Apex Solar Power

With the recent utility shutdowns here in California, a reliable source of power for businesses and homes has been the topic of much conversation. One of our telecommunication clients who we have been supplying off grid systems to for many years contacted us with the request to develop a backup power supply (UPS) system for two of their sites. Each had grid power and had been using a commercial available UPS but these were failing after just a few years. We developed a robust system that should give them many years more of life then the ones they had been using, with much more off grid capacity. Doesn’t have a fancy case but gets the job done.

Last month a brand new Boeing airliner was taken down by a insignificant glitch in the stall system. It’s the small things that can have big consequences that can get you. Recently we were called on to diagnose a system that was installed by another solar company that had gone out of business. What we ended up finding was one of those close calls that could have ended badly. We suspect it started when a installer forgot to tighten a single terminal screw. This lose connection created heat, which in turn melted the insulation. At some point the insulation failed and a short was created. Not enough of a contact to trip a breaker, but enough to start an arc. These electrical arcs create intense heat which melted the other wires in the box creating additional arcs of electricity. We found three burn locations and one burn through in this junction box. This box was mounted in a attic on a wood stud.

Now that Solar electric has been around for a while we are starting to see failures in equipment and installation quality. As part of our service we diagnose system failures and we have learned a lot about what fails over time. Recently a home owner thought their inverter failed, turned out it was more complicated then that. When the system was installed 8 years ago the installer did not put weep holes in the junction boxes on the roof. This lead to years of condensation buildup in those boxes. Over time the indoor style wire nuts they used corroded. This corrosion caused heat, which melted the wire nut. This particular wire nut was pushed up against a grounding lug and eventually it hard shorted the system. We use gel filled outdoor rated wire nuts (you can see one in the background in the picture) to prevent just this type of occurrence. We drilled holes in the bottom of all the boxes and replaced the wire nuts and this system should be good to go for a long time.