This article is the second in a series of do-it-yourself nightmare stories that I share with you to help you consider the other side of home solar installation. If you haven’t read “part 1”, I recommend you do it first. It can be found HERE.
When technically intelligent homeowners consider solar they typically browse the internet for information. Often equipment manufacturers and on-line wholesale distributors push the “simple installation” of their product a bit too far and homeowners believe they can get it right the very first time they try it. Besides, they can always call a local electrician to make the final connection, right? Well, not so all the time.
We got a call from a local electrician that was having trouble getting a customer’s Outback Radian to work. We sent one of our technicians to see what was wrong. Allegedly, it just needed to be “configured”. What we found was far worse, bordering on deadly. The batteries were wired wrong, melting and gassing. Wires were terminated in the wrong places. AC was mixed up with DC.
The very expensive batteries had to be replaced. The system was inoperable for 1 year. What is the cost of that?
Stay tuned for more on this install as time permits…