Position of rails/clamps

[wstevew]

Thats what I thought, but they are saying it will stop the system working. The office are also trying to put me off by putting the responsibility on me, by saying they will do it but the consequences are down to me.

 

[Earthstore]

In most cases earthing is for safety, but for a TL inverter it can be a requirement to make the system work correctly, your system had a fault, SMA recommended a solution, as the company installed an SMA inverter (good choice in my opinion) they should connect it how SMA recommend, simple.

Tell them to do it, if it does not work, (which it will) you can always cut the wire off.

 

[SolarCity]

Bonding and earthing are two separate things, something that appears to cause confusion,
Bonding is when you join two conductive materials together, like the copper pipes under your sink.
Earthing is when you take a wire back to an earthing point, and with most (not all) PV systems, this would be to a metal rod in the ground.

So it sounds like your system needs bonding and earthing, not really too difficult or expensive if they are already up there.

I hope this helps.

Both bonding and earthing should eventually be connected to the main earthing terminal - supplementary bonding is just an extension of this.

Earthing works by keeping disconnection times as short as possible, bonding is concerned with the magnitude of any shock - if the all metalwork is at an equipotential then there should be no voltages present between them under fault conditions.

As PV panels and the frames have no disconnection devices in the system then earthing is irrelevant.

 

[SolarCity]

But as Gavin A points out earlier in this thread, this may not be an issue in terms of complying with guidelines anymore - although if SMA are saying it then it certainly can't hurt to do so.

Tell the installers that you would rather it was bonded as SMA have requested it. Then, if for some reason it stops working, it can always be disconnected (preferably from both ends)

 

[Earthstore]

Both bonding and earthing should eventually be connected to the main earthing terminal - supplementary bonding is just an extension of this.

Earthing works by keeping disconnection times as short as possible, bonding is concerned with the magnitude of any shock - if the all metalwork is at an equipotential then there should be no voltages present between them under fault conditions.

As PV panels and the frames have no disconnection devices in the system then earthing is irrelevant.

I agree with the above, apart from on a pV system, if there is a slight leakage it needs a path to discharge, IE an Earth, this is not about disconnection times.

Also, if you can not touch the system from the equipotential zone, (ie velox) then you should earth to a rod, otherwise you could be bringing a potential into the zone.

This is my understanding anyway.

 

[wstevew]

He is saying that he will bond it to the AC Isolator, it has 2.5mm Is that correct?

 

[Earthstore]

Are you saying the AC cable is 2.5 TWE cable?

Just bang a rod in the ground and earth it to that.

Please read my post above about importing a potential.

Ihope this helps

 

[wstevew]

When I said about running a cable down the the earth point where the meter is. He said there is TWE already running from the loft and he would run the bonding to the AC Isolator.

 

[SolarCity]

No, it needs to be 10mm at least.

 

[wstevew]

Does this look better?

- - - Updated - - -

No, it needs to be 10mm at least.

Oh dear.

 

[SolarCity]

I'm not sure what your orientation is but that flu needs sorting out.... I'd go up with a rag while you're up there and give the system a good cleaning.

Out of interest, how far off your eaves are the panels? They look quite close to me....

 

[wstevew]

They are 1 course of tiles from the eves.

the orientation of that array is east, the flue doesnt seem to affect yield.

Just been up on the flat roof and noticed that the clamps on the right side are only attached to the rail by about 2-3 mm :dizzy2:

Have just asked them to sort it out.

 

[JulianC]

Shame they couldn't be bothered to notch the back of the tiles out so they sit flush. Wind and wind driven rain will find its way up there for sure.

 

[SolarCity]

They are 1 course of tiles from the eves.

the orientation of that array is east, the flue doesnt seem to affect yield.

Just been up on the flat roof and noticed that the clamps on the right side are only attached to the rail by about 2-3 mm :dizzy2:

Have just asked them to sort it out.

1 course of tiles should be about 300mm - it just looked closer than that to me.

I'm amazed that the flu doesn't affect yield. How have you worked that out?

- - - Updated - - -

Shame they couldn't be bothered to notch the back of the tiles out so they sit flush. Wind and wind driven rain will find its way up there for sure.

Just noticed that. Definitely needs sorting.

 

[wstevew]

I cant be entirely sure it doesnt affect yield, but as its east the shadow is early in the morning as the sun is rising and here is a graph. I think the plateau is just before the west side starts.

Also for some of the time the shadow is cast across the frames