An official investigation has ruled out battery issues as the cause of a recent fire involving a balcony solar storage system in Germany. The company Zendure, which manufactures these systems, released a statement following an investigation into the fire that occurred on March 25.
Zendure determined that the incident was not related to the energy storage system or the battery cells themselves. After observing that the AIO2400 battery pack did not show signs of deformation or swelling, they excluded the battery unit as the cause of the fire. The investigation revealed a contact issue in the Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) connection, which led to an increase in temperature.
According to Zendure, logs from the internal monitoring system also indicated problems with network connectivity. The micro-inverter attempted to connect to the internet for approximately 10 hours without success. During this time, the system operated under conditions of “compromised stability,” resulting in voltage fluctuations that raised the operating temperature of the micro-inverter. A short circuit was detected in the MPPT connection, which caused the device to shut down.
The MPPT technology is crucial in photovoltaic systems as it dynamically adjusts the working voltage or current of solar panels to ensure they operate at their maximum power output, thereby maximizing energy conversion efficiency.
Furthermore, Zendure noted that the plant operator failed to identify and address the error messages in a timely manner, which increased the risk of fire. However, the plant operator claimed they did not receive any error messages, a situation that could be linked to the network connection failure. Zendure summarized the fire’s causes as follows:
- Unstable grid connection of the micro-inverter affected system stability.
- Possible contact faults at the 400W MPPT connection led to localized temperature increases and accelerated fault development.
- The system malfunction persisted for an extended period without timely intervention.
- A combination of various technical and external factors ultimately led to the incident.
As a response to this incident, Zendure plans to develop additional safety systems. Specific measures include optimizing the application user interface to improve the visibility of error messages; introducing an enhanced emergency shutdown function that will automatically power down the system in the event of “high-risk errors” to prevent damage; and expanding their alert system to include notifications via email and other channels to ensure effective communication of system faults.
For more information, please contact Ms. Chen at WeChat/Mobile: 13693626116 or email: chenchen@bjxmail.com.
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