Your Installation

We know that every house is different and the precise installation system will depend on the size and shape of your roof, and your existing electric system. The sections below should give you an idea of how an installation is normally carried out. If you've got any questions about this please ask one of our team to explain:

Scaffold - Joju Solar arrange to have the scaffold erected (and taken down!). Importantly, all our quotes are inclusive of scaffolding (no hidden extras!).

Placing the Roof Anchors - The measurements made during the site survey are checked. The location of the rafters under the tiles are found and the roof anchors will soon be screwed into these rafters. A roof layout is marked up and measurements are taken to ensure that the frame will sit straight. Once the position of the anchors is determined, the relevant roof tiles are removed, and the anchors are screwed into the rafters so that they will remain straight across the entire roof. The tiles are then replaced on top of the anchors so that the roof remains watertight.

Mounting the Aluminium Bars - The aluminium bars that make up the frame are locked into the roof anchors and screwed into place. Each bar is checked to make sure that it is straight and that all the bars are parallel to each other. This is an important step in ensuring that the installation looks perfect.

PV Panels - With the bars in place, and the frame complete, the panels can start to be attached and clamped to the frame. A minimum of four clamps is used per solar panel, though in some cases extra clamps are used to aid the alignment of the rows. The panels are either placed by row or by column depending upon which makes most sense in the specific situation.

Wiring - Panels are wired by the manufacturer, meaning the rooftop connection is straightforward. These connections use dedicated plugs that ensure that no water can get into the electrical connections, and that all electrical connections are complete. The specific voltage, ampage and power of the system determines how the panels are connected; smaller systems have a single series inverter, larger systems have several parallel series into a single inverter with the largest systems requiring multiple series into multiple inverters. Shading and panel positioning can also influence the design of the wiring of your solar PV system.

Installing the other PV Panels - Once the top row of solar panels is correctly clamped, the rows beneath are secured to the frame in the same manner, taking their positioning from the row above. The parallel alignment to the panels above is extremely important to the aesthetics of the system. This is easy if the original frame is well placed, but difficult otherwise.

Final Wiring and inverter connection - Concurrently with the roofing work, our electrician will install the inverter, safety switches and your all important generation meter. Once all the panels have been installed and the final alignment checked the DC wiring is completed by running wires from the roof to the inverter. In some cases this is achieved by running the wire down the outside of the building, which minimises disruption, in others the wiring takes place internally through the house. In either case all wires are neatly enclosed in conduits. Our electrician will take light intensity readings and electrical measurements necessary for the commissioning of the system and generation of your commissioning certificate.