What is Caution Solar Circuit wires

[Dearjohn03]

Hi,

I have sunpower system and I came across uninstalled Caution Solar Circuit wires in my On Q panel. What are these wires and what are they for?

Thank you

[Dearjohn03]

This wire looks like Cat5

[Mike90250]

Call your installer if you don't know what they are for. Solar wires can easily have high voltage on them

[SunEagle]

Hi,

I have sunpower system and I came across uninstalled Caution Solar Circuit wires in my On Q panel. What are these wires and what are they for?

Thank you

The blue and white wires looks to be for communication. The black wires with the Caution Solar Circuit tag are probably DC circuit wires from your panels which have not been terminated yet.

I am not sure why your Contractor installed both types of wires in the same junction box unless that is the inverter wiring compartment.

[foo1bar]

There's one that clearly says "RG6/U" on it - that'd be RG6 - aka "TV Coax".
The blue looks like CAT5, based on the small wires I see protruding from it's end.
And "On Q panel" I'm guessing means a box that's being used for structured wiring / home networking.

To me, the black wire with "Caution Solar Circuit" looks like it was coiled up and the caution sticker was just something handy to keep it coiled up. (bad idea to use a sticker that way - but that's my best guess)
It's also possible it's actually a solar circuit (although I don't think it'd belong in that box)


Without touching the end of the wire with the "caution" sticker on it, can you see the end of that wire?
Or can you see printing on the side of that wire?
Either (or both) would help identify what kind of wire it is.
And the wire type would help identify what the wire is likely being used for (determining where the ends are connected would really give the answer)

[Dearjohn03]

Thanks for the info. It turns out that wire is cat5, for me to connect directly to the internet using Ethernet for the monitoring.

[Dearjohn03]

I got an email from Sunpower:


This wire is for your solar monitoring breaker. I have checked your SMS portal and your system is working fine and reporting data to our server. There is no issue with your system. The blue wire is the cat5 wire that goes to your router. The black wire is connected from the Pvs5 to your main service panel.


so... is this wire hot?

[inetdog]

Take a look at https://fccid.io/YAW513402/User-Manu...Manual-2725912
It shows a graphic of the connections (some optional) to the Pvs5.
It looks like the blue wire is the yellow wire in the diagram. No problem there. It is "hot" in the sense that it has signals on it but they are low voltage and limited current, so not a hazard.
The black wire could possibly be the AC power input to the box, in which case there really should also be white and a green. They would have 120V AC on them from a breaker in your main panel. This would definitely be considered hot, if that is what the wire is.
If your system is monitoring current (power flow) at your main panel, then there can also be up to six low voltage wires (or one cable containing six wires) which are a low voltage signal connection, again not normally hazardous.

[Ampster]

...... is this wire hot?

Probably, and the safest thing to do is test it with a circuit tester before doing anything with it.

[inetdog]

Probably, and the safest thing to do is test it with a circuit tester before doing anything with it.

And do NOT rely solely on the evidence of a non-contact voltage tester!

[Dearjohn03]

Oh boy. Thank you

[J.P.M.]

Oh boy. Thank you

For sure. And while you're at it unthank Ampster for incomplete and so possibly dangerous information conveyed in an irresponsible way.

[Ampster]

For sure. And while you're at it unthank Ampster for incomplete and so possibly dangerous information conveyed in an irresponsible way.

Yes, be sure and unthank my comment.
As @JPM pointed out it was dangerous and irresponsible to suggest that you test that circuit with just any circuit tester. I should have been more clear when using the term circuit tester.Also it would be important to point out that you should check that any tester is working by testing the tester on a known live circuit. As inetdog alluded, there are non contact circuit testers that could give an erroneous result. The best test is a full contact tester but you should be careful in any event and wear protective clothing.

[foo1bar]

The black wire is connected from the Pvs5 to your main service panel.

so... is this wire hot?

What type of cable/wire is it?
What is printed on it?
Can you see the end of it? (without touching the end of it)

My *guess* is this is a cat5 cable.
And it's just connecting to an ethernet or other communication port in your inverter.
But without seeing the printing on the cable up close I can't tell if it is a CAT5 cable as I suspect.
Without seeing where it's terminated I wouldn't bet my life on what is going on with it. I wouldn't even bet your life on it, and frankly I value your life less than mine.

[Ampster]

Haha foo1bar, somebody up thread already figured it out. The blue cable is Cat5 for communications and the black wire is 120v to power the data upload device.