Random Renewables Thread

Yeah still hopeful of getting one but no one in this country seems willing to bring them in to sell them although they have the right certification and all. It seems even most people in the trade are not aware there is no longer a 6kW export limit for domestic dwellings, subject to filling in the right form and all that

Seems a bit ridiculous that they won't order one in. Would the UK or the Netherlands be an option for you?

Folks, bit of a stupid question but are Solartricity just a wholesale supplier or do they sell to the public as well?

They say they're wholesale but their website is laid out like they do installation as well

Ask me no questions and I'll tell you no lies....

This was actually another question I had. Does anyone know if it's okay to mount the fireman switch outside (in a weatherproof enclosure)?

The way my house is laid out there's no readily available place to put the fireman switch within 1.5m of the cable entry, except outside the house

My fireman switches are outside along with the inverter. Backs onto fuseboard. I got the installer to put them up above hand-height so people won't turn them off messing. So maybe 7 foot up. Emergency services could easily access them.

Not anymore

Purchacing products | Solartricity

Quentin Gargan Staff answered 3 weeks ago

We are trade only suppliers. Contact us if you are a registered installer – you need to be an electrician to install.

Thanks.

Gah! Hate when they start gatekeeping like that. Luckily there are cheaper places to get them

fireman switch is right up there as something to be removed after the grant comes in anyway. I wouldnt be worried about it.

Because it's not necessary. There's a manual isolation switch for everything. If theres a grid power outage during the day, that shouldnt affect my generation.

The fireman's switch is a box which has to be within 1.5m of where the DC power lines enters into your house. For most people, this is in the attic. It doesn't have to be accessible (easily) as it's function is really to remotely kill the solar power along the wires carrying the DC current from where it enters the house to your inverter.

In the scenario of where your inverter is right next to where the wires enter the abode, the firemans switch is somewhat useless as it's main function is to stop having 400-600V DC lines "live" in the house where you might have a fireman swinging an axe and the inverter is a good distance away from the entry point. When the power to the house gets cut the spring loaded switch opens the circuit and makes the lines safe.

The two isolators you have DC999 are probably one for each string, but I couldn't say for sure without seeing it.

Yes, fireman switch is automated. The manual switches are likely isolators and you need those for sure.

I've already paid for it, part of the SEAI program, but I will be removing it as soon as the 2400 hits my bank and I know I'm not being inspected. A nonsense requirement, everything has an isolator switch on it and I don't want to cease generation just because the mains is off? When I'm off grid there won't be a mains at all so it has to be removed anyway.

You could probably achieve the concept of bypassing the firefighter switch with a remotely operated transfer switch and some home automation

Basically the switch is normally on the firefighter switch output. Power cuts and solar panels are isolated, and the firefighters are safe. You still have backup power from your battery

In the case of a grid failure, after you've ensured the house is safe then you trigger the transfer switch to bypass the fireman switch and reconnect your PV

I hope it's a reasonable assumption that no-one is going to worry about their solar panels generating if the house is on fire, so you'd only trigger the bypass in the case that the house is safe

When the grid is restored then you have something which is watching the grid connection and resets the transfer switch to using the fireman switch

The transfer switch could also be wired to the smoke alarms, so if they trigger the solar is isolated as well

I see the merit in both arguments. It's a bit silly having solar and not being able to use it in a power cut. Similarly, firefighting is a difficult enough job without worrying about getting electrocuted

I think the current blanket statement of "no solar in a power cut" should be revisited and if there's a safe way to work around requirements then it should be allowed