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Well ok then I'm going back to my original idea;Power quality analysis. If your PV is doing strange things then it would be picked up. I can't really see where or how you can investigate further without such an approach. I think I agree with DavisonP, turn off your PV inverter and see what happens.

Does PV mean asking the electrician to turn of the solar panels?
I'm making a list of everything everybody has said so when the electrician turns up Monday I can put forward your suggestions .
 
Please bear with me
I'm not familiar with the electrician speak
So I'm trying to take notes to tell the electrician on Monday

You are all awesome and I'm very grateful you have all got your heads together to help me with this.
Perhaps you all should have your next electric convention at my house (joking)

I'm really very gradual I mean grateful
Damn iPhone spell check
 
Does PV mean asking the electrician to turn of the solar panels
Yes it does mean isolating the supply from your solar panels so that they are no longer feeding into your house system/grid. As you are getting cooked capacitors from what you describe I can only imagine that there is higher voltage going through them than they are rated for and the electrolytic medium is drying out way too fast. And clearly somehow your computers are operating beyond their rated voltages d.c. and current capacity. You have had SSE out and they confirm it is not coming from your a.c. supply so the only possible suspect is the PV being the villain of the scene. There should be a label on your PV equipment detailing who installed it. Maybe you should contact them for information. As has been alluded to has your PV been checked lately? Maybe time to do so, or the Landlord should? Clearly beaten to death the idea of computer setup possibilities there is nothing else to consider....
 
I have no experience with the stuff, but is that a PV circuit I see there, and Air Source Heat Pump?

Well Spotted, with Solar Panels feeding into the system it is another possible source of problems, and the feed from the solar panels will vary significantly. It may be worth isolating the solar inverter for a few weeks to see if that solves the problem.

I will ask the electrician about this on Monday
I'm not sure but I did think the previous electrician said it was on a different circuit from the other household stuff.

Different circuit but on the same consumer unit, so indirectly connected to the computer circuit.
 
Yes it does mean isolating the supply from your solar panels so that they are no longer feeding into your house system/grid. As you are getting cooked capacitors from what you describe I can only imagine that there is higher voltage going through them than they are rated for and the electrolytic medium is drying out way too fast. And clearly somehow your computers are operating beyond their rated voltages d.c. and current capacity. You have had SSE out and they confirm it is not coming from your a.c. supply so the only possible suspect is the PV being the villain of the scene. There should be a label on your PV equipment detailing who installed it. Maybe you should contact them for information. As has been alluded to has your PV been checked lately? Maybe time to do so, or the Landlord should? Clearly beaten to death the idea of computer setup possibilities there is nothing else to consider....

The solar panels have something called and inverter, and if this is malfunctioning it could cause larger or smaller voltages in the consumer unit (in electricians speak, inverter not synchronising to the incoming supply phase exactly)
 
I found a letter from the solar panel company
They say it is on a different circuit and I remember they seemed reluctant to come out to visit. I guess it was because they had to come from Somerset to iow. A bit expensive to pay a fellow a day's pay for just one house call

Anyway I will insist

Thanks so much everyone you all awesome

I'm not an electrician but I some clever heads together IMG_2010.JPG - EletriciansForums.net
 
They say it is on a different circuit and I remember they seemed reluctant to come out to visit. I guess it was because they had to come from Somerset to iow. A bit expensive to pay a fellow a day's pay for just one house call

Anyway I will insist
No need to get the solar company to visit. Just turn it off. There should be a switch marked solar AC isolator or similar, or just switch off the relevant circuit breaker.
 
No need to get the solar company to visit. Just turn it off. There should be a switch marked solar AC isolator or similar, or just switch off the relevant circuit breaker.
Ok I will have a look after work
Or I will ask the electrician on Monday to turn it off
Out of interest how often should those panels be serviced? The housing association has to do yearly checks on the heating and boiler system
Should their be a minimum term for solar panel checks?
 
Who do I ask to check the master sockets
I guess that is openreach?
Phew I don't think I have the linguistic skill to explain all that to BT India

Ohhppss sorry


Since all these computers, routers and powerline adaptors etc have one thing in common, my 2nd port of call, since all the other stuff has been checked, would have been the telephone line. It wouldn’t be the 1st time that a master socket wasn’t fully functional or the line voltage too high. The previous occupier of the property might have had the gain cranked up? Your electrician should be able to check the line voltage with a multimeter, although I’m with Lucien Nunes on this one and think it’s circulating ground currents.
 
Slightly off the wall. If you turn of the circuit breaker marked 'Sockets', does this turn off the supply to the sockets supplying your computer(s)?
 
Yes
Slightly off the wall. If you turn of the circuit breaker marked 'Sockets', does this turn off the supply to the sockets supplying your computer(s)?

Yes....When I look in the box it has a trip switch for each item in my house .
Sockets. Shower. Lights .. and cooker...each have a different switch to flip if it goes off.

I know the sockets are on the same circuit cos when it has tripped before all the sockets in the house go out and I get annoyed because I have to reset the timer on the microwave
The computer goes out too if it trips
Is it relevant??
 
Since all these computers, routers and powerline adaptors etc have one thing in common, my 2nd port of call, since all the other stuff has been checked, would have been the telephone line. It wouldn’t be the 1st time that a master socket wasn’t fully functional or the line voltage too high. The previous occupier of the property might have had the gain cranked up? Your electrician should be able to check the line voltage with a multimeter, although I’m with Lucien Nunes on this one and think it’s circulating ground currents.

That's interesting
However I do not plug in my computers via Ethernet. Since the three sets of powerline Adam peters (hahhahahaha gotta love Iphone spell check) failed I gave up with a wired internet connection and I only connect them via wifi

I say interesting because I do get a lot of internet drops. However that might just be clouding the issue. BT have investigated my internet drops and the master socket, cable into the house and cable from my house to the telegraph pole have been changed. They have also done a lift and switch at the exchange and switched the DSLAM in the cabinet.

What is a ground current? If I put my computer on the floor rather than on the computer shelf will it be grounded?
 
Not sure if I've seen a response about using a UPS to feed the computer and monitor.
It occurs to me that one possible route into the computer maybe via the DVI/HDMI lead.
Could the monitor be at fault and be feeding back down the cable to the Graphics card?
Has the DVI/HDMI cable got ferrite beads on it?
Could you try a different monitor for a while.
When the GPU card is installed is there anything close to those burnt places in the computer?
Tring to establish if all the arcing is on the GPU card or is it between the GPU card and another part of the PC?
 
Well ok then I'm going back to my original idea;Power quality analysis. If your PV is doing strange things then it would be picked up. I can't really see where or how you can investigate further without such an approach. I think I agree with DavisonP, turn off your PV inverter and see what happens.

I will turn off the solar panel
But to test that the solar panels are the cause of the computers blow outs I need another computer
I have to wait for the refund on the last computer to buy the next computer
It ok to test these theories if you have unlimited computers and unlimited money
I have neither ....
lol
Thank god for warranties
I'm going to run out of computer manufacturers at this rate
Just sayin
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I will turn off the solar panel
But to test that the solar panels are the cause of the computers blow outs I need another computer
I have to wait for the refund on the last computer to buy the next computer
It ok to test these theories if you have unlimited computers and unlimited money
I have neither ....
lol
Thank god for warranties
I'm going to run out of computer manufacturers at this rate
Just sayin
I will turn off the solar panel
But to test that the solar panels are the cause of the computers blow outs I need another computer
I have to wait for the refund on the last computer to buy the next computer
It ok to test these theories if you have unlimited computers and unlimited money
I have neither ....
lol
Thank god for warranties
I'm going to run out of computer manufacturers at this rate
Just sayin

I'm done in tonight
But in the morning I will try to get some pics of my box on the wall
And the set up of my computers
Would that help
Any?
 
Unless the inverter has some obscure fault which escapes the inverters own protection mechanisms I very much doubt the solar PV is responsible. Will be interested to see what model of inverter is installed.
 
Not sure if I've seen a response about using a UPS to feed the computer and monitor.
It occurs to me that one possible route into the computer maybe via the DVI/HDMI lead.
Could the monitor be at fault and be feeding back down the cable to the Graphics card?
Has the DVI/HDMI cable got ferrite beads on it?
Could you try a different monitor for a while.
When the GPU card is installed is there anything close to those burnt places in the computer?
Tring to establish if all the arcing is on the GPU card or is it between the GPU card and another part of the PC?
I have a UPS and used it for the computer only and plugged the monitor in the second socket on the double wall socket. Same result fried GPUs.

The modern motherboards I have had on the previous three machines have built in surge protection.

The previous one was Asus

Here

ASUS UK - https://www.asus.com/uk/Motherboards/H110M-PLUS/

And gigabyte motherboard has a failsafe too. This makes the motherboard go into protection mode if it detects a power surge. This happened in both the recent cases of the fried GPUs
Both computers techs from two different companies have told me not to use surge protection as there is no need because the motherboards are so sensitive the can detect even a slight deviation in powrr and go into protection mode

In answer to your questions. I bought new HDMI cables. I don't think they have those little lumps on them. Ferrits? I bthought they were like emi filters?
I also ran the previous computer from my tv and did not use the monitor as I wanted to rule out a problem with the monitor. The same happened running the computer through the tv. GPU failed

I don't know what you mean by anything close to the GPU
 

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