inverter down

[Ervin R Dilly]

Have a 2.0 KW inverter that I think I have messed up,by adding to many panels.The lower part of the display will not tell me my KW or Kwh.It is a sun tie solar electric inverter,st2000.It is a 2001 model and dont know if it is worth being fixed,if I could even find someone here in DE.that even works on them.Any help would be appreciated.Thanks

[Rob Beckers]

Ervin, sorry to hear about the inverter troubles!
The only way I know of killing PV grid-tie inverters is if your string size is too large, and you exceed the maximum DC input voltage (usually that is pretty high, 600V for many, so that's not so easy to do). Putting too many panels on the input, as long as you stay under the voltage limit (which should be calculated for the coldest day, that's when PV voltage is highest), cannot do damage. All grid-tie inverters will limit their input current as needed to protect themselves and limit output power. We see massively oversized PV arrays, in relation to the inverter size, all the time here. That by itself works just fine.

Does the inverter manufacturer have any representation in North America? That would be the place to start, to see if it can be salvaged.

-RoB-

[Ervin R Dilly]

Hi Rob,good to hear from you again.I think you hit the nail on the head as my book says "absolute Max PV open circuit volt,125 VDC."I know at todays standard it sounds like it is awful low but this dates back to 2001 which makes this old at todays world.Dont know if I can find any company to work on this as I think that they have changed hands or went out of business.Will keep looking and someone else may know of a repair facility.Hate to junk it,didnt come to cheap when I purchased it (used).:o