SMA POWER REDUCER BOX User manual

REDUCERBOX-BA-en-16 | 98-0018716 | Version 1.6
EN
Device for Power Control of PV Plants
POWER REDUCER BOX
User Manual

SMA Solar Technology AG Table of Contents
User Manual REDUCERBOX-BA-en-16 3
Table of Contents
1 Information on this Document. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2 Safety . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.1 Intended Use. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.2 Supported Products. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
2.3 Qualification of Skilled Persons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2.4 Safety Precautions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2.5 Operating Instructions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
3 Scope of Delivery. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
4 Product Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
4.1 Power Reducer Box. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
4.2 Type Label . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
4.3 LEDs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
4.4 Sunny Portal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
4.5 System Requirements of the Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
5 The Power Reducer Box User Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
5.1 User Groups and User Rights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
5.2 Overview of the Login Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
5.3 Overview of the User Interface. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
5.4 Main menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
5.5 Context menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
5.6 Status Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
5.7 Events Page. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Table of Contents SMA Solar Technology AG
4 REDUCERBOX-BA-en-16 User Manual
6 Mounting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
6.1 Requirements for the Mounting Location. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
6.2 Mounting the Power Reducer Box on the Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
6.3 Mounting the Power Reducer Box on a Top-Hat Rail . . . . . . . . 26
7 Connection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
7.1 Overview of the Connection Area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
7.2 Connecting the Power Reducer Box to the Ripple Control
Receiver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
7.3 Lengthening the Connection Cable. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
8 Commissioning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
8.1 Integrating the Power Reducer Box into the Local Network . . . 31
8.1.1 Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
8.1.2 Connecting the Power Reducer Box to the Computer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
8.1.3 Setting the Computer to the Standard Network Settings of the
Power Reducer Box. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
8.1.4 Setting up a Proxy Exception Rule in Internet Explorer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
8.1.5 Setting the Power Reducer Box to Local Network Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
8.1.6 Resetting the Computer to Previous Network Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
8.1.7 Connecting the Power Reducer Box to the Local Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
8.2 Sunny WebBox Registration in the Power Reducer Box . . . . . . 38
8.2.1 Registering the Sunny WebBox. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
8.2.2 Editing/Removing a Sunny WebBox . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
8.3 Configuring Operating Modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
8.3.1 Setting Active Power Limitation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
8.3.2 Setting the Reactive Power Setpoint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
8.3.3 Setting the Cos Phi Setpoint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
8.3.4 Configuring Combined Operating Modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
8.3.5 Setting General System Statuses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
8.4 Configuring and Activating "Fallback" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

SMA Solar Technology AG Table of Contents
User Manual REDUCERBOX-BA-en-16 5
9 Operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
9.1 Logging In or Out of the Power Reducer Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
9.2 Accessing the Power Reducer Box via Sunny Portal. . . . . . . . . 48
9.3 Filtering and Displaying Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
9.4 Downloading Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
9.5 Saving Events to an SD Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
10 Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
10.1 Sunny Portal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
10.1.1 Registering the Power Reducer Box in Sunny Portal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
10.1.2 Removing a Power Reducer Box Registered in Sunny Portal from a Plant . . 52
10.1.3 Deactivating Data Transmission to the Sunny Portal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
10.2 Changing your Password . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
10.3 Resetting your Password . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
10.4 Setting the Date and Time. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
10.5 Setting Protocol Files. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
10.6 Firmware Update for the Power Reducer Box. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
10.6.1 Configuring an Automatic Firmware Update . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
10.6.2 Performing a Manual Firmware Update . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
10.6.3 Updating the Firmware via an SD Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
10.7 Resetting the Power Reducer Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
10.8 Information on the "prb.cfg" File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
11 Decommissioning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
11.1 Switching the Power Reducer Box Off . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
11.2 Disassembling the Power Reducer Box. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
11.3 Packing the Power Reducer Box for Transportation . . . . . . . . . 58
11.4 Disposing of the Power Reducer Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Table of Contents SMA Solar Technology AG
6 REDUCERBOX-BA-en-16 User Manual
12 Troubleshooting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
12.1 Status Displays of the LEDs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
12.2 Explanation of the LEDs at the Ethernet Terminal . . . . . . . . . . . 62
12.3 General Troubleshooting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
12.4 Error Messages in Connection with Sunny Portal . . . . . . . . . . . 65
12.4.1 Error Messages in the Events Logbook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
12.4.2 Errors During Registration in Sunny Portal. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
13 Technical Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
13.1 Power Reducer Box. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
13.2 Plug-in Power Supply (CINCON, TRG30R 120) . . . . . . . . . . . 74
14 Accessories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
15 Contact . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

SMA Solar Technology AG 1 Information on this Document
User Manual REDUCERBOX-BA-en-16 7
1 Information on this Document
Validity
This manual is valid for the device type PRB.GR1 from hardware version C2 and from
firmware version 1.7.0.
Target Group
This document is intended for skilled persons and end users. Some of the tasks described in this
document may only be performed by skilled persons with the appropriate qualifications
(see Section 2.3"Qualification of Skilled Persons",page11). These tasks are identified by an
information note.
Additional Information
Links to additional information can be found at www.SMA-Solar.com.
Symbols
Document title Document type
Reactive Power and Grid Integration Technical information
Symbol Explanation
Indicates a hazardous situation which, if not avoided, will result in death
or serious injury
Indicates a hazardous situation which, if not avoided, could result in death
or serious injury
Indicates a hazardous situation which, if not avoided, could result in minor
or moderate injury
Indicates a situation which, if not avoided, could result in property damage
Information that is important for a specific topic or goal, but is not
safety-relevant
☐ Indicates an essential requirement for achieving a specific goal
☑ Desired result
✖ A problem that might occur

1 Information on this Document SMA Solar Technology AG
8 REDUCERBOX-BA-en-16 User Manual
Typography
Nomenclature
Abbreviations
Typography Explanation Example
"Light" • Display messages
• Elements on a user interface
• Connections
• Elements to be selected
• Elements to be entered
• The value can be read off in the
"Energy" field.
•Select "Settings".
•Enter the value 10 in the Minutes
field.
> • Connects several elements
that are to be selected
•Select "Settings > Date".
[Button/Key] • Button or key to be selected or
pressed
•Select [Next].
Full designation Designation in this document
Electronic Solar Switch ESS
SMA Bluetooth® Wireless Technology Bluetooth
SMA inverter Inverter
Sunny WebBox and Sunny WebBox with
Bluetooth® Wireless Technology
Sunny WebBox
Abbreviation Designation Explanation
AC Alternating Current ‒
CSV Comma Separated Values File format
DC Direct Current ‒
DHCP Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol Protocol for the dynamic assignment of
IP configurations
IP Internet Protocol ‒
LED Light-Emitting Diode ‒
PV Photovoltaics ‒
XML Extensible Markup Language ‒

SMA Solar Technology AG 2 Safety
User Manual REDUCERBOX-BA-en-16 9
2Safety
2.1 Intended Use
The Power Reducer Box is for PV plants that have to implement network operator setpoints for active
power limitation and reactive power operation under grid management. The Power Reducer Box
complies with the requirements of the German Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG) for feed-in
management and the requirements of the medium-voltage directive for grid management set out by
the German Association of Energy and Water Industries (BDEW).
The network operator can use the Power Reducer Box to temporarily and remotely limit the feed-in
capacity of the PV plant in the case of a grid overload. The Power Reducer Box translates the control
commands of the network operator and transmits them to the Sunny WebBox. The Sunny WebBox
forwards the control commands to the inverter.
The Power Reducer Box primarily performs the following tasks:
• Active power limitation and reactive power setpoint
• Recording all control commands of the network operator
• Control of up to 2,500 SMA inverters via Sunny WebBoxes
• Data transfer to the Sunny Portal Internet portal for visualisation and optimal notification to the
plant operator
The Power Reducer Box is designed for indoor use only.
The Power Reducer Box is only to be operated using the supplied plug-in power supply and in the
voltage range intended for this.
The Power Reducer Box must only be used with supported products.
For safety reasons, it is not permitted to modify the product or install components that are not explicitly
recommended or distributed by SMA Solar Technology AG for this product. Only use the
Power Reducer Box in accordance with the information provided in the enclosed documentation.
Any other use may result in personal injury or property damage.
The enclosed documentation is is intregal of this product.
• Read and adhere to the documentation.
• Keep the documentation in a convenient place for future reference.

2 Safety SMA Solar Technology AG
10 REDUCERBOX-BA-en-16 User Manual
2.2 Supported Products
SMA products
Inverters:
You will find an up-to-date list of the inverters supported by the Power Reducer Box in the user
interface of the Power Reducer Box ("Status configuration > Compatibility list") or at
www.SMA-Solar.com. If you have further questions on supported inverters, contact the
SMA Service Line.
Additional products:
• Sunny WebBox from firmware version 1.45*
• Sunny WebBox with Bluetooth firmware version 1.04 or later**
• Sunny Portal
• SMA Update-Portal
* Requirements: the transmission protocol of your plant must be set to SMA-NET and the Sunny WebBoxes must not be
operated in DHCP mode.
** The Sunny WebBoxes must not be operated in DHCP mode.
Products from other manufacturers
Digital signal sources:
• Signal sources with digital relay contacts
Routers and network switches:
• Routers and network switches for Ethernet with 10 Mbit/s or fast Ethernet with 100 Mbit/s
data transfer speed
Plug-in power supply units:
• Input voltage: 100 V … 240 V AC, 50/60 Hz
• Typical power consumption: 4 W
• Maximum power consumption: 12 W
SD cards:
• SD cards with 2 GB memory capacity