Growatt SPF 5000ES fault 09 and a series of solar panels having static noise

[Peterson]

Hello!

I have 5 growatt SPF 5000es installed in a three phase system. Each inverter is connected to 9 - 430w panels in series (total voltage of 405). My battery bank consists of 5 Rosen Powerwall 48v 150ah.

I started up the batteries and inverters first. Then I switched on the breakers for the pv. Immediately, there was an error/fault 51 that occurred on the 2nd inverter. A few seconds after it showed error/fault 09 on the 2nd inverter. The other inverters seem to be working well though.

I did read the voltages of each string beforehand and they ranged from 390-405v. I went back to check all the solar panels in the roof and there is 1 string of solar panels making a static sound. When I touch the frame, you could feel that there is a little bit of static to it. The other strings of panels have no problem though.

Any ideas on this? I would upload the video of me touching the panels but I dan only upload photos. Thanks

 

[RCinFLA]

How do you have the three inverters PV inputs connected. They should all be per inverter isolated between the three inverters' pos and neg PV inputs with double pole breakers on each PV string pos and neg lines to their respective inverter PV input.

All inverters pos and neg PV lines ride on top of their respective AC polarity chopping from inverter PWM sinewave AC section so for three phase the PV lines will ride on top of different phase AC chopping. If you touch a PV pos or neg line to ground or PV inputs between different inverters you can blow out sinewave PWM section of inverter.

 

[Peterson]

How do you have the three inverters PV inputs connected. They should all be per inverter isolated between the three inverters' pos and neg PV inputs with double pole breakers on each PV string pos and neg lines to their respective inverter PV input.

All inverters pos and neg PV lines ride on top of their respective AC polarity chopping from inverter PWM sinewave AC section so for three phase the PV lines will ride on top of different phase AC chopping. If you touch a PV pos or neg line to ground or PV inputs between different inverters you can blow out sinewave PWM section of inverter.

Hi RC!

Yes, that’s right. I actually have 5 inverters with 45 solar panels, giving me 5 series connections with 9 panels each series.

 

[RCinFLA]

My guess is at least one panel has a short between its cell string internal wiring connections and the panel frame.

With all PV breakers off (double pole disconnecting both pos and neg to PV panels), check each pos and neg line to ground of panels' frame. It would also be a good idea to shut down all inverters before checking panels just to be safe. Be really careful when working around high voltage DC from panels.

As I previously mentioned, on these HF inverters, the PV input lines are not electrically isolated from AC so grounding any pos or neg PV line would be like a short on inverter AC output. This can damage inverter IGBT H-bridge sinewave PWM chopping devices. With all PV breakers off you might want to make sure inverters are still working properly.

I assume you have checked your PV Voc to ensure they do not exceed maximum for inverters.

 

[Peterson]

My guess is at least one panel has a short between its cell string internal wiring connections and the panel frame.

With all PV breakers off (double pole disconnecting both pos and neg to PV panels), check each pos and neg line to ground of panels' frame. It would also be a good idea to shut down all inverters before checking panels just to be safe. Be really careful when working around high voltage DC from panels.

As I previously mentioned, on these HF inverters, the PV input lines are not electrically isolated from AC so grounding any pos or neg PV line would be like a short on inverter AC output. This can damage inverter IGBT H-bridge sinewave PWM chopping devices. With all PV breakers off you might want to make sure inverters are still working properly.

I assume you have checked your PV Voc to ensure they do not exceed maximum for inverters.

Thank you for this advice, I will try this out and let you know but I would like to confirm though, I'd have to individually check each panels pos and neg line to the panels frame right? Right now, I am back on the grid and the whole system is off and i'm waiting for feedback on my supplier but the aftersales is too slow.

Yes but I maxed out on the VOC though. Each panels voc rating is 50v