INVERTER NOISE

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Zee

Senior Member
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CA
Just doubled customer's system from 4 to 8 kw.
She has now complained that it is noisy inside her office from inverter (INV).
INV exterior mounted on stucco wall.
SolarEdge SE5000A-US from 5 years ago.
INV producing at peak (~5300W) for most of day now.
Especially since it is solstice.

Just normal operating noise - not too loud.

Any experience with installing sound dampening rubber washers or foam or ??? between INV and wall at lags.
Other solutions?

All help appreciated!
Cheers!
 
Zee said:
Just doubled customer's system from 4 to 8 kw.
She has now complained that it is noisy inside her office from inverter (INV).
INV exterior mounted on stucco wall.
SolarEdge SE5000A-US from 5 years ago.
INV producing at peak (~5300W) for most of day now.
Especially since it is solstice.

Just normal operating noise - not too loud.

Any experience with installing sound dampening rubber washers or foam or ??? between INV and wall at lags.
Other solutions?

All help appreciated!
Cheers!
Click to expand...
If you use sound deadening, place it between bolt head and inverter, not just between wall and inverter.

Sent from my Pixel 4a using Tapatalk
 
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McMaster-Carr is one source of isolation and damping materials that you might use:
www.mcmaster.com

McMaster-Carr

McMaster-Carr is the complete source for your plant with over 595,000 products. 98% of products ordered ship from stock and deliver same or next day.
www.mcmaster.com www.mcmaster.com

Back in the late 1800's some of the owners of mansions on Prairie Street in Chicago were complaining about the noise of the steam locomotives that went nearby. But one owner said that it was music to his ears because every time they went by he made a lot of money (he had a controlling interest in that railroad). And so perhaps you could tell the customer that the louder the noise becomes, the more money she will be saving. :)
 
GoldDigger said:
If you use sound deadening, place it between bolt head and inverter, not just between wall and inverter.
Click to expand...
If you know the minimum frequency you are trying to suppress, and the mass of the inverter, you can calculate/look up the appropriate spring constant for your isolator.

The style that I used for a tankless water heater is the one shown here (first web hit, no opinion on this particular company):

Center Bolted Mounts Bushings

Two-piece mounts isolators are designed to withstand vehicular applications and off-the-road equipment. Can be installed in large trucks and heavy-duty construction equipment. The top and bottom parts are providing rebound protection and vibration isolation in axial and radial directions. Center...
vibrasystems.com vibrasystems.com

For seismic regions like CA, you should insure that the geometry doesn't depend on the rubber to avoid falling off the building, which is why in the picture the "rebound washer" is larger in diameter than the hole in the "supporting structure".

Cheers, Wayne
 
Zee said:
Just doubled customer's system from 4 to 8 kw.
She has now complained that it is noisy inside her office from inverter (INV).
INV exterior mounted on stucco wall.
SolarEdge SE5000A-US from 5 years ago.
INV producing at peak (~5300W) for most of day now.
Especially since it is solstice.

Just normal operating noise - not too loud.

Any experience with installing sound dampening rubber washers or foam or ??? between INV and wall at lags.
Other solutions?

All help appreciated!
Cheers!
Click to expand...

Double stud wall. 2x4 studs but with 6” headers and footers. Every other stud faces the opposite side. Fiberglass batts fill the rest. That way it can’t transmit sound through the wall, no solid connection.
 
paulengr said:
Double stud wall. 2x4 studs but with 6” headers and footers. Every other stud faces the opposite side. Fiberglass batts fill the rest. That way it can’t transmit sound through the wall, no solid connection.
Click to expand...
Do you hang sheet rock on 32" or 48" centers, or do you stagger the studs by 1/2x so each wall plane has the right spacing?
 
paulengr said:
Double stud wall. 2x4 studs but with 6” headers and footers. Every other stud faces the opposite side. Fiberglass batts fill the rest. That way it can’t transmit sound through the wall, no solid connection.
Click to expand...
A good solution for new construction, generally not practical for an existing building unless doing a gut remodel.

gadfly56 said:
Do you hang sheet rock on 32" or 48" centers, or do you stagger the studs by 1/2x so each wall plane has the right spacing?
Click to expand...
When I did this recently, I did 2x4s at 16" o.c. each side (as one side was an existing 2x4 wall at 16" o.c.) and I had pairs of offset studs with about 1.5" clear between each pair. That left an ~11" clear stud bay for utilities et al. In new construction, you might do 24" o.c. each side, but again, not offset 12", in the interest of having a wider stud bay.

Cheers, Wayne
 
wwhitney said:
A good solution for new construction, generally not practical for an existing building unless doing a gut remodel.


When I did this recently, I did 2x4s at 16" o.c. each side (as one side was an existing 2x4 wall at 16" o.c.) and I had pairs of offset studs with about 1.5" clear between each pair. That left an ~11" clear stud bay for utilities et al. In new construction, you might do 24" o.c. each side, but again, not offset 12", in the interest of having a wider stud bay.

Cheers, Wayne
Click to expand...
OK, now I see. My OCD sense of symmetry overriding common sense once again. :rolleyes:
 
GoldDigger said:
If you use sound deadening, place it between bolt head and inverter, not just between wall and inverter.

Sent from my Pixel 4a using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
But there will still be contact between the bolt and the bracket where the bolt goes through it. Rubber bushings?
 
The story ends:
Turns out it was some sort of electrical noise. The padding/gasketing we placed didn't help much.
8 kW of PV on roof makes the 5 kW inverter run for about 4 hours or more daily at over 5 kW .....and it hums loud when it is producing at its peak.
Seems these inverters are just noisy when producing at peak.

I am getting a Solaredge 7600H-US inverter to replace the Solaredge 5000A-US :
-- The higher rating means it won't be producing at peak, where it is noisy.
-- Quieter overall than the older model - from what I can tell.
-- It will extract more power outta the panels. Less clipping.

Thanks!
 
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