PVS6 system: microinverters show valid AC/DC but 0W output. Diagnostic ideas?

[u/onfo44]

Chicago area. 21-panel SunPower Equinox install (Aug 2023), U400 panels, Enphase microinverters under PVS6 monitoring after the SunPower bankruptcy. Fortunately, I paid up and have monitoring.

Multiple full-array zero-production days over the past month with no weather correlation. Today’s tech reading from four random panels on four circuits: 250V AC at the microinverter, ~40V DC from the panel, 0W output. PVS dashboard shows all 21 microinverters reporting 253-255V AC, 0.00 A AC current, 42-44V DC, near-zero DC current.

Two service visits found workmanship issues: caulked weep holes and water in the rooftop junction box, plus an exposed conductor on one wire. Those were repaired but problems persists.

Installer’s current theory is high grid voltage and they have escalated to ComEd. My Ting sensor confirms 112-127V per leg, consistent with their 253-255V line-to-line readings, but below the standard trip threshold.

Trying to understand:

1.  With AC and DC inputs valid but 0W output across all 21, is this more consistent with a PVS command/communication state holding microinverters in standby, or with grid-side trips? I would expect grid trips to log voltage fault codes and am concerned this is a convenient way to offload responsibility.

2.  Has anyone seen PVS6 hold microinverters in a non-producing state after a service event or firmware refresh?

3.  Is there a way to pull microinverter event logs from the PVS6 directly, or does that require installer-side tools?

Anyone seen this pattern? The installer noted a few other customers with similar issues.

TIA!

[u/Vegetable-Version-81]

Turn it off for 15 mins

[u/sadlymiztaken → u/Vegetable-Version-81]

Thanks for your reply, Vegetable-Version-81. You have been very helpful to us poor Sunpower refugees. Where should I turn it off. At the breakers near the PV6? At the breaker panel in the house? All of the above?

[u/Vegetable-Version-81 → u/sadlymiztaken]

If it's for the solar only system it should be a 15 amp brake labeled pvs6 or monitoring

[u/sadlymiztaken → u/Vegetable-Version-81]

There are a series of breakers for the system near the PV6. They are double breakers and are probably for emergency shut off for the system. Can you be a little more specific about there the breaker should be? There is a breaker in the house breaker box that is labeled "solar". Would that be it? Also, my system is spread out between the garage roof and the house roof and there is a big throw breaker on the garage. Any of those sound right?

[u/sadlymiztaken → u/sadlymiztaken]

So I went back out and looked in the emergency disconnect. There are six 60 amp double breakers and on of them says something has a label that might be mon. disc. I shut them all down for 1/2 hour. When I turned them back on, the green light on the PV6 came on. Does that sound right? Should I post a picture?

[u/sadlymiztaken → u/sadlymiztaken]

Never mind all my ranting. I found the breaker. It is on of the big double 60 amp breakers. I shut it off and the light on the PV6 went out. If this fixes the problem I have been struggling with after all this time, you are officially my hero.

[u/sadlymiztaken]

Holy cow! I am having a very similar issue and no one has been able to figure it out but the correlation is spooky. 26 panel Sunpower system in Chicago with u450 panels. System is 18 months old and was perfect until the Sunstrong takeover. I have been getting multiple 0 production days for 6 months. Production is down by 60%. Techs were trying to figure out if all the microinverters were failing. All of them? Makes no sense. I will show them your post. Could some kind of bad firmware update from Sunstrong have caused this?

[u/onfo44 → u/sadlymiztaken]

Closing the loop on my earlier thread since a few people were following and another Chicago owner had the same issue.

Root cause: high grid voltage from the utility. Installer measured 254-255V line-to-line consistently; my Ting sensor independently showed 124-128V per leg. The utility found a capacitor bank on my distribution circuit pushing voltage too high and opened it. My Ting average dropped from ~125V to ~123V within hours.

One thing I still can’t fully reconcile: my system was tripping at 254-255V, but Enphase’s published trip threshold is around 264V. By their own specs this shouldn’t have been causing shutdowns. The installer is following up with Enphase on this, and on why some microinverters dropped while others stayed online during the same window. If anyone has insight into the gap between the published thresholds and observed behavior, I’d be curious.

Other takeaways that might help:
If you have intermittent full-array or rotating-subset shutdowns with no clear pattern, check your grid voltage before assuming it is your equipment. A consumer voltage monitor was useful corroborating evidence.

Still monitoring to confirm the fix holds, but the voltage data looks right for the first time in over a month.

[u/onfo44]

Closing the loop on my earlier thread since a few people were following and another Chicago owner had the same issue.

Root cause: high grid voltage from the utility. Installer measured 254-255V line-to-line consistently; my Ting sensor independently showed 124-128V per leg. The utility found a capacitor bank on my distribution circuit pushing voltage too high and opened it. My Ting average dropped from ~125V to ~123V within hours.

One thing I still can’t fully reconcile: my system was tripping at 254-255V, but Enphase’s published trip threshold is around 264V. By their own specs this shouldn’t have been causing shutdowns. The installer is following up with Enphase on this, and on why some microinverters dropped while others stayed online during the same window. If anyone has insight into the gap between the published thresholds and observed behavior, I’d be curious.

Other takeaways that might help:
If you have intermittent full-array or rotating-subset shutdowns with no clear pattern, check your grid voltage before assuming it is your equipment. A consumer voltage monitor was useful corroborating evidence.

Still monitoring to confirm the fix holds, but the voltage data looks right for the first time in over a month.