[RFI] There goes the neighborhood.....

[Dave Cole (NK7Z)]

I have a snapshot of a Solar Edge system at:

https://www.nk7z.net/solar-2/

There are quite a few images from a few SDRs folks have sent in...  It 
may help...

73s and thanks,
Dave (NK7Z)
https://www.nk7z.net
ARRL Technical Specialist
ARRL Volunteer Examiner
ARRL Asst. Director, NW Division, Technical Resource

On 5/23/19 4:18 PM, Tony wrote:
> Jamie:
> 
> If it's a SolarEdge system, you can expect to see a combination of 
> close-spaced noise every 15 to 18 kHz with spikes every 200 kHz. The 
> number of spikes increase as you get closer to the source which is a 
> characteristic seen in the last two screenshots on Dave's website.
> 
> See: https://www.nk7z.net/solar-2/
> 
> The noise "signature" is essentially the same from one SolarEdge 
> installation to the next: you can see this when you compare the first 
> screenshot taken at my location in New York and the 3rd screenshot taken 
> at a location in California. Both illustrate SolarEdge RFI on the 20 
> meter band.
> 
> Another thing to look for is the presence of noise during the day and 
> the lack of noise at night when the panels are no longer illuminated by 
> the Sun. The first two screenshots on Dave's page illustrate the day / 
> night cycle seen at my location.
> 
> For what it's worth, I have an ongoing case with SolarEdge since 2016 
> and they have yet to fix the problem. They've made a few attempts to 
> suppress the noise with little effect. The last attempt was early this 
> year.
> 
> The problem is that SolarEdge fails to addressed the entire system so 
> components like the inverter are left with no suppression.
> 
> There's the lack of priority on the companies part as well. It will be 3 
> years this August since the system was turned on.
> 
> Best of luck Jamie -- hope things work out.
> 
> Tony -K2MO
> 
> 
> 
> On 5/21/2019 12:03 PM, Jamie WW3S wrote:
>> Never thought I'd see it here in perpetually cloudy NW PA, but the 
>> neighbor across the street is getting some sort of roof mounted solar 
>> array installed.....I tried striking up a friendly conversation with 
>> the installers about what kind of system it was, but when they heard 
>> "ham radio" and "interference", that was the end of the 
>> conversation....the one guy said they never had a problem with radio 
>> interference before, but when I asked if they ever installed one next 
>> to an amateur radio operator, he couldn't say.....soooooo......what 
>> should I expect? Hopefully, there will be no issues, but if there is 
>> ?!?!?!?!?
>> _______________________________________________
>> RFI mailing list
>> RFI at contesting.com
>> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/rfi
>>
> 
> _______________________________________________
> RFI mailing list
> RFI at contesting.com
> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/rfi