SMA 5000TL Inverter Display Issue

[zra]

Hi Everyone,

First off this is one of two inverters connected to 27 280w SolarWorld Mono Panels on two arrays(11 and 16). The other inverter is an SMA 3000TL.

Yesterday, and for the last 3 months the system has been working without issue. The installer neglected to install a webconnect card in the 5000TL, so to expedite getting that up and running, I asked him if he could just drop it off and I'd install it.

He did so the day before yesterday, and yesterday I put the card in and connected my cat5 wires. Everything appeared to be working at that point but I wasnt able to get IP addresses, so i rebooted the router. No luck. Then i decided to call SMA tech support. The gentlemen was very nice, and as soon as I got on the phone with him, I realized that I should probably recycle the power on the inverters. With him on the line, I did that, and bingo the devices were issued IPs.

Later on yesterday evening, I was doing on the configuration on my laptop. I entered the RID and (the other number) for each inverter on the sunnyportel site and everything was discovered and the process seemed to complete.

As I continued to explore the functions on both the sunny portal site and using the local software, I began noticing that only one inverter appeared active. At that point, I went to bed.

This morning I discovered that the 5000TL display is not on any longer. It's periodically rebooting, and a blue light flashes about 7 times and then the screen displays all the possible icons for about 2 seconds and then goes off and the process repeats. Ive tried to recycle the power, DC disconnect on and off, inverter breaker on and off....

nothing.

I did try to take out the webconnect card but that didnt do anything for me. I checked the wires where I install the card and they seem intact.

Any idea what I could have done?

Thanks

[sensij]

Hi Everyone,

He did so the day before yesterday, and yesterday I put the card in and connected my cat5 wires. Everything appeared to be working at that point but I wasnt able to get IP addresses, so i rebooted the router. No luck. Then i decided to call SMA tech support. The gentlemen was very nice, and as soon as I got on the phone with him, I realized that I should probably recycle the power on the inverters. With him on the line, I did that, and bingo the devices were issued IPs.

I'm confused about what you've said here. Were both the AC and DC disconnects shut off while you were doing the card install?

Edit: Are the 16 panels on that inverter split up into two 8 panel strings?

[zra]

I'm confused about what you've said here. Were both the AC and DC disconnects shut off while you were doing the card install

Yes

Edit: Are the 16 panels on that inverter split up into two 8 panel strings?

Yes except it's 18(9 and 9).

Btw. This could turn out to be just the interface that went bad because it appears as if I'm getting power from the inverter. Determined by examining my electric co meter.

[PVAndy]

Yes except it's 18(9 and 9).

Btw. This could turn out to be just the interface that went bad because it appears as if I'm getting power from the inverter. Determined by examining my electric co meter.

Call SMA tech support again. The display is one of the few items that is replaceable without swapping out the entire inverter.

This is something that the installer should do for you . SMA will pay him some labor if it's a warranty claim

Andy

[joltdudeuc]

Yes except it's 18(9 and 9).

Btw. This could turn out to be just the interface that went bad because it appears as if I'm getting power from the inverter. Determined by examining my electric co meter.

Hello,

I have the same issue you did in Jan where after installing Webconnect module the display has failed. Exact same symptops you described in your thread. I wanted to know how you resolves the issue. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,

Gagan

[truav8r]

zra or joltdudeuc...

Wondering if one or both of you managed to fix your display issue? More importantly, any idea why both of you had a display flake out on you right after installing the Webconnect cards??

[joltdudeuc]

zra or joltdudeuc...

Wondering if one or both of you managed to fix your display issue? More importantly, any idea why both of you had a display flake out on you right after installing the Webconnect cards??

Hello!

So in my case I contacted my dealer who installed my system, and paid them for a visit. They called SMA while on site, did some troubleshooting, and then SMA setup a replacement that would be sent to the dealer. Dealer then dropped by about 3-4 weeks later, and replaced the screen.

There was some thought that the ground cable, green with yellow stripe I believe, was not connected, but it was. But in my case a new screen worked. SMA monitoring also worked. The inverter kept track of it's total production without the screen, somehow, so that was good.

Hope that helps!