Solar invertor maintence, herefordshire

[Matt]

hi,
Am looking for recommendations for maintenance for sma tri power 30kw system.
looks like we have a inverter gone wrong.
we are based in herefordshire

 

[f0ster]

how old is the inverter, it should have had at least 5 year warranty, if so contact sma,

 

[Matt]

how old is the inverter, it should have had at least 5 year warranty, if so contact sma,

6 years

 

[f0ster]

depending on the warranty when it was bought, most of the inverter manufacturers went to 10 year warranty quite a few years ago and I expect sma would have also, we have had quite a run of faulty sma tri power units and it was the same fault every time, a faulty transistor, there were always very good with warranty, phone them up with the serial number and they will tell you if it is warranty, if not I would go with another make, you will get 10 year warranty.

 

[Steevo]

I have no experience with the solar side of the group, but would think the logical choice in Herefordshire would be Caplor Energy (https://www.caplor.co.uk/).

The guys behind the group are first rate and on that alone I make the recommendation. Profit is certainly not their primary consideration.

 

[f0ster]

all you have to do is contact the manufacturer (sma) give them the serial number and the displayed fault code. if it requires a replacement and it is warranty they will send you one, you then contact them when the old unit is ready for collection and they organize it, if it is warranty then it is all foc, if they want some tests done on the array they will tell you,

 

[Jim Pace]

Can I suggest you try Darren Oliver at Beba solar. They have built 15 schemes for me from 4kw on a cottage up to a 560kw ground mount. They do all our O&M. We had dreadful problems with SMA inverters on our 2011 schemes. I have extended all our warranties out to 15 years.

 

[newholland]

wind and sun from near Leominster are the Herefordshire SMA inverter dealers.
You will have to buy a new one, SMA don't care about expired warranty.

 

[f0ster]

If there is no warranty then go for something else that has 10 year warranty. We use solax from Edmundsons. But there are lots of brands with 10 year warranty

 

[f0ster]

We always contact the inverter manufacturer direct. They can trace any warranty through the serial number

 

[Matt]

If there is no warranty then go for something else that has 10 year warranty. We use solax from Edmundsons. But there are lots of brands with 10 year warranty

do you have any experience with the Solis Inverters? if so how do you rate them?

 

[adamc]

Common fault. Not a worry however as even if you need to replace it they cost peanuts now. A newer one will likely come with a standard 10 year warrantee and last maybe 12 years +. Consider other brands next time. SMA was the best available from 2010 -2015 ish.

 

[f0ster]

up to now we have used quite a few solis inverters and they do what they are supposed to, no issues yet. the only thing that concerns me is the physical size of them, for example a 12kw machine is not much bigger than the older generation of 4kw machines. we have recently replaced a 17kw eversolar and it was three times the size of a 15kw solis. I am not complaining but it makes me wonder about the long term reliability of them. we have a customer who has a samil inverter that keeps restarting due to incorrect country code has been selected with a lower upper limit than what it should be. this should be easy fixed but who ever installed it changed the default password to something else. and samil have pulled out of the UK altogether so no help there. solis do have dno approved export limiters.

 

[pine_guy]

Interest question. I just wanted to ask it, but I found it. There are so many answers, thanks for finding the answer to my question! I came to this area, after the jackpot was ripped off on the https://onlineroulettewheel.co.uk/ and decided to invest in this area

@Clive this guy seems to be spamming at least two threads I’ve seen in the renewables section

 

[Clive]

@Clive this guy seems to be spamming at least two threads I’ve seen in the renewables section

Thanks for the heads up, I’m not in the uk right now so hard to keep on top of stuff

@Chris F can you take a look please ?

 

[goodevans]

Thanks for the heads up, I’m not in the uk right now so hard to keep on top of stuff

@Chris F can you take a look please ?

You could of said thanks for the heads or tails up!