New PV Installation only half working and Installer giving the silent treatment....

[loskie]

Re: New PV Installation only half working and Installer giving the silent treatment..

As a consumer I have the worry if I report my installer to MCS or REA for the list of non compliances then they will declare my installation as non compliant and revoke the MCS certificate thus making my installation worthless or only attractiing the current FIT.Could this happen?

 

[Somecamel]

Re: New PV Installation only half working and Installer giving the silent treatment..

I suppose anything is possible at the moment although unlikely

 

[Eco Deal]

Re: New PV Installation only half working and Installer giving the silent treatment..

Solar edge only needs one string!! Ive installed 100's of these systems
Get my mobile number from my web site
And i will see if i can help you over the phone

 

[solarmad]

Re: New PV Installation only half working and Installer giving the silent treatment..

Hi there, many thanks for your offer. I was told that I could have one or two strings but there was no difference really so ended up with two. What do you reckon is the best setup? Hopefully the installing sparky will be round to the house tomorrow morning to sort the problem out. I may well give you a shout early next week. Much appreciated.

The optimisers I see have only been attached to the rails with one bolt, you reckon this is ok? The manual indicates that two should be used....?

Thanks to everyone else who has commented. I'll post tomorrow when I hope all will be up and running...

Thanks again

 

[Eco Deal]

Re: New PV Installation only half working and Installer giving the silent treatment..

no two bolts !!!

heres a tip

1. PRESS GREEN LED BUTTON UNDER INVERTER (to light up screen)

2. look in bottom left hand corner of screen


SHOULD READ THIS <P_OK_16/16>

IF ALL PANELS & PBS ARE OK

 

[rwilliamson]

Re: New PV Installation only half working and Installer giving the silent treatment..

Any shading on the panels? This could kill the second string as well. Otherwise hopefully its just a faulty connection or as others said reverse polarity.

 

[moggy1968]

Re: New PV Installation only half working and Installer giving the silent treatment..

you would still have something if it's shaded
A complete absence of power is a dodgy connection or reversed polarity

 

[rwilliamson]

Re: New PV Installation only half working and Installer giving the silent treatment..

Yeah good point Moggy

 

[Scooby]

Re: New PV Installation only half working and Installer giving the silent treatment..

Sorry - completely off-topic, but, 'love the new avatar, Biggs - what a loss... :sad:

 

[SolarCity]

Re: New PV Installation only half working and Installer giving the silent treatment..

Thanks Scoob

Yeah, heard about it on my hols - absolutely gutted.

 

[solarmad]

Re: New PV Installation only half working and Installer giving the silent treatment..

Sorry for the delay in getting back to you guys..... After a couple of letters to contractor stating my position I finally got hold of one of the main guys and a sparky came to the house. He found a connection not made up and blamed the roofer! This is coming from the guy who apparently commisioned the system and said that all was working fine!! I'm now waiting for contractor to come back and bolt my optimisers to rails with two bolts rather than just one as per the manual. More battling in the new year methinks... Hopefully they will also tidy up the cabling to stop it flapping around all over the roof when they are here? Do installers normally cable tie cables to rails?

 

[Earthstore]

Re: New PV Installation only half working and Installer giving the silent treatment..

Yes they should cable tie the cables to the rails.
Your system should be up on your roof, working for 25 years, if the cables are flapping about in the breeze there is a fair chance they will rub through causing them to short out. I think you have guessed that yourself.

Hope this helps and good luck.

 

[moggy1968]

Re: New PV Installation only half working and Installer giving the silent treatment..

securing cables is a requirement of the regs

 

[solarmad]

Re: New PV Installation only half working and Installer giving the silent treatment..

Gents, sorry for bing away for so lond and not reporting back sooner. One problem remedied you seem to quickly move on to the next....

Finally I managed to get the installer to send round a sparky and a roofer. They quickly found a loose connection and once connected the panels paired up nicely. During their visit I asked them to tidy up all cabling and ensure that all cables are up off the roof and no lengths are flapping around. The guys did this whilst they removed each panel one by one to secure each optimiser with two bolts instead of just the one. The guys also found at least two tiles under the panels that were smashed. Obviously the initial installers thought that I'd never know, that is until the water started to pour in!! I must say that the guys that came round were 1st class and couldn't do enough to help. Anyway, that is it, the system is working well and I can monitor via teh Solaredge online portal as I have connected my inverter to my router. 11.2kwh seems to have been the best day I've had since Nov11. Here is hoping for many more sunny days! Thanks again guys for all your comments, hopefully I can be of help to someone some day? All the best. Craig

 

[telectrix]

Re: New PV Installation only half working and Installer giving the silent treatment..

it's always good to see an installer ( whether it be solar or not ) come back and fix any issues to the customer's satisfaction. OK, we all make mistakes from time to time, but fixing issues like thi sis what distinguishes genuine sparks/pv installers/ whatever, from the cowboys.