SE6000A clipping at 5kw?

[bcroe]

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

Nice curve, showing how peak AC power is limited. Some think that peak is the system rating,
since it is the only number the PoCo must deal with. Bruce Roe

[Steeler.Fan]

I generated a Status Report, which stated that the Power output was 6 Kwp. Was that number generated by the inverter or was it entered by the installer?

I was not familiar with PVOutput.org but registered my site and enabled SolarEdge's Auto Uploader.

https://pvoutput.org/list.jsp?sid=60145

My best day of data was my 1st day on 6/25/18. Unfortunately, the SE autoupdater basically just loaded one day of data, 6/28/18.

I can't figure out how to get the SE monitoring site's report generator to create a table of output, which includes watts, volts and temperatures. Can anyone send me instructions?

[ButchDeal]

I can't figure out how to get the SE monitoring site's report generator to create a table of output, which includes watts, volts and temperatures. Can anyone send me instructions?

try the charts section, The graphs can only have two different things like volts and watts but it can graph all kinds of different volts and watts on the same graph
You don't need temperature on your graph though.

you want to look at your AC power and AC voltage you can add DC voltage to show the clipping.
The AC voltage will let you see why the AC power (kw) is fluctuating since the inverter limits on amps, higher AC voltage allows more watts through at the same amp limit.

[Steeler.Fan]

180628 AKM PVOutput.gif Yesterday was a mostly cloudy day where my solar system is located. Here is the live output from PVOutput.

[Steeler.Fan]

I called solaredge support again today and they said that it is definitely clipping. Their graphs had to be enlarged but it "clearly showed clipping". Apparently a board had to be changed in the inverter to comply with my local PoCo requirements. By default the board was set to 5K. The installer was supposed to do factory reset and at that time set to 6K. If I were onsite, he said that I could have toggled the inverter screen to show my power limit but I am > 3K miles away. Hopefully, when I get some good sun in a day or two and I can see how much clipping I get with proper inverter settings. Thanks for all of the help and knowledge!

[Kendalf]

Steeler.Fan Glad you found the answer, but ouch I would be pained to learn that I'd gone 20 months with an inverter set to 5K when it should have been 6K. My installer tried to switch a 5K inverter in on the install day when we had agreed on the 6K, and after seeing the post-install production results I was glad I stuck with the 6K, else like you I would have been clipping for over 5 hours a day. This is why home-owner tracking is a valuable feature. If you don't mind me asking, why did it take 20 months before you were able to view monitoring data?

[Steeler.Fan]

I was only there 4 days every 3 mo and initially tried to use wifi bridge for connection. The wifi bridge would appear to work for few days then fail after I left. Then my installer's internet guy could not get free when I was in town. Then trouble running ethernet cable to garage because of dryeall fire breaks. There were even more issues but glad to say all finally got resolved.

[J.P.M.]

Steeler.Fan Glad you found the answer, but ouch I would be pained to learn that I'd gone 20 months with an inverter set to 5K when it should have been 6K. My installer tried to switch a 5K inverter in on the install day when we had agreed on the 6K, and after seeing the post-install production results I was glad I stuck with the 6K, else like you I would have been clipping for over 5 hours a day. This is why home-owner tracking is a valuable feature. If you don't mind me asking, why did it take 20 months before you were able to view monitoring data?

Undersizing or swapping inverters without an owner's approval are never good practices and not to be tolerated, but chances are, at least in your case, the amount of lost production from a 1kW loss in inverter capacity wouldn't be a disaster or run to 5 hrs./day, every day. Still, and IMO only, designing that tight (that is, a 5kW inverter for your application) would not have been the best way to go. Some, but, not excessive headroom, balanced with other design project constraints and priorities seems a good design practice.

Just opinion here, but after reading posts and threads over the years that relate to inverter sizing vs. array sizing there seems to be some differences of opinion that are causing confusion about just what constitutes over or under sizing an inverter, at least for central inverters.

[TAZ427]

I was only there 4 days every 3 mo and initially tried to use wifi bridge for connection. The wifi bridge would appear to work for few days then fail after I left. Then my installer's internet guy could not get free when I was in town. Then trouble running ethernet cable to garage because of dryeall fire breaks. There were even more issues but glad to say all finally got resolved.

If you're having issue with the WiFi bridge, I'd swap out for a power line adapter.

[Steeler.Fan]

Update: SE made remote changes to my inverter but it is still clipping at 5200 kw and they don't know why. They asked me to send my installer to check it and said they may issue an RMA if the installer can't find a reason for it to be underproducing and can't be fixed.