Power Bills Suddenly Increased?

If so, your solar panel system may be underperforming or not working at all – that’s where we can help.

*Note – We always recommend taking the inverter through the shutdown procedure first, as often this fixes minor issues and will cost you nothing.

The shutdown procedure should be found on your inverter or in the meterbox – always remember to turn off the AC supply labeled ‘Main Solar Supply’ before the DC supply.

ServiceTech Preventative Maintenance

To ensure your solar panel system continues to produce the power bill savings you rely on, the following tasks are performed on a ServiceTech solar service & Maintenance:

• Panels are checked for evidence of hot spots developing, back plate cracks, PV cell delamination, evidence of moisture ingress, manufacturing defects, broken glass, or any other issues.
• Confirmation DC isolators not included on product recall list.
• Perished DC cable ties replaced when necessary & accessible.
• Solar Panel rails and brackets checked to ensure sound roof connection.
• DC isolators are inspected for damaged housings, water ingress or other
  safety issues.
• Insulation resistance test performed on DC cabling to ensure no voltage leaks to earth.
• Panel frame seals checked for potential moisture ingress issues developing.
• Inverter ventilation checked and blockages cleared.
• Solar Inverter taken through the shut down and restart process.
• Anti-islanding test conducted on the inverter to ensure compliance with Electrical Safety legislation.
• Inverter readings recorded for system performance monitoring.
• Potential panel shading issues identified
• Three stage panel clean performed to remove all contaminants including baked on atmospheric grime, dirt and animal excretions

1. Why isn’t it Working?

Here are some quick tips to help identify the issue:

• If the inverter display is blank, tests need to be performed to determine if there is an issue with the panels, the DC isolator, the inverter or just the display itself.
• Is there an error message displayed? Check the manual – what does the message say? Record this message as it may change or the display may shut down. Refer to the manual for guidance. If the message in the manual instructs you to take the inverter to the factory service centre, this generally indicates there has been an internal component failure. Often error messages are describing inconsistent DC power issues coming from the solar panels.

Here are some common non-inverter related issues that may cause the inverter to display an error message, or appear to be faulty:

• Burnt out DC isolators will cause total string/system failure. This is most commonly caused by moisture finding its way inside the plastic DC isolator housing.
• DC voltage connectors (MC4 type) under the panels have been found completely severed due to improper connection, which leads to arcing/burnt out connections.
• We often find burn lines across panel cells that cause short circuiting and major performance issues. These can be difficult to spot but are becoming more and more common. They are a dark blue or grey in colour and generally no more than two or three millimetres wide – they are usually, but not always, contained within individual cells.
• Often ‘hot spots’ develop in the solar cells. These are from overheating in a concentrated area of a solar cell, resulting in melting of solder and/or silicon and deterioration of the encapsulant and often catch fire or melt through the backsheet.
• Degradation of the seal between the solar panel glass and the metal frame has been found to cause water ingress, which can lead to total panel failure.
• Delamination of the bond between layers of materials within the solar panels causes bubbling, which leads to water ingress and then eventually failure. This starts with the visible browning of the back plate behind the solar cells and is very common.

If we are sure it’s none of the above and the inverter has internal component issues then a repair or replacement will be a good option for you.

2. How much will it cost?

The cost of the repair can be as low as $80 if it is simply a matter of replacing an external plug, switch or consumable part and it isn’t necessary to remove the inverter.

As a guide, the cost of repairing and reconditioning the internal electronics of an inverter ranges from $195 to $450.  There may also be additional charges for removal and installation (situation dependent). New inverters generally cost more as they increase in size and prices also vary between manufacturers. Please contact us for more information.

3. Get your system up and running.

Our technicians will professionally re-install and commission your reconditioned or new inverter to get you up and running ASAP.