P.V panels tripping house DC circuit breaker

[Alan B]

I have some panels that would be around 15 years old ,when it rains they trip the AC 30 ma house circuit breaker [63amps].

after the isolator is turned off i can reset and all is well .

where and how would i begin to test ,they are set up as two strings of 7 panels .

I replaced a few that had visable corrosion at bottom end of panels .

they are 175 watts a piece at around 6amps ,the backing paper has changed from white to light brown .

I have a basic multimeter but am a novice . regards Alan

 

[Chewbacca]

Sounds more like a possible fault with the inverter. Nothing from the panels should get to the AC side. Your solar shouldn't be sharing a RCD with any other circuit either. It's also possible it's nothing to do with the solar, and a.n.other appliance is faulty.

 

[Badger]

You need an electrician to look over the problem also solar systems should be protected by their own rcd protective circuit breaker either rcbo or rcd/mcb setup so having solar runnig your house rcd isnt really correct tbh

 

[binky]

You need an electrician to look over the problem also solar sustens should be pritected by their own rcd protective circuit breaker either rcbo or rcd/mcb setup so having solar runnig your house rcd isnt really correct tbh

If it's 15 years old, that was pre working out sharing RCDs is a bad idea. The sharing of RCDs being potentially dangerous is a claim to fame of the members of this forum in a long discussion many years ago.

 

[Murdoch]

If it's 15 years old, that was pre working out sharing RCDs is a bad idea. The sharing of RCDs being potentially dangerous is a claim to fame of the members of this forum in a long discussion many years ago.

Problem is new installs of PV are still being done this way

 

[Badger]

If it's 15 years old, that was pre working out sharing RCDs is a bad idea. The sharing of RCDs being potentially dangerous is a claim to fame of the members of this forum in a long discussion many years ago.

But i didint mention about it being dangerous though i said it was not really correct

 

[binky]

But i didint mention about it being dangerous though i said it was not really correct

Nothing is dangerous if you are careful with electric

 

[Alan B]

okay ,could you suggest what milliamps the new trip should be ? would a rcd/mcb or rcbo [as badger suggested] be better for D.C solar .
I will get a sparky to install for me . Thanks folks Alan

 

[Murdoch]

Sounds like you need a new consumer unit, so that the PV is NOT protected by the shared RCD

Any chance you could post a photo of your CU

 

[Alan B]

Hi murdock, please see attatched photos. this was a recent installation with new CU. But RCD by meter is quite old .
I have also included diagrams from the manufacturer of the Epever invertor. who recommend no RCD .
when the p.v panels are isolated everything runs fine ,but problems started when we had rain.and rcd trips .
I have two strings of 7 panels @24 volt each .i wonder if i could narrow the problem down by isolating one string at a time
although this would only give me 168 volts [min working p.v voltage is 120volt. kind regards Alan

 

[Murdoch]

Best advice I can give you is get a spark round

That set up isn’t great and needs quite a few improvements

 

[binky]

I would get that fully investigated / update all the boards.

At 15 years old, there's a chance the inverter is just at end of life. A new unit will be more efficient than what you currently have anyway, and pay for itself in a few years. Out of interest, if you turn off the other circuits when tripping happens, does it keep working?

Generally speaking, a fault with the DC side should show as a fault code in the inverter screen, usually 'riso' which would indicate earth leakage around the panels. I'm not familiar with your unit, so you may not have a screen at all, but there's usually some form of visual fault indication.

 

[ExArmy]

that install looks like a DIY lash up...

 

[binky]

that install looks like a DIY lash up...

It's not unusual

 

[Murdoch]

that install looks like a DIY lash up...

I was trying to polite above