A friend informed me today that even if you have the PV at the bottom, it is still impossible to make contact with the wiring. The fuse stops making contact with both the top- and bottom connections the moment you crack it open far enough to touch the top of the fuses.
It actually makes intuitive sense too. The people from Health and Safety probably made sure it is built that way 
Regret this is something we’ve seen often. A solar installation is not so much an event as it is the start of a long-term relationship; and nobody likes an arranged marriage.
As installers, we’re nervous of installing kit we didn’t supply, knowing if there are issues down the line, we’ll be held accountable in the first instance and the onus would be on us to show it is related to the hardware which is often tricky with stuff eg. Solis that we’re not familiar with.
So, I guess you’re getting a tax for the above.
I’m not looking for a marriage, a good one night stand will do!
lol. If we did work in the Cape, I would take you up 
But I would charge you for the service.
Edit: And it would be worth it.
So the system is now fully installed and Eskom is finally switched on. The backup side (Axpert) works perfectly, but the Solis is showing a ground fault (error ILeak PRO04). I’m not sure how to proceed from here or whether the fault is on the AC or DC side. I’ll post some photos here if anyone can perhaps give me some pointers?
I suspect the fault is on the AC side. I have 2 strings and it happens with both or either connected. I can also connect one of the strings to the Axpert and it works fine. Both strings show 182V 0A on the Solis.
PV strings coming in. 2/2 String connected in series to the solis here. The Parallel connectors are for connecting to the Axpert if required.
The Solis AC is connected to the grid at the changeover switch here.
I have only seen this once before, there are 2 DC inputs, if you connect the Positive of Sting 1 to Input 1 and the Negative of string 2 to input 1 as well, it will give you this error the moment it tries to draw from the panels. Internally the 2 inputs are connected, so you will see the voltage but an “inbalance” will be seen by the inverter and interpreted as a leakage.
Please insure that the Positive and negative of string 1 is connected to the first input and the same for the wires from string 2 to input 2.
Thanks Jaco but it seems this isn’t the problem. I switched the positives around, and although I still see the voltages on the inverter it gives the same error. I’ve also confirmed the voltages on the strings individually with a multimeter. Could it be on the AC side?
It is possible, but I would first eliminate the DC completely. Connect the strings separately to ensure you don’t have a pv cable that is nipped and causing a leakage current.
I did do that with the same results. I see this on the monitoring website, it’s been a bit rainy the last few days. Maybe I’ll check again and try to get the FW updated.
This is a late fix. I asked Kari about this problem last week and she confirmed that it was never fixed. I went to have a look and after messing around on the AC and DC sides a bit I still had the same issue with Ileak… I looked at the DC combiner and realised the only other place where the Earth wire came into play was at the bottom of the Surge arrestors… On closer inspection of the surge arrestors it hit me like a hammer. 4 panels in series with a voltage of above 180 VDC, and a DC rating of 180 volt max, the surge arrestors were causing the leak. I disconnected the earth to the Surge arrestors and the I-Leak was gone. @karischoonbee opted to replace the Surge arrestors herself, so i guess she will report back when she has completed the job.
Thanks so much to Jaco! I can’t believe I missed that.
Anyone know if there is an app or something to see the real time grid usage with the Solis? It has the CT clamp installed so it must be able to measure it, right?
As per the title, this seems to be the place to post.
My initial installation I did myself. Everything worked from the word go. But it was obviously not the neatest of jobs. AC side all good and well and COC in place. Saved myself a ton on installation costs…
So as you seek out and stumble onto threads like this one, you learn a lot and all the more I realized (as I’m becoming older and wiser and wanting to do the responsible thing) that there is a lot to be done to make sure everything is safe and to get a COC for the solar side as well.
I initially thought I would again “save” myself a lot on money by slowly doing everything myself, but realized I’m older and wiser now. 
So I got an installer to quote me for making everything neat. Just neat with nice cable trunking, correct breakers, fuses etc.
I figured this is a one day job at the most (having recently observed my mother’s installation from scratch with a 3 man team).
My team (also 3 guys) are on day 2 and I don’t think they will finish in in the three days they quoted without even tending to mounting the panels.
Man the amount of work that goes into something like this is astonishing!
So now I will have the whole shabang, from keto disconnects, fuses, breakers, combiner boxes, surge arrestors, earth spike etc.
Now that I see how much work goes into something like this, I feel less bad about the quoted price. In fact, I now feel I got a very good deal coming to R20K which is basically half labour, half material and a COC.
This is a before pic with my old 3Kva. Please excuse the walls. I have a leaking garage roof still to sort out which is why I did not want to mount the panels yet.
Just for gits and shiggles I will post an after pic as well once they’re done.
Keep in mind you are learning on the fly…slow progress
An installer does it daily and has it down pat…raakvat elke keer
Very true. It would’ve taken me months with very careful planning.
That old story of the man who gave the engine a tap with a small hammer, then sent a large bill. Customer objected. Old man sent itemised bill:
Tap with hammer: $1
Knowing where to tap: $999
Wife says, fix this, that, you can do that yourself. So and so did it themselves.
Me like, yes, I can!!! Must go and buy this tool, need that tool … and then I can store it in the garage. Cheaper to get a Handyman in, as they have the tools.
Wife rolls her eyes.
Or wife says we can do XYZ … and don’t say No.
Ok, so how do we, no not we, me, do that?
Then she goes into planning mode … after a while, she says No.
I roll my eyes.
Or like I rented this super high-pressure washer one Saturday. Wanted to clean the house.
It broke at about 1 pm. Electrical fault. Blessing in disguise.
See, when the wife “inspected” my work, she found missing bricks, wood panel gone out of the gate, paint flakes everywhere, everything outside and some inside wet.
Yeah, I’m not allowed to rent high-pressure washers anymore. Was fun though.
Everyman is a handyman … till the “bills come in”. 
I’ve had customers like that too. “We should do this”. What he means is: I want you to do this. Often this was at the end of the project and the hours allocated had been used up, but it just needed that last hour of “integration” which always got thrown in for free. You could try including this when estimating the job, but somehow “we” were always an hour short
Oh I’ve done that too. It was grasshopper season and the car’s front was filthy. No worries, I’ll just blast this off with the pressure washer (I don’t have a super-high-pressure one though). Thankfully I was wide awake. When I noticed how the stream of water flattens one of the fins in the front-mount intercooler… I stopped immediately. The dead grasshoppers will just have to rot and fall out in their own, sorry.
I took paint of a car. Couldn’t understand why the dirty spot just becomes bigger and bigger until I realized what was happening…
Age old saying. Don’t start the job if you don’t have the right tools.
Just like TTT I’m sitting with tools, some of which was used only once for a job, the latest in my collection being an electric sander to fit a door.
Naaah, I’m over this. Don’t have the time or the will to do these things anymore.
Must say I was rather successful the other day in installing a pet door in the main bedroom door. But even that takes up too much time.
Don’t know how you guys do it with HA and Node red and all that stuff. Seems like you have to slave away for hours before a pc to get it sorted and fix niggles etc.
