As a master electrician in the solar PV industry I have done a lot of research on products and their certifications. There are a lot of products on the marketplace that have not been certified by a reputable laboratory in North America for your safety. We here at Wekking Electric will state which products are and are not CSA, so you can make an informed decision. All our solar panels are CSA listed and any equipment going into permanent residential dwellings is CSA listed as per Canadian Electrical Code and local jurisdiction having authority.
For example there are combiner boxes with breakers installed that are $100.00 on line that are not certified to any standards, or there are solar combiners/disconnects by Midnite Solar that cost $400.00 to $500.00 that are certified to UL/CSA standards. We carry the CSA approved ones!! The difference is that there is no oversight on the manufacturer to ensure breakers will function properly or have been extensively tested to ensure your safety.
Did you know that your insurance provider might not cover your RV, Home or Cabin if non certified equipment has been supplied or installed. You can instal these products at your own risk!!
Most inspectors will not sign off on non certified equipment. I know that if you hire a certification company to sign off on non certified equipment and the equipment is protected by CSA approved protected devises like breakers and fuses, the system as a whole can become certified. This is quite expensive!!! Check with the jurisdiction having authority first or contact a reputable installer like Wekking Electric!!
RV safety. The RV market is one of the markets where we find many non certified products. If these products are sold in Canada and manufactured by reputable companies like Victron which extensively test their products, we feel comfortable installing these in RV’s and non permanent structures like C-Cans, ect. We would not recommend any cheap Chinese high frequency inverters!! We will only supply CSA/UL listed high frequency inverters tested and approved for this application.
About home built / or custom built Lithium Iron Phosphate batteries. We simply will not supply, connect or service them. There is absolutely no certification on these as a system. All the 48V batteries we supply are CSA approved. Lower voltage batteries that we supply do not need certification as far as we know. Again, purchase batteries from reputable companies that have a proven track record. We now supply EG4, Homegrid, and Pylontech batteries as well as the full Trojan deep cycle/AGM line.
Let’s do electrical and solar right and safe!! Choose the best in the business, Wekking Electric!!