possible solar panel issue

Nutty_Death · 27 Nov 2020 at 14:41

Whilst having some extension work done. I removed my solar panels and moved the inverters to a new location. I had to extend the existing cables which I did using mc4 connectors and the same spec cable.

I numbered each connection to make sure everything went back as it was before.

Now everything is connected, the main inverter comes on but it doesn't seem to be getting any solar power and the LEDs on the smaller inverters are off.

I'm not sure whether it's due to a lack of lights despite it being clear skies in Leeds or a cabling issue...

Does anyone know anything about this? I could do with working it out before the ceiling is plastered where my extensions were made.

Installation pre moving

Firestar_3x · 27 Nov 2020 at 14:45

Poke around with a multi-meter to see if you are getting any voltage out of the panels, then after the rotary isolators then into the invertor. I presume you could achieve this by removing the rotary isolator front cover and measuring each side of the contacts, then I presume the lower invertor panel.

If you are not confident enough to do the above then best to call an electrician.

Nutty_Death · 27 Nov 2020 at 17:59

Thanks, tested with an electrician just now and there's no reading on the incoming circuit. I unplugged the solar panels at the start and end of a group, to cut out the inverter and ran a new cable between the two and still got no continuity reading, which makes me think maybe there's an issue in the extension I made to get the existing cables to the new inverter position... I'm just surprised that all extensions would have issues (4 groups, so 8 extended cables). Next step is to see if anything changes tomorrow, them replace the mc4 with a simple block on the extensions.

Nutty_Death · 28 Nov 2020 at 19:46

Had some diagnostics done by a solar person today. Most of my issues were with my shoddy crimping and not connecting the extensions with the mc4 plugs properly. Also the pairing on the inverters was off too.

Need to double check tomorrow when there's daylight but this seems to addressed the issues. Thankfully before my new ceiling was plastered.