Local council - Western suburbs
"The customer was determined to ensure quality and compliance in his projects"
01
The story
In 2017, Udayan Bhanot was approached to conduct audits on existing and new solar PV assets.
02
The auditors
Udayan Bhanot and Mark Richards conducted the audits on several sites, examining every element of each system to ensure full compliance with all the standards.
03
The findings
Udayan Bhanot and Mark Richards prepared extensive reports which covered issues in a succint yet thorough manner. The customer was able to take remedial action.
Poor dc connection
(We apologise for the poor quality of this image).
Image shows a termination where the conductor has not been stripped back adequately. This violates a number of different standard clauses in AS3000.
For one, the manufacturer would have specified the length of conductor to be stripped for this connection - AS3000 Cl 1.7.1..c
Such connections will (not can) lead to hot spots and eventually fire.
Furthermore this fine-stranded cable is required to be crimped in a boot-lace ferrule before being connected. AS3000 Cl 3.7.2.5.
- image courtesy of Mark Richards, A-grade and auditor
Mangled head
AS3000 Cl 1.7.1 c: It would appear that in order to save time the installer has used a high-powered drill to tighted this small screw; in the process damaging the head and making it much harder for the next person to operate.
This is a common issue in the industry and is easily avoided by only using hand screwdrivers for such sensitive work.
