Living on the coast of Maine, the majority of our M-215 installs (approximately 200) are along the immediate coast, say, within a couple thousand feet of salt water. We have had zero failures of this inverter (M-215) since it came out. We had one non-coastal issue with AC Out Of Frequency events that Enphase stayed on top of, including extensive engineer inclusion and even a site visit from an engineer for Enphase out of Boston, until the problem was fixed. I actually have high praise for how they dealt with that situation. I do understand the problems that still occur with the 190's and to a lesser extent the 210's, but I haven't seen them with the 215's.
Daryl > This is fascinating - the majority of the Enphase failures reported on > this > list seem to be near coastal areas. I know that is true for us. We've had > extensive failures on the M190 and M210 units close to the ocean. We have > yet to have a single M215 failure so I have my fingers crossed. > > > > SMA has continued to be the most reliable for us but I worry that slowly > their fans will fail. The first gen Fronius units have been horribly > unreliable and have all been replaced. Fronius was excellent in dealing > with the warranty claims. The 2nd Gen Fronius have been pretty good with > just a couple of units DOA and no long term failures yet. Power One, which > is the most interesting to me, is still too new to judge. We've had two > Power One failures so far. I understand that the first 10 and 12 k units > sold in the US had really bad problems but those are fixed now. Xantrex > was > horrible but we still have over 100 units in operation after the capacitor > recall. > > > > It's a real crapshoot with all these inverters! > > > > Best, > > > > August > > > > *From:* [email protected] [mailto: > [email protected]] *On Behalf Of *Mike & Jessica > Nelson > *Sent:* Thursday, May 09, 2013 8:45 AM > *To:* RE-wrenches > *Subject:* Re: [RE-wrenches] Enphase / Inverter failures > > > > Wrenches, > > I have had extensive failures on 3 installs that are situated right on the > coastal bluff in Northern California. Once you replace more than one > inverter at one site on one day, the compensation goes from $150.00 per > inverter, to next to nothing for the remaining. Enphase actually sent out > their field services tech, and did a complete swap out on these 3 systems > (with my assistance). It was a long day. But now, 2 years later, we are > seeing more failures. One has had 4 micro failures to date. Once I get > away > from the coastal edge, with it's corrosive effect, the failure rate goes > way down. I have asked Enphase to upgrade these 3 systems to the newer > M215 > system, and am still waiting for a response. I am to the point where I > won't install Enphase within 1/2 mile of the ocean. > > Michael D. Nelson > > MD Electric & Solar > > On Thu, May 9, 2013 at 8:31 AM, Will White <[email protected]> > wrote: > > Its funny because Ive had a very different experience from everyone > else. Ive had lots of Xantrex inverters fail and a few Fronius but not > to > the extent that everyone else has. Ive only replaced a few Enphase > inverters and they were usually dead out of the box. > > > > Thanks, > > Will > > > > * > __________________________________________________________________________________________ > * > > Will White > > Regional Field Operations Manager New England > > > > Real Goods Solar > > 64 Main St. > > Montpelier, VT 05602 > > Tel: (802) 223-7804 > > Cell: (802) 234-3167 > > www.realgoodssolar.com > > > > > > *From:* [email protected] [mailto: > [email protected]] *On Behalf Of *Troy Harvey > *Sent:* Thursday, May 09, 2013 11:06 AM > *To:* RE-wrenches > *Subject:* Re: [RE-wrenches] Enphase / Inverter failures > > > > > > I don't enjoy the PLC interference problems, which are rare. When they > have > occurred, Enphase provided continuous technical support, including factory > evaluation of line filters and enhanced system analysis. Did you know > that > each Enphase system has a built in spectrum analyzer? Tech support can > provide a printout of interfering signals to help in troubleshooting. > Installing a separate AC load center to accept the AC return breakers > helps > with solving these problems. I understand that the next release of > Enphase > inverters will be Wi-fi, eliminating the PLC protocol entirely. When the > communication works, (which it does most of the time) it is a very > valuable > resource. > > > > I find we have several times the service calls on enphase due to the > customers thinking their system isn't working, when in fact it the flakey > PLC network. And all that monitoring is only really telling me about the > inverters or their networking, since the long term failure rate of the > panels is several orders of magnitude better than even the best inverter > on > the market. > > > > I have only seen 2 Xantrex string inverters go out in the last 5 years (no > surprise there) out of all of the string inverters, and all of the brands. > But I've seen failure at everyone of our Enphase installs, and usually > failures every year (1 or 2 dead micros per year per site). > > > > There is no argument that micros improve flexibility. And the potential > for > a micro to have a higher MTBF is believable. But first they need better > design, more market experience, and will never reach 25 year lifespan like > they say until they take electrolytic caps out of their designs. > > > > thanks, > > Troy Harvey > --------------------- > Principal Engineer > Heliocentric > 801-453-9434 > [email protected] > > > _______________________________________________ > List sponsored by Home Power magazine > > List Address: [email protected] > > Change email address & settings: > http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org > > List-Archive: > http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org > > List rules & etiquette: > www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm > > Check out participant bios: > www.members.re-wrenches.org > > > > > > -- > Michael & Jessica Nelson > > MD Electric & Solar Inc. > > Office: 707-884-1862 > > Cell: 707-684-0064 > _______________________________________________ > List sponsored by Home Power magazine > > List Address: [email protected] > > Change email address & settings: > http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org > > List-Archive: > http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org > > List rules & etiquette: > www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm > > Check out participant bios: > www.members.re-wrenches.org > > _______________________________________________ List sponsored by Home Power magazine List Address: [email protected] Change email address & settings: http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org List-Archive: http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org List rules & etiquette: www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm Check out participant bios: www.members.re-wrenches.org
