Blake

Hi everyone I've been working on a side project called Ask Sparky to help with quick electrical and/or solar PV questions on site. Just to be clear, I am not trying to sell anything here, it’s 100% free to use. How it works: The bot uses general AI knowledge (via Gemini) to answer questions about South African electrical and solar regulations. I have spent the last few weeks testing it and curating the responses to ensure they align with SANS, NRS and SSEG standards and regulations. Voice Notes: You don't have to type. Just send a voice note and it will reply with the text. Multilingual: It understands and replies in most SA languages (Afrikaans, Zulu, Xhosa, etc.), so you can chat in whatever language is most comfortable. But AI can still be unpredictable, so I need experienced guys to test it out. I want to see if it’s consistently accurate in the real world or if there are gaps I haven't caught yet. If you think the response is wrong or poor, just give it a thumbs down in the WhatsApp options menu that will be in the chat, and it will flag the response for me to take a look at. To make things interesting, I have a brand new Sonoff 20A Smart Power Meter Switch that I'd like to give away & courier to the member who provides the most valuable feedback or finds the biggest/scariest error in the bot's answers over the next two weeks. I really want to make sure this tool is safe and accurate for us to use. Important: It is not a replacement for the standards, but rather it's a helper tool intended to save time. Try it here: https://asksparky.co.za

This is likely caused by the Neutral-Earth bond transition or "nuisance tripping" during grid switching. - Internal Ground Relay: Since your PCB was replaced, the "Ground Relay" setting in the Victron VE.Configure settings might be different. In South Africa, the inverter must create a Neutral-Earth bond only when in island mode (off-grid). - Transition Surges: When the grid drops or returns, the sudden change in voltage can cause EMI filters in your appliances (like PCs and TVs) to leak a small amount of current to earth momentarily. - Cumulative Leakage: If you have many appliances, your "standing leakage" might already be close to 30mA. The "kick" from the grid switching is just enough to push it over the limit. -Check your Earth Leakage switch: As per regulatory guidelines, ensure you are using a high-quality Earth Leakage device. Some older Earth Leakage Switches are more prone to "nuisance tripping" during power cycles compared to modern Type A or Type SI (Super Immunised) units. - Neutral-Earth Issues: If there is a "double bond" (a Neutral-Earth bond at the DB and another one active in the inverter while the grid is present), it will trip the Earth Leakage immediately during transitions.

Yep, I've installed over 50 60-Cell panels at various sites. No issues, and they perform as well as the Yinglis as far as I can see. Build quality also seems identical. I guess I'll only be able to tell you more in 10 years time!