February 26, 20242 yr As per usual I'm here to gather some information and thoughts please? After a heavy lightning storm at midnight and several direct strikes in my neighbourhood, my batteries went from 67% to 0% instantly and no led's on - no flashing led's nothing. Inverter reported a F56 dc volt low fault. Installer tested next day and sent both batteries and inverter off - apparently these were all damaged. What I don't understand though is that my db didn't trip - the 'eskom' db - I'm still grid tied. Surely if it was a 'near strike' causing a spike the mains would have tripped? How is my inverter and batteries fried but nothing else damaged or tripped? It was definitely not a direct lightning strike. And most importantly - how do I/ can I take measures to prevent this from happening again with the next heavy lightning storm? Any thougts/advice please? Btw - solar panels are earthed with coper spike - don't know yet if they were damaged - there is no visible damage and definitely wasn't struck directly.
February 26, 20242 yr 16 minutes ago, mien said: As per usual I'm here to gather some information and thoughts please? After a heavy lightning storm at midnight and several direct strikes in my neighbourhood, my batteries went from 67% to 0% instantly and no led's on - no flashing led's nothing. Inverter reported a F56 dc volt low fault. Installer tested next day and sent both batteries and inverter off - apparently these were all damaged. What I don't understand though is that my db didn't trip - the 'eskom' db - I'm still grid tied. Surely if it was a 'near strike' causing a spike the mains would have tripped? How is my inverter and batteries fried but nothing else damaged or tripped? It was definitely not a direct lightning strike. And most importantly - how do I/ can I take measures to prevent this from happening again with the next heavy lightning storm? Any thougts/advice please? Btw - solar panels are earthed with coper spike - don't know yet if they were damaged - there is no visible damage and definitely wasn't struck directly. Sad to hear about the damage. May be going back to the start of having a TV. Disconnection of power and aerial was a normal thing to do at the 1st sound or light in the sky. Strikes can have high voltage that damage electronics without causing a overload to trip circuit breakers or a E/Leak. Various gadgets can be tried but may not be fast enough. One is a grid under and over voltage with a dead time of a few minutes. I would look at Clearline products for the power supply side. Not sure what more sensitive gadgets can be fitted on the PV side than the SPD already used. Strikes need not be close to you but even further away and can still cause damage due to power lines. Members with experience of the source of entry might weigh in. My points are as a novice and just thinking out loud. Edited February 26, 20242 yr by Scorp007
February 26, 20242 yr Surge protection is mandatory according to insurance but I think this is just an excuse not to pay for some claims. They do not guarantee that transients can't pass through them. Disconnection and a steel cage is your best defence.
February 26, 20242 yr Author 13 minutes ago, Scorp007 said: Sad to hear about the damage. May be going back to the start of having a TV. Disconnection of power and aerial was a normal thing to do at the 1st sound or light in the sky. Strikes can have high voltage that damage electronics without causing a overload to trip circuit breakers or a E/Leak. Various gadgets can be tried but may not be fast enough. One is a grid under and over voltage with a dead time of a few minutes. I would look at Clearline products for the power supply side. Not sure what more sensitive gadgets can be fitted on the PV side than the SPD already used. Strikes need not be close to you but even further away and can still cause damage due to power lines. Members with experience of the source of entry might weigh in. My points are as a novice and just thinking out loud. Thank you @Scorp007. Also just saw and read the thread on Lightning posted by Bobster in January. It basically discussed this exact issue - should have read it first🤦♀️ I'll be discussing with my installer adding some surge protection on AC and DC sides - for what it's worth😔
February 26, 20242 yr Author 9 minutes ago, frivan said: Surge protection is mandatory according to insurance but I think this is just an excuse not to pay for some claims. They do not guarantee that transients can't pass through them. Disconnection and a steel cage is your best defence. @frivan I hear you. Not sure how I'm going to disconnect solar panels though? If I understand correctly what happened here, the 'spike' actually came in via the solar panel wiring. I'll google the 'steel cage' solution - not familiar.
February 26, 20242 yr 4 minutes ago, mien said: @frivan I hear you. Not sure how I'm going to disconnect solar panels though? If I understand correctly what happened here, the 'spike' actually came in via the solar panel wiring. I'll google the 'steel cage' solution - not familiar. No reason why you can't put a contactor in line with your solar panels. But the best is to make sure your positive and negatives cables runs together in steel conduit, they run together underneath the solar panels and that you have a steel roof.
February 26, 20242 yr Decades ago I was involved in a computer room that was a lone building in an open area. Copper conductors along the ridge of the roof. Earth spike conductors at the 2 ends. Copper conductors from the ridge and along the 4 walls of the building. Conductors ending at 4 earth spikes. Nothing helped. We kept having damage at the computer in this building. There were over 50 cables coming along a steel conveyor structure. Could be that strikes entered via these cables. Bottom line it's not easy to protect equipment in the highest lightning strike area of the country.
February 27, 20242 yr 14 hours ago, mien said: Not sure how I'm going to disconnect solar panels though? It is normal practice to have disconnects on the PV wire, even though you already have a DC disconnect on the inverter itself. Thus far we were very fortunate to not have experienced the consequences of lightning strikes. We are trying to always disconnect the panels before and during storms, as well as switch of the DC switch on the unit itself.
February 27, 20242 yr Author 6 hours ago, CobusK said: It is normal practice to have disconnects on the PV wire, even though you already have a DC disconnect on the inverter itself. Thus far we were very fortunate to not have experienced the consequences of lightning strikes. We are trying to always disconnect the panels before and during storms, as well as switch of the DC switch on the unit itself. Thank you for this - I'll add to my discussion list with my installer. Also for them to show me where to disconnect to DC.
February 27, 20242 yr Author 21 hours ago, Scorp007 said: Decades ago I was involved in a computer room that was a lone building in an open area. Copper conductors along the ridge of the roof. Earth spike conductors at the 2 ends. Copper conductors from the ridge and along the 4 walls of the building. Conductors ending at 4 earth spikes. Nothing helped. We kept having damage at the computer in this building. There were over 50 cables coming along a steel conveyor structure. Could be that strikes entered via these cables. Bottom line it's not easy to protect equipment in the highest lightning strike area of the country. That's what I've heard as well - if the strike is strong enough it will breach all protection measures taken. Eish. Neighbour 5 houses away had direct strike and every single electical appliance was fried. So in comparison I came off lightly.... And luckily my insurance covers this.
February 27, 20242 yr 22 hours ago, frivan said: Surge protection is mandatory according to insurance but I think this is just an excuse not to pay for some claims. They do not guarantee that transients can't pass through them. Disconnection and a steel cage is your best defence. A general principle of insurance is that you can't insure against what you know is going to happen. This was the advice given to several big JSE listed companies in the run up to Y2k. Insurance won't pay for your losses or damages because you KNOW 1st January 2000 is coming and so you have to take precautions. The legal test that a court would apply, we were told, is whether or not you took REASONABLE precautions. You can't take infinite precautions, but you should take some. If you took precautions and the court ruled that they were "reasonable", then insurance probably would have to pay out. So this is where we are now, I think. You KNOW there is going to be load shedding, and you KNOW that surges are likely, so what precautions have you taken? Insurance is not going to listen to you if you did nothing at all. They probably won't be too impressed with a couple of Ellie's red plug top thingies with LEDs inside. SPDs in the DB with sign off by a suitably qualified electrician and a good brand name and things start tipping back your way. Not to take sides or anything, just to explain the overarching principles that are being applied.
February 28, 20242 yr This weekend it nearly took down my system too in Midrand. We were loadshedding. The lights went off for half a sec. I had to switch off the inverter and the batteries This year has been bad. Hailstorm every time we have rain.
February 28, 20242 yr Sorry @mien about your experience. My two cents is that firstly if lightning is going to want to do it's thing, there's not much really anyone can do. Yes there's mitigations through SPDs of various kinds on both the AC and DC side of a system including the picture of the one I'm putting here and others. From various discussions it seems in-line fuses over and above SPDs on some wiring may also help all this the best we can do. Also don't forget that some lightning strikes through modems/routers and one then wonders where does this rabbit hole of protection end. Hopefully you have insurance for your system which would then cover such losses and unfortunate incidents, which may well be another route having a solar system so that replacements can be done without the sudden huge knock of equipment replacements. Also SOS (Switch-Of-Switches) including an inverter and going "old school" lantern or solar lights should be another option during a storm.
February 29, 20242 yr Author 6 hours ago, madness_za said: Lightning will duck your shit up : Highveld Proverb This gets full marks -yup!
February 29, 20242 yr Author 17 hours ago, Moffat said: Sorry @mien about your experience. My two cents is that firstly if lightning is going to want to do it's thing, there's not much really anyone can do. Yes there's mitigations through SPDs of various kinds on both the AC and DC side of a system including the picture of the one I'm putting here and others. From various discussions it seems in-line fuses over and above SPDs on some wiring may also help all this the best we can do. Also don't forget that some lightning strikes through modems/routers and one then wonders where does this rabbit hole of protection end. Hopefully you have insurance for your system which would then cover such losses and unfortunate incidents, which may well be another route having a solar system so that replacements can be done without the sudden huge knock of equipment replacements. Also SOS (Switch-Of-Switches) including an inverter and going "old school" lantern or solar lights should be another option during a storm. Yes thank goodness my insurance is in place. But ai - the annoying inconvenience of it all. I'll be writing a strong worded letter to the South African Weather Service - they're in charge of the weather aren't they?..... Sorry - Stoopid silliness - stops me from crying 😊
February 29, 20242 yr 6 minutes ago, mien said: Yes thank goodness my insurance is in place. But ai - the annoying inconvenience of it all. I'll be writing a strong worded letter to the South African Weather Service - they're in charge of the weather aren't they?..... Sorry - Stoopid silliness - stops me from crying 😊 Humour is life's best medicine in such times! So tell them to "pull themselves towards themselves!" At least some advance warning would help😆 But engage your installer in relation to fuses as well and hear what they say or recommend. These breakers sometimes because they stick, don't always trip or wrong size breakers also don't help.
February 29, 20242 yr Author On 2024/02/27 at 6:59 PM, Bobster. said: A general principle of insurance is that you can't insure against what you know is going to happen. This was the advice given to several big JSE listed companies in the run up to Y2k. Insurance won't pay for your losses or damages because you KNOW 1st January 2000 is coming and so you have to take precautions. The legal test that a court would apply, we were told, is whether or not you took REASONABLE precautions. You can't take infinite precautions, but you should take some. If you took precautions and the court ruled that they were "reasonable", then insurance probably would have to pay out. So this is where we are now, I think. You KNOW there is going to be load shedding, and you KNOW that surges are likely, so what precautions have you taken? Insurance is not going to listen to you if you did nothing at all. They probably won't be too impressed with a couple of Ellie's red plug top thingies with LEDs inside. SPDs in the DB with sign off by a suitably qualified electrician and a good brand name and things start tipping back your way. Not to take sides or anything, just to explain the overarching principles that are being applied. Thanks for the explanation - it makes sense. My installer is fully a accredited electrician with wireman licence. Coc was done by an independent unrelated electrician. My insurer is satisfied that the installation was done correctly. But yes - very important to be compliant and insured - an electrical fire will destroy a stucture in no time.
February 29, 20242 yr Author 13 minutes ago, Moffat said: Humour is life's best medicine in such times! So tell them to "pull themselves towards themselves!" At least some advance warning would help😆 But engage your installer in relation to fuses as well and hear what they say or recommend. These breakers sometimes because they stick, don't always trip or wrong size breakers also don't help. 😁 Thank you - adding fuses and breakers to my 'discuss with installer' list. Don't know if any fuses fused, but no breakers broke (tripped😁) - which to me is the worry.... why nothing tripped? Meeting with installer is going to be a looong one. 👍🏻
February 29, 20242 yr 8 minutes ago, mien said: 😁 Thank you - adding fuses and breakers to my 'discuss with installer' list. Don't know if any fuses fused, but no breakers broke (tripped😁) - which to me is the worry.... why nothing tripped? Meeting with installer is going to be a looong one. 👍🏻 Best wishes and hopefully insurance "pulls finger quickly" to get your equipment replaced and keep you away from Load Shedding. Also see a test of the MidNite Solar's Surge Protection device.
March 5, 20242 yr Mien, I was also struck by lightning and lost my inverter, two batteries and whole lot of other stuff in the house. In my case the breaker tripped but still did not prevent the damage if that makes you feel any better. It sucks big time, but I spoke to several people and they say there is not much you can do to prevent the damage. What is strange is my panels where all fine, and I had a direct strike on the aerial on the roof.
March 5, 20242 yr Author 1 hour ago, JacoG said: Mien, I was also struck by lightning and lost my inverter, two batteries and whole lot of other stuff in the house. In my case the breaker tripped but still did not prevent the damage if that makes you feel any better. It sucks big time, but I spoke to several people and they say there is not much you can do to prevent the damage. What is strange is my panels where all fine, and I had a direct strike on the aerial on the roof. Oh man! That's painful - sorry for the additional damage. Yes I have also come to understand that there's no fail proof preventative measures to protect against this. Just to have sufficient insurance cover. As explained to me by my brother - most often the physical damage is to the most sensitive item ie. Pc-boards. The panels does not have pc-boards so that is probably why they survived.
March 11, 20242 yr On 2024/02/26 at 8:01 PM, mien said: As per usual I'm here to gather some information and thoughts please? After a heavy lightning storm at midnight and several direct strikes in my neighbourhood, my batteries went from 67% to 0% instantly and no led's on - no flashing led's nothing. Inverter reported a F56 dc volt low fault. Installer tested next day and sent both batteries and inverter off - apparently these were all damaged. What I don't understand though is that my db didn't trip - the 'eskom' db - I'm still grid tied. Surely if it was a 'near strike' causing a spike the mains would have tripped? How is my inverter and batteries fried but nothing else damaged or tripped? It was definitely not a direct lightning strike. And most importantly - how do I/ can I take measures to prevent this from happening again with the next heavy lightning storm? Any thougts/advice please? Btw - solar panels are earthed with coper spike - don't know yet if they were damaged - there is no visible damage and definitely wasn't struck directly. Get your installer/electrician to measure the resistance of the earth spike if I was you, I would start off there you can also increase the numbr of earth spikes DC and AC surge protection is a must.Ensure all earth connection points are corrosion free.
March 11, 20242 yr 7 minutes ago, David Hird said: Get your installer/electrician to measure the resistance of the earth spike if I was you, I would start off there you can also increase the numbr of earth spikes DC and AC surge protection is a must.Ensure all earth connection points are corrosion free. The connection to the general mass of earth in the most important aspect.You can install the best surge protection on the market but if you have a high resistance earth you will come 2nd best
August 22, 20241 yr On 2024/03/11 at 9:07 AM, David Hird said: The connection to the general mass of earth in the most important aspect.You can install the best surge protection on the market but if you have a high resistance earth you will come 2nd best Indeed. More on this fascinating topic here:
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.