SolarEdge P700 Optimizer Pairing?

[jimolson52]

We're in a brief transition between our original installing company and a new one yet to be chosen. The issue is the installer's $600 labor charge to replace a bad optimizer on our ground-mounted 33kW array. I have an EE degree and am tackling optimizer replacement myself, complete with the recommended personal protective gear.

I successively substituted two new, known-good P700 optimizers for the bad one without success. The inverter is an SE9KUS. Each time I initiate re-pairing by holding down the green button on the underside of the inverter. The re-pairing event precedes as normal and all optimizers under that inverter's rule will re-pair--except for the one I substituted for the dead one.

Below is the the online layout image I get after 24 hours showing that optimizer 4.1.13 still isn't pairing with its inverted.

Does re-pairing a freshly-installed optimizer require more than simply pressing the inverter's green button? Alternatively, do I have a dead PV panel in the pair of panels this optimizer faces?

Do I need to have deeper log in credentials on the SolarEdge online monitoring app to authorize a new optimizer? Those deeper log in credentials are presently under the control of the installing company that annoys us.

FWIW, my clamp-on Fluke DC current meter says that the inverter string including optimizer 4.1.13 has substantial current. The LCD display on the SE9KUS says the that string voltage is 400VDC. The current clamp confirms that the current on the front side of optimizer 4.1.13 facing its two PV panels has zero current. This is consistent with an unauthorized optimizer or a dead PV panel.

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide.

 

[jimolson52]

It took more than a month but I eventually resolved the question I posed above:

Does re-pairing a freshly-installed optimizer require more than simply pressing the inverter's green button?

We eventually hired a new SolarEdge-approved maintenance firm in our city. The service tech allowed me to follow him around on his first visit and ask questions.

It turns out that SolarEdge inverters do not build a fresh list of their "child" optimizers during the pairing process. If you replace a dead optimizer with a new one, the inverter will ignore the new one during the pairing process. The reason is that the inverter's true list of optimizers is created by the installing tech when the system is first powered.

If a new optimizer is introduced into the system (either due to a repair or expansion of the array) the new optimizer's logical address must be "enrolled" in the system using an online SolarEdge app that only SE-approved technicians have. The technician's online app has the same general appearance and features of the more widely available maintenance app used by system owners, but it contains the optimizer enrollment tool.

I think this means that a true DIY installation of a SolarEdge system cannot happen without a bit of assistance from an SE technician, although this assistance can be remotely provided if the inverter is internet connected.

And although I'm a bit fuzzy on this, when an SE technician uses his online maintenance app to modify or perform optimizer enrollment, his employer becomes the service company of record for your system. This designation has broad implications for your relationship with that service company because they also become the sole entity authorized to petition SE for warranty spares for your system.

If I understand the tech who recently visited us, owners of SE products cannot by themselves seek warranty fulfillment from SE. The request for a warranty replacement for a dead SE product must come from the service company of record. The petition for warranty fulfillment includes the tech submitting photographs and technical data to SE (for example, optimizer output voltage and port impedances) that only a trained tech knows to provide.

 

[jimolson52]

Re-reading what I wrote above, I must clarify one technical item. If you remove a dead optimizer from a SolarEdge system and replace it with a new one, the re-pairing process will not report the new optimizer. The online maintenance app will display the missing dead optimizer with zero output and dark blue coloration in the physical representation of the site.

The dark blue/zero watts output representation pf the disappeared optimizer will persist until an SE tech "de-enrolls" it with his service tech app.

 

[400bird]

Thanks for the update.

It's interesting that you have those issues. Maybe it's a different in year generation of the inverter? Just a couple months ago, I added 4 new optimizers to my Solar Edge inverter using just the buttons on the inverter.