Why Ampnet Solar - Beware of Substandard Systems

At Ampnet Solar, we ensure that our clients get the best quality products with the best quality workmanship with each solar installation. We take pride in our services and thus provide our clients with a 24-month workmanship warranty and 12 months of free online monitoring of the installed system.

Beware of substandard systems:

Solar solutions are expensive; unfortunately, there is no way to get around this while keeping your system safe and legal.

Cape Town developed a set of guidelines to help protect Capetonians from fly-by-night operators installing substandard or unsafe, illegal systems. Read more about this in our blog post “Important steps for buying a safe and legal solar system”.

The South African National Standards (SANS), a division of the South African Bureau of Standards (SABS), has created regulations and guidelines that each solar solution must comply with for a safe and legal installation and for product warranties to be valid.

We took these guidelines and SANS regulations to heart and created a “Basic Installation Specifications Checklist” to assist you in making the right choice when choosing a solar installer.

Basic Installation Specifications Checklist

Specifications	Yes	No
Aluminium mounting structure (beware of galvanized P2000 rails)
PV isolation and protection box (PV combiner DB)
Dektite for roof cable entry
Separate AC essentials DB and split existing DB
AC Changeover DB
Compliant trunking
Quality products
Quality & professional workmanship
A service-level agreement to protect both parties
Monitoring and reporting for 12 months
Proper product warranties with after-sales service and support.
Certificate of Compliance (ECA, SANS, and Insurance regulations)

To ensure that you get what you deserve, please check if your installer of choice complies with the SANS regulations by ticking these boxes.

You can download a PDF copy of this basic installation specifications checklist here.

Basic Installation Specifications Explained:

Aluminium mounting structure

To reduce the cost of the solar solution, some installers use galvanized P2000 rails as the solar panel mounting structure. Solar panels have an aluminium frame, contact between galvanized steel and this aluminium frame may cause galvanic corrosion which will compromise the structure’s integrity and result in any warranties of the solar panels being null and void.

PV Isolation and protection box (PV Combiner DB)

This is an essential component in any solar solution and might vary in specs and looks depending on your inverter of choice. Although there might be some minor variations between some PV Combiner DBs, the basis remains the same.

All PV Combiner DBs must consist of:

- PV Fuses for both the positive and negative wires of each PV string.

- DC Sure protection for each Maximum Power Point Tracker (MPPT) of the inverter.

- DC Isolator switch.

Dektite

This seals the point where the wiring from the solar panels enters your roof to prevent leaks.

Separate AC essential DB and split existing DB

The separate AC essential DB can be incorporated into your existing DB, it is however important that it is there to ensure that your load-intensive appliances such as the geyser and air conditioners do not overload and damage your inverter or batteries. If this precaution is not taken it will result in product warranties being null and void.

AC Changeover DB

This DB allows you to entirely bypass your solar system by redirecting the power directly to your main DB. This is necessary to be able to do any repairs and maintenance work on your installed system safely without turning off your power.

Trunking

According to the SANS regulations, AC and DC cabling must be in separate trunking to avoid inducing DC voltage onto the AC cabling. The AC sine wave should oscillate about the 0-volt axis i.e., the positive and negative cycles should be the same.

Quality Products

There is a plethora of solar products in the market, so it is important to know which are tried and tested to ensure that you purchase reliable solar products. Check with your municipality to find out if they have a list of approved inverters. Cape Town’s approved inverter list is available on its site.

Quality and professional workmanship

It is important to ensure that your installer of choice does a neat and professional installation and that they stand by their clients afterwards. It is true that installations do not always go as planned and good workmanship will make the fault-finding process a lot smoother. We at Ampnet Solar take pride in our services and are confident in our workmanship, and for this reason, we have decided to build long-lasting relationships with all our clients by offering a 24-month workmanship warranty on any of our installations.

A Service Level Agreement

A Service Level Agreement (SLA) is a contract between a service provider and its customers that documents what services the provider will furnish and defines the service standards the provider is obligated to meet.

Monitoring and reporting

This is simply part of good after-sales service and support. We offer 12 months of free system monitoring as standard with all our solar solutions. This allows us to ensure that your system stays up to date, functions as it is intended and that we can adjust any parameters of the system that might change after the first couple of months.

Proper product warranties

By choosing products with proper warranties, you can ensure that you receive reliable products that will not fail in your darkest hours.

Recommended warranties for products:

- Inverters: Min 2 Years

- Lithium Batteries: Min 7 Years

- Solar Panel manufacturers warranty: Min 12 Year

- Solar Panel linear output warranty: Min 25 Year

Note: If your system is not installed by a qualified solar installer and your system is not compliant, all your product warranties are null and void.

Certificate of Compliance (COC)

This can easily be seen as the single most important requirement of any solar solution. With a VALID COC, your system is approved by a qualified person as a safe and legal system that meets all the SANS requirements and regulations. If you have a system installed and did not receive a COC, you can contact us to do a site assessment and issue your COC.

We sincerely hope that this information will assist you in making an informed decision about whom to trust with solar installation at your home or business.

Feel free to visit our website at www.ampnetsolar.co.za to view our workmanship on some of our projects or to contact us for any further questions or concerns that you may have about solar, an existing solar system, or if you are considering solar as an alternative energy solution.