UPDATE: Solar panel cleaning?
So, I posted this quite a while ago regarding my parents’ solar setup working at half capacity. Turns out, the guy who installed it was under investigation by the state regulatory body for dodgy work. It wasn’t dirty panels, it was him using the incorrect wire (I think it was automotive wire instead of construction grade), and thinking that wiring up parallel wiring would do the job. The reason it was working at half capacity was because one of the wires had shorted out and burnt through (I have a photo of it but can’t work out how to upload it without signing up for an app I don’t want). What makes me sick to think about is that I leave my (infant at the time) daughter with my parents overnight once a month when I do an on call shift, so the house could have burnt down with her in it. So, moral of the story - always worth googling your installers name and the local regulatory body to see if any hits come up I guess.
Posted Nov 10, 2021, 6:09 AM UTC
Was he the cheapest price?
Yup, that’s a story in itself - quoted based on a different setup (ie for a grid system rather than standalone), then when dad went to book it, the quote suddenly went up because he “didn’t realise” the mistake. So dad got him to drop the price to almost the original. So in an effort to save money on the part of the business owner, instead of the business owner and three workers, it was the business owner and my arthritic old dad climbing on the roof installing. I always tell dad that cheaping out is going to bite him on the ass one day.
You get what you pay for.