Troubleshooting PVP4800 after lightning strike

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rocmor
rocmor Registered Users Posts: 11
Greetings.

A few days ago, during a rather intense electrical storm, my system got hit by lightning and went down: no humming from the GTI and nothing on the display. Preliminary forensics show that the DC voltage from the panels is normal, the AC side is normal, the external fuse on the unit is still good. Looking around inside, the DC is getting where it is supposed to go and there are no obvious failed components (nothing melted, charred, exploded...). I cannot see any fuses on the various circuit boards. I had the head electrician from the crew that installed the system with me during these checks. He feels (though he admits that this is the first solar installation that he has seen damaged by lightning - there just aren't too many around in our neck of the woods) that the fault is in the board located in the top compartment of the PVP4800, which, I surmise, is the heart of the inversion process and contains circuitry for the display. Anyway, he and the electrical contractor's main guru on solar/wind are trying to reach the manufacturer for parts and instructions.

My question: are there any measurements that could be made by someone with experience in electrical/electronic troubleshooting that could help narrow the scope? I'm thinking back to the days when people actually serviced things like TVs and audio equipment, and the schematics would list voltages that you would expect to see at given connections if things were working normally. Maybe I'm being anal about this, but I kinda like to know what's wrong before I try to fix it.

Side note: Actually, the repair will be covered by my homeowner's, minus, of course, the deductible which will probably be most of the cost of the repair. I was interested, however, in a comment made by the agent at the home office. In the spirit, presumably, of attempting to prevent fraud, they actually checked lightning activity on and around the date we got hit. She told me that, in a 72 hour window around the time when we were hit, there were 348 recorded strikes in our immediate area. Apparently, that number is large enough to convince them that I am likely telling the truth.

Comments

  • mike95490
    mike95490 Solar Expert Posts: 9,583 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    Re: Troubleshooting PVP4800 after lightning strike

    If your system took a direct hit, even with protection, there is likely much that got fried. electronic gear can be protected against a surge, but a direct strike is likely pretty fatal. The cost of buying and changing out each PCB in the inverter would likely be more than a factory fresh new one. So much can be damaged, still look good, and fail in another month, it's not worth messing about with.
    Powerfab top of pole PV mount | Listeroid 6/1 w/st5 gen head | XW6048 inverter/chgr | Iota 48V/15A charger | Morningstar 60A MPPT | 48V, 800A NiFe Battery (in series)| 15, Evergreen 205w "12V" PV array on pole | Midnight ePanel | Grundfos 10 SO5-9 with 3 wire Franklin Electric motor (1/2hp 240V 1ph ) on a timer for 3 hr noontime run - Runs off PV ||
    || Midnight Classic 200 | 10, Evergreen 200w in a 160VOC array ||
    || VEC1093 12V Charger | Maha C401 aa/aaa Charger | SureSine | Sunsaver MPPT 15A

    solar: http://tinyurl.com/LMR-Solar
    gen: http://tinyurl.com/LMR-Lister ,

  • solar_dave
    solar_dave Solar Expert Posts: 2,397 ✭✭✭✭
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    Re: Troubleshooting PVP4800 after lightning strike

    How old is the inverter? My PVP5200 has a 10 year warranty. Perhaps they will cover it, have you called them.