Enphase field MTBF: M190: ~36 Years M215: ~316 Years M250: >357 Years

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iPlug said:
Tracksyde from PriusChat? Says you've been around since 2012 here, but one post. Good to see you on the flip side.

Yes, well.. I joined MNLeaf before I actually got my Prius because I didnt think I could live with the range. But I quickly realized I didnt actually need much range on a daily basis (turns out I dont drive to Vegas every day so I dont need 300+ miles of range). :D
 
Line 104 Update

Had one M210 inverter fail last week. At first it had a couple of GFI errors that I reset, but now it's totally offline.

System History: The 20 M210 inverters were originally installed on 8/2011, but after 10 failed inverters Enphase agreed to replace all the inverters with new M210s in 8/2014.

I hope history is not repeating itself...

I sent in an support request via the Enphase website a week ago, but so far I've got no response from then.
 
jwarcd said:
Line 104 Update

Had one M210 inverter fail last week. At first it had a couple of GFI errors that I reset, but now it's totally offline.

System History: The 20 M210 inverters were originally installed on 8/2011, but after 10 failed inverters Enphase agreed to replace all the inverters with new M210s in 8/2014.
Thanks for the update. Based on what you wrote here and your post on October 19, 2016, I decided to split your system into two lines: one for the first three years of M210 and one for the time since then with the new inverters.

Can you please confirm which date they were replaced? I have looked at every day in August 2014 and I don't see any day where the array was entirely off. TIA!
jwarcd said:
I hope history is not repeating itself...
I don't think it is. During your first three years, you lost 10 inverters (half of the total). During the last three years, you only lost one.
jwarcd said:
Any success getting this replaced? Note that you can no longer report failures via email: you need to call them.

If they did replace your inverter, can you tell me what they sent instead? (I'm going to guess an M250 for 72-cell modules.
 
sandeen said:
In case you're still interested, I've lost 2 M190s in about 7 years, here is my array.
Thanks! I have added your array in Rows 110 and 111. Calculated MTBF for your system is 36 years, which is identical to the average for the M190s that I have in the spreadsheet.

Please check my entries and ensure that there are no mistakes.
 
GetOffYourGas said:
I was chatting with my friend (not a member of MNL) about your spreadsheet, and how I have 4 of 6 known M215 failures. He was intrigued, and gave me permission to give you info to add to your spreadsheet.

His public envoy site: https://enlighten.enphaseenergy.com/pv/public_systems/hNDa25959/overview
Located in Clay, NY
In service since 8/9/2011
Consists of 24x Suntech STP225-20/Wd modules mated with 24 M215 inverters

No failures to date.
Thanks, Brian! I've added your friend's system on the line below yours. I don't know how to break this to you, so I'll just blurt it out: Your friend's system has an MTBF 6.4X as high as yours. :shock:
 
Tracksyde said:
Update for lines 204-206 - no issues with any of the 3 systems (all S280s)
Thanks. I've updated those three lines (now rows 208-210). The MTBF for the S280s is now above 42 years.
Tracksyde said:
I have a friend who just had a system installed with the new IQ6+. I dont have his public Enphase URL yet (it doesnt seem to be enabled, but his system ID is 1267857).

But if you want to add him now, he has 20x320W LG panels using IQ6+ and the compatible Envoy S. He's in Irvine, CA. His system was turned on 6/21/2017 at 2PM.
Thanks! I've added a new section for the IQ6+ inverters and stubbed it out with TWO lines of your friend's system split in half (so my equations have separate rows for start and stop). It would be great if you could get a public link for his system from him.
 
As far as my system goes, I have not had any failures since January when an M215IG gave up the ghost. Two more weeks before I will have gone an entire year without an M190 failures (with 12 operating here and 4 operating elsewhere).

I have just sold 20 of my old M190s to a friend. He will be putting them under 260W modules, which is higher power than any M190s listed in the spreadsheet. I looked carefully at the specifications and I do not see any specifications being violated. It will be interesting to see how they hold up. It's good to see these being put back to use!

So I'm now down to only 6 cold spares: 3 - M190s (56V), 1 - M190IG (48V), and 2 - M19072IGs (60V).

Anyone else want to provide an update on your system, good or bad?
 
RegGuheert said:
Thanks, Brian! I've added your friend's system on the line below yours. I don't know how to break this to you, so I'll just blurt it out: Your friend's system has an MTBF 6.4X as high as yours. :shock:

Yeah, I knew he was much better off than me.

My installer took his sweet time getting out to my place with the new inverter. He finally came last week. To add insult to injury, he replaced the wrong inverter! So he took down a perfectly operational one and left up the broken one :evil:
 
GetOffYourGas said:
My installer took his sweet time getting out to my place with the new inverter. He finally came last week. To add insult to injury, he replaced the wrong inverter! So he took down a perfectly operational one and left up the broken one :evil:
Unbelievable!

Perhaps that one was easier to get to... :roll:
 
Hi Folks,

Proud Leaf owner, and have been an Enphase customer now for about 5yr. I've got 24x M215 and so far they've been great in modest weather of California. Just looked at my specs today:


Lifetime
41.6 MWh
287%
of estimated

Wow! that's a lot of power for a household. But I'm a techie, so my bill would be upwards of $300 for electricity alone before installing solar. Now my NEM is only $300 a year! Afterwards, my loan was only $135 a month! I'm almost paid off now, and I may even consider supplementing with a DIY Powerwall, or even a Tesla Powerwall if I can get it cheap enough to offset my Leaf charging.
 
Supersleeper said:
Proud Leaf owner, and have been an Enphase customer now for about 5yr. I've got 24x M215 and so far they've been great in modest weather of California. Just looked at my specs today:
Thanks, Supersleeper, that's great to hear! Can you please share the link to the public webpage for your array so that I can add it to my MTBF calculation spreadsheet? You can find a link to my spreadsheet in the last line of my signature. Your inverters can help offset the M215 failures that Brian (Get OffYourGas) has been experiencing. Also, can you confirm that you have the original M215s that include a ground lug on the case?
Supersleeper said:
Lifetime
41.6 MWh
287%
of estimated
The percent of estimated number seems a bit high. Typically, that number is on the order of 120% to 130%. I'm wondering if the specifications for your array (like azimuth and elivation angles) have been entered accurately.

After a bit over six years of production, our array will cross over 100 MWh in about two weeks. At the current size of our array, we should produce 100 MWh of electricity approximately every 5.5 years. Woohoo!
 
RegGuheert said:
Can you please share the link to the public webpage for your array so that I can add it to my MTBF calculation spreadsheet?

Not familiar with sharing, but I'll look to see what I can do.

RegGuheert said:
Also, can you confirm that you have the original M215s that include a ground lug on the case?

Without going up, I'm 99% positive these do. I remember a very thick guage exposed ground wire hopping from inverter to inverter as well as a brand new ground stake planted into the side of the house.

RegGuheert said:
The percent of estimated number seems a bit high. Typically, that number is on the order of 120% to 130%.

That's a good point. I haven't taken actual angles of the physical arrays. Maybe I should do that next time I clean them.

RegGuheert said:
At the current size of our array, we should produce 100 MWh of electricity approximately every 5.5 years. Woohoo!

Holly smokes, you running 50+ panels??? I thought I had a lot with 24 as most in my hood only have like 10.
 
Supersleeper said:
Not familiar with sharing, but I'll look to see what I can do.
If you have access to Enlighten Manager, which you should since your array is "older", you can turn on sharing by clicking the tab with the picture of the gear to access the "Settings" page. Then scroll to the "Privacy Settings" section almost at the very bottom and under "Visitors" click the checkbox next to "Allow Visitors". Once you check that, you will find a line just below which reads:
Use this link to provide access to visitors: https://enlighten.enphaseenergy.com/public/systems/ZgcD12032
^^^
That's what it says on MY page. I will need the URL for your public site.

FWIW, I do NOT allow exact geolocation for my system.
Supersleeper said:
Without going up, I'm 99% positive these do. I remember a very thick guage exposed ground wire hopping from inverter to inverter as well as a brand new ground stake planted into the side of the house.
Yep, that sounds the original type. The ground wire going from inverter to inverter is not used on later versions. Note that the the original M215s like the ones you have are currently showing the highest MTBF of all Enphase microinverter types at 415 years.
Supersleeper said:
Holly smokes, you running 50+ panels??? I thought I had a lot with 24 as most in my hood only have like 10.
Yes, we now have 54 inverters and 66 PV modules. (12 of the inverters are driven by a pair of old 120Wp PV modules which I rewired to work with the Enphase microinverters.) It is colder here and the system is sized to provide all of our heat in wintertime via a heat pump. We are considering putting up a couple more modules since we started putting more miles on the LEAF recently.
 
My installer finally returned my working M215, and swapped out the failed M215. So one of my inverters technically has had about two weeks of offline storage. But according to Enphase, that same inverter is now back in service. I mention this because I wasn't sure if he still had it, or if I'd end up with a different one in that location.

So to recap, my original system was 16 panels / 16 M215s. I have had 4 fail, and now I have 12 M215s + 4 M215-IGs.
 
GetOffYourGas said:
My installer finally returned my working M215, and swapped out the failed M215. So one of my inverters technically has had about two weeks of offline storage. But according to Enphase, that same inverter is now back in service. I mention this because I wasn't sure if he still had it, or if I'd end up with a different one in that location.

So to recap, my original system was 16 panels / 16 M215s. I have had 4 fail, and now I have 12 M215s + 4 M215-IGs.
Thanks for the update. I finally bit the bullet and broke out all of your replacements so that your M215s and M215IGs are tracked separately. Your system now occupies rows 134 through 142 in my spreadsheet. Please have a look and let me know if you spot any errors. If you want to provide the exact dates when your M215IGs were turned on, I can update those, but it is certainly not critical.

We now have just over 100 years on the M215IGs with a single failure (mine). In spite of Brian's failures, the M215s still show the highest MTBF of all the types we are tracking, but I expect the M250s to surpass them within the next six months or so since they have no known failures.

Anyone else want to provide an update on the systems you own or are tracking? QueenBee? drees? Tony?
 
In spite of the fact that I have experienced one failure of a fourth-generation inverter in the past year and zero failures of the third-generation M190s, I decided to fully divest myself of M190s. I just purchased 12 new 72-cell M250s on eBay for $90 each shipped. This is the cheapest price I have ever paid for ANY Enphase inverters, new or used. These new inverters will replace the 12 M190s that are each connected to pairs of 72-cell, 120W PV modules in the field.

With this change, I expect to see a marginal increase in production in the wintertime since the old inverters spent much of their time saturated at 199W during the cold weather. The bigger benefit of this upgrade is the extension of the warranty period from ending at the close of 2025 to ending in 2042. The field array currently produces about $400-worth of electricity each year. I expect that in 2026, that amount of electricity will be worth about $600, if not more. In 2042, I expect that amount of electricity will be worth at least $800. As such, I expect today's $1080 investment to return about $12,000 between the years 2026 and 2042. If they last longer than that or if electricity gets more expensive than that, it will just be more gravy.

Given Enphase' current focus on the S280s and IQ-series inverters, I also wonder how much longer these 72-cell M250s will be available on eBay in new condition.

Hopefully I can sell the M190s for something.
 
Interesting, you're tempting me to pickup a couple M250s as spares just in case the worst happens to Enphase, but I'll probably hold off for now. I think if worst came to worst, I could also use the S280s using the same cabling and Envoy-S, or am I misremembering?

Line 207 - all of my 12 M250s are still in good shape. Have now reached 6.3 MWh total production.

I've seen the brief return of the inconsistent consumption metering, but it's become a very rare occurrence. I do think it's some combination of highly volatile solar production (peek-a-boo sun) + the Envoy-S sometimes bogging and not comparing production meter vs consumption meters simultaneously.

The issue is never detectable on a steady sun day, but doesn't always happen on a peek-a-boo sun day either. I'm guessing the Envoy-S bogs sometimes on steady sun days, but since the output is steady, the non-simultaneous readings don't produce a noticeable enough misreading to be casually detectable. (Unlike on peek-a-boo days, where a split-second offset can result in reported very low or negative consumption levels.)

As an side, it seems Enphase has started making Envoys only report 15-minute intervals, down from 5-minute intervals, as a cost saving measure. This results in stair-stepping on the Enphase graphs (and anything that pulls from their API). Very annoying. In order to get 5-minute data back I've had to switch pvoutput from API polling to pushes from my local server polling the Envoy-S. Seems silly. If they want to cost save, they should just reduce the >30 day 5-minute interval data down to 15-minutes. Tiny savings either way, but the storage cost of the long-term data is going to way outsize the last couple weeks of data.

edit: typos
 
ltbighorn said:
As an side, it seems Enphase has started making Envoys only report 15-minute interval failures, down from 5-minute, as a cost saving measure. This results in stair-stepping on the Enphase graphs (and anything that pulls from their API). Very annoying. In order to get 5-minute data back I've had to switch pvoutput from API polling to pushes from my local server polling the Envoy-S. Seems silly. If they want to cost save, they should just reduce the >30 day 5-minute interval data down to 15-minutes. Tiny savings either way, but the storage cost of the long-term data is going to way outsize the last couple weeks of data.
Yes, that was my exact thoughts as well, and frankly, I'm pissed that they didn't properly notify customers when taking away the feature, especially when they don't provide a good way to get the data directly off the envoy.
 
drees said:
Yes, that was my exact thoughts as well, and frankly, I'm pissed that they didn't properly notify customers when taking away the feature, especially when they don't provide a good way to get the data directly off the envoy.

Especially given I paid extra cash up front for the installer view, which they've now reduced the value/utility of.
 
ltbighorn said:
Interesting, you're tempting me to pickup a couple M250s as spares just in case the worst happens to Enphase, but I'll probably hold off for now. I think if worst came to worst, I could also use the S280s using the same cabling and Envoy-S, or am I misremembering?
Yes, even though Enphase claimed the S280s required the new Envoy, philip reported that they DO report properly with the old Envoys.

But I'm starting to wonder if Enphase still manufactures the S-Series inverters. When I look at what the large solar houses sell, I see the IQ+ and the M250-72 and C250.
ltbighorn said:
Line 207 - all of my 12 M250s are still in good shape. Have now reached 6.3 MWh total production.
Thanks! Updated.
ltbighorn said:
As an side, it seems Enphase has started making Envoys only report 15-minute interval failures, down from 5-minute, as a cost saving measure. This results in stair-stepping on the Enphase graphs (and anything that pulls from their API). Very annoying. In order to get 5-minute data back I've had to switch pvoutput from API polling to pushes from my local server polling the Envoy-S. Seems silly. If they want to cost save, they should just reduce the >30 day 5-minute interval data down to 15-minutes. Tiny savings either way, but the storage cost of the long-term data is going to way outsize the last couple weeks of data.
Perhaps I am not understanding what you are saying by "only report 15-minute interval failures, down from 5-minute" as all my data is still available in 5-minute intervals.
 
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