Wednesday 10 February 2016

Solar Panels Tripping Out Inverter

Over the last few weeks we've found that the inverter for our solar panels has been tripping out meaning that the solar panels no longer were generating electricity.


I had an electrician round at the weekend to investigate and was massively glad I did. When he opened the fuse box to check the wiring he found this!
Solar Panels Tripping Out Inverter
Solar Panels Tripping Out Inverter

It appears that the wires weren't fully tightened so we arcing and ended up melting the live and neutral wires together. Fortunately it's happened in winter, in summer with 3kW feeding through it may have been a far worse outcome and ended without the house.


Fortunately the solar panels are now working fine and have been stable with no trip out since the work was done.

Thursday 4 February 2016

Solar Panels Inverter tripping RCD

Frustratingly I found out at the end of the month that our solar panels/inverter had tripped out the RCD in the consumer unit for the panels so had lost a few days electricity generation in January.

It appears that something between the consumer unit and the inverter is tripping out the RCD which in turn then switches off the inverter for safety as it detects no grid voltage. After it repeatedly tripping out again over the next couple of days it's now remained on for 2 days. 

Electrician is booked for Saturday so hopefully we'll get a solution. I'm just fortunate that it's happened in Jan/Feb rather than the peak summer months when it would be costing vastly more in terms of lost FIT income.

Solar Panels Inverter tripping RCD
Solar Panels Inverter tripping RCD