Yearly inspection and calibration

[pwboston]

Hello, just asking what everyone else is doing in regards to calibration of their test equipment

We have the clamp meter, infrared thermometer and solar power meter, will they want certificates with these on the inspection, because a calibration from our wholesaler is coming out as more money than just buying them again.

Can you recommend somewhere to calibrate our equipment at a more manageable price.

 

[stevie gill]

We have just had to re-calibrate our test equipment, and found that costs are unbelievable - its almost cheaper to buy a new test kit!

Our kit is the test-meter TMPV4 and we used them to re-calibrate it. Came to about £160 mind you!

 

[Worcester]

All depends what it's used for an how accurate it needs to be.
Had chats with both our NAPIT and NICEIC assesors and both agreed that the DC side was so variable that even if an irradiance meter was calibrated, it was really only a guide point.... Read it sun goes in, sun comes out, what was the time delay between Voc Isc, Ir ...... So long as our main AC test meters were claibrated OK they were both fine with our processes. So our DC clamp, DC Volts and Ir meter are NOT calibrated per se. Just checked for variances against known sources.

 

[infinity]

I sent mine off last month to the forum sponsor test-meter.co.uk, cost about £100+vat which included returning in the post! was about a 4 day turn round and that was over xmas!

 

[SibertSolar]

Compliance with MCS means compliance with IEC 62446:2009 - "Grid connected PV systems - minimum requirements for system documentation, commissioning tests, and inspection". You need to be able to measure irradiance and should ideally be using a device that can be calibrated to conform to accuracy to IEC 60904-2 requirements. I would have thought that a valid calibration cert would be a requisite for anyone using irradiance measurements to prove test/measurement/documentation of compliance to MCS requirements? Doesn't the same apply to the clamp meter and testmeter too?

 

[Worcester]

The problem you've got is sometimes one of timing though - try measuirng all three at the same time! Isc Voc Ir
It is like all testing - what is the purpose of the test?
If you want to test a panel, you need to do it under STC, when fully, accurate test equipment is essential. If your looking for comparative results, your requirements are different. Can anyone tell me exactly what Voc and Isc they would expect to get on every site under all Ir values? I doubt it... so the figures / results are comparative not definitive.
We log and test our equipment and store the results using known sources and look for variances, if variances showed up, then calibration would be essential, if not, then it is reasonable, - depending upon usage to go for a couple of years between calibration.
Exactly the same as you'd do for your multitester. - It doesn't HAVE to be calibrated each year, so long as you do comparative tests in between.

 

[dansk]

Ditto, we don't calibrate every year, it's not a requirement.