Can any electricians or someone familiar with solar installs help me real quick

[devlspawn]

I just bought a house that has about 16 solar panels installed which aren't currently working. Not sure how old they are but probably early 2000's, it has a Sunny Boy 2500U Inverter that has no power, as in none of the LEDS are lit.


This is my first experience with solar but from what I can gather there should be an AC and a DC disconnect. There is an AC disconnect but this system appears to be installed without a DC disconnect.


I measured the DC going into the inverter and got 0 volts. There is voltage on the AC side with the disconnect turned on.


I followed the wires from the inverter to the roof where there is a junction box. Here is a picture and the readings I got: http://i.imgur.com/k0o5QjL.jpg


In case it isn't clear from the picture there is a butt connector with 1 red wire heading towards inverter and one red wire heading towards PV array (CON 1), another connector with 1 black towards inverter, 1 black towards array (CON 2), and the last connector has 1 black wire, 1 red wire -- both heading back towards the array side (CON 3). The two that show voltage are CON 1 and CON 3, which doesn't make sense to me.


Does anyone know how this is wired and what may be wrong that is preventing voltage output to the inverter?

Thanks!

[bcroe]

I just bought a house that has about 16 solar panels installed which aren't currently working. Not sure how old they are but probably early 2000's, it has a Sunny Boy 2500U Inverter that has no power, as in none of the LEDS are lit.
This is my first experience with solar but from what I can gather there should be an AC and a DC disconnect. There is an AC disconnect but this system appears to be installed without a DC disconnect.
I measured the DC going into the inverter and got 0 volts. There is voltage on the AC side with the disconnect turned on.
I followed the wires from the inverter to the roof where there is a junction box. Here is a picture and the readings I got: http://i.imgur.com/k0o5QjL.jpg
In case it isn't clear from the picture there is a butt connector with 1 red wire heading towards inverter and one red wire heading towards PV array (CON 1), another connector with 1 black towards inverter, 1 black towards array (CON 2), and the last connector has 1 black wire, 1 red wire -- both heading back towards the array side (CON 3). The two that show voltage are CON 1 and CON 3, which doesn't make sense to me.

It looks lacking a DC disconnect, someone had a problem, and just went up and unwired
it. Do check, some inverters have a built in DC disconnect. It wouldn't be too hard to n
check the voltage & current capability of the panels on a sunny day. Bruce Roe

[Sunking]

Agree it looks like that is where a DISCONNECT installed and removed.