The 10 most common mistakes in solar installations.

Solar energy is becoming increasingly important and therefore the investments in solar energy are growing rapidly. Installing panels always involves various risks, such as working in an unsafe manner on roofs, incorrect installations or even dangerous situations with power. What are the 10 most common mistakes?

1. Not working voltage-free in the meter box

Meter boxes are often very old and therefore often lack a main switch. But that’s no reason to not work voltage-free. In these cases, break the seal of the main fuse.

2. Badly finished AC tracks

This causes often a lot of frustration among customers. For example the use of open bends, instead of a cable duct.

3. Unsafe working at hights

This remains an eternal battle for many roofs. Of course you put down a scaffold, but do you also line up yourself if you need to work just next to the collective fall protection?

4. Height difference between the solar panels

Not all height differences in curved roofs can be solved, but accurate hooks can bridge a large part of these differences.

5. The safety fuse of the meter box is too light

Once more solar panels are installed on the roof of a private individual, it is important to pay attention to securing the meter box. The selectivity of the meter box must be correct. In other words; if something goes wrong in the solar panel system, the entire house must still have electricity.

6. Lifting up solar panels by hand … on the ladder!

This is prohibited by law and that is for a good reason: it is really life-threatening. The panel can catch wind during a gust… with unpleasant consequences.

7. Wrong thickness of the AC-cable

In advance, always calculate well what thickness you need. You do not want the AC cable to melt on a hot day over a number of years.

8. DC-cables are not tied together

This doesn’t seem to be such a big issue as they are sheltered under the solar panels. But when the cables are loose, they can grind and slide. This may cause eventually short circuit.

9. Panel system lies in a wrong oblique angle on the roof

This will be avoided by measuring the intended layout of the roof in detail. With the proper preparation it doesn’t have to go wrong.

10. And last but not least … monitoring debacles

Different brand inverters mean different monitoring portals.”In our After Sales Department, we daily receive questions about monitoring of the inverter. It could be that the connection in the home is bad, or that the router does not properly pick up the signal from the inverter. We help them solve the problem,” says Remy Oomens, Libra Energy.

 

Source reference: Bauke Bakker | Guidion (Solar Magazine Juni 2017)