SMA Sunny Boy 3800U User manual

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Installation Guide
SB3800U-12:SE2006 SMA America i
Copyright © 2005 SMA America, Inc. All rights reserved.
No part of this document may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or
transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photographic,
magnetic or otherwise, without the prior written permission of SMA America, Inc.
SMA America makes no representations, express or implied, with respect to this
documentation or any of the equipment and/or software it may describe, including
(with no limitation) any implied warranties of utility, merchantability, or fitness for
any particular purpose. All such warranties are expressly disclaimed. Neither SMA
America nor its distributors or dealers shall be liable for any indirect, incidental, or
consequential damages under any circumstances.
(The exclusion of implied warranties may not apply in all cases under some
statutes, and thus the above exclusion may not apply.)
Specifications are subject to change without notice. Every attempt has been made
to make this document complete, accurate and up-to-date. Readers are cautioned,
however, that SMA America reserves the right to make changes without notice and
shall not be responsible for any damages, including indirect, incidental or
consequential damages, caused by reliance on the material presented, including,
but not limited to, omissions, typographical errors, arithmetical errors or listing
errors in the content material.
SMA America, Incorporated
12438 Loma Rica Drive
Grass Valley, California 95945
Tel [phone]
Fax [phone]
www.sma-america.com
Revision History
Rev. No. Date By Version
1.0 May 04, 2005 YS 1st Edition
2.0 June, 2005 JP 1st US Edition
2.1 August, 2005 JP 2nd US Edition
2.2 November, 2005 JP 3rd US Edition
2.3 February, 2006 JP 4th US Edition
2.4 May, 2006 JP 5th US Edition

Installation Guide
ii SMA America SB3800U-12:SE2006
IMPORTANT SAFETY INSTRUCTIONS
SAVE THESE INSTRUCTIONS
This manual contains important instructions for the Sunny Boy 3800U that must be
followed during installation and maintenance of the inverter.
The Sunny Boy is designed and tested according to international safety requirements,
but as with all electrical and electronic equipment, certain precautions must be observed
when installing and/or operating the Sunny Boy. To reduce the risk of personal injury
and to ensure the safe installation and operation of the Sunny Boy, you must carefully
read and follow all instructions, cautions and warnings in this Installation Guide.
Safety and Hazard Symbols
This symbol is used to call attention to important information that
you must have when installing and/or operating the Sunny Boy.
Failure to read and follow instructions marked with this symbol
could result in injury or death and/or damage to the equipment.
This symbol appears beside instructions and warnings that deal
with dangerous voltages that can injure or kill people who come
in contact with them.
This symbol appears beside terminations that are connected to
earth-ground.

Installation Guide
SB3800U-12:SE2006 SMA America iii
Warnings
WARNING: A Warning describes a hazard to equipment or
personnel. It calls attention to a procedure or practice, which,
if not correctly performed or adhered to, could result in dam-
age to or destruction of part or all of the SMA equipment and/
or other equipment connected to the SMA equipment or per-
sonal injury.
Warnings and Cautions may also be accompanied by one or more of the safety and
hazard symbols described above to indicate the type of hazard described therein.
Other Symbols
In addition to the safety and hazard symbols described on the previous pages, the
following symbol is also used in this Installation Guide:
This symbol accompanies notes that call attention to supplementary
information that you should know and use to ensure optimal operation
of the system.
All electrical installations must be done in accordance with
the local and National Electrical Code ANSI/NFPA 70.
The Sunny Boy contains no user-serviceable parts except
for the fan on the bottom of the enclosure and the filter
behind the fan as well as the exhaust fin on the left hand
side of the unit. For all other repair and maintenance
always return the unit to an authorized SMA Service
Center.
Before installing or using the Sunny Boy, read all of the
instructions, cautions, and warnings on the Sunny Boy, the
PV array, and in this Installation Guide.
Before connecting the Sunny Boy 3800U to the electrical
utility grid, contact the local utility company. This
connection must be made only by qualified personnel.

Installation Guide
iv SMA America SB3800U-12:SE2006
PV arrays produce electrical energy when exposed to light
and thus can create an electrical shock hazard. Wiring of
the PV-arrays should only be performed by qualified
personnel.
Warranty
All Sunny Boy inverters sold in the USA have a five-year warranty, as indicated on the
warranty card included in the Sunny Boy shipping container. For warranty coverage, or
if you have questions about the Sunny Boy warranty, contact SMA America at the
address, telephone number or Web site listed on page i (to send E-mail, see the Contact
section of the SMA America Web site).

SB3800U-12:SE2006 SMA America v
Contents
Revision History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . i
Safety and Hazard Symbols . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ii
Warnings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . iii
Other Symbols . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . iii
Warranty. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . iv
1 Introduction
Product Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-1
Safety . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-2
Installation Overview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-4
2 Unpacking and Inspection
3 Mounting
Choosing a Mounting Location . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-1
Dimensions and Recommended Clearances . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-3
Mounting Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-5
4 AC Voltage Configuration
Opening the Sunny Boy 3800U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-1
Locating Internal Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-2
5 Wiring the Sunny Boy 3800U
Wiring the AC Output. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-3
AC Connection Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-3
Connecting the AC Wires . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-5
Wiring the DC Input . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-7
DC Connection Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-7
Connecting the DC Wires . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-9
Connecting Communication Cables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-12
RS-232 Communication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-12
RS-485 Communication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-15
Replacing the Cover. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-17
6 Commissioning
7 Displays and Messages
LED Fault Indicators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-6
Status Messages on the LCD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-11

vi SMA America SB3800U-12:SE2006
Communication Options. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-14
8 Troubleshooting
General . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8-1
Error Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8-3
9 Maintenance
Cleaning the Fans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-1
Cleaning the Exhaust Vent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-2
Testing the Fan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-3
10 Technical Specifications
FCC Compliance Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-1
Sunny Boy SB3800U Wiring Diagram. . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-2
Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-2

SB3800U-12:SE2006 SMA America 1-1
Section 1:
Introduction
This installation guide provides all the information needed to install, commission and
operate a Sunny Boy 3800U (SB3800U) grid-tied photovoltaic (PV) inverter.
Note: To help avoid problems during the installation,
familiarize yourself with the installation process by reading
the entire Installation Guide before starting the installation.
WARNING: Lethal voltages are present at various points
in a PV system. For safety reasons, it is recommended that
only qualified personnel install and operate this equip-
ment.
Product Overview
The SB3800U is a DC to AC grid-tied utility interactive inverter for use with photovoltaic
(PV), fuel cell, wind turbine and other sources of DC power.
In general, the SB3800U takes power from a DC source (PV modules) and converts it to
AC power for the utility grid. This power is delivered first to local loads (household
appliances, lights, motor loads, etc.), with any excess power fed to the utility. The power
consumed by the local loads reduces the power needed from the utility. Excess power
may actually “spin the utility meter backwards” depending on the type of meter in your
system. This power may also be recorded as power credits by the utility company
depending on the interconnection agreement. An example of basic system components
is shown in Figure 1-1.
Figure 1-1 SB3800U Installed in a Utility Interactive PV System
Störung
Failure
Betrieb
Operation
Erdschluss
EarthFault
PVArray
Sunny Boy 3800U
Utility Grid
Meter

1-2 SMA America SB3800U-12:SE2006
Note: Policies vary from one utility company to another. Consult
with a representative of the local utility company before
designing and installing a PV system.
Safety
Anti-Islanding Protection
Islanding is a condition that can occur if the utility grid is disconnected while the
SB3800U is operating and the remaining load is resonant at 60 Hz and matches the
output of the SB3800U perfectly. This condition is highly unlikely and had never been
witnessed outside of a controlled laboratory. Nevertheless, the SB3800U incorporates
an advanced active islanding protection algorithm to insure that the system will not
export power into a balanced 60 Hz resonant load while the utility is disconnected. The
SB3800U periodically injects both leading and lagging reactive current into the utility
grid. This method has been proven by U.S. regulatory agencies to effectively destabilize
and disconnect from a balanced island condition.
PV Ground Fault Detection and Interruption
The SB3800U is equipped with a ground fault detection device. If a ground fault current
greater than 1 Amp is detected, the SB3800U will shut down and display the fault
condition on the user interface display. Once the ground fault is located and corrected,
the ground fault error will need to be manually cleared and the inverter will then resume
normal operation.
PV Series Fusing
Series fusing may be required depending on the type of PV module used in the system.
See NEC 690.9
Interconnection Code Compliance
The SB3800U has been tested and certified by ETL to meet the requirements of UL1741
Static Inverters and Charge Controllers for use in Photovoltaic Power Systems as well
as IEEE-929-2000 Recommended Practice for Utility Interface of Photovoltaic Systems
and IEEE 519 Standard Practices and Requirements for Harmonic Control in Electrical
Power Systems. The SB3800U is also ETL listed under UL1741 for use in Canada.