Help! My inverter has died.

[Geoff1946]

Looking for advice please. I have a simple 3kW solar panel and inverter system with a Solar River 3000TL inverter.
It was professionally installed about 10 years by a local company who are no longer in the business. I am on a good FIT.
It was working perfectly a couple of weeks ago, pushing out 2.5kW on a sunny afternoon. On a check today the fault lamp is on and the display shows "Relay Fail".
I've re-booted it a couple of times when it reverts to this state in about one minute.
I intend to sort out this issue myself, so would appreciate advice on my options. I don't want to invalidate my FIT. Presumably repairs are allowable
1. Is the inverter (economically) repairable ? I'm a retired engineer and happy to work on it BUT have no technical data/circuits, etc, or special test gear.
2. Any repair services I could ship it to?
3. Seek an identical replacement ? I've seen an advert for South West Renewables (Devon) Ltd offering refurbished units. Any experience of this company?
4. Obtain a different brand replacement ? Any particular brand or source ?

 

[roys]

I had a Sunnyboy inverter that died, think it was something like £850 to buy one from the solar wholesaler, he said that no one ever buys one they all buy Solis at £400 both come with exactly the same warranty so why pay double, I couldn’t argue with that logic, I bought and fitted the Solis myself done and dusted in an hour, performance and parameters of system exactly the same so FIT none the wiser and not affected.
I did try to contact the installers but they were long out of business.
Note my figures quoted may be a bit out as this was 4 years ago.

 

[binky]

that will be AC relay fail, if you are feeling keen it shouldn't be too hard to replace, but I would be inclined to replace the inverter, efficeciency has improved a lot over 10 years, and so has reliability. Solar River was never a great inverter.

 

[roys]

And every day it is dead is costing you money in lost FIT earnings, I would guess it is not cost effective to be mucking about while we are in the last throws of semi decent daylight for the year, I would be wanting it up and running sooner rather than later.

 

[Badger]

Sooooo glad I installed enphase micros here

 

[binky]

I had a Sunnyboy inverter that died, think it was something like £850 to buy one from the solar wholesaler, he said that no one ever buys one they all buy Solis at £400 both come with exactly the same warranty so why pay double, I couldn’t argue with that logic, I bought and fitted the Solis myself done and dusted in an hour, performance and parameters of system exactly the same so FIT none the wiser and not affected.
I did try to contact the installers but they were long out of business.
Note my figures quoted may be a bit out as this was 4 years ago.

I've fitted a lot of Solis for this very reason. Even if they only last 10 years, you can buy 2 for the price of a SMA, and the newer inverter will be more efficient. Having said that, my own inverter died recently, a Power One unit. The peak output was never more than 3272Watts, I replaced it with an old SMA I recovered from a job, it's peaked at over 3500 Watts. So maybe there is something to be said for SMA.

 

[Geoff1946]

Up and running again. I bought a refurbished Solar River unit from South West Renewables for £150. Great service next day delivery. Fits straight onto the wall bracket, etc.
I've also had a look at my dead one and I think a pair of new relays will probably fix it, so I've gambled £20 ordering a pair.
If you think I'm daft taking this approach my defence is that I've had a lifetime hobby of resurrecting technology dumped by others, and being retired my time is my own.

 

[Oldman22]

Being tight, I think I would have looked at replacing the relays first for £20 outlay and maybe saved myself £150. I'm sure I have seen solar river relay repairs on youtube before.
My solar river 3000TL was installed Jan 2014 so it too is on borrowed time I guess.

 

[binky]

Up and running again. I bought a refurbished Solar River unit from South West Renewables for £150. Great service next day delivery. Fits straight onto the wall bracket, etc.
I've also had a look at my dead one and I think a pair of new relays will probably fix it, so I've gambled £20 ordering a pair.
If you think I'm daft taking this approach my defence is that I've had a lifetime hobby of resurrecting technology dumped by others, and being retired my time is my own.

after the company went bust, there was a former company tech bod in Switzerland fixing these inverters, so it's perfectly doable

 

[Geoff1946]

I did want to get running again as quickly as practicable, rather than save every penny and the relays will be a couple of weeks and probably arrive just as I go away on holiday.
Conversely I didn't like the look of the prices advertised to have it replaced by a registered solar company. I could have bought a new one myself, but was concerned what would happen if I then had a warranty claim.
South West Renewables would fix my old one for an estimated £120, but by the time I've shipped it the length of the country that's not a very attractive idea. The refurbished unit looked good value, and the supplier has good reviews, so that's the logic for my gamble.