MI 3109 EurotestPV Lite
Safety and operational considerations
7
All normal safety precautions must be taken in order to avoid risk of
electric shock while working on electrical installations!
PV sources can produce very high voltages and currents. Only skilled and
trained personnel should perform measurements on photovoltaic systems.
Local regulations should be considered.
Safety precautions for working on the roof should be considered.
In case of a fault in the measuring system (wires, devices, connections,
measuring instrument, accessories…), presence of flammable gases, very
high moisture or heavy dust an electrical arc can occur that will not
extinguish by itself. Arcs can lead to fire and can cause heavy damage.
Users must be skilled to disconnect the PV system safely in this case.
Use only dedicated measuring accessories for testing on PV electrical
installations. Metrel accessories for PV installations have yellow marked
connectors.
Consider that protection category of some accessories is lower than of the
instrument. Test tips have removable caps. If they are removed the
protection falls to CAT II. Check markings on accessories!
(cap off, 18 mm tip)…CAT II up to 1000 V
(cap on, 4 mm tip)… CAT II 1000 V / CAT III 600 V / CAT IV
300 V
PV Safety probe A 1384 provides additional safety when working on PV
installations. It has an inbuilt protective circuit that safely disconnects the
instrument from the PV installation in case of a failure in the instrument
(see chapter 4.4.8 Accessories for more information).
PV test lead A1385 has integrated fuses that safely disconnects instrument
from the PV installation in case of a failure in the instrument.
If a voltage higher than 1000 V d.c. is detected on any of the measuring
inputs further measurements will be blocked and the
warning is displayed.
Warnings related to safety of measurement functions:
Insulation resistance of PV systems
Do not touch the test object during the measurement or before it is fully
discharged! Risk of electric shock!
When an insulation resistance measurement has been performed on a
capacitive object, automatic discharge may not be done immediately! The
warning message
and the actual voltage are displayed during
discharge until voltage drops below 10 V.
