SE6000A clipping at 5kw?

[Steeler.Fan]

I activated my system about 20 months ago but for multiple reasons, I just got my inverter online yesterday. Today was the 1st full day of data that I could view. Much to my surprise, my output clipped at 5 Kw for about 5 hrs today, even though I have a SE6000A (6 Kw) inverter. I expect that my 322 degree azimuth and 22 degree inclination would probably see peak production and clipping this time of year. Has my SE6000A likely been improperly programmed or is this a sign of mechanical (inverter hardware) failure?

[ButchDeal]

are you in southern hemisphere with a 322 degree azimuth?

check the side plate to insure it is an SE6000A and not an SE5000A
if so open a ticket with SolarEdge send a photo of the side plate showing the serial number and model.
I have seen this exactly once and with an older inverter. An SE3800A that was limited to 3kw. They were able to remotely change the settings.

They claimed they could not remotely change the settings on an SE3000A to make it produce like an SE3800A though (before others ask).

[Steeler.Fan]

Answer to above question: Northern Hemisphere.
I called SolarEdge (SE) support and they looked at my 1st day graph and said it probably wasn't showing clipping. They suggested getting more data and calling back if the pattern persisted. The next day was similar but a little more cloudy and the 3rd day was much more cloudy. (Solar irradiation values dropping during suspected cloud cover.) They said clipping would show a flat line right at the max watts and some of my data is slightly above 5 Kw. However, is it normal to have a flat output for around 5 hrs if not clipped?
I have attached my output graph and solar irradiation data from a nearby weather station. BTW, SE appears to the weather station closest to my zip code, which is > 20 miles away and has many more clouds, rain and cooler temperatures. I asked SE support to switch to the weather station closest to my home (1 mile).
With these two graphs, does it look like clipping or would a relatively flat output be expected?
180625 AKM PV Solar output edited.gif

[ButchDeal]

so what is the AC voltage during that graph? they do not clip at a perfectly flat line. The inverter is limited by amps so they can put out more watts as the AC voltage fluctuates.
you might also look at the DC voltage, it should jump up significantly as the inverter starts clipping.

[Steeler.Fan]

How can I see ac or dc voltage on SE monitoring site?

[J.P.M.]

Answer to above question: Northern Hemisphere.
I called SolarEdge (SE) support and they looked at my 1st day graph and said it probably wasn't showing clipping. They suggested getting more data and calling back if the pattern persisted. The next day was similar but a little more cloudy and the 3rd day was much more cloudy. (Solar irradiation values dropping during suspected cloud cover.) They said clipping would show a flat line right at the max watts and some of my data is slightly above 5 Kw. However, is it normal to have a flat output for around 5 hrs if not clipped?
I have attached my output graph and solar irradiation data from a nearby weather station. BTW, SE appears to the weather station closest to my zip code, which is > 20 miles away and has many more clouds, rain and cooler temperatures. I asked SE support to switch to the weather station closest to my home (1 mile).
With these two graphs, does it look like clipping or would a relatively flat output be expected?
180625 AKM PV Solar output edited.gif

FWIW, while it might be something else or a combination to factors, that sure looks like clipping to me.

[discodanman45]

Looks like clipping to me and I know what clipping looks like! The SE6000 does have a maximum AC output at 5 kW at 208 Volts and 6 kW at 240 Volts. Here is a clipping graph so you can compare.

[philips]

Could it be optimizer clipping?

[NukeEngineer]

If the status screens for the A series inverters is similar to the H series, then there's one screen which shows the max power that the unit will generate. It will say "POWER CTRL: Local" at the top, and give a number in kW of max power the unit will produce. If your 6kW is set for 5kW, it should show it here, I would imagine.

[discodanman45]

Could it be optimizer clipping?

I think this may be a real possibility, especially with the older optimizers with SolarEdge. If he has a 330 Watt panel and a P300 optimizer, during peak time I think that is a real possibility. Actually if we know the type of panel and how many panels steeler.fan has, it should be quite easy to see if this is the case. From the graph if the user has 17 panels and has a P300 optimizer, it gives 5.1 kW, which matches his graph pretty well.

[NukeEngineer]

I think this may be a real possibility, especially with the older optimizers with SolarEdge. If he has a 330 Watt panel and a P300 optimizer, during peak time I think that is a real possibility. Actually if we know the type of panel and how many panels steeler.fan has, it should be quite easy to see if this is the case. From the graph if the user has 17 panels and has a P300 optimizer, it gives 5.1 kW, which matches his graph pretty well.

If that's the case, he needs to replace the optimizers. They aren't supposed to be undersized, unlike the inverter. Likely, it will damage them if they are doing the clipping.

[Kendalf]

How can I see ac or dc voltage on SE monitoring site?

I don't think the SE monitoring shows voltage levels, but if you send your monitoring output to PVOutput then you can read it. Here's what clipping would look like in PVOutput, with the pink Voltage line jumping up when the inverter hits the AC limit.
PVOutput Clipping.png

[ButchDeal]

Could it be optimizer clipping?

NO.

[Steeler.Fan]

My system consists of 24 panels with 24 SE PO 400w.
13 panels are Silevo 305w, 11 Panasonic 325w.
SE6000A inverter

[ButchDeal]

I don't think the SE monitoring shows voltage levels,

yes it does, you have to go into the reports section to get to it.
you then can graph the voltages as well as watts.

PVOutput Clipping.png

This is what inverter clipping looks like, the DC voltage jumps up as the watts level off at peak.
Note it is not flat due to the clipping happening at amps and the Grid voltage fluctuations allowing a little more watts through.