I found some old documents (see attachments) from 2016 from searching google for older versions of this inverter:
http://www.europe-solarshop.com/solaredge-se17k.htmlThe only rubbish I can see so far in one of them:
http://www.europe-solarshop.com/documents/solaredge/se-inverter-installation-guide.pdfChapter 7: Setting Up Communication
Power optimizers send information to the inverter via the DC power lines (the PV output circuit). The information is sent from the inverter to the SolarEdge monitoring platform through the Internet. In order to send the data from the inverter, a communication connection must be set up, as described in this chapter.
I found that it already supports modbus via ethernet for pc third and third party monitoring with a document detailing the registers they use under the Sunspec alliance:
https://discourse.nodered.org/t/solaredge-modbus-registers-sunspec/37683Chapter 5:
Commissioning the Installation
This chapter describes how to activate the system, pair the power optimizers to the inverter and verify the proper functioning of the system.
Step 1: Activating the System
1. Verify that the inverter ON/OFF switch is OFF.
2. Move the DC Safety Unit (if applicable) to the OFF position. 3.
Remove the inverter cover: Open the inverter cover’s six Allen screws and carefully pull the cover horizontally before lowering it. WARNING! ELECTRICAL SHOCK HAZARD. Do not touch uninsulated wires when the inverter cover is removed.
4. Activate the inverter:
a. Verify that the card S/N matches the inverter S/N.
b. Insert the card into the "CARD" slot on the communication board.
c. Turn ON the AC switch of the main circuit board.
d. LCD shows: Running Script...è Done!
Figure 15: Activation card
If LCD shows: Failed:
Turn AC OFF and ON (reset), and repeat the activation process.l
Now that sounds pretty sensible to me.
So the same model produced before didn't need all that bullshit, a phone, internet, hosting and whole load of finite things to get it to work.
For those who said they had their faulty inverters swapped over for this new pile of piss version, I wonder if in the UK whether they'd have rights and to demand for like for like from the manufacturer (model with a display) or have another inverter installed from a different manufacturer of the same spec fitted?
I wonder what would have happened if my Foxess went faulty and the contractors were going to swap it over with a inferior pile of piss version that lacked, screen, controls, needed broadband, phone/app, webhosting which I won't as that was actually a requirement in the contract not to. That would mean they would have take it back and sort out another solution to make it right the way it was before.
They should have called these things by a different model.
http://www.europe-solarshop.com/solaredge-se17k.htmlOld version of model with display 2016:SolarEdge SE17K Three Phase Solar InverterNew version of same model number without display:https://www.solarenergypoint.it/shop/solar-edge-inverter-trifase-se17kSOLAREDGE SE17K – INVERTER TRIFASE 17 KWJoke: Like that large SolarEdge sticker is going to compensate and make me happy by how pretty and trendy it looks.Please note: This inverter does not have a display. 4. It is a new Comms Board version and set up and commissioning 5. need to be done using Solar Edge SetAPP mobile application.
Very stupid why they should call them the same name when,
it has a new comms board that is different where it lacks features (screen and buttons) and demands (or lock the user in before they can use it) for things that were absolutely not needed before now at the expense and inconvenience of the customer.
Or maybe it was their plan to do a switcheroo scam on their customers down the line with the warranty and on this occasion it saves them costs of a screen, buttons and lumber it all on the customers phone and a bunch of finite things.
https://old.reddit.com/r/solar/comments/cmvywz/installers_anyone_having_problems_with_solaredge/INSTALLERS! Anyone having problems with SolarEdge? (self.solar) submitted 3 years ago by nelpaca
Wondering if any installers out there have been having trouble with SolarEdge recently? If so, what problems and what are you doing about it? I'm an installer in Colorado and roughly 25% of our SolarEdge inverters are giving us problems at the moment. Communication devices that have been working for years suddenly not communicating, firmware updates causing issues, inverters not reading DC voltage, and the list goes on....
Potentially a bigger issue has been the customer service. The customer service phone line and/or the chat service has consistently started us at 40-50-60th in the queue with hours of wait time - when it used to usually be under 10 spots ahead of us and a 10-15 minute wait time. We have a customer who has been waiting over a month to find out if they'll RMA her inverter or not. Any one having similar issues? Any insight into what's going on over there? We're moving away from using SolarEdge going forward (at least until they get their shit together) but hoping to find some ideas to resolve our current issues. Thanks!
Three years ago and that says a lot. What do they do, they hide the screen in their next batch of inverters so they don't communicate at all when they fail.
Surprise Surprisepalemilkdud 4 points 3 years ago
We have problems with probably 1/5 installs, usually with the new screen less inverters. Takes forever for phone to sync system to pair, list goes on. Screen way better.
stevey_frac 3 years ago
My inverter is a solar edge with a small blue screen on it. This is different than the ones you guys are having issues with?
vzo1281 3 years ago
The ones with blue screen are now the "Old models". To date, those are the ones that are going out on us more so than the previous models.
stevey_frac 3 years ago
So I've got one of the crappy ones then. Rats. Hope I don't get stuck with a dud. It's only been a year so far.
vzo1281 3 years ago
I would keep an eye on it then. The ones that I've had to replace had crossed the one year mark, but You may get lucky and it will work for a long time.
stevey_frac 3 years ago
Anything I should be watch for in particular? It's installed in my nice cool basement. I've heard beau might be an issue with these?
nelpacaS 3 years ago
The new SetApp inverters have given us lots of problems too. All those issues + clients being annoyed they can't see what's going on. Not all our techs have smart phones so we've had to make special trips out to commission systems. We're at about 1/4 right now with problems with all models..
palemilkdud 3 years ago
We are a much larger company in 4 states right now, even with more man power we still struggle with this company
https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/www.solaredge.com?sort=recency&stars=1&stars=2Tom Sheridan 1 review US Rated 1 out of 5 stars 6 days ago
Poor diagnosis and then delays
Since my original review seems to have disappeared from TrustPilot, I'll offer it again with this update: I have had NO contact from SolarEdge. The inverter has FINALLY been replaced, but this does NOT respond to my deeper question about paying installer hundreds of dollars for SolarEdge's incorrect and unnecessary diagnosis.
Rated 1 out of 5 stars Updated Aug 16, 2022
Poor diagnosis and then delays
UPDATE Aug. 23: SolarEdge requested additional information on this situation. The info sought -- contact information, which the firm already had -- was provided and acknowledged on Aug. 9. SolarEdge promised to contact me. This has not yet happened. Our installer reports that "supply issues" are delaying the promised inverter replacement. The replacement is appropriate, but it will NOT resolve the problem of having to pay for SolarEdge's slow and shoddy diagnostic support which cost us unnecessary fees without resolution. We continue to await contact from the firm.
Our situation, now more than eight months old, is SolarEdge support case no. 3122927. The problem has been the replacement – and then the replacement of the replacement – of the Dc meter in our inverter without fixing the problem. If insanity is defined as doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result, SolarEdge’s support team just qualified. The part is under warranty. But SolarEdge’s inability to correctly diagnose the problem correctly and provide detailed directions to our installer has so far cost us $420 in unnecessary fees. The case took months before SolarEdge belatedly realized the Dc meter wasn’t the problem after all and decided to replace the inverter. That was weeks ago; so far the new inverter hasn't shipped. That may resolve the issue – but it does not resolve this complaint: after already paying installer fees TWICE for unnecessary repairs because of SolarEdge’s slow and shoddy diagnostic support, I’m facing perhaps ANOTHER $200 in costs to replace the inverter. This is wrong and SolarEdge must cover those costs. The dollar amount is small. The amount of frustration involved as SolarEdge stumbled its way toward a solution is incalculable.
Date of experience: August 04, 2022
Reply from SolarEdge Updated Aug 9, 2022
Update: Thank you for providing your information. We have sent to the team for further review and to make contact.
Thank you for taking the time to share your experience. We have requested more information in order to review your case.
Date of experience: 02 January 2022
Reply from SolarEdge 6 days ago
My apologies that you were not contacted. I have followed up with the team to see they do so.
Interesting. Charging for things that should be covered under the warranty.
https://teslamotorsclub.com/tmc/threads/stay-away-from-solaredge-inverter.201110/Stay away from SolarEdge inverter
lettcco Florida Jul 24, 2020
#1
For anyone who is deciding to go with solar edge inverter, don't. I have owned the system almost a year now, and I have the inverter failed on me. It was a hardware failure, with code 18xBC. No way around it other than replacement. Tesla took cared of the failure 8 months ago, albeit took them almost 1.5 months/ of getting the replacement and re installation. I thought it was a flute so I let it slide, but today it happens again. So frustrating to have this keep happening.
My SunnyBoy 4KW inverter has worked from 2012 when it was installed to 2019 when I moved and has never ever failed during that time.
I was quoted for one of these solar Edge from a company and I am so pleased we didn't choose it.
https://www.reddit.com/r/solar/comments/cm4zl7/solaredge_inverters_failure_rate/SolarEdge inverters failure rate (self.solar) submitted 3 years ago by andres7832
We are experiencing an incredibly high SE inverter failure rate. Systems under year old are experiencing a failure rate 3-5x of older systems and the RMA/customer service is a nightmare (1.5hr hold times at start of day, 2hrs other times) and RMAs taking 3-4 weeks to complete.
Anyone else in the same boat? We have a fleet of floater inverters (about 15 total) to keep systems up and running that is booked and still have 5+ systems not running, with more added by the day.
Never been an issue with SE but getting worried about their long term viability. Would love to hear about others experience and what they expect long term, and how you are handling this incredible drop in reliability in the last 2 years.
betterthanfire 3 years ago
I'm in residential sales, seeing a lot of the same issue with my clients. Trying to use SMA Eagle when strings will work, EnPhase when they won't. Similar experience, didn't seem to be an issue with their previous models.
john133435 3 years ago
I installed my last SE system last summer. From what period of time are you noticing increased failure rates?
betterthanfire 3 years ago
Sorry don't have all solid dates for when I've noticed the issue. Probably starting somewhere between 12 and 24 months ago. From other posts I've seen, seems mostly an issue with the newer models (HD Wave). Hope it works out ok for you.
diezel_dave 3 years ago
I'm kinda surprised someone else found that random blog. I read that whole thing and it greatly influenced my opinion of SolarEdge and I really felt like the guy was being honest with his thoughts. His experiences with SolarEdge really turned me off of that company. When I was getting quotes, I was happy to find that almost all of the companies recommended Enphase anyways so it was a no brainer for me to go with microinverters. I've had my system for two months and I couldn't be happier. I love that there isn't any single point of failure. Even if, heaven forbid, dozens of the inverters failed, the remaining ones would continue chugging along just fine. That's just awesome to me. I know I'd be furious if my system was completely inoperable because a main string inverter crapped out and it was going to take a few weeks/months before it could be replaced.
Nevdi 3 years ago*
The comments at the bottom have grown to be more damning than Mark's actual blog. What's been worse however is the aggressive threats from SolarEdge to take it down, which we've chosen not to do due to the overwhelming response in the industry and seeing so many others having the same/a similar experience.
Looking at the article somewhere in that Reddit thread that focuses on their microinverters
https://www.mcelectrical.com.au/solaredge-inverter-optimiser-review/SOLAREDGE OPTIMISER FAILURES
Here are MC Electrical’s updated SolarEdge failures as of December 2020. It has been 6 years since our first install.
130 SolarEdge systems installed since Nov 2015
138 inverters installed
3293 optimisers installed
75 approved optimiser warranties
36 approved inverter warranties
1 rejected inverter warranty (SE claimed lightning with no evidence).
So percentages work out as a whopping…
2.2% optimiser failure rate
27% inverter failure rate
IS THAT BAD?
I count failures as loss in production not monitoring or communication issues. These failure rates will increase over time but to date:
Our Fronius inverter failures is a grand total of 24. We’ve installed over 3450 Fronius inverters since 2015.
Our Fronius inverters : 0.7% failure rate.
Our Enphase MicroInverter failures is a grand total of 3. We’ve installed over 3100 Enphase micros (across 132 installs) since 2015.
Our Enphase microinverters : 0.096% failure rate.
SolarEdge threat
THE TOUR OF SOLAREDGE
During our tour of SolarEdge, we visited their R&D testing labs…..
Before publishing this post in July 2018, I sent it to SolarEdge for feedback. I gave them 4 days to respond. I told them repeatedly that I am open for corrections or omissions and I was willing to delete sensitive information. I also did the same when I reviewed SMA, ABB and Fronius. This time instead of a “thanks for the courtesy, can you change …”, I was threatened with legal action and was given very little feedback. It wasn’t until Christmas Eve 3.15pm that I got a five-page letter from SolarEdge lawyers. I was threatened the second time in the afternoon on the day before Easter holidays 2019. I received further legal letter from SolarEdge lawyers in July 2020.
While I deleted this section about the “tour of SolarEdge” their Christmas Eve legal letter still asserts that the blog still breaks a confidentiality agreement, but they did not state which part they believe is in breach.
I certainly don’t believe I have included anything in this blog which is confidential. If I did, I wouldn’t have included it, to begin with. I take those obligations seriously. If SolarEdge identifies something which they feel was told to me in confidence, I will certainly look at whether it should be removed.
SOLAREDGE CHANGES THEIR TUNE
Both leading up to my Israel trip and after it, I had multiple conversations with SolarEdge Australia. Their tune has now changed and they now admit they have high optimiser failure rates across the board. They made two claims that I want to discuss. Edit, their lawyers deny SolarEdge have changed their tune or that they have a high optimiser failure rate.
...
2. TEMPERATURE-RELATED OPTIMISER FAILURES
After talking with so many installers across Australia, it seems to me there is a strong correlation between the location of the installation and the reported optimiser failure rate.
Glad they changed their tune and admitted to the failures on their microinverters.
I didn't have any microinverter or optimizer installed for this reason as it is a house and it took about a day for the company to put up scaffold.
Microinverters were actually offered, (I can't remember which brand) as an option with the company that did the previous solar panel system in 2012 but was told later they stopped selling them for new customers as they kept on blowing up and costing them labour.