Enphase inverter MTBF calculation thread

shlolar

Mastruck, that's a good size system you've got there.  I'm in Phoenix also and about to put in a 19kW 65 290W panel with m250's in.  How has your system been holding up?  I would love to see your system.  Thanks.

Yaryman

I've got 18 Enphase M250's that have just hit one year mark with no problem.
Located in Northern California with the hottest month being July with avg. highs of 94. 
It seems like the M190 was a somewhat trouble filled product, but Enphase got it right by the time the M250 came out. 
On the other hand, if something goes wrong in two years with my Enphase inverters, I will have a different opinion. 

cow_rancher

I see that this builder liked to make a lot of penetrations through the concrete tile roof,  Those three with the top hats are probably bathroom fans, "fart fans" or kitchen fans and could have been vented into the empty space above the insulation (if those are trusses, which for a tile roof they should be).  And the three vent stacks I see there for sinks and tubs could have been combined into one vent stack, I'm not an expert on the UBC but that is the way I build my house with help from some subs.

Rancher

mike95490

cow_rancher said:

I see that this builder liked to make a lot of penetrations through the concrete tile roof,  Those three with the top hats are probably bathroom fans, "fart fans" or kitchen fans and could have been vented into the empty space above the insulation (if those are trusses, which for a tile roof they should be).  And the three vent stacks I see there for sinks and tubs could have been combined into one vent stack, I'm not an expert on the UBC but that is the way I build my house with help from some subs.

Rancher

In my area of California, you will be very sorry venting bathroom moisture into the attic space, mold everywhere !

BB.

I don't know about code--But I would not be happy when I had to snake a drain from the roof and cannot send it down the correct stack/sewer line.

For kitchen fans, venting to the attic is also a smoke/fire hazard (besides dumping humidity into the attic space is not right either).

-Bill

Aguarancher

There is a reason they use “b” vent pipe for stoves, kitchen exhaust fans, furnaces and water heaters, it’s called fire. As far as the fart fans, they are 3” dia. aluminum flex “supposed to be, have seen plastic flex in some cases” and never exit the roof, but out the gable ends in a aluminum dryer type vent. I have seen the lesser contractors simply staple the duct to a gable screen vent. Sadly I’ve seen both methods pass inspection.

colinmcc

i have 47 M215IG installed 2 years ago, (june 2015)  none have failed. But, my first envoy failed after just a year, I contacted enphase and asked for an RMA who replied 'that serial number is out of it's guarantee period'..  I wasn't impressed by that! Surely the guarantee should start from date of installation, not date of manufacture, presumably it had sat on a shelf somewhere for some time before I bought it.

daklein

Old thread now, but...      Just for fun, who can show the highest production by an m190 over it's lifetime?   

My 2011 installed rooftop array in Michigan, with 21 x m190 and 225w panels, has one remaining original m190.   It looks like it's going out, but it's energy output is still within 10% of other panels, and it's in the middle of the array so I have left it going.   It has made 2.84 MWh over it's lifetime, 10+ years so far.    Can anyone beat that?      (IG & IQ based warranty replacements are all good so far, and still have 5 of 9 m190 warranty replacements still going up to 8 years old now)

DanS26

I just wonder not if but when the warranty costs will outstrip the profits and tank the Enphase company.  Investors beware!

Yaryman

My Enphase Envoy ENV-120 Communications Gateway died after about 5 years. I was able to find a working used model for $175 on ebay.  I did have to call Enphase to have the reset the Gateway for me, instead of the previous user. The agent was helpful and the Envoy now reads out my production. 

Off the record, the agent mentioned they came with a two year warranty, and the company had expected them to last 5 to 10 years. 

WebPower

I had 5 of 22 die after about 7 months i'm guessing in 2020. Thankfully they were ground based at the time. Some nasty brown/blackout issues at the time. all failed with line frequency out of spec error. Tried to give them all different grid voltage and frequency but they never got out of that state. I still have one of them lying around the shop. Enphase never asked to send them back, they just sent me 5 new ones.

drees

daklein said:

Old thread now, but...      Just for fun, who can show the highest production by an m190 over it's lifetime?   

All 18 of my M190s installed in Spring 2010 are still running without issues - 3.29 MWh is the record holder, the lowest one is 3.15 MWh. Enphase had proactively replaced my Envoy a long time ago in 2012. 180W panels. Looking at adding another 4-5 kW of PV and possibly batteries to account for more usage now that I have installed heat pump water heater, heat pump for the house and electric vehicles.