Are the Canberra elements waging a slow war of attrition against your investment? Photo: DiyanaDimitrova.
“Until recently, standard industry practice required installing a rooftop safety mechanism known as a DC isolator — essentially a cheap, plastic electrical switch exposed to the elements,” Tim says.
“It was intended as a safety feature to shut down panels during an emergency, but it quickly proved to be a vulnerability.”
When installed incorrectly or left unprotected, the relentless Australian sun would attack the plastic, causing the switches to crack, degrade and ultimately fail.
It prompted a shift in industry standards and today, the gold standard is “disconnection points”, a clever two-plug design tucked entirely beneath the panels, using the solar array itself as a natural shield against the UV rays.
DC isolators are still permitted, but must be installed properly.
“If they’re installed on a westerly or northern wall and they’re not protected, then after a few years you see them become yellowed and degraded and high operating temperatures can reduce performance and lifespan,” Tim says.
Exposure to the elements also impacts the longevity of batteries. In Canberra’s mercurial weather, it can be a double whammy.
“Battery cells perform worse in cold climates and in the cold winter mornings we get, you’ll often see batteries not charging as quickly as they could,” Tim says.
Warranties on batteries in particular fall back on strict installation guidelines and not all installers will heed them.
This is where the local advantage shifts from a nice-to-have to a necessity.
“We’ve been asked to replace many inverters that were poorly installed and more often than not it’s big national retailers who sub it out to the cheapest subby they can find, often from interstate,” Tim says.
“They don’t have the local knowledge of our climate and they don’t have the motivation to try to do it the right way. When things go wrong, you’re stuck arguing warranties with manufacturers.
“You want someone with skin in the game. As a local business owner, the last thing I want is my customers’ inverters failing due to incorrect installation.”
For more information, contact Huglo.
Original Article published by Dione David on Region Canberra.
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