Hi guys, does anyone know who stocks 16 and 25mm PV cables? Inverter max capacity is 80A and I will have 68A to connect between combiner box and inverter. A single cable from the combiner box inverter isolator will be neater than having all my strings cables in bigger trunking ..read more

Hi Everyone. I would appreciate some thoughts on the following. This is the Durban area which is normally TN-S earthing arrangement. I have recently installed a new DB at our remote workshop as the existing supply point was shockingly non compliant. No main earths, isolators feeding 63A sub DB's with 4mm cable two core (insulated live and bare neutral), 63A welding sockets fed directly from the 125A main switch and no earth leakage etc etc. This area is supplied from Eskom. There is a pole mount transformer supplying ABC to a meter box. From there the supply enters our installation. It would ..read more

Check it out, it doesn't even work in the UK, they also have to cut off the 3 pin plug to connect appliances. Lets hope they scrap this silly reg when the new regs are released, hopefully the idiot who came up with the reg has left the building. https://www.instagram.com/p/C6tVKvAtLWJ/?hl=en ..read more

Good day All I hope you can assist me here on this small issue .I am required by a client to write a report to the insurance for his household* *appliances that were burnt due to lightning high voltage.I havent been to the client yet but he confirms that there is a COC which is still valid .My question is, is there a standard template which I can use to write a report?.Kindly advice on what is the standard or what must be in included*in* such a report ..read more

Doing normal electrical work on sites which have solar installations. Our standard requirement is copy of all COC's for the site, before we step foot on the site and that people is where the fights normally start. How do you deal with the non compliant COC's on properties where customers want you to take over the electrical and maintenance on the property ? Without even looking at the COC, you can already identify a list of visible non compliant issues. Lets say you have a 5 kw inverter and a 35 or 40 amp supply breaker, the way I see it due to the pass through current using a 2.5 mm 4 cor ..read more

When bridging the neutral and earth on the inverter output during islanding mode, there are basically 2 ways of doing it and achieving the same result. Which is the correct way and why ? A. Use a normally open contact on the relay and energise the relay coil from the inverter output. Or. B. Use a normally closed contact on the relay and energise the relay coil from the inverter input. Edited 08.06am. Ok, stupid question. Must be B. Inverter output is always there, whether in islanding mode or not so the relay will remain energised permanently ..read more

How do the prices of solar compare today to last year this time or this time of year back in 2022 To give you an idea, the price I am currently paying for inverters today, are cheaper than they were back in 2022 and we were getting them at a really good price back then. Stage 6 went into full swing and the prices just climbed literally by the order, when I asked why, I was told that it had to do with the exchange rate, if you believe that you probably take statins for high cholesterol, because the doctor told you that it is hereditary and changing your eating plan cannot cure it. Is it a go ..read more

Something that really gets under my skin and burns my butt, you have these safety officers who step out their airconditioned office into an airconditioned vehicle, arrive on site and issue a bunch of documents, then run away before they break a sweat. With all sorts of instruction about long sleeve shirts and pants, hard hats, safety boots, fire rated clothing for electrical inspection... etc etc etc etc. Every person who creates a safety regulation should be forced to work for at least a full summer, wearing that same equipment in the conditions we are expected to work in. Or design safety ..read more

As we all know from the old apprenticeship days, right from the start your salary was determined by your school grade. With only a standard 8 my starting salary (R80 per month) was way lower than a person with a matric. Until you qualified, the matric appy always earned more than the fools with std 8, even though we sat in the same class learning the same stuff and at the end doing the same tests. It it works like that in all types of employment, if you are a manager and dont have a degree, your salary will be a lot less. A manger with a degree could be earning as much as R50 000 more than t ..read more

You know how few people know the difference between cat 5 e and cat 6, by the suppliers response when you ask for cat 6 RJ45. You get the "it the same thing answer", knowing everyone who buys from those suppliers dont have clue what they are, chances are they using CCA cable because they dont know you get solid copper network cables. Surely if you pay R1.00 for a cat 5e and R7.50 for a cat 6, its not just because the suppliers is ripping you off, its because the cat 6 RJ 45 connector is different. What is the big deal, why not just use cat 5e it works, have a look at the speeds on lan/wan n ..read more