[RFI] Covering Solar Panels To Assess RFI

[Tony]

All:

The the inverter on my neighbors solar panel installation was recently 
replaced to reduce the RFI caused by the system. The swap only made a 
slight change in the interference.

This left the solar panels as the possible source of RFI so my neighbor 
and I conducted a test we've done previously which involves covering 
each panel with tarps to see what affect it would have on the noise.

We found that the RFI completely disappeared while the tarps were 
blocking the Sun from reaching the panels. The noise returned when we 
removed the tarps.

I reported this to SolarEdge and they now believe that the panels are 
the cause of the interference. They mentioned 2 other installations that 
had this same problem with panels that were manufactured in China by 
Hanwha and Trina.

The takeaway is that solar panel systems need to be checked from top to 
bottom when checking the system for interference. I'm hoping SolarEdge 
will keep this in mind when they address their next RFI case.

We also reported our test results to the company who leases the panels 
to my neighbor. No response yet.

Tony-K2MO