Hi update on my home solar power system here which I've done quite a few videos on and I've had it for I Think about six years now and it's finally failed. There's something wrong with it I Got an alert from my solar analytics system and it's like I thought ah, maybe there's a glitch in the system or something like that and it actually I came out and checked and that way it came good but then a day later it died again and it's I'm getting absolutely nothing. So sorry about the wind noise here. It's blowing a gale here today.

so anyway, let's have a quick squeeze here. This is my Sonny Boy inverter and that's the AC input. That's my DC isolator switch. These DC isolator switches, By the way, there is a shocking amount of these on the Australian market that have been a recall to put up a screen capture and I don't believe mine is one of them, although the brand is affected in HP but this particular model I don't think is.

but I don't know how they can recall so many isolator switches. All they do is switch. It's it's just a switch on and off and one of them even failed that. you had one job and it failed.

Oh, he comes the wind again. Anyway, you might think that my inverters not working high, but it's actually got a touch sensor. There we go. It actually works just fine, but there's zero power coming from the array up there so well they're coming from the input and which comes from over here.

so there's just nothing. so I presume that it's something to do with the either the isolator or the one other strings. Well, these I've only got one string here. It's supposed to be four hundred and fifty six volts.

I've got twelve panels all in series. so of course if you get one of the panels failing, then, well, you're screwed. Your strings just going to die and that's it. You'll get nothing out of the things.

So anyway, first thing I'm going to do is measure to see that we've actually got voltage coming from the roof. So there we go. We take the panel off that and you can see that it's just a big switch block in there, and then two wires coming from the top from the array. and then we just got the two wires going out.

So it's just a dual pole switch there. and let's measure it. Although we can actually use a non-contact voltage detector, of course you can detect mains like that. it's beeping.

not sure if you can hear that beeping or not. and if we hold it up here, that's on high sensitivity mode too. So because these two are DC and AC its building or multimeter, but it's the same as those. No fluke AC Voltage non-contact our voltage stick.

So yeah, that's not a good sign. I Think we're gonna measure zero? Hang on. So let's plot probe in there. and yep, we're getting zippity-doo-dah So nothing coming from the string.

so ever one of the panel's has failed. or maybe the dodgy isolator switch up the top. There's so many of them. and here's my array.

You've seen it before. The wind has died down just a bit and there we go. Right here it comes. twelve panels and same isolator switch as we got down there.

the In HP one so it looks looks like to see it. look. all the plastic is deteriorated there so that's completely cactus. So I don't know, its water gotten in there causing something.

Anyway, the penetrator into the roof. that still seems okay. Oh Yep, there's your problem. There's actually water in that.

and look at all that corrosion that has come from down here. Check it out. Not sure how that's showing up but all that sludge and everything. So yep, fail.

It's the isolator switch. Wow Yeah so plastic is just totally deteriorated near that and the seal keep the couldn't keep the water out. So yep. well.

I Guess you know, six years all the plastics going to degrade with the UV and stuff like that so ya have to get that replaced. But yep. I'm really I don't think there's another. I Don't think there's a problem with my panel so panels are still looking good.

Great condition after six years from that. Wow, that's terrible. Muriel Okay, let's probe this. My third hand holding this up is the strap so let's get in there.

Bingo, that's fine. So there you have it. Nothing wrong with my string, it's just yeah. Touchy switch.

Check out the sludge on my tip. Unbelievable. So there you have it after six years, the thing that failed is probably the thing you expected to fail. which is the seal in like a box, just like a weather seal up on top.

Of course, it's stunning. Gonna degrade and eventually wear out. It's just a given. I Don't even know why they have those isolated switches up on the roof when we've already got an isolator switch down here.

I Don't see the purpose of that, but it just goes to show how having another thing in the chain can fail. So yet, let us know if you've had a DC isolator fail and in if you've got one install up in your roof. I Don't know it. Maybe it's requirement law here in Australia to have it? I'm not really sure.

but anyway, yep, but failed panels are still good and we're Sonny-boy inverters still fantastic. the winds picking up again and I think once we get that isolator switch up there, replace or maybe even bypassed if we don't need it, then it's fine. and this thing wouldn't have failed if we didn't have that weatherproof box up there with the isolator switch. So the conduit was bound to last a lot longer than that switch in case and rubber seal in there and just another water ingress path and it just corroded everything and it's just buggered it up.

So anyway, yeah, so it's simple stuff like that that's failed. not the electronics, not the panel's, because I've got top-quality LG panels up there. and because I paid a lot more for those panels and they've lasted then you know, the six plus years already. Hopefully I'll get more than a decade out of this system anyway.

Hope you liked it. Catch you next time.