On Thursday the 30th of September 2021 there was a huge solar flare exploded from the Sun, it was expected to just miss the West of the Earth but the blast spread out with the tail end of the flare hitting the Earth head on around lunchtime on the Friday the 1st of October 2021. We had heard that there was solar activity during September but normally it does’nt acuate to much until today. Some of our systems run in strings of 3 (3 Panels in series) with a string voltage of 114vdc which is well below the Max Limit of 145vdc, at around lunchtime one inverter which is East facing came up with an alarm warning, on investigation it was showing a (73) error which means Over PV Voltage. We checked the voltage and it was showing 149vdc, as we are heading into Winter now and the weather is up and down today I could’nt understand why all of a sudden our PV voltage had increased by 39v. Checking all wiring etc. testing, wiring again the voltage seemed to be alot higher, all of a sudden the other Inverter was showing the same error. This could’nt be a coincidence, how were the panels producing extra voltage, was it water in the electrics? no that would reduce the power. It had to be a solar event, so after 10 seconds on Google, low and behold there was reports of a Huge Solar Flare on its way to Earth.

Reports of Internet disruption, cell phone reception problems and GPS problems have also been reported today.

Another learning exercise today, so it may be a good idea to leave a little spare when designing an Off Grid Solar System as you never know when the Sun will throw a curve ball.