An official investigation has revealed that the fire incident involving balcony solar storage systems in Germany on March 25 was not caused by the battery itself. Zendure, the company behind the balcony solar storage product, conducted the investigation and issued a statement confirming that the incident did not originate from the energy storage system or the battery cells.
Following the fire, Zendure noted that the AIO2400 battery pack showed no signs of deformation or swelling, ruling out the battery cells as a potential cause. The investigation indicated that there was a contact issue in the Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) connection, which led to increased temperatures.
According to Zendure, logs from the internal monitoring system also highlighted errors related to network connectivity. The microinverter was unable to establish an internet connection for approximately ten hours, during which the system operated under “compromised stability,” resulting in voltage fluctuations that raised the operating temperature of the microinverter. A short circuit was detected in the MPPT connection, which ultimately caused the device to shut down.
MPPT, or Maximum Power Point Tracking, is a crucial technology in photovoltaic systems designed to dynamically adjust the operating voltage or current of solar modules to ensure they consistently operate at their maximum power output, thereby maximizing energy conversion efficiency.
Furthermore, Zendure stated that the system operator failed to promptly identify and address error messages, which heightened the risk of fire. However, the system operator claimed they did not receive any error notifications, a situation likely related to the network connectivity issues.
Zendure summarized the causes of the fire as follows: the unstable grid connection of the microinverter impacted system stability; a possible contact failure at the 400W MPPT connection could lead to localized overheating and accelerate the failure process; and the prolonged duration of the system fault without timely intervention. The interaction of various technical and external factors ultimately led to the incident.
In response, Zendure announced plans to develop additional safety systems, including optimizing the user interface of the application to enhance the visibility of error messages. They also plan to introduce an enhanced emergency shutdown feature that will automatically shut down the system in the event of “high-risk errors” to prevent damage. In addition to existing in-app notifications, they aim to push system fault alerts through multiple channels, such as email, to ensure effective communication.
Original article by NenPower, If reposted, please credit the source: https://nenpower.com/blog/investigation-clears-batteries-in-german-balcony-energy-storage-fire-identifies-connectivity-issues-as-cause/
