I’m curious to know if voltage fluctuation from my solar inverter may damage or reduce the life expectancy of some of my electronics. I don’t know all of the details of my system off-hand, but it is a grid-tied system originally installed by Solar city (now owned by Tesla), which is capable of producing 60 KWh on a sunny day.
The reason I’m wondering about my inverter is that gas generators are known to damage sensitive electronics specifically due to voltage transients or so-called “dirty energy”. It was explained to me that when the voltage doesn’t come in as a smooth sin wave, it puts additional strain on electronics, particularly compressors for some reason, which can burn them out over time. In fact, many ductless mini-split AC manufacturers warn against running their systems on a gas generator for this very reason.
After having an unusual number of electronics die on me (including my mini-split AC system, a burned out well pump and several other things), I began to wonder if my solar inverter was causing a similar problem. I got a Graham Stetzer microsurge meter and tested every electrical outlet in my home. The GS readings (which measure microsurges) were alarmingly high.
Average GS in a neighbor home with no solar: 100 GS
Average GS in my home during the day with active solar: 1200 GS
Average GS in my home at night when panels are inactive: 275 GS
To control for the fact that I am tied to the grid, and it’s hard to know if my inverter is the culprit, or if I’m getting dirty energy from the grid, I actually repeated the experiment when my solar system was dismantled while my roof was being replaced. During this period, I also repeated the experiment yet again with a gas generator running to see how my readings compare to a generator output…
Average GS in my home with solar dismantled: 85 GS
Average GS while running a gas generator: 1900 GS
Yes, the gas generator produces the most voltage fluctuation, but what concerns me is the fact that the solar inverter produces values that are approaching that of a generator and that are more than 10-fold higher than what I’m getting from the grid. I’m concerned then that 1) micro-surges are considered enough of a threat to electronics for manufacturers to recommend against running them on systems known to produce high levels (such as gas generators), that 2) my solar inverter produces surge levels 14X that of a regular home without solar—levels that almost approach that of a gas generator, and that 3) and that I’ve had an atypical amount of electric device failure in a short amount of time.
Does this sound like reason for concern to you?
Is this a common problem?
Do these GS micro-surge levels sound typical for a solar inverter, or is my situation unusual?
Would a whole-house surge protector help?
I’ve heard about phase filters, but I know very little about them—would they help?
The company I’m leased to (Tesla) was extremely unhelpful regarding a simple issue I had a couple years ago, so I’m less optimistic that they’ll be of much help regarding this.
The reason I’m wondering about my inverter is that gas generators are known to damage sensitive electronics specifically due to voltage transients or so-called “dirty energy”. It was explained to me that when the voltage doesn’t come in as a smooth sin wave, it puts additional strain on electronics, particularly compressors for some reason, which can burn them out over time. In fact, many ductless mini-split AC manufacturers warn against running their systems on a gas generator for this very reason.
After having an unusual number of electronics die on me (including my mini-split AC system, a burned out well pump and several other things), I began to wonder if my solar inverter was causing a similar problem. I got a Graham Stetzer microsurge meter and tested every electrical outlet in my home. The GS readings (which measure microsurges) were alarmingly high.
Average GS in a neighbor home with no solar: 100 GS
Average GS in my home during the day with active solar: 1200 GS
Average GS in my home at night when panels are inactive: 275 GS
To control for the fact that I am tied to the grid, and it’s hard to know if my inverter is the culprit, or if I’m getting dirty energy from the grid, I actually repeated the experiment when my solar system was dismantled while my roof was being replaced. During this period, I also repeated the experiment yet again with a gas generator running to see how my readings compare to a generator output…
Average GS in my home with solar dismantled: 85 GS
Average GS while running a gas generator: 1900 GS
Yes, the gas generator produces the most voltage fluctuation, but what concerns me is the fact that the solar inverter produces values that are approaching that of a generator and that are more than 10-fold higher than what I’m getting from the grid. I’m concerned then that 1) micro-surges are considered enough of a threat to electronics for manufacturers to recommend against running them on systems known to produce high levels (such as gas generators), that 2) my solar inverter produces surge levels 14X that of a regular home without solar—levels that almost approach that of a gas generator, and that 3) and that I’ve had an atypical amount of electric device failure in a short amount of time.
Does this sound like reason for concern to you?
Is this a common problem?
Do these GS micro-surge levels sound typical for a solar inverter, or is my situation unusual?
Would a whole-house surge protector help?
I’ve heard about phase filters, but I know very little about them—would they help?
The company I’m leased to (Tesla) was extremely unhelpful regarding a simple issue I had a couple years ago, so I’m less optimistic that they’ll be of much help regarding this.
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