Fw: Interesting installation [RE-wrenches]

[matthew tritt]

Dana and Joel,

Thanks for the input. I think I'll take a bunch of photos and then talk to
the installer, but I have a hunch the system's owner might want to have a
chat with him before then. He has a right to be unhappy with the system,
particularly about the West-facing array. I can't imagine what kind of
rationale was reached before installing it like that. No compass?

Matt T
----- Original Message -----
From: "Joel Davidson" <joeldavidson at earthlink.net>
To: <RE-wrenches at topica.com>
Sent: Thursday, April 17, 2003 2:14 PM
Subject: Re: Fw: Interesting installation [RE-wrenches]


> The best goal is a good PV system and a happy customer.
> Call the installer and tell him:
> 1) that the owner asked you to look at the system for possible expansion,
> 2) in your judgment the system has some design and electrical problems,
> 3) and the owner is not happy.
> Then ask the installer what he wants to do about this situation.
> His answer will lead you to your course of action.
>
> matthew tritt wrote:
>
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: matthew tritt
> > To: wrenches at topica.com
> > Sent: Wednesday, April 16, 2003 10:17 PM
> > Subject: Interesting installation
> >
> > Here's one for all you Xantrex fans.
> >
> > I went to look at a potential system expansion today, the current system
of which consists of 11.5 kW (name plate rating) of Kyoceras on 4 array
mounts, a Xantrex 10 kva 3 phase and an isolation transformer. The owner
wants to add 5 k of Sharp 156's and a couple of SB's with remote monitoring.
Great.
> >
> > So, we climb up on the roof and, lo and behold, the entire array is
pointed directly West! This is on a flat roof surrounded by a rather high
parapet. The first row is about 6 feet from the parapet, which results in
the entire row being useless in all seasons except Summer, before around
10:00 AM (it's facing West), and after 2:00 PM (looong shadow from the
parapet). Added to this are the PV "racks" which are so wimpy that they
actually bend in the middle from the weight of the modules!
> >
> > So, just for the fun of it, I checked the Trace combiner box, and
discover that it's putting out about 390 volts positive to negative, 1/2 of
that from positive to the ground buss, 1/2 from the negative to the ground
buss (that's well over 120 volts folks) and there is a 2 to 3 amp load on
the ground wire! What the f***k say's I. There is no "Danger! High voltage"
label on this scary combiner with a "live" negative stickin out in the
breeze either.
> >
> > I called Xantrex in Livermore (sp?) and talked to a tech who was very
interested in finding out who installed this fine piece of work. I decided
that, after all the discussions we've had concerning the pros and cons of
being a tattle-tale, I'd see what the consensus is from you sterling bunch
of wrenches. Also I don't want to get in the middle of a potential
litigation. :-) The owner isn't too thrilled with what we showed him.
> >
> > According to the owner, the installer has done a lot of big jobs and
does a bit of work for the Hollywood crowd (he's from Santa Barbara).
> >
> > I think there's a chance that either the inverter isn't grounded at all
(yikes!) or that it is, but it's acting like it isn't. The inverter was
reported to have failed early-on and was sent back for a repair which took
almost a month, so the owner isn't too keen on repeating that situation.
Maybe this bad/non existent ground or ground fault caused the initial
failure?
> >
> > Opinions?
> >
> > Matt T
> > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
> >
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>
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