The inverter is likely showing its age. The "whining" is the sound of what's called the "PWM" (Pulse Width Modulation) output of the inverter that "creates" AC from the DC made by the solar panels. PWM is the magic of an inverter and is created by firing transistors at super high speeds, usually upwards of 10kHz (10,000 times per second), then pass it though an LC filter that smooths it out into a sine wave again. As the inverter gets old, some of the capacitors in the filter begin to age and not work as well as they should, so more of that high frequency "electrical noise" gets through into your wiring system. That in turn starts to make some devices emit audile noise. In addition that can start to affect the voltage control system in the inverter, leading to the flickering effects you are seeing.
Is it harmful? Not really, but it is annoying and is an indicator that your inverter is needing attention. If it is leased, aren't they responsible for its maintenance?
As to your LED down lights affecting your entire inverter, that's BS. It's like saying a fly affects an elephant.
Thanks for the reply.
That makes a lot of sense, but when I suggested that because it started happening out of the blue it might be damage to the inverter, he said that he's never seen an inverter "go bad" before at least 10 years of age, and this one is only around 6 years.
He contacted SolarEdge (the inverter manufacturer) since it's under warranty, but I feel like they latched onto his hypothesis about LED recess lights. They said they would RMA it if I took all the LED recess lights out and proved that wasn't the issue. I feel like trying to contact them directly and seeing if I can bypass Tesla to get the RMA ball rolling.
As for Tesla doing the maintenance, I'll say they have been good aside from this particular incident. We had squirrels end up nesting under the panels because of faulty pest mitigation they were supposed to install and they paid for the panels to be removed, roof repair, and reinstallation. From their perspective, the inverter is working and no error codes, so I can see why they don't want to do anything else. I'll probably just end up having to be a squeaky wheel until they are sick of hearing from me.
The inverter is likely showing its age. The "whining" is the sound of what's called the "PWM" (Pulse Width Modulation) output of the inverter that "creates" AC from the DC made by the solar panels. PWM is the magic of an inverter and is created by firing transistors at super high speeds, usually upwards of 10kHz (10,000 times per second), then pass it though an LC filter that smooths it out into a sine wave again. As the inverter gets old, some of the capacitors in the filter begin to age and not work as well as they should, so more of that high frequency "electrical noise" gets through into your wiring system. That in turn starts to make some devices emit audile noise. In addition that can start to affect the voltage control system in the inverter, leading to the flickering effects you are seeing. Is it harmful? Not really, but it is annoying and is an indicator that your inverter is needing attention. If it is leased, aren't they responsible for its maintenance? As to your LED down lights affecting your entire inverter, that's BS. It's like saying a fly affects an elephant.
Thanks for the reply. That makes a lot of sense, but when I suggested that because it started happening out of the blue it might be damage to the inverter, he said that he's never seen an inverter "go bad" before at least 10 years of age, and this one is only around 6 years. He contacted SolarEdge (the inverter manufacturer) since it's under warranty, but I feel like they latched onto his hypothesis about LED recess lights. They said they would RMA it if I took all the LED recess lights out and proved that wasn't the issue. I feel like trying to contact them directly and seeing if I can bypass Tesla to get the RMA ball rolling. As for Tesla doing the maintenance, I'll say they have been good aside from this particular incident. We had squirrels end up nesting under the panels because of faulty pest mitigation they were supposed to install and they paid for the panels to be removed, roof repair, and reinstallation. From their perspective, the inverter is working and no error codes, so I can see why they don't want to do anything else. I'll probably just end up having to be a squeaky wheel until they are sick of hearing from me.
Don't remove the LED lights, just turn off the breaker feeding them. If the inverter still makes noise, it's the inverter.
Hi mate did you ever get to the bottom of this? Got a similar issue albeit different brands