Installation
Lightning rarely strikes the array, and surges reach it anyway
Storm damage to a solar installation is usually a voltage induced in the wiring by a strike some distance…
· 4 min read
Installation
Roofs, inverters, permissions and what goes wrong on the day.
20 articles · page 2 of 2
Installation
The distance between the roof and the consumer unit is not free
Every metre of cable costs a little energy and a little voltage, and when a system is exporting it is the…
· 4 min read
Installation
A solar roof changes how a fire is fought
Pulling the main switch leaves the array and its cables live, which is why fire services approach a…
· 4 min read
Installation
Earthing an array is about fault current, not about lightning
The green wire running back from the mounting rails exists so that a fault has a defined path and a metal…
· 4 min read
Installation
What the commissioning measurements are actually testing
A handful of numbers taken on the final afternoon establish that the array was wired as designed and that…
· 4 min read
Installation
Connectors and cable routing cause more roof faults than modules do
The plugs joining panels together are the smallest components in the system and the most frequently…
· 4 min read
Installation
A mounting system has to let the array move without letting it go
Aluminium rails carrying glass modules expand measurably between a winter night and a summer afternoon, and…
· 4 min read
Installation
Putting an array over a planted roof or a usable terrace
A green roof and a solar array can help each other, and a terrace and an array mostly compete, and both…
· 4 min read