Solar PV stopped working

5starpool

Any help appreciated. I have emailed the company that installed (no weekend regular service), but someone here might be able to help.

Huawei Sun 2000 5KTL inverter and 14 * jinko 435W panels is what I have.

This afternoon the power in the house went. Turned out that the mains switch in the fuse box AND in the meter box had tripped. Switching these back on restored power, but solar not doing anything. I went to the attic to check, and the switch on solar fuse box was down. Turned that on and stats come through on the app again, but no power coming from the panels now, only consumption registering.

At the time the power went, the stats were 4.74kwh being generated (so very sunny) and only 0.2kwh being consumed. We had just come back from being out, so nothing much was in use.

Is this a case of nothing can be done until an electrician comes to check it? Surely it can't be the case that the inverter used can't handle the power generated when it is too sunny or something mad like that?

I only got these installed towards the end of March, so pretty new.

Any help appreciated.

graememk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058350306/solar-pv-stopped-working

Photos of the mcbs that have tripped?

Assuming that they are MCBs, they only trip on overcurrent, not earth leakage. And they don't trip on trivial matters. (Usually a short circuit, especially when nobody at home)

Unless you have electrical experience I'd be wary of getting things back on yourself, possibly there is a loose connection somewhere.

The MCB in the meter box doesn't trip for trivial matters

...Ghost...

I would suggest turning off the AC and DC isolators to the inverter and checking for any obvious signs of damage at the points of connection. Could be an ARC fault. Disconnecting each string (after isolating them) will help you diagnose this visually. If there is no damage, such as signs of heat, or smoke damage, you could try a reset of the inverter.

From a quick google:

Turn on the AC switch and wait until the inverter indicator blinks. Turn off the AC switch and wait until all LED indicators on the inverter panel turn off. Turn on the AC switch and wait until all LED indicators on the inverter panel blink and then turn off after about 30s.

Your manual should have instructions. If unsure, contact installer. Might be best to just contact installer anyway, as it's a brand spanking new system.

allinthehead

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058350306/solar-pv-stopped-working

Seems a little odd to me that you have a main switch (MCB) in the house and in the meter cabinet. From what you're saying it does sound like a short circuit occurred. A picture of inverter and surrounding bits, meter cabinet and your distribution board might help.

graememk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122100535#Comment_122100535

Good point, but could have been "what was in the van" or what was in the consumer unit when it came from the wholesaler.

allinthehead

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122100933#Comment_122100933

Very true.

5starpool

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122100535#Comment_122100535

Bear in mind that I probably have no idea what i'm talking about. I'm the layest of laymen when it comes to this stuff. My terminology is probably all wrong. The switches that were tripped are the ones I have some green lines drawn next to.

Meter Box

Inverter

Fuse board

I was mostly concerned that it wasn't going to be a thing where they had sold me too many panels for what the inverter could handle (6kwh system, 5kwh inverter) and that caused the problem. As I said though, I know very little about this.

graememk

You havent been sold too many panels, but It needs to be checked.

I think the PV isnt coming due to a failure in the inverter or the fuse has blown in the DC shunt isolator. (or both)

Either way, Warranty job, Takes a fairly decent short to trip everything.

allinthehead

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122100954#Comment_122100954

Ya, looks like your inverter circuit took out your main MCB. A large overcurrent event of some kind was responsible.

allinthehead

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122101069#Comment_122101069

My 63 amp MCB was tripped not too long ago due to a dodgy neon in a 20 amp double pole causing a short between phase and earth. Lucky that no damage was done.

5starpool

Thanks all. I'll chase the installers after the BH.

allinthehead

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122101351#Comment_122101351

Don't forget to update when you get sorted.

5starpool

Inverter faulty and replaced is what I'm told. Electrician said that he never heard of issues with the huawei inverters until recently and in the last couple of months he has had to replace a few with the same issue, so maybe a faulty batch or something got released. Hopefully doesn't happen the new one anyway, it's working again now.