JMS-F SunSpec shortfall

[appliedthinking]

Greetings, I am new to the forum. I am currently living the JMS-F SunSpec shortfall with regards to the SPS at this time. I have built a "proof of concept" secondary system using an older SB6.0-SP1-US-40 inverter. I used Tigo TS4-A-O Optimizers on each panel, Tigo CCA as the TS4 controller with a TAP. The intent is to apply 12-24VDC to the CCA, during long term grid failure, and turn on the module output while the grid is down. This will enable the 2kW SPS outlet while the sun is active. The system is up and running and can be accessed using a cellphone or tablet bluetooth protocol. There is a SMA CCA commissioning doc that plays to the integration.
From what I read, to emulate the grid, the generator would need to be very stable at @.05~1.% frequency. Shedding the unused power may be a problem as well.
My main primary system (SB7.0-SP1-US-41) has multiple strings which would be more than enough for the SPS on each string. I may be in error, but I do not see any reason why one cannot run SunSpec one string and TS4 on another since SynSpec appears to be an injected on the DC power lines where as TS4 is Wireless. My end goal would be to replace all the JMS-F SunSpect modules with the TS4-A-O Optimizers but funding would be the long pole in the tent. I can state that I did get a power output increase with the Optimizers. Hindsight is 20-20 as they say. Comments are welcome.
Best Regards, JohnF

[SunEagle]

Hello appliedthinking and welcome to Solar Panel Talk

I moved your post to a new thread so people don't mix up your post with the OP of the other one.

[appliedthinking]

Well I had some lessons learned and will share. Hopefully this will help someone else dealing with the JMS-F SunSpec modules.
I received the replacement Tigo TS4-A-O, CCA, Tigo TAP and Mean Well 24vdc DIN rail power supply.
First thing was to run a 4 cond shielded wire to the rooftop center to the two strings for the rooftop TAP gateway.
Connected the Mean Well power supply to the CCA and TAP. All was good. Registered the system to the Tigo portal.
Once the rooftop gateway was working, my vision was to replace the JMS-F modules 5 at a time. I shut down the system early in the morning and proceeded to replace one at a time.
I got the first 5 done starting with the top row. Restarted the SB7.0-1SP-US-41 inverter and saw that I had only 1/4 of the collected power. It appears the JMS-F will not work when one or more is pulled. I tried various settings in the safety config ON, OFF, SunSpec and nothing worked. There is no soft failover with these modules. period.
Temp outside is now 100F plus and I needed to get another five modules changed out. Turn off the system and back to the rooftop with layers of sunscreen and water. The metal was hot to the touch and required gloves. I did get the other 5 modules changed out and now have 1/2 the solar power. Tomorrow, in the cool of the morning, I will proceed to change out the bottom row for a full output power. Lots of water, sunscreen.. I also learned that I needed a crawl board to lay on top of the seams to remove the UFO bolts in the middle of the two arrays.
There is some good news and that is; I am finding this shortfall out now instead of a critical event.
The JMS-F SunSpec modules did their job. They were easy to install and were priced well below the TS4 optimizers.
They just did not meet my engineering expectations. A $600 shortfall.
Hope this journey helps others with their decisions
Best Regards to all.

[oregon_phil]

Did you read this SMA document? It refers to the -41 and TS4-R-O but not TS4-A-O. The document says Rapid Shutdown Mode should be set to TS4. Rapid Shutdown Mode is in DC Side parameter settings (at least for my -40).

I have Tigo TS4-R-O with an SMA inverter and secure power installed. I don't use secure power, but I have tested it out to make sure it works. For the TIGO Cloud Connect Advanced, I found that I had to use a DPDT switch to select between the transformer power supply for the CCA OR battery power supply for the CCA. If you just hook up the batteries to the CCA + and - inputs, the transformer did have a small load and ate up power from two 9 volt batteries pretty fast. For what it's worth.

[appliedthinking]

I chose a simpler route and replaced all the JMS-F SunSpec RSS modules with Tigo TS4-A-O optimizers. These are in concert with individual CCA, MEAN WELL MDR-20-24 DIN rail power supplyand TAP on each system.
The SMA GiB board is still installed but it is not doing anything since the CCA does all the control. I do know that if I apply 12vdc-24vdc to the CCA it will turn on the TS4-A-O optimizers.
Thusly allowing SPS function during a long term grid failure. I do have 12vdc and 24vdc battery banks for my communications equipment. So at this moment, I an happy with the design.

The Tigo optimizers are not cheap. I hope to sell the 20ea JMS-F RSS modules to make up some of the cost.

As an interesting observation, I noticed that the CCA LED Status indicator for the SB6.0-1SP-40 system is different than the CCA LED Status indicator for the SB7.0-1SP-41 system. The difference is that the CCA for the -40 system will stay GREEN all the time, where-as the CCA for the -41 goes RED during the non-sun production and goes GREEN during daylight production hours. Both systems check ok on all parameters.

I believe this speaks to CCA firmware. I am trying to learn how to determine what is the current installed firmware and how to flash/update each CCA to be the same. So far, I am not finding a lot of information other than remote firmware upgrade was released 2017. Continued research....

Thank you for your input. Best Regards