I have one thats still to be commissioned with 4 Pylontech batteries  

I would like hear what the configuration was of the ones that have failed. 

In Graaff-Reinet it was 2 units in parallel.

Here is the reason the supplier gave for the lengthy repairs of my ifinisolar Super 4K units.

I was the first to buy the new stock that had come in May 2017.

After my systems dc circuit blew up and the manufacturer was contacted.

The manufacturer said there were problems with a batch of dc boards but could not tell which units they were in.

The manufacturer had to ship dc boards for all the stock the supplier had to replace the suspect units.

This why I gave both my units in.

This was the first delay.

The second time the dc board blew up,  all the stock had been used up for replacement  of stock so I had to wait again.

The units are working but the dc boards need to replaced again as it seems as the mannufacturer has realised it was not a batch problem but a design or layout problem.

As far as the parallel problem I believe the manufacturer had not tested the system properly as the supplier tested other units at his home and had the same problem.

I got the firmware to fix the problem however to me this problem should have been adressed long before as the units have been marketed for one and a half years.

All the problems lead to the manufacturer being too haisty to market before proper testing.

And this leads me to feel like a " guinea pig" to do the testing for them at the consumers expense.

9 hours ago, Peter Topp said:

I got the firmware to fix the problem however to me this problem should have been adressed long before as the units have been marketed for one and a half years.

All the problems lead to the manufacturer being too haisty to market before proper testing.

And this leads me to feel like a " guinea pig" to do the testing for them at the consumers expense.

It would appear Voltronic has not learnt their lesson. The Axpert/PIP was beset by problems around 2014 when they launched in Australia. A whole host of folk were put off Axpert units due to these problems. By the time I installed my Axpert in mid 2015  problems had been solved but they had pissed a whole lot of people off. Now it appears the are repeating the process.

25 minutes ago, Chris Hobson said:

It would appear Voltronic has not learnt their lesson. The Axpert/PIP was beset by problems around 2014 when they launched in Australia. A whole host of folk were put off Axpert units due to these problems. By the time I installed my Axpert in mid 2015  problems had been solved but they had pissed a whole lot of people off. Now it appears the are repeating the process.

One should wait until Aussies start buying Infinities and start screaming. Meaning don't buy Infiniti for another year or two.

On 6/18/2017 at 9:23 AM, Jaco de Jongh said:

Good to see, CoCT is updating their list and adding new inverters.

hi jaco, is there a link to this information?

God bless

I'm just shaking my head. First you suffer through the initial teething problems, and then you have to rely on some (admittedly very clever) ausies for your firmware. You really do get what you pay for. 

1 hour ago, gabriel said:

hi jaco, is there a link to this information?

http://resource.capetown.gov.za/documentcentre/Documents/Forms, notices, tariffs and lists/Approved Photovoltaic (PV) Inverter List.pdf

Here it is.. 

J

13 hours ago, Peter Topp said:

the supplier

Good day Peter, do you mind sharing the Suppliers name, I would like to know if its the same guys I got my machines from. I also lost one. 

2 hours ago, gabriel said:

hi jaco, is there a link to this information?

well, what would be the verdict of all the inverters not on this list, axpert for one...

The supplier for my units are "Full  Circle Solar"

They been very transparent during my problems.

Fcs are a decent bunch :-) 

3 hours ago, gabriel said:

well, what would be the verdict of all the inverters not on this list, axpert for one...

The list is a guide, not a law. It lists inverters with nrs097 compliance, but it's not exhaustive. As I pointed out before, it lists the ziehl passive anti-islanding device even though nrs097 mandates at least one active measure.

The inverters listed are those that require such testing because they are grid interactive. The axpert doesn't do that so no testing is done. All that is needed is a suitably interlocking changeover switch and installation as per sans ups regulations. And an expensive engineer to sign the paperwork. 

21 hours ago, Peter Topp said:

The supplier for my units are "Full  Circle Solar"

They been very transparent during my problems.

Thank you, I received some of the first ones to enter the country and I think I was one of the first in a parallel setup. In the first month one blew up, I reported it to them and they immediately blamed me, told me I wired the system wrong. ( I guess that it was before it became known that there was issues with the Inverters) . I was suppose to remove and send both inverters back, but fell ill short after. I was basically out of action for months and are only getting back in swing of things the last month or so. Will attend to the problem now. At least now we know where the problems are, so I expect a better outcome this time round.. 

21 hours ago, plonkster said:

Fcs are a decent bunch :-) 

Agree .. 

Please post more details of your installations guys.

For example, how many solar panels and how were they routed and what volts were you putting in?

Also what it was doing when it started malfunctioning.

I am busy setting mine up as a backup for power failures with 9,6kw Pylontech batteries.

I am going for a split db with Hager 6ka breakers with proper isolators etc.

If I need to do anything different now is the time to tell me.

I want to be up and running by Monday.

 

So it seems as I am the next user with a faulty Infinisolar 4 kw. 

I commissioned mine today. It ran normal for a few minutes charging at 30a and then promptly blew something at the back. 

I am gobsmacked. So many fault reports and still this?

I was informed that 5 out of 38 units sold went faulty. Of those only 1 installed by certified installers. 

It is difficult to see how mistakes can be made with an incoming and outgoing wires as well as 2 battery connections. 

My view only. 

I have tried unsuccesfully to install their software on a macbook. Just does not work even though they claim its fine. First hint is that they supply the file in a zip format. 

This I still need to sort out as well. 

Discussions on this post will be appreciated. 

So Full Circle Solar repaired the Infinisolar in ONE day.

I take my hat off to Heintz who is the technical guy there. He also set it up so I can just install it. Feedback from him is that there is 100% support from the factory :-)

He replaced three boards (Heintz said it was the first time he had seen a failure like this). At least the inverter has the latest updated boards and the latest 2 week old firmware in it now. The inverter was up and running when I got there. He also showed me the pc board where the neutral and earth connects.

So today is installation time for me - ironically we won't have power today as the main substation will have repairs done on it for the WHOLE day. So testing will be done with the generator running.

There is still a few technical items to sort out but with the assistance of a retired Eskom electrician it should be easy. Apparently Eskom is busy training their techs on solar in a big way. Go figure.

The idea is to have the split db (with its own neutral) up and running today - this turned out to be 4x more expensive than I thought it would be! Lots of interesting lessons learnt there with very little information from the internet and the local sparkies.

Hi Guys,

I've been searching the boards looking for threads that might shed some light onto my problems.

I've installed an Infinisolar super 4kw inverter with 18 x 250 watt panels (2 strings of 9 in parallel) and I have 4 x 260amp batteries. I have been running this system for 3 months and have had problems since day one.

I was wondering if anyone else has had experience with Fault 12 or Fault 16 messages? Both seem to be GFCI related. Fault 12 shuts the system down (at least 10 times a day but mainly in the morning, before max PV) and fault 16 happens each day but doesn't shut the system down and doesn't register on the fault log. I have been chasing ghosts looking for earth leakages everywhere in the house.

At this point I have disconnected one string to see if I can isolate which string may contain faulty panels before pulling everything apart to check them individually. Sorry for the long winded post, but I figure the more info I can supply, the more likely it is that someone may have seen something like this before.

I am in New Zealand where these inverters are very rare and the sole supplier has not been overly helpful or forthcoming with information. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers Mike

We know the GFCI as a rcd or earth leakage  

You seem sure this is pv related. 

Have you tried using the infini only as a battery backup by switching it off at the pv switch to see if the problems go away?

You also need to supply all the details from your distribution board. Do you have a seperate neutral bar for the inverter side and did you split it up in a high and a low (ie inverter) amperage side? A missed out on wrongly connected neutral gave me lots of problems. The infini did not id it and gave all sorts of wrong output readings. 

Please supply a sketch with all mcbs, isolators, gfci and connections indicated on it. 

Did you get a local electrician in to assist you?

Hi Johan,

than you for your help.

The error doesn't occur when the PV is off. 

I had a local electrician do the install as I'm a little out of my depth with anything more complicated then wiring a light switch.

I'll ask him if there is a separate neutral bar and how it is wired.

I've attached the only sketch I have but will try to put a more detailed one together with the house distribution board on it.

Thanks again for your time.

Mike

Hitek Solar - On-Grid Hybrid System Diagram_Mike_Baker.pdf

Mike,

We need the db wiring diagram. 

Ok, fetched the booklet now.

Differenciate between warnings and errors (which flashes and will not go away). Warnings don’t get logged.

Fault 12 is overtemperature and refers to how hot the inverter is. Photo of your inverter installation please. Mine is in a steelbox, it is very hot now (30C) and it is not complaining. You cannot put it in a closet. 

Fault 16 refers to low battery voltage. What is the voltage reading when you get this warning?

Refer to how you have set up your setup. My 48v lithium battery set charges at 50a and floats at 52v. I also charge from the utility power only as I use it as a backup system only.

How have you set yours up? There are 4 modes I think.

You can set it up like mine to start  isolating warnings.

Does your system perform to your specifications?  I see you are exporting power. Some data will help to give us an idea what your system is doing  

Johan. 

5 hours ago, Johandup said:

You seem sure this is pv related. 

Thought. This might have nothing to do with it and for the kind of inverters I normally deal with this is never an issue (they have a boost stage and the DC side is isolated), but is this inverter a high-voltage PV model, in other words, does it use an input voltage above 350V to make AC without a boost stage?

Because in those cases, your PV panels are connected to the grid (alternately this way and then that, 100 times a second), and it is possible for a ground fault to form via a PV array.

5 hours ago, Johandup said:

We know the GFCI as a rcd or earth leakage  

I normally see the term GFCI on American forums, specifically related to outlets that have a built-in fault interrupter :-)

Hello photovoltaic friends excuse my English from Google.
My name is Francisco and I'm from Madrid (Spain), I also suffer with my two 4k, one of them exploded.
Alone they worked well, and in parallel it threw an error  "12, leakage current exceed of limit ", and they were turned off.
I've been using only one until I was planning to increase the number of plates.
In the last test exploded one of them damaging several DC MOSFET.
I am in contact with the technical service to fix this.
I sent photos of the damage and components of the installation, and I have answered that they want schematics of my installation.
I found it odd that they withdrew the 4k 4-5 months ago, from the page where I bought it is the distributor in Europe, while the version 3k, 5, 5k and 10k continue to sell, but I see that we are more affected.
Good luck to all, you'll see me more around here I am excited about the technical and human level that you see here.

Hi Johan, 

the booklet has 2 sets of warning signals that, just to confuse matters, use the same numbers.

An 'error 12' is to do with overheating, a "Fault 12" is leakeage or gfci

An "error 16" is low battery, a "fault 16" is gfci fault. Mine are definately faults as it has a triangle icon with an exclamation point

Most of my settings have been left on default

The system is set up on grid tie with back up 2. I have a 4 x 12v 260 amp sealed lead acid batteries set to charge at:60 A   Floating charge at:54 v   and I don't charge from the grid

Battery specs here: http://www.aasolar.co.nz/AA Champion AGM Deep Cycle Batteries.html  Battery is C12V260  Battery voltage Regulation is 13.6-13.8v

At first I thought the fault was weather related, it still might be for all I know. The system shuts down with a Fault 12 warning mainly in the mornings, and usually if there has been a heavy dew or overnight rain. Once we get to the afternoon it usually runs fine. The other day it was churning out 4.4 Kw and the current was 20amps so it seems to run well.

I restarted the inverter the other night to clear a fault 16 message. There was no PV being generated. I switched off the Solar PV DC isolator switch, the AC Isolator from the grid and the battery isolator. Then reversed the order to switch it back on. Instant fault 12 shutdown, even with no PV.

So I turned it all off and restarted with the PV switch off, it worked fine and I turned the PV switch back on later.

I then switched everything off and tried it without the AC from the grid, as if there was a grid outage. It was running fine until I turned the AC back on and then Fault 12 shut down.

I've included some screen shots of the software settings.

Cheers Mike

 

I also thought I'd try and figure out what was what in the distribution board, only to open it up and find this birds nest of cables.

My other thought, after going back over the fault log, is that the fault generally occurs when PV Input Voltage gets around 300v or over. Not sure why it fluctuates that much, even if we're not generating much power. There is a option on the Parameters page to enable a "Wide AC input range" is that more for grid fluctuations? 

Mike

(EDIT: error 12 is for leakage as it shows me this in fault log. The 16 error is for low battery )

I was just changing some settings and enabled "Wide AC Input Range"

When I went to disable "parallel for output" it shutdown with error 12