October 22, 20232 yr Hello, I'm in the process of completing all my commissioning requirements after doing a residential solar installation in Cape Town. The engineer states that I need to have some sort of signage on the outside of my property that states 'alternate electricity supply on site'. He says that this is a requirement - to which I said I've literally never seen it on anyone else's property. Does anyone have an example of this? I really don't want to be openly advertising that I have solar on my house - given the rise in panel theft.
October 22, 20232 yr Sounds like horse manure to me, why should one have to advertised the fact the you have lost faith in Eskom/local municipal power supply?
October 22, 20232 yr Reminds me of the 'borehole water' signs people put up outside their houses so they don't get hassles during water restrictions.
October 22, 20232 yr That signage must be on the main DB box where the 2 AC supplies are integrated via a Changeover. Very important that a future Sparky or technician knows there is a Dual supply of AC sources. It doesn't necessarily need to be in the changeover DB but if there are two different A power sources meaning 2 different neutrals that signage is important. Placing this outside, unfortunately, that I have never heard of. Edited October 22, 20232 yr by Steve87
October 22, 20232 yr @ShanoMac Ask the engineer he needs to show you or quote the official documentation that states that you need signage visible outside. As @Steve87 has stated above on the split db or original utility db yes. This statement is not reflecting in the Occupational Health and Safety Act or in Sans 10142-1 that govern all electrical installations in SA. Edited October 22, 20232 yr by TaliaB
October 22, 20232 yr Did the engineer not give you the name of his wife's signage company where you must buy the signs? At times I feel such guys should be named. Edited October 22, 20232 yr by Scorp007
October 22, 20232 yr 4 hours ago, Steve87 said: That signage must be on the main DB box where the 2 AC supplies are integrated via a Changeover. That makes total sense, not the signage outside though...
October 22, 20232 yr Is signage required on the main breaker for the property, next to the meter (not visible from main DB) My main breaker / meter is inside my property but on an outside wall? If one switches off the main breaker (outside), one assumes there's no elec power within the house which may be wrong if one has solar and one does not have access to the main DB, which in my case is inside the house. So if the elec meter/breaker is outside the property, street facing, is it not possible that the signage should be there as well? Sounds logical to me....
October 22, 20232 yr 4 minutes ago, FixAMess said: Is signage required on the main breaker for the property, next to the meter (not visible from main DB) My main breaker / meter is inside my property but on an outside wall? If one switches off the main breaker (outside), one assumes there's no elec power within the house which may be wrong if one has solar and one does not have access to the main DB, which in my case is inside the house. So if the elec meter/breaker is outside the property, street facing, is it not possible that the signage should be there as well? Sounds logical to me.... Normally anyone that needs to work on an installion must get access to the main DB and not much can be learnt from the main/meter box. That point can as you say a lot of times in a kiosk outside the actual property. I think here we have to satisfy SANS 1042 only. Perhaps better this way than to do it because it sounds logical to the installer. Just like the sign the engineer insists on.
October 22, 20232 yr 4 hours ago, FixAMess said: Is signage required on the main breaker for the property, next to the meter (not visible from main DB) My main breaker / meter is inside my property but on an outside wall? If one switches off the main breaker (outside), one assumes there's no elec power within the house which may be wrong if one has solar and one does not have access to the main DB, which in my case is inside the house. So if the elec meter/breaker is outside the property, street facing, is it not possible that the signage should be there as well? Sounds logical to me.... @FixAMess If the inverter or inverters in parallel in the installation can feed back to the grid and the grid is interrupted then the inverter should also stop to feed back into the grid because the inverter would not be able to power the grid so I do not think that there must be a notification at the breaker in the meter box. So far I know only the power utility company or an appointed contractor may work on the meter box, a normal electrician are not allowed to work on a power utility meter box. If the electrical installation in a property does not have means to isolate the electrical installation by means of an isolator in the main db then the electrical installation was not thoroughly thought through, usually the main db and any other db's that receive their power from the main db have an isolator installed so that maintenance can be conducted on the electrical installation therefore there should not be any reason to turn the power off at the breaker in the meter box.
October 23, 20232 yr Author Thanks for all the feedback everyone After chatting to various signage and solar places, all parties agreed that it's important to indicate the 'dual sources' on the DB and inverters - but no one was able to understand or point to a regulation outlining any need for signage on the exterior of my property. Engineer was happy to concede - considering no clear regulation is in place in the COCT requirements. Appreciate all the help.
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