Replacement inverter

[Henry.de.kock]

Good day all.

I recently had an issue where I could not get power coming from my battery/inverter. I contacted the people that installed my system, and they told me that it seems like the inverter got damaged and it has to be sent away for repairs. I have a RCT axpert max 8kv 48v inverter. Now if I look up the fault description in the manual it states F11 - PV over voltage, and F12 - DCDC over current. I did not know what any of that meant, but the installer said the inverter got damaged. Against my better judgment I was convinced to open the damn things bottom panel, and lets just say, put a screw driver where it does not belong. Yes I know I should not have listened to the person and do something that I have no competency to do, but what is done is done.

I got some one else to come and assess the situation and they picked up some other issues on the installation. Bottom line is the inverter will need to be sent away now for repairs, but it can take up to 3 weeks, and they cannot tell me what it will cost to repair it before they assessed the damage. So my options is take the chance and send it for repairs and hope it does not cost as much as a new inverter, or just buy a new inverter and write the old one off as a ID10T error.

Buying a new one comes with its own challenges since I need to get one that will be compatible with the battery (Narada 150ah 48v) I have, and lets be honest here, I clearly have no expertise to trust myself to make the right decision. So I come here to ask the smart people what would be my options for inverters (what is recommended compatible inverters), or should I take the chance and send the old one away for repairs and pray for the best?

 

[Steamy Tom]

I had a similar situation in that I had an existing install and the inverter failed.

I opted to replace rather than fix. Few reasons,the repair cost was unknown but expected minimum R4k, wanted new features, warranty etc.

What I wanted to move to though meant my solar configuration needed to change.

Went from an axpert king 5kw to a luxpower 6kw.

So imo you have more than one consideration, battery compatibility, solar configuration and inverter capacity/features.

My opinion, replace.

 

[B-1]

Which municipality are you in? Would make sense to make sure the inverter is on their list before repairing.

 

[wingnut771]

Which municipality are you in? Would make sense to make sure the inverter is on their list before repairing.

Who cares about that stupid (like etoll stupid) moronic drawn up by a politician list?

 

[SauRoNZA]

What exactly is wrong with the inverter?

Why can’t you just switch to Eskom while it is away and get a price first before making decisions? There is no desperate need to replace it immediately.

Where are you based?

 

[leon.davibe]

What is the panel voltage VOC
And quantity, to calculate total string voltage

With snowy weather and temp drops the voltage increases and then pops the solar charge controller

TLDR make sure the config is suitable to the inverter to not pop the replacement too

low voltage engineer i know ( ie it stuff) has said that on these axpert types going max 80% of max voc. Higjly recomended to prevent high bus voltage errors or solar controller popping especially if using polly panels as their voltage tends to vary more than monocrystalline

If the array was not configured corectly for cold weather not to exceed max voc guidelines it is actually installer error imo

on this calculatror page it also explains why this needs to be calculated
would have to google for historic low/high temps for your area

Solar String Voltage Calculator — Voc & Vmp Temperature Correction | Photonik

Free solar string voltage calculator. Calculate maximum Voc and minimum Vmp for your solar panel string at extreme temperatures. Ensure your string voltage stays within inverter MPPT range.

www.photonik.solar