Garage door motor keeps getting fried when solar inverter trips
Hi all,
Hoping for some advice before I call an electrician.
My garage door motor (Merlin MS65MYQ) has been “fried” 3 times in the last 5–6 months, including the most recent one which was brand new.
The garage door installer is now saying I need to get an electrician to check the outlet/circuit before they’ll do anything further.
What’s strange is that it seems to happen when my solar inverter trips.
- When the inverter trips and restarts, the garage motor still has lights on, so it looks like it's fine
- But later I find it’s completely dead
I also tried putting a surge protector on the garage door outlet, but it didn’t prevent the issue.
Solar / battery setup:
- Sungrow 10kW 3-phase hybrid inverter
- Battery backup covering 4 circuits + lights
- Circuit 1: Garage door + internet
- Circuit 2: Kitchen (fridge, dishwasher, power points – toaster, microwave, kettle)
- Circuit 3: Laundry + outdoor (includes air fryer)
- Circuit 4: Upstairs power
I’ve noticed the inverter tends to trip when:
- Kitchen appliances (e.g. toaster)
- AND laundry/outdoor loads (e.g. air fryer) are used at the same time.
Since the last issue, I’ve removed Circuit 3 (laundry) from backup hoping that it would ease the load, but the kitchen circuit is still on backup because of the fridge.
I've done some test and looks like Circuit 2 is probably the culprit. I tested dishwasher + kettle + toaster at the same time.
I’m now also wondering if I should isolate just the fridge onto its own circuit and remove the rest of the kitchen from battery backup, instead of backing up the whole kitchen. However not sure how easy the access is to do so.
Questions:
- Could inverter switching/restart be causing voltage spikes damaging the motor?
- Is this more likely a wiring/circuit issue or a solar/inverter issue?
- Would isolating the garage door onto its own non-backed-up circuit help?
- I already tried a surge protector at the outlet — does that rule out surge issues, or do I need something at the switchboard level?
- Does it make sense to isolate the fridge onto its own circuit and only back that up, instead of the whole kitchen?
- Could this be related to load imbalance or phase issues with a 3‑phase setup?
Any ideas what I should be asking the electrician or what tests they should run would be really appreciated.
Thanks in advance.