Green Power

I felt the current from a second panel, again when wet. Again, I wouldn't call it a shock, but I could feel the flow of electricity. So my removing one panel idea doesn't seem to work. I think I'm going back to just using the workaround I mentioned earlier. Maybe the Risen panels are a bit cheaper and lower in quality than others or slightly defective or someone didn't take care when transporting them, they have been moved about a bit. I suspect they are safe to touch when dry or at night, just not when wet and generating. I think I am genuinely more susceptible to electric shocks than other people. Most people I suspect don't believe me since this doesn't seem to make a lot of sense but I did used to have a lot more shocks than other people. There were multiple cases when after I got an electric shock from say a light switch and other people touched the switch immediately and said that they felt nothing. I also had to stop touching the handrails of escalators to avoid shocks, and had a lot of static electric discharge shocks. I just asked Chat GPT and Claude and one said that there is significant variation by individual differences in skin thickness, structure, hydration of the skin itself, and sweat-gland density, resistance/impedance of tissues inside the body and the other gave a very similar answer. Claude and Chat GPT tell me that dry skin resistance across some individuals might be 10x than of others (very rough number). I do also easily cut myself while shaving - maybe I have thin skin. I will stop touching the panels when wet!

I was able to feel the flow of electricity when I touched one of the panels (front surface, so presumably just touching the glass) a few days ago. I wouldn't call it a shock exactly. That made me wonder if that was the defective panel causing this issue and whether removing that one might solve the issue. I don't see any damage to it. When I felt the electricity it was late afternoon / early evening, but not gone dark, so it would have been generating. It was also very wet as I had just sprayed it.

I'm afraid I'm not very good with electronics. I suspect it might be hard to find someone good here. I am sure there are people, but not sure who or how to find them. When the bus voltage 08 error happens, the system reboots itself after seconds or a minute and the power comes back on, but if you leave it on UTL with the panel switch up, it then repeats the error and on the second or third time shuts down until manually rebooted.

One of the times the inverter turned off it made a funny noise and wouldn't turn back on straight away and for a minute I thought it died. That makes me a bit reluctant to have it turn on and off so many times. It must have tripped out 100 times+ over it's life, could all the times it trips out and it manually turned off and on be bad for it?

I have already hosed the panels heavily a number of times and not caused any issue but I think you mean hose the underside of the panels? Shooting the water up from the below at the back side of each panel? Coudl the fact that it happens at night be due to the mode the inverter is in. In the daytime, it is never in the exact same mode as at night, because even if I run the house off utility there will still always be some solar charging the battery in addition, whereas at night both solar and battery are at rest in utility model

First post in this thread for 1.5 years. Neither the local electrician nor the person that installed the system came over after I got in touch with them however I have to thank @Coulomb as the suggestion you made to disconnect the panels has continued to work. If the panels are not connected OR the load is connected to battery or solar, the error never happens. If the connection to the panels is on (switch up) AND the load is connected to grid, then the 08 bus error happens frequently. (A third thing the error has almost exclusively happened at night, but unclear if that is a coincidence.) The workaround is therefore to simply make sure that the combination of those 2-3 things rarely/never happens. This means I have to remember to charge the battery from grid during the day as necessary (the power cut has never occurred yet while connected to UTL and charging) or failing that remember to flip the panel switch off (down) after dark if it looks like the battery might not last the night, and set an alarm in my phone to remember to switch it back in the morning. This is a bit of hassle as it requires some manual action many days in winter, but in summer the grid isn't used much so not an issue. (The error has happened when connected to battery a couple of times in the past, but only when battery % is low, so it may have first switched to UTL, and then the error. It's never happened once if solar generation is high or if the load is connected to battery with a high battery %.)

The solar panel system was removed from the old house and I moved it all last night to where I live now. Batteries are in place but not connected, panels are lying on the floor ready in position. Just need someone to connect it all up for me. Hoping for Saturday. EDIT: This was later installed and has been working since end Dec.

I have 10 325W panels

Thanks for your comments. I think I would put them on the gravel area. Some planks of wood or something like that could lift them off the ground, perhaps. It's summer and the grass has been left to suffer without watering and doesn't need cutting. I think I prefer the gravel because with grass you'd have to move all the panels probably once a week to avoid the grass dying. Also gravel ought to be dryer area so should be an advantage.

After 5.5 years at the same rented house, we are leaving and the panels are being removed (starting tomorrow and finishing ideally tomorrow but probably later this month). I am wondering if it makes sense to quickly put them into action at the same house I'm most likely currently at. I'm going to stay here most likely for 5 months, so I wonder if I could just do a very simple installation where I lie them flat on the ground. It looks like I can just pass the cables through an existing space and not a single hole would need to be drilled. Chat GPT says I'll lose about 10% energy with flat on the ground vs ideal orientation (Talagante Chile, latitude 34, assuming Jan 1 - May 31), and there may be say another 10% as I'll lose some early morning and late afternoon sun due to the hedges and the house blocking it so say a 20% loss. Allowing for that, I think I can save about US$250 in electricity costs. However in addition to that an environmental benefit and I would be able to avoid some power cuts. so if I can get it installed and then later taken down for $300-$400 it seems worth it. Any major issues with lying them flat on the ground? I assume some losses in efficiency due to heat not dissipating as well. Also wondering about safety issues.

Thank you both. I've reached out to a local electrician and the person that installed the system. If that doesn't work I'll hunt for another solar expert. And feel free anyone else to comment, thanks.

Not handy with electronics. A little reluctant to replace the inverter as it will be annoying if I spend say US$800 (I'm guessing the price) and it doesn't solve the problem. Also, there is probably a 50% chance we'll move out of the rented house this year and a 80% chance within 4 years. So we could end having to sell off the inverter for a fraction of the spend not long after. Also, looking at my above post, I'd interpret that for the time being as the inverter being most likely not the source of the problem?

@TaliaB @Coulomb (+please feel free to jump in anyone else of course). I have a panel switch. It is a big thing you flip up and down, possibly called an isolator/interrupter. When you flip it for some reason solar panel power can't be provided directly to the house/inverter. Since my last post this switch was disconnected every night for 10 days in a row (off/down 9pm-10pm, back on/up in the morning). When this was done, there were no power cuts overnight, or at any time, for the whole 10 days. After that, that panel switch was left continually up night and day for 4 days and there were 2-3 power cuts, all overnight. So it seems likely that something at the panels, or in the connection from the panels to elsewhere is causing power cuts at night, even with zero power being generated from the panels at that time. Could that make sense? What should I do now do you think, to avoid having to manually flip that switch all the time. I don't have any equipment - even an amp/volt meter. Could a regular electrician make some measurements to diagnose and solve the issue if one of you provides directions, or should I call a solar expert. I could also call the person that installed the system and they could come up send someone else, however the system has had many errors and issues during its years of operation, and I'm past the point of getting free fixes, so not sure if that is the best course of action. A new solar expert would be harder to find than a regular electrician for me at this time, so keep that in mind. I can do it if necessary though.

It hasn't rained at all for maybe a couple of months.

Hi, I changed the float voltage setting to about 51.8 V. We can try disconnecting the utility/panels at night although it could take weeks to get a useful answer from that if the power is cutting out once a week or so. One of the panels was slightly burnt (scorched) some months back. I had someone come by to look at it and they said that there was a small fire in the wiring and that had reached the panel rather than the panel itself set on fire. And that the fire was caused by heavy rains that affected the wiring somehow. They replaced some wiring, and determined that it wasn't necessary to replace the panel. I suspect this is not related since the errors are happening more recently rather than at that time.