Sunpower SB5000TL no production

[jahyde]

I have a SB5000TL-US-22 I am testing, LCD shows 242vac L1/L2, 307vdc, but after 10 minutes its still showing 0amp, 0watt, no errors, I verified everything working fine on another 7000TL inverter.

Any tips for resetting/troubleshooting?

I contacted Sunpower+SMA, but they were useless, they forwarded me to a local installer who wanted to sell me a new inverter. Some great PR for Sunpower/SMA: Solar Edge was thrilled to help me troubleshoot their inverter, they remoted in to it over the internet no stupid questions.

Pics of the screen-
https://photos.app.goo.gl/3sXSpKJ2z1uASi3b6

 

[Hedges]

I have a SB5000TL-US-22 I am testing, LCD shows 242vac L1/L2, 307vdc, but after 10 minutes its still showing 0amp, 0watt, no errors, I verified everything working fine on another 7000TL inverter.

Any tips for resetting/troubleshooting?

I contacted Sunpower+SMA, but they were useless, they forwarded me to a local installer who wanted to sell me a new inverter. Some great PR for Sunpower/SMA: Solar Edge was thrilled to help me troubleshoot their inverter, they remoted in to it over the internet no stupid questions.

Pics of the screen-
https://photos.app.goo.gl/3sXSpKJ2z1uASi3b6

I haven't worked with this inverter before, but between the display and SMA documents, I see something to check.

I assume you picked this up somewhere, never had it running, so could be set wrong.

The display shows what appears to be the grid relay open, which matches no production. It doesn't say "Error" or "Waiting" like mine do if grid voltage/frequency is out of spec.

Your voltages look fine for this model assuming 240V nominal grid. If the inverter is set for 208V then too high, won't connect. If set for 50 Hz and your grid is 60 Hz also won't connect.

Switch settings in the picture are 0,0 for default.

http://files.sma.de/dl/4246/Country-setting-US-TI-en-10.pdf

It shows a hand tapping. Manual says "Tapping twice: the display shows, in succession, the firmware version, the serial number of the inverter, the NetID, the configured country data set and the display language."

That should show US 240 or UL1741, not 208 or 277. If it doesn't match your application you have to set the switches, and probably need an installer code and suitable device to talk to it.

I'm surprised it doesn't say what it is up to. Tap once, wait, tap again may scroll through lines of message.

 

[Hedges]

I have a SB5000TL-US-22 I am testing, LCD shows 242vac L1/L2, 307vdc, but after 10 minutes its still showing 0amp, 0watt, no errors, I verified everything working fine on another 7000TL inverter.

Any tips for resetting/troubleshooting?

I contacted Sunpower+SMA, but they were useless, they forwarded me to a local installer who wanted to sell me a new inverter. Some great PR for Sunpower/SMA: Solar Edge was thrilled to help me troubleshoot their inverter, they remoted in to it over the internet no stupid questions.

Pics of the screen-
https://photos.app.goo.gl/3sXSpKJ2z1uASi3b6

What is the state of the LEDs?
I see a green LED lit in one picture, not lit in the other. But I can't tell if it is flashing.
Page 41 of the manual http://files.sma.de/dl/15330/SB30-50TL-21-BE-en-11.pdf says,

"LED Status Explanation
Green LED glowing Feed-in operation If an event occurs during feed-in operation, an event message will be shown on the display (for event messages see the service manual at www.SMA-Solar.com ).

flashing The conditions for feed-in operation are not yet met. As soon as the conditions are met, the inverter will start feedin operation.

Red LED glowing Error If an error occurs, the error message and the corresponding event number will be shown in the display. The error must be rectified by a qualified person (for troubleshooting, see the service manual at www.SMA-Solar.com).

Blue LED glowing BLUETOOTH communication is activated. "

I would expect the green LED is flashing, to indicate it is still waiting for grid voltage and frequency to be correct. I assume it is set different, so will wait forever.
Some people have written (maybe in other forums from SMA) that they acquired an inverter with settings for another country.
The display shows 0.000 kWh for the day and 0.000 MWh total, so I think you're in luck and it has never been operated, has not been operated beyond 10 hours feed-in, so you can just set the switches for your local country code (after "the installer always knocks twice" to see how it is presently set.)

The older model 10000TLUS-12 I've been playing with explicitly say they're waiting or if there is a grid disturbance, and show voltage and frequency if out of range. Makes understanding their state of operation much easier. But when they're happy they don't have as much to say, and I have to connect my DMM on frequency scale to see they're reducing output due to off-grid operation.