[RFI] HF range solar panel RFI

Hare, Ed W1RFI w1rfi at arrl.org
Wed Jul 12 13:43:55 EDT 2017


Thanks, Tony.

Yes, the League staff really, really want those reports, not only to often provide some one-on-one help, but to identify problem areas, problem manufacturers and to give us a good reason to contact a manufacturer.  It also gives us the opportunity to take good work such as that done by Tony and get it into print, but also get it before industry.  Individual reports, including model numbers, are key to some of what we need to get done.

I will add that ARRL is also heavily involved with industry, wearing a number of hats. I wear my ARRL hat as the department manager of the ARRL Lab, but also serve on a number of IEEE and other industry committees, in a position of leadership. I serve on the ANSI accredited C63 EMC committee as the Chair of the subcommittee dealing with EMC immunity as well as serve the IEEE EMC Society Board of Directors as the EMC Society Vice President of Standards.  This liaison between the interests of Amateur Radio and professional industry opens doors for Amateur Radio that can result in resolution of problems.

In this case, although Solar Edge did get off to a somewhat slow start, they are now in good communication with Mike Gruber and have committed to finding case-by-case resolutions as needed.

Implementing new service bulletins and techniques can take time, so we can try to be a bit patient, but if this drags on for too long, let Mike know and we can use that as a bit of leverage to try to move things along more quickly.

73,
Ed, W1RFI
ARRL Lab
IEEE EMC Society

-----Original Message-----
From: RFI [mailto:rfi-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of Tony
Sent: Saturday, July 08, 2017 4:48 PM
To: rfi at contesting.com
Subject: Re: [RFI] HF range solar panel RFI

All:

Regarding solar panel noise on HF; my neighbor's Solar Edge installation generates high noise levels that effect 30 meters on up to VHF. I have a couple of screenshots that show how the noise is generated during the day, when the solar panels are illuminated by the sun and another that shows how the noise disappears after sundown when the panels are no longer energized.

I should mention that filed a complaint with Solar Edge in August of
2016 on the day of the installation. Over the course of 9 months, I received numerous emails from them stating that they were working on a solution. No action was taken until February, 2017 (7 months later) when they attempted to fix the problem by changing out the Optimizers which actually made things worse.

I finally contacted ARRL EMC engineer, Mike Gruber who then contacted the manufacturer. Within a few weeks, I receive a phone call from the CEO of Solar Edge who assured me that he would work with the ARRL to fix the problem.

The plan is to install chokes and other RFI techniques similar to what Tony Brock-Fisher outlined in his QST article. That has yet to take place.

My advise to those experiencing similar issues is to document everything and contact the ARRL immediately. The more complaints that reach the desks of solar manufactures, the better the chance they'll consider improving their components.


Mike can be reached at:
Tel: (860) 594-0392
Email: w1mg at arrl.org

Tony -K2MO

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