Solar system safety
Most serious solar injuries are falls, shocks from a string that nobody isolated, and fires at a bad connector. None of them require a dramatic storm. They require a person who thought the system was off because the inverter screen was dark.
The hazards
Direct current
Modules in daylight produce voltage. Switching the inverter off does not switch the sun off. DC arcs are persistent. That is why connectors and DC isolators are not casual switches.
Alternating current
The inverter output and the existing house board are ordinary, dangerous AC. A solar job does not make the household board safe to open.
Height
A terrace edge, a wet sheet, and a loose ladder cause more harm than a datasheet error. If you cannot stand securely, you do not clean or inspect from there.
Fire
Heat at a loose connector or a damaged cable is the usual electrical fire path. A burning smell is a stop, not a reset.
Isolation, lockout, and emergency
A proper shutdown has an order: AC side, then DC isolator, as the installer demonstrated, and only if those handles are the ones you were shown. Locking a switch so it cannot be turned back on is the idea of lockout. A household should not invent that procedure. Learn the one left at handover, or do not touch the switches.
If there is fire or a person is injured, leave the roof, call emergency services, and tell them a solar array is present so they know the modules may still be live. Do not pour water into a burning inverter.
People who work on the system
PPE
Gloves, eye protection, and footwear suited to the roof are the minimum for anyone whose job is the array. They do not make an untrained person qualified.
Live work
This website does not teach live electrical work. Unqualified people should not open boards, change breakers, or remake connectors.
Lightning
Do not stand on the roof, or hold a metal cleaning pole, in a storm. Surge devices are not a reason to stay up there.
A rule to remember
If the glass is in daylight, assume the string can shock you. Dark inverter screen does not mean dead modules.
Common mistakes
Disconnecting MC4s in the sun
That is how an arc starts in a hand.
Working alone on a parapet
A fall has nobody to call.
Resetting a breaker repeatedly
The fault is still there. The next reset may be the one that overheats a joint.
Where to read further
Safety questions
Is the roof safe to touch if the inverter is switched off?
No. The modules can still be at string voltage in daylight. Do not open connectors or junction boxes.
What should I do if I smell burning?
Stop, keep people away, use only the shutdown you were shown if you can reach it safely, and call for help. Do not open the inverter.
Can I learn to rewire the DC board from this page?
No. This page is here to stop that attempt. DC work belongs with a qualified person.
Related guides
- Solar panel technologyCells, module types, efficiency, heat, degradation, and why DCR matters for the central scheme.
- Solar inverter guideThe inverter turns panel current into household current and decides what happens when the grid fails.
- Solar structure and mountingThe structure holds the modules to the roof. Its size is an engineering result, not a catalogue guess.
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