Inspection of a Solar and Battery Installation – Part Two

This is Part Two of a two-part course following a licensed electrical inspector through a complete solar and battery inspection. Part Two covers the final stage: testing at the inverter, battery and switchboard, verifying backup mode, and confirming the system is safe to sign off.

Plenty of systems look right and still fail. The faults that matter most — a missing earth, a parallel earthing path in backup mode, an inverter that doesn’t disconnect from the grid — are only found by testing, and those tests are exactly what inspectors and auditors run at the end of an inspection.

In this course you’ll watch Pat complete the ground-level inspection on the same 17.5 kW solar and 40 kWh battery system from Part One: earthing continuity to the gateway and battery, correct circuit connection and insulation resistance on the DC strings, terminal checks in the gateway and main switchboard, current on every phase and on the earth, the backup-mode tests for neutral continuity and parallel earthing paths, anti-islanding, and the final visuals on conductor protection, penetrations and battery location.

What you’ll learn

• What inspectors and CER auditors test at the inverter, battery and switchboard
• How to run correct circuit connection and insulation resistance tests on DC strings with optimisers in the circuit
• How to prove neutral continuity and rule out a parallel earthing path in backup mode
• How to carry out and interpret the anti-islanding test
• The final visual checks on conductor protection, sealing and battery location before sign-off

Course content

Earthing continuity at the gateway and battery

Extending the reference earth to every piece of equipment at ground level.

DC string testing

Correct circuit connection, expected voltages, and insulation resistance at reduced test voltage when optimisers are in the string.

Terminals, current and correct circuit connection at the switchboard

Gloves on: checking every termination, watching the inverter ramp up, and confirming balanced phases with zero on the earth.

Backup-mode tests

Switching to alternative supply, proving neutral continuity back to the main neutral bar, and the load test for parallel earthing paths.

Anti-islanding

Two seconds to disconnect, sixty seconds before reconnecting, and what to watch for.

Final visual checks and sign-off

Conductor and earth sizing, sealed penetrations, battery location against a habitable room, egress, and labelling.

This course includes

• 15 CPD points (SAA accredited)
• 30 minutes of on-demand video
• Certificate of completion
• Real inspection of a live solar and battery system

Your presenter

Pat Southwell — Licensed Electrical Inspector

Pat inspects solar and battery installations across Victoria every week as a Licensed Electrical Inspector, with more than 7,000 inspections behind him. He co-hosts the Solar Sidekicks podcast and has trained over 1,000 installers through Southwell Solar Training.