[RE-wrenches] The Demise of WEEB

[Steven Lawrence]

I ran into this problem last year, when NJCEP failed six of my systems for
using the WEEB clip against Sunpower's bulletin.  Needless to say I was a
bit surprised to be getting this information from NJ and not from Sunpower
themselves.  I called up Sunpower and talked to the guy who wrote the
bulletin (I can't recall his name unfortunately).  What he told me was that
it wasn't so much as a testing change; it was that UL didn't agree with
ETL's testing methods.  UL requires a grounding conductor for any device to
be UL467 listed;  ETL does not.  UL didn't like the fact that the
installation manual for Sunpower specified the WEEB clip and "threatened"
(his words, not mine) to remove the listing unless Sunpower removed the WEEB
language from their installation manual.  NJCEP was concerned about the
warranty, and was requesting a letter from Sunpower granting an exception in
this case.  Sunpower would not provide it until I informed them that the
rebate was assigned to them.  So if anyone has a warranty claim on Sunpower,
don't mention it was installed with the WEEBs (which I also agree is a
superior grounding method).

Steven Lawrence



> Date: Sun, 12 Sep 2010 13:48:41 -0700
> From: "Peter Parrish" <peter.parrish at calsolareng.com>
> To: "'RE-wrenches'" <re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org>
> Subject: [RE-wrenches] The Demise of WEEB
> Message-ID: <20150AE4997947EBA6A5AC7110C062BE at Angeles>
> Content-Type: text/plain;       charset="us-ascii"
>
> We were informed a while ago that SunPower no longer "supports" their
> version of the WEEB clip "due to UL testing changes." (unspecified) and
> appears to have regressed to the ILSCO GBL-4DBT lugs with SS star washers,
> lock washer, nut and specific torque requirements.
>
> Most people I have spoken with feel that the lug approach, though a
> competent means of bonding PV modules, is awkward and time consuming,
> compared to the WEEB clips.
>
> What happened wrt UL testing and how is CSA listing affected?
>
> I seem to remember a video showing a conventional lug-based bond fail under
> test as par of a WEEB promo. I hope I can find it and take a look at it
> again.
>
> There also is a Tyco SolKlip that SunPower is apparently looking at but no
> word yet from SP, and it is not clear that the SolKlip has been affected by
> "UL testing changes".
>
> Any info on the UL testing changes would be much appreciated.
>
> - Peter
>
>
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