Solar for Beginners [ask your questions here]

I've been told that because the roof is fiberglass, they don't attach them to the rafters, as it would compromise it - so there is a special flat roof mount that is purely weighted down - which seems to me to be a bit risky.

Hmmmm… the companies didn't seem to think there was a problem with weight. I clearly misunderstood something and need to ask some more detailed questions.

Hi folks,

Apologies in advance if I’m taking this topic off on a tangent - couldn’t find a thread that matched my particular issue.

So my heart is broke trying to get up and running with solar.

We went all out when the new roof went on and put nearly 10kw of panels up…a year ago.

They’re still wired into the shunt and no further. I have no idea what kind of condition they’ll be in now.

Went for an enhanced single phase 29kva connection to house and I sourced a 10.5kw FoxEss hybrid inverter (KH-series) and around 10kw of battery to suit.
Thought I was doing a good thing, done enough research on suppliers, equipment specs etc.

Clearly I was wrong…

Plan was to run the DC cables to our garage which needed wired up (mini fuse board and 16sq SWA cables) so trying to get that job complete delayed things significantly - but now I just can’t get anyone willing to connect up the system.

On top of that the NC7 is in progress of sorts (having a hard time locating the type test cert I keep getting referred to a G99 cert), but it looks like the initial feedback from ESB is - you have an enhanced MIC, so you might expect the MEC to be higher - however the area I’m in has a high level of export already…so it could be limited to 6kw anyway.

It’s alternating between pulling teeth and getting a kick in the teeth, the complexity for what I thought should be a relatively straightforward exercise is nuts.

If I pay the extra €1k for the NC7 tech assessment on top of the extra paid for the enhanced connection, only to be told max I can get is the equivalent to an NC6 on a standard single phase connection: I’ll be disappointed (to put it mildly)…but at this stage I just want to get the system hooked up and can’t understand the reluctance from installers?

I’ve already made it clear, I’ll deal with the NC7 and I don’t expect the installers to be responsible beyond wiring/connecting the unit competently and that the setup and settings are my problem - but no bites.

Feels like if the guys installing aren’t supplying the equipment there’s very little interest.

So, last hope before I blow myself up: does anyone know of anyone around the Tipperary area who might be willing to connect up my panels to the inverter and battery in my garage (even ones who might disappear into the mist!)

*Added to that if anyone has a link for a central data base for where type test certificates are registered that would also be very helpful!

Thanks…and apologies for the long and rambling first post!

As a former contractor there's no way I'd take this on.

There's enough work out there without taking on this sort of risk, for what? A couple of hundred euro? You should've engaged the services of a competent electrician prior to doing any work yourself.

In theory, you have started the job and another contractor is not allowed to complete it without engagement with Safe Electric.

I spend enough time worrying about projects I have had complete control over from start to finish, without taking on some DIY install.

Exactly that.

.I

Ah sorry, my mistake then.

It's a really tough sell even though no wiring has been done, most installers only want to fit their chosen products, very hard to stand over a product that they're not familiar with.

Have you tried putting up a post on the facebook Irish solar page? Some very helpful installers on it that might be able to help.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/irishsolarownersgroup

Great, I hate to see someone stuck.

If it comes to nothing, keep trying, you'll find someone eventually. Just make it clear you're not going to drive them mental with technical support, because that's where the reluctance stems from in your situation.

Is it the standard 30mA RCBO?

Is it this issue here?

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058326679/parasitic-capacitance

Tried resetting it few times today now. Stays on about a minute and the invertor makes a clunk noise and trips again.

Reset again and it seems to be holding this time. Coincidentally or not the day has started to brighten up a bit, still some moisture in the air

It's an earth fault as indicated by the Rcbo.

Great that it reset for you, I'd be planning to replace it with a 100ma, an hour for a spark.

No issue on warranty. Reg's were changed to address this as per post below.

As I commented on the thread I replaced mine and not a single issue since even during the last two weather events.

This is what my spark used. Takes a few weeks to arrive as they don't have them in stock.

Wesco have 100mA Garo ones in stock, I got some in the last week.