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Jim Yanik

wrote in :

"chaniarts" writes:

wrote:
Jim Yanik writes:

wrote in :

Jim Yanik writes:

wrote in :

then there's inverter maintenance,and if storage
batteries used,battery maintenance. Plus,the hazards of
battery chemicals and lead,along with fire hazard.

Just looked up maintenance procedure for a solar panel
inverter.

"replace every 10 years".

mine are warranteed for 25 years for failure and will produce 95% of
new power ratings.

"warranteed for 25 years";the company probably will not be in business when
you need to replace your failed inverter. B-)
If it fails,you are without an inverter until you send yours to the
company,have it repaired,and then returned.
Or you have to buy TWO,and keep one as backup.

what about dust,power surges,electrolytic capacitor dryout,etc?
Cap failure is a common occurrence in power systems.

Yeah, what about them. They're also subject to random meteorite
hits. Anything can go wrong. Still the cost of maintenance remains
replace every 10 years unless you have some other source to cite.

the converter has a 10 year warrantee. that doesn't mean the need
replacement at that time. they could last 25 years or more.

your a/c has a 5 year warrantee. do you replace it every 5 years?

No I don't.

Just trying to be generous. The original statement was that inverters
required "maintenance". I thought maintenance on a piece of
electronics sounded weird so I looked it up. The only thing I could
find is someone saying to replace them every 10 years.

Do you think high power inverters don't produce heat,don't have cooling
fans,or don't collect dust?

If it was my PV array, I'd take that as a cue to have a replacement on
hand around year 10 if I really had to keep the array going.

You need a backup in case of ANY potential failure,that could happen at ANY
time. Otherwise,you're "down" until you get yours repaired or replaced.
"down" is bad,it means "NO power".

Just because they say "10 years" doesn't mean they all last that
long.there's infant failures, and longer term failures.

Like you, I wouldn't be surprised at 25 years.

Anyway, all these arguments about the draw backs of PV arrays strike
me as weird. As if someone had a belief system that wouldn't survive
if they admitted that PV arrays generate power.

Oh,I know solar panels generate power,but how much,how reliable,and how
cost-effective is the problem.IOW,how PRACTICAL they are.
For specialized apps,they're fine.I see them all around Orlando,on poles
powering small devices,such as school crossing signs,that are only on a
short time.

--
Jim Yanik
jyanik
at
localnet
dot com