SolarEdge SE5000 causing lights to flicker and weird electrical hum.

[BFW577]

Noticed all my led lights have been flickering and there is a weird electrical hum at both the inverter outside and at my electrical panel. Is there something I can check on the solar Edge website or ap to see if the voltage is weird or something? I turned the inverter off and the flickering and noise went away.

Edit: I checked the inverter voltage from the last month and it looks like it dropped significantly the last few days. I guess I should call the power company and have them check the voltage coming in? My Itron revenue meter is showing the voltage at 232 right now? I

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[solarix]

Start by replacing the dimmer controls with newer ones. The old dimmer circuits can't handle LED loads very well and it shows up when the supply voltage is not super stiff. Low mains voltage could contribute as well of course.

[BFW577]

Here is the inverter data from the solardge app. Does everything look normal?

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[Ampster]

I agree with @Solarix that it is most likely related to low voltage from your provider. Are all you LEDs on dimmers?

[BFW577]

I am still waiting for my installer to get back to me but determined it is definitely the inverter causing the issues. Using a plug in killawatt meter when the inverter is on the power factor is fluctuating around. 08-.09 and when the inverter is off it is at 1. My ac voltage also drops down to 232 sometimes.

The leds are not on dimmers. They are just your typical screw in led replacements. I have had so many burn out and flicker and that's what made me investigate further.

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[emartin00]

If the power factor remains that low at all times, that certainly does seem like an inverter issue.
If you don't hear anything back from the installer, give SolarEdge a call directly and ask them about it.

[bcroe]

I am still waiting for my installer to get back to me but determined it is definitely the inverter causing the issues. Using a plug in killawatt meter when the inverter is on the power factor is fluctuating around. 08-.09 and when the inverter is off it is at 1.

Huh, the power factor is supposed to be for the device plugged into that meter,
the current it flows. You have nothing plugged in so the PF readout means nothing.
Bruce Roe

[BFW577]

Huh, the power factor is supposed to be for the device plugged into that meter,
the current it flows. You have nothing plugged in so the PF readout means nothing.
Bruce Roe

It reads 1 when plugged in with no load and when the inverter is on it drops. I plugged it in at my work and my neighbors with no load and it reads 1. When my inverter is on it reads really low. I also noticed the hz is fluctuating from 59 to with the inverter on.

[bcroe]

PF is only meaningful for the current plugged into the K-A-W, which
here is nothing. Bruce Roe

[BFW577]

I also noticed it is causing my efergy electrical monitors to register current even when the device is not running. Here is my mini split overlayed with my solar production in yellow. As soon as the inverter starts it causes my mini split in red to go from zero overnight to up to 100 watts. It seems directly tied to the inverter output with the rise and falls.

Screenshot_20200701-081925_Monitor.jpg
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[bcroe]

I would check the inverter current waveform for something strange, which in
turn might distort the line voltage waveform and cause a lot of confusion to
everything else connected.

Your line voltage is well within range, but it might be lower now because the
inverter is no longer putting out a lot of undistorted sinewave current. Bruce Roe

[BFW577]

I would check the inverter current waveform for something strange, which in
turn might distort the line voltage waveform and cause a lot of confusion to
everything else connected.

Your line voltage is well within range, but it might be lower now because the
inverter is no longer putting out a lot of undistorted sinewave current. Bruce Roe

Thanks Bruce. I don't think I have access to that data. On the solaredge monitoring I only have access to the data from the screenshot in the first post. Ac voltage, energy power, etc. My installer did give me the API key from solaredge

I also have my panels on PV output and just added the ac voltage to the data yesterday if you want to check that out. You can see the power starts out at 239 this morning and then dropped. I looked back a few months on the solaredge monitoring site and it was always steady around 239-240.

https://www.pvoutput.org/intraday.js...0553&sid=53905

[Mike90250]

Huh, the power factor is supposed to be for the device plugged into that meter,
the current it flows. You have nothing plugged in so the PF readout means nothing.
Bruce Roe

Bruce took the words out of my keyboard first ! That number is meaningless, it for the load on the kil-a-watt

[inetdog]

Bruce took the words out of my keyboard first ! That number is meaningless, it for the load on the kil-a-watt

On the other hand, the fact that the KAW gives a strange reading with no load when the inverter is on seems to me to indicate that something is wonky with the voltage waveform when the invertr is operating. either waveform distortion or RF noise superimposed on the line.
I would plug a simple resistive load like a tungsten filament lamp into the KAW just to see if the inverter still affects the reading.

[BFW577]

My installer has said the inverter is fine and that solaredge checked it out remotely as well and found no issues. I am still having issues though so I went through and checked and cleaned up all the ac connections. I have a line side tap and noticed the neutral is not attached. On other pictures I saw there was a wire from the neutral to the ground bar. Should the neutral terminal be grounded to the bottom ground block?

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