After seven roof fires, Walmart sues Tesla over solar panel flaws

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I am curious especially about the fire in the system that was supposedly shut off. Nevertheless not good PR for Tesla
 
well you can shut down the power transmission controllers but not the internal function of the panel.
 
Even if the system is shut down I expect if the wires are rubbed raw and it finds a way to ground bad things can happen. I have seen a fairly scary arc off of one of my strings in the past, not something I want to repeat. The standard MC connectors used to connect strings are not rated for arcs and various folks have reported that they have melted the ends off the conductors when they tried to reconnect them. 600 VAC is serious stuff and some newer commercial systems can go up to 1000 volts.
 
There is a huge number of large-scale solar systems installed around the world operating without incident. This is Tesla's and Solar City's black eye. It sounds like the installations were shabbily done. Surprised they ever passed inspection. Maybe the inspectors deserve a black eye too?
 
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I was talking to a contract electrician who was in big demand for these large installations. Mass requires a license for just about any solar work and has great incentives so Solar City was one of the big players. Solar City paid pretty well but it was mind numbingly boring work for the contractors. Basically work 8 hours a day in hot fields doing repetitive work for months at a time. Electrician's are in demand for interesting work. The net result was the only folks working were the ones who couldn't get legit electrical work (or could not keep it).. That is a recipe for poor workmanship.
 
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These were actually done by Solar City before Tesla bought them.