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.

 

[Geoff1946]

The sequel. (A happy story for Christmas.)
Way back in August I said I was going to have a go at fixing my failed invertor. Long time, but life got in the way, not least my wife breaking her arm so I've been head cook, housekeeper, etc, etc.
Anyway, I finally replaced the power relays and it now works again. The contacts of the old ones looked quite burned and had obviously been hot.
The task scored about 5/10 on the difficulty scale, the hardest part being de-soldering the old relays. They were soldered with high temperature lead free and their pins were tight in the board. In the end I settled for breaking up the relay bases and removing one pin at a time. Care was needed due to surface mount components in the vicinity, including a diode between the coil pins.
Dismantling the unit was easier than anticipated, only the six inductor leads needing to be disconnected, and these are standard push on terminals. There was (thankfully) no need to disconnect the ribbon cables to the control board, especially as these have been sealed with some kind of adhesive. The main board, fixed by no less than 14 screws, then hinged out. on the main connections at the bottom.
Conclusion. I have a spare unit should the second hand one I bought give up !
Happy Christmas.

 

[Oldman22]

Well done, pleased for you. You do know that the current running one will now work for ever don't you.

 

[Geoff1946]

Well done, pleased for you. You do know that the current running one will now work for ever don't you.

I'll be more than happy with that. I see my repair efforts as cheap insurance.

 

[binky]

I'll be more than happy with that. I see my repair efforts as cheap insurance.

I've had a spare SMA in my garage for years, when my inverter failed, I replaced it with the SMA and got the highest peak output I've ever seen from my ten year old panels. Still at a loss to explain why that was, I can only assume SMA are a superior design. As for relays, they were always a weak point in cheap Chinese inverters, although Chinese products have improved a lot in that area.