk
November 14, 20169 yr Well technically you want the Primo which is single phase. And it's going to break the bank :-)Sent from my GT-I9195 using Tapatalk
November 14, 20169 yr 13 minutes ago, JDP said: Plonky does the Primo not have battery backup? The Primo Hybrid does. I didn't research this very deeply. I knew Fronius makes a Hybrid. I googled and found the 3-phase unit. I then googled for a single phase hybrid and google brought up a Primo Hybrid from some site in the USA. Site said something about it working with the Tesla Powerwall. So I don't even know what battery voltage(s) it works with. Haven't had time and I was on my phone at the time. But heck... for 54k you could almost buy a Fronius Galvo and a Multiplus. And then you have a hybrid.
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