Sanyo Hit-N system instaleed, results

[dennis2011]

At the end of the day I am sure you will be pleased with the output of your system on an annual basis and will will give you a good indexed-linked rate of return. We are now in the 4 worst months of the year for solar generation. We really need some frosty but very sunny days!
I am not an electrician, but do have a scientific background and have looked into earth bonding of arrays. It only occurs with TL (transformerless) inverters and advice varies from manufacturer to manufacturer. It's very complicated, something to do with 'galvanic separation' - don't understand it fully.
Some makers like SMA, who make yours, state that earth bonding is not needed, which is reassuring for you to know. Fronius, another popular make definitely do recommend earth bonding. All the roof rails are joined together with earthing wire and taken to an earthing stake hammered into the ground. It's not a big leakage if any, Fronius explained it to me as just a 'tickle'. But if someone is up there on ladders, say cleaning your gutters and rests his hand on one of the panels, then the surprise of the very mild shock could make him fall off his ladder. It's the falling of the ladder which is the potentially dangerous bit!

 

[kate.harrison1]

Thank you. That makes me feel somewhat reassured! Another question though now about lightning> What is the effect if any, on a solar array and its component wiring etc of a highly charged electrical storm? Are we m,ore likely to be strush due to all the extra metal on the roof, and what happens if we are?

You can tell I'm having sleepless night can't you?! Someetimes, info read on these kind of forums can be rather worrying.

Btw, on my array production, today we have not seen even a glimmer of sun here in Hertfordshire and it is pretty gloomy. My Sunny Beam thingy says we are producing a pretty consistent C500Wh so I guess thats about what to expect in these conditions. Probably going to do <2 Kw again today.

 

[dennis2011]

Quite sunny in Shropshire today - at the moment done 3.4kw which makes up for dark dismal yesterday - only about 1kw.
I wouldn't worry too much about the lightening - the panels may be metal framed but not the highest thing on your roof, usually the chimney. I think if you check with your insurance policy you will find that the panels are now covered as part of your building insurance, as part of your house structure. So if some bits fell of an aeroplane or lighting srtuck and damaged your panels then I am fairly certain you would be able to claim on your house insurance. I haven't heard of any panels being hit by anything sinister, giant hailstones in some countries, bird droppings here. Try not to worry!