Home Owner Solar Install

[Greg1707]

I received a call from a homeowner that is installing solar at his house. He says he did everything himself. He now needs some one to make the "final connection." Here is the photo he sent. I have never done any solar but have seen lots of installs. This looks rather unusual?

 

[jaggedben]

I'd politely walk away.
Sounds and looks like a bad situation.
The breaker box looks European but the meter looks American. The conduit is brought to the meter base but the breaker box does not look like it's suitable for service equipment.
What state or country is this in?
There is so much you need to know. What are the inverters, to start with.

 

[Greg1707]

Dominion power Northern VA

 

[hillbilly1]

I wonder if the meter has been reprogrammed too? I was talking to a poco engineer about a customer that wanted to do solar in the future, and he said they have to reprogram the meter. You would also have to double lug that meter. That SE cable is probably aluminum, (could be copper though) so there would be another issue if you doubled it up.

 

[jaggedben]

...You would also have to double lug that meter. That SE cable is probably aluminum, (could be copper though) so there would be another issue if you doubled it up.

Yeah and Dominion may have rules about supply side connections. If you're not familiar with those it's probably not something you want to get involved in on your first solar work.

Honestly my comments so far are just the tip of the iceberg of the potential problems here. I'd walk away. It's not your fault the homeowner got themselves into something they can't handle.

Maybe if the homeowner showed you very detailed documents from both building department and utility showing every detail of what is existing already approved and the contract stipulated you will install to the documents and take absolutely no other responsibility or liability. Maybe. But that ain't gonna happen here anyway.

 

[Zee]

PVC conduit looks unusual too.
Also.......I have never tied into a meter box in over 20 yrs.

 

[electrofelon]

First thing I would want to know is that POCO and electrical inspector (will) approve of the splice in the meter, and status of interconnection agreement.

Ha, just noticed no TA's on the PVC

 

[jaggedben]

Now that I look again I realize that the hand in the photo is holding up the two PVC 90s. Okay, so that part isn't done.

 

[coffeebean]

I would ask the homeowner if he's familiar with Article 690.4(C)