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SOFAR 8kW PV Installation: Opinions, Durability, Failures & Experiences with Inverters

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Treść została przetłumaczona polish » english Zobacz oryginalną wersję tematu
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  • #631 19401768
    3301
    Level 34  
    Conclusions: there is a guarantee to replace, repair the inverter, or use and accept the loss on a sunny day of 1kWh / day
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  • #632 19403239
    ZdzislawDyrmaZasadni
    Level 6  
    Hello,
    the subject of guarantees in SOAFAR is a river subject. I do not recommend SOFAR due to the required distance from the ceiling (80 cm), which makes it impossible to reasonably install it in rooms with a height of
  • #634 19403309
    ZdzislawDyrmaZasadni
    Level 6  
    Contact your dealer and replace it with another manufacturer as soon as possible.
    You can find cheap and more expensive alternatives in my other posts.
  • #635 19403329
    toolpusher
    Level 23  
    Except that it does not necessarily have to be the fault of the inverter. The inverter shows any errors?
  • #636 19403340
    prose
    Level 35  
    This is not the fault of the inverter.
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  • #637 19403348
    adamvfr
    Level 11  
    The inverter generally shows no errors, but why is not the inverter's fault what?
    The inverter showed GridUVP 02 GridUFP 04 errors on April 19th.
    It did not turn on by itself, I had to restart it, I have a neighbor installation and nothing like that happened, the fact may be in a different phase, but I doubt that something was wrong with the network, because there were no power outages in the countryside.
    Well, the zeros from previous posts, I understand zero on modules, but everywhere ??? on the web too ??? I did the installations just like the one behind the fence, so ...?
    Attachments:
  • #638 19403349
    adamvfr
    Level 11  
    After replacing the strings 0.5A on average less PV2 and these zeros !!!

    Added after 6 [minutes]:

    Here is yesterday's graph, pay attention to the lower peaks, the fact yesterday was snow showers, peaks down the norm, although the installation next door was doing better, but WHY? one peak is a peak with zeros even in mains voltage ???
    Attachments:
  • #640 19403398
    FrankAB
    Level 20  
    You do not have any interruptions in transmission and hence such strange readings?
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  • #641 19403422
    adamvfr
    Level 11  
    When I have a break in the transmission, it writes that it is offline, and not that I can enter the inverter and watch it show 0.
    Besides, the biggest disadvantage for me is the 0.5A difference because it is always about 150W
  • #643 19403634
    theo33
    Level 27  
    adamvfr wrote:
    After replacing the strings 0.5A on average less PV2 and these zeros !!!

    Added after 6 [minutes]:

    Here is yesterday's graph, pay attention to the lower peaks, the fact yesterday was snow showers, peaks down the norm, although the installation next door was doing better, but WHY? one peak is a peak with zeros even in mains voltage ???


    Pay attention to what is happening before the zeros, for example the one on 26.04. 11:43 Uac voltage 254.6 and further 11:48, nap. Udc 301.8 went up because the inverter stop and the load dropped and the current Iac 0

    The next switch-off is around 13:48, here is the higher voltage. Uac has not been registered but you have to take into account that the readings are every 5 minutes
    And the next one is 14:49 to 14:54 and this is the most interesting thing, it looks like it has been turned off from nap. DC strings and AC mains

    Added after 3 [minutes]:

    adamvfr wrote:
    When I have a break in the transmission, it writes that it is offline, and not that I can enter the inverter and watch it show 0.
    Besides, the biggest disadvantage for me is the 0.5A difference because it is always about 150W


    This difference would have to be confirmed by independent measurements that may be different than indicated by the inverter
  • #644 19403769
    adamvfr
    Level 11  
    theo33 wrote:
    adamvfr wrote:
    The adjacent installation always looks ok.


    It's not ok. If you extract the interesting parameters, you can see that there are at least three high AC shutdowns


    Then why doesn't it crash an error ???
    see the attachment, voltage even 257V, but the production is still there, not everything.
    Attachments:
  • #645 19403781
    adamvfr
    Level 11  
    theo33 wrote:


    Pay attention to what is happening before the zeros, for example the one on 26.04. 11:43 Uac voltage 254.6 and further 11:48, nap. Udc 301.8 went up because the inverter stop and the load dropped and the current Iac 0


    Udc is the voltage on PV1 or 2?
    Even if the voltage of 301.8V is not a reason for switching off, besides when it turns off the inverter for some reason, you can still observe the data, e.g. how it turns off because the PV voltage is too high, the voltage shows, as well as the rest of the parameters and the error.

    Added after 8 [minutes]:

    On the neighboring installation on the same day also mega high voltage, also zero productions but never everything at 0
    From the beginning, voltage above 250V on both installations at peak, what to do with it, because it is getting worse.
    Attachments:
  • #646 19403812
    theo33
    Level 27  
    adamvfr wrote:
    theo33 wrote:
    adamvfr wrote:
    The adjacent installation always looks ok.


    It's not ok. If you extract the interesting parameters, you can see that there are at least three high AC shutdowns


    Then why doesn't it crash an error ???
    see the attachment, voltage even 257V, but the production is still there, not everything.


    Maybe the 257V was too short, but see what happened a moment after the 256 you selected occurred: DC voltage up DC current to zero and AC current to 1.4, again the records are every 5 minutes and not everything goes will save
    Attachments:
  • #647 19403830
    theo33
    Level 27  
    adamvfr wrote:
    theo33 wrote:


    Pay attention to what is happening before the zeros, for example the one on 26.04. 11:43 Uac voltage 254.6 and further 11:48, nap. Udc 301.8 went up because the inverter stop and the load dropped and the current Iac 0


    Udc is the voltage on PV1 or 2?
    Even if the voltage of 301.8V is not a reason for switching off, besides when it turns off the inverter for some reason, you can still observe the data, e.g. how it turns off because the PV voltage is too high, the voltage shows, as well as the rest of the parameters and the error.

    Added after 8 [minutes]:

    On the neighboring installation on the same day also mega high voltage, also zero productions but never everything at 0
    From the beginning, voltage above 250V on both installations at peak, what to do with it, because it is getting worse.



    And a moment after 13:46 at 13:48 what have you got? DC up, power down, switching off this voltage from 13:46, all parameters need to be analyzed, not only selected ones
    Attachments:
  • #648 19403900
    adamvfr
    Level 11  
    You need to know what are the upper parameters and their duration for the inverter to turn off.
    I would like to remind you that the inverter does not turn off for the reasons given by you and does not generate an error code or even warnings, such as for the second installation. But maybe this one doesn't have such a function.
    And once it turned off because of too low mains voltage and / or too low mains frequency.
    Attachments:
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  • #649 19403908
    adamvfr
    Level 11  
    I understand that the fault lies with the high voltage of the network.
    There is no doubt here.
    But...
    1. Why does it show all zeros - even if it crashes errors, it should not show all parameters as 0?
    2. Why does PV2 show an average 0.5A lower current? Even after changing the strings.

    And what to do with such a high voltage in the network?
  • #650 19403938
    theo33
    Level 27  
    adamvfr wrote:
    You need to know what are the upper parameters and their duration for the inverter to turn off.
    I would like to remind you that the inverter does not turn off for the reasons given by you and does not generate an error code or even warnings, such as for the second installation. But maybe this one doesn't have such a function.
    And once it turned off because of too low mains voltage and / or too low mains frequency.


    Each time you find a different time and I do not know what you mean by turning off the inverter because if at 3:35 pm we have AC and DC current of zero and the DC voltage has risen, k in my opinion, the inverter does not work.
    Attached, the same graph that you threw earlier, only with other more important parameters, although the DC power is zero there too
    Attachments:
  • #651 19403961
    adamvfr
    Level 11  
    This is a neighboring installation, not the one mentioned in this thread.
    As long as a parameter is shown, it is ok, it is clearly not the fault of the inverter, i.e. as shown here, too high DC voltage, but the grid voltage is shown and this is important because in the installation I mean all parameters are shown as 0 - all parameters!
    Turning off the inverter - I mean it does not work for some reason and it crashes an error - must throw an error, if it shows everything at 0, why does it not crash an error?
    Attachments:
  • #652 19403985
    adamvfr
    Level 11  
    There is something repetitive at these 0 readings. This precedes so far I can risk saying "always" too high mains voltage.


    So the only meaningful explanation for me is that when the grid voltage is too high, the inverter prudently disconnects all functions, thus showing all parameters as 0.
    And it should have crashed GridOVP and never did!
    Attachments:
  • #653 19404565
    FrankAB
    Level 20  
    If you want to know what is happening with the inverter, do a data reading with the shortest possible time between successive readings.
    Analyzing the line graph with data every 5 minutes does not give much.
  • #655 19404668
    galica01
    Level 16  
    And when reading the errors, you change the column for today or not leave it as standard now and you can not see the errors

    You have a problem with high voltage and knocks, what would I focus on the inverter at longer moments above 253V will turn off if it is correctly configured
  • #656 19404715
    FrankAB
    Level 20  
    adamvfr wrote:
    How to do such a reading?
    Familiarize yourself with the threads that I am promoting.
  • #657 19404897
    toolpusher
    Level 23  
    As standard, in the Sofarze, you can change the recording frequency from 5min to 60s. This is the shortest interval that Sofar offers by default. If you want to have online, that is what is on the screen, you have your own metering.
  • #658 19405057
    adamvfr
    Level 11  
    galica01 wrote:
    And when reading the errors, you change the column for today or not leave it as standard now and you can not see the errors



    I do not really understand.
    The inverter does not crash an error due to high voltage so far, I emphasize it does not crash any error !!!
    If any inverter (I have 2 on one account) crashes an error, it gets an "SMS-notification", and not one, besides, all possible errors and warnings are there - see the attachment.

    galica01 wrote:
    the inverter at longer moments above 253V will turn off if it is correctly configured


    Set for Poland, 12.
    So far, it has never triggered a GridOVP error, i.e. too high voltage.
    Attachments:
  • #659 19405060
    adamvfr
    Level 11  
    toolpusher wrote:
    As standard, in the Sofarze, you can change the recording frequency from 5min to 60s. This is the shortest interval that Sofar offers by default.


    Can you tell me how to do it?

    Added after 5 [minutes]:

    FrankAB wrote:
    adamvfr wrote:
    How to do such a reading?
    Familiarize yourself with the threads that I am promoting.


    You can't be more specific, I don't want to walk like a child in a cornfield :)
  • #660 19405110
    FrankAB
    Level 20  
    After all, everything is described there - read and you will know what and how.
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Topic summary

The discussion centers on experiences with Sofar inverters in approximately 8kW photovoltaic (PV) installations, focusing on technical issues, durability, and configuration challenges. Users report generally stable operation with models like Sofar 6.6KTL-X and 5.5KTL-X over extended periods, though some face connectivity problems, especially with Wi-Fi and software availability. A recurring technical problem involves input voltage exceeding the maximum allowed 600V DC for single-phase Sofar inverters (notably the 4KTLM-G2), causing errors such as PVOVP and BusOPV and inverter shutdowns. This is often due to too many PV panels connected in series on a single string, with 15 Q.CELLS Q.PEAK G4.1 305W panels sometimes exceeding voltage limits, especially in cold conditions where voltage rises. Solutions include splitting panels into two strings (e.g., 8 and 7 panels) connected to separate MPPT inputs, though some users report this does not fully resolve the issue. The maximum recommended panels per MPPT input is around 9 to avoid surpassing power and voltage limits. Users also discuss the need for three-phase inverters for larger installations above 7kW on a single phase due to grid operator restrictions. Software and firmware updates are sought after but not easily accessible, with some users lacking Polish language support. Comparisons with other brands like SMA and Fronius highlight Sofar's cost advantage but raise concerns about long-term reliability and service support, which is still developing in some regions. Network-related errors such as Grid OFP (over-frequency) have been reported, with troubleshooting involving network frequency checks and inverter restarts. Overall, Sofar inverters are considered a cost-effective option with some technical caveats related to system design, installation quality, and support infrastructure.
Summary generated by the language model.
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