Information about Existing Solar System

amorphous2111 on 10/10/2025 - 12:12

Hi everyone,

I bought a house with existing solar panels. The solar system seems to work well and reflect on my AGL app. However I cannot locate the inverter for these panels. There is one like a wireless antena and two "main switch inverter supply" RCDs in the meter box. I thought the solar panels have micro inverter on each but today when got to the roof it turns out that there are a bunch of Tigo modules under the panels. My understanding is that Tigo is an optimizer and it will all connect to a central Inverter but can't seem to find it anywhere.

I am trying to get a Voltx battery installed and the company needs information about my existing solar. Do you know if I can contact the power supply company for such documents? I imagined that after installation they had to provide some certificate and information to SA Power (I am in SA) and as the new onwer of the property I could access to that, with or without a fee.

Appreciate your advise on this.

Cheers,

Electrical & Electronics Solar Energy System

Comments

  • mskeggs on 10/10/2025 - 12:39
    +3

    Can you follow the cable from the roof down, or from the switch box to it?

  • bazingaa on 10/10/2025 - 12:45
    +56

    lol am I crazy today, I genuinely thought it was about the solar system and something is going to change

    • joka on 10/10/2025 - 12:49
      +10

      you mean this has nothing to do with the way in which the planets orbit our sun?

      • Muppet Detector on 10/10/2025 - 13:52
        +1

        you mean this has nothing to do with the way in which the planets orbit our sun?

        It could be about this cos the Sun has to get to the panels to work, doesn't it?

        Maybe sun is hiding and that's why the panels aren't working correctly.

      • R4 on 12/10/2025 - 13:27

        Earth is flat and stationary. The sun orbits earth, silly.

    • isthatallyougot on 10/10/2025 - 12:55
      +3

      haha , that was my initial thought as well. I am disappointed now.

    • Muppet Detector on 10/10/2025 - 13:50
      +12

      Nah, I was wondering if this was going to be announcement about promoting Pluto back to planet status.

      • bazingaa on 10/10/2025 - 15:40
        +3

        I exactly thought this lol

      • DashCam AKA Rolts on 10/10/2025 - 15:53
        +3

        Pro Pluto
        Nah, yeah?
        OR
        Yeah,nah?
        OzBargain askin' the real questions.

        • trapper on 10/10/2025 - 19:59
          +1

          Pluto is obviously a planet…

          They only demoted it because they found other small planets like Eris, Haumea, Ceres and Makemake, which made things a bit awkward.

          It was either add them all, or ditch Pluto - they chose poorly.

          • grr1701 on 12/10/2025 - 10:31

            @trapper: Pluto asked Mickey and decided to bow (wow) out.

    • CodeXD on 10/10/2025 - 15:01
      +4

      You heard about Pluto? That's messed up, right?

      • Muppet Detector on 10/10/2025 - 15:46
        +2

        Universe rejected terra nullius and invoked Native Title Rights so we had to "give it back" because when we burned our beds the Midnight Oil created global warming.

    • rumblytangara on 10/10/2025 - 16:34

      So did I, I thought someone was posting a thread about exosystems and thought Ozbargain was going highbrow.

    • jacross on 11/10/2025 - 12:57
      +1

      Yeah Ive just arrived and I'm pissed off about this thread. I wanted to talk about the solar system.

    • Captain M on 11/10/2025 - 19:22

      same here, I was excited to learn about the solar system

  • AustriaBargain on 10/10/2025 - 12:54
    +18

    The solar system is a collection of celestial bodies bound by gravity, with the Sun at its center. It includes eight planets—Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune—as well as dwarf planets like Pluto, moons, asteroids, and comets. The planets orbit the Sun in nearly circular paths, and most rotate on their axes. The solar system formed about 4.6 billion years ago from a cloud of gas and dust, and it continues to evolve with dynamic interactions among its many components.

    • spackbace on 10/10/2025 - 13:21
      +15

      #JusticeForPluto

      • SBOB on 10/10/2025 - 15:19
        +8

        #AllDwarfPlanetsMatter

        • Muppet Detector on 10/10/2025 - 15:51
          +4

          #ProofThatSizeDoesMatter

          • cydia9k on 10/10/2025 - 22:23
            +1

            @Muppet Detector: Yeah, there is a threshold under which it's deemed insignificant / significantly small enough to be in a class of its own.

            • Muppet Detector on 11/10/2025 - 19:48
              -1

              @cydia9k: There was an Australian Court Case about eight years ago where a Trans male had met all the required criteria to apply to have his new sex recorded on legal documents such as his driver's license.

              The Magistrate rejected the application because at one inch maximum length, his penis was not long enough.

              NFI if it was ever appealed (just a case we studied during Queer Legal Theory),so never bothered to check on it further.

              • WhyAmICommenting on 11/10/2025 - 19:57

                @Muppet Detector: Micro penises exist. Are those guys male?

                • Muppet Detector on 11/10/2025 - 20:03
                  -1

                  @WhyAmICommenting: I believe so, but they would most probably have been identified as male (and assigned a male sex) at birth.

                  Presumably, their internal biology indicates the appropriate gender/sex to assign at birth if there were any concerns.

                  A trans male was identified as female at birth, presumably has all sorts of female type stuff going on internally at least, and in this case, is now seeking to change official legal documents.

                  As I said, I don't know if that was ever appealed or if it is otherwise considered to be good law today.

                  • WhyAmICommenting on 11/10/2025 - 20:37

                    @Muppet Detector: Interesting

                  • SBOB on 11/10/2025 - 21:01

                    @Muppet Detector:

                    As I said, I don't know if that was ever appealed

                    A quick google search would show you it was overturned by the high court.

                    • Muppet Detector on 11/10/2025 - 21:09

                      @SBOB: Off you go then. You now have as much info as I can remember without me finding my relevant class notes to refer to.

                      Whilst you're at it, there's one about Attempted Beastiality.

                      Qld case from about the 1950's. Plaintiffs name started with a H.

                      Older male, in barn, standing on empty keg lined up behind a horse with his pants down around his ankles and otherwise standing up, ready for entry when police walked in and found him.

                      Court found him not guilty.

                      Discussing how to determine if the required standard is reached to qualify as an attemp at a crime.

                      Any help would be great thanks!

                    • Muppet Detector on 11/10/2025 - 21:25

                      @SBOB:

                      A quick google search would show you it was overturned by the high court.

                      Oh, I beg your pardon. I don't think that I read it correctly.

                      What you're saying is that you do know that it was appealed and overturned by the High Court, right?

                      If so, if it's not too much bother, would you please provide me with a link or some info for better search terms so I can have a bit of a sqizz?

                      EDIT: thank you btw.

                • Muppet Detector on 11/10/2025 - 21:44

                  @WhyAmICommenting:

                  Micro penises exist. Are those guys male?

                  Also worth noting that there are a few cases around where a male has needed to have his penis (or other male bits) amputated for medical reasons such as penile cancer.

                  Even with the existence of no notable penis (sometimes affects testes too or instead), they are still 100% men /male.

                  The excellent news on the medical front is that obviously, sometimes reconstructive surgery is possible and successful iykwim, but there have even been some complete penile transplants including restoration of full function.

                  I don't know if the latter is available for Trans males , or just reserved for other medical uses at this stage.

    • Muppet Detector on 10/10/2025 - 13:55

      The solar system formed about 4.6 billion years ago from a cloud of gas and dust, and it continues to evolve with dynamic interactions among its many components.

      Hang on, why did this take an extra 9 billion years after The Big Bang?

      • AustriaBargain on 10/10/2025 - 14:22
        +1

        It took time for the universe to create the ingredients for solar systems like ours. The Sun and Earth didn’t arrive late—they showed up once the cosmic kitchen had the right tools and materials.

        • Muppet Detector on 10/10/2025 - 15:39

          OMG! I think I just solved global warming and it's not our fault!

          Ok, so the Cloud and Dust arrived 14 billion years ago. This was Day One. I know this happened because God saw it and He said it was good.

          But you're saying Earth & Sun were completed 4.6 billion years ago over Days 3 & 4 respectively. (Also good. God saw it and He said it was).

          So, presuming that all those days were the same length, it must have taken God 3 billion years to create Heaven, right?

          This means that Days 5 through 7 were about 1.5 billion years long each, right?

          If that is true, maybe the rapid acceleration of time was the cause of global warming and not something we did!

        • rumblytangara on 10/10/2025 - 16:35
          +2

          We are all born of exploded stars.

  • jv on 10/10/2025 - 13:32
    +1

    Information about Existing Solar System

    Our solar system consists of the Sun, eight planets, five dwarf planets, and countless moons, asteroids, and comets.
    It formed about 4.6 billion years ago and resides in the Orion Spur of the Milky Way galaxy.

    • 87percent on 10/10/2025 - 13:38
      -2

      by our almighty, Jesus Christ.. amen

      • jv on 10/10/2025 - 13:45
        -5

        Hallelujah…

    • Muppet Detector on 10/10/2025 - 15:54

      You forgot the rings.

      You've got to put a ring on it. Three times from memory.

      • tenpercent on 10/10/2025 - 21:47
        +1

        You forgot the rings.

        Uh oh-oh, oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh/

        • Muppet Detector on 10/10/2025 - 21:51

          Your singing is a bit two dimensional. It makes it seem a little flat.

      • McFly on 11/10/2025 - 20:58

        You mean the ones on… Jupiter?

        • Muppet Detector on 11/10/2025 - 21:01

          Those were the ones that I was thinking about, yes.

          • McFly on 11/10/2025 - 21:13
            +1

            @Muppet Detector: Oh, I thought it would the ones around… Saturn.

            • Muppet Detector on 11/10/2025 - 21:13

              @McFly: ROFLMAO!

              Well done. Naughty, but I like it!

              Crap, now I'm confused sorry - caught cross posting.

              I thought you meant a different ring.

            • Muppet Detector on 11/10/2025 - 21:18

              @McFly: Huh just needed to Google!

              Yes, three rings for Jupiter.

              Never even thought about Saturn besides now being able to picture it in my mind.

              But I really had forgotten it had seven rings.

              So cheers, today I learned/remembered something. I like it when that happens!

  • GordonD on 10/10/2025 - 14:33

    it will all connect to a central Inverter but can't seem to find it anywhere

    The obvious suggestion would be to follow the cables from the two ends of the string of panels. They should go to an isolator switch. Then cables should go from there to the inverter.

    But you've already done the obvious, right?

    An inverter is a pretty big thing to not be able to find. By definition its got to be close to the panels.

    • amorphous2111 on 10/10/2025 - 14:41
      +1

      Well, not quite but I will try. I think I saw a isolator switch under one panel today but didn't look for the cable. I just look under the panel without removing the hex screws and lifting it up.

      Generally the string inverter is quite big right? I had one in my previous house it looks like a instant gas hot water unit. Can't find such unit anywhere in the house.

      • Summoner on 10/10/2025 - 15:20
        +2

        Inverters generate a noticeable hum or whirring noise during peak operation. Since it's a sunny afternoon, just follow the sound.

  • nit001 on 10/10/2025 - 15:15
    +3

    click bait, I was excited about our solar system (sun, planets etc)

    • Muppet Detector on 10/10/2025 - 15:41

      We've already covered that further up and I think I also identified the cause of global warming!

  • Elppa8 on 10/10/2025 - 16:11
    -1

    Have a look inside the roof you might get a clue if the cables come through there. I have a neighbour that has one in a loft/attic area above the laundry.

    • amorphous2111 on 10/10/2025 - 20:36

      Yeah suspected that so I got up there again. It is Wireless Enphase micro inverter paired with Tigo optimizer, on all panel. The isolator switches then run down to the two RCD switches in the meterbox.

      • GordonD on 10/10/2025 - 21:02
        +1

        It is Wireless Enphase micro inverter paired with Tigo optimizer

        That doesn't sound right.

        Tigo optimisers do what microinverters do. They handle the MPPT function, and I think are DC-DC inverters. They are a microinverter minus the conversion from DC to AC. And microinverters are what the name says, MICRO inverters. You have one per one or two panels. Not one on a string of panels. They aren't rated to handle that much power. That's why they can be small. And not have a fan that makes a whirring noise to keep them cool.

        I would think that if someone is asking you what you've got now they are trying to figure out whether you need a battery that expects DC input directly from the panels, or AC input from an inverter or a string of microinverters. It might be a third option to keep your panels, chuck away all your electronics - perhaps not the Tigos but at least the Enphase - and start again with whatever current product does it best and cheapest.

        • amorphous2111 on 10/10/2025 - 21:28

          Yeah I can’t figure out why it is in that configuration either, also given all the panels are north facing with minimal shade. Each panel has an Enphase s230 connected to a Tigo unit.

          Anyway I just passed all the info to Voltx, hopefully their sparkies know how to deal with it.

          • GordonD on 10/10/2025 - 21:36
            +1

            @amorphous2111:

            Each panel has an Enphase s230 connected to a Tigo unit

            Ah, if EACH panel has an Enphase microinverter, then what you'd chuck away would be the Tigos, And get a battery that takes AC input. But even microinverters are only worth it if you have a shading problem.

            Anyway, whatever, let VoltX decide.

            • amorphous2111 on 10/10/2025 - 23:06

              @GordonD: I don’t know much about solar system, but my guess is that the Tigo optimises the DC generation to the Enphase, which converts DC to AC and feed the AC power to the main meterbox.

              But yeah whatever leave it to the pro Voltx.

        • RockyRaccoon on 10/10/2025 - 21:33

          Why would you chuck away the enphase micro inverters, its a much more flexible system and more expensive. One dies you can replace that or decommission it.

          My suggestion to the OP is contact Enphase as it will more than likely be connected to them remotely (yes this is found usually in the power box as you said " There is one like a wireless antena and two "main switch inverter supply" RCDs in the meter box."), which you would normally be able to access details via the enphase app with your phone.

          Let them know you are new owner. They may require some documentation to prove this.

          Only then start trying other methods if they cant help

          BTW Enphase support can be called 1800 006 374

          • amorphous2111 on 10/10/2025 - 23:00

            @RockyRaccoon: Thanks it’s very helpful I’ll call them. I actually have had this house for a few years and since the solars are doing well I don’t even bother to find out what they are, untill today. Would be good to get some info from Enphase and monitor the generation in app.

  • JIMB0 on 10/10/2025 - 17:52

    It could be in your garage.

  • djkelly69 on 10/10/2025 - 18:04
    +1

    I am kinda hoping it is at the neighbour's house and they are using your roof space for extra PV panels.

  • welcomeUniverseWorld on 10/10/2025 - 20:54

    ok. I got curious if Aliens are visiting the solar system or what?

  • The Hunted on 11/10/2025 - 09:38

    My Emphase solar system has micro inverters on each panel which at the time of installation was the most efficient, so you may not find an inverter.
    Maybe looking in your meter/fuse box will shed some light.

  • Chewy2221 on 11/10/2025 - 10:22

    Fires in roof mounted isolating switches account for a large percentage of solar PV fires. Water penetrates during heavy rain & the switch shorts out. You may wish to have the isolating switch moved if you are upgrading. My isolating switches are in my garage & meter box & thus protected from the elements . Good luck with your consideration.

  • BuddhaBoy on 11/10/2025 - 17:15

    Man…I clicked on this thinking there's some cool new info about our Solar System.

  • SteveD on 11/10/2025 - 18:16
    +1

    With all the buzz about interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS spraying water like it's trying to terraform the asteroid belt. NASA’s Swift Observatory says it's basically a cosmic Super Soaker
    I naturally assumed OP was concerned. You know, maybe pondering gravitational perturbations, planetary defense protocols, or whether we should start worshiping it just in case it’s sentient.
    I clicked in, ready for deep-space discourse, orbital mechanics debates, maybe even a wild theory involving aliens and quantum ice. Instead? It's about black panels on the rooftop. Disappointed? Oh, only on a galactic scale 😂

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