[hfsig] HF: Solar Panel RFI Case In Kings Park, N.Y. : Update #3

[Robert Bruninga]

From: Tony <dxdx at optonline.net>
Sent: Thursday, June 28, 2018 4:43 AM
To: rfi at contesting.com
Subject: Solar Panel RFI Case In Kings Park, N.Y. : Update #3

All:

Some of you may recall that I've been dealing with RFI generated by a
neighbors solar panel installation since the day it was installed in August
of 2016. I promptly notified Solar Edge, the manufacturer, about the noise
and they acknowledged (eventually) that their components were the cause of
the RFI.

Solar Edge: https://www.solaredge.com/us/home

Update:

Last week, on June 21st, Solar Edge sent a contractor (Solar City) to
install RFI suppression to eliminate the RFI. The engineers from Solar Edge
told me that they guaranteed it would work and that they've installed this
type of RFI suppression many times before.

Unfortunately, it had little to no effect. They used small clamp-on ferrite
cores at the optimizers (noise generators) with one turn of cable around
each core. The reason they gave for not using a large ferrite with multiple
turns was that multiple turns could damage the cables -- go figure.

They apologized for not solving the problem and are now flying their
engineers in from the west coast to New York to inspect the work done by the
installer. Once again, they assured me that problem will be solved.

In my case, my neighbors installation is 150 feet from my antennas yet the
RFI is strong at that distance. It's heard on 30 through 10 meters so HF is
essentially unusable during the day while the system is active.

My advise to my fellow hams is this: take a good look around your
neighborhood and notice the number of solar panel systems popping up
everywhere. Imagine trying to figure out which system among them is causing
RFI and the task of knocking on doors to find out who manufactured the
system or who the responsible party is.

Solar panel systems are not going away so the potential for RFI issues are
likely to become widespread. In fact, California plans on making solar
panels mandatory on new homes beginning in 2020.

I think most would agree that it's time for the ARRL and other advocates to
make a serious effort to let the FCC know how serious a problem this is.
Signed petitions by the 160,000 members of the ARRL sent to local
congressmen might be a good place to start.

Or, we can sit on our asses and say goodbye to HF.

Tony -K2MO