According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, SolarWorld has issued a recall order for its photovoltaic systems with copper grounding lugs.
SolarWorld solar panels installed with bare-copper grounding lugs can corrode, which could result in a faulty ground circuit, posing an electric shock, electrocution or fire hazard, the agency says. About 1.3 million of the lugs have been sold in the U.S. and 210,000 in Canada.
Installation instructions for SolarWorld solar systems sold after June 1, 2010, called for the use of GBL-4DB lugs for grounding. SolarWorld has revised these installation instructions to explicitly call for tin-coated lugs, specifically Ilsco part number GBL-4DBT. ‘T’ is for tin-coated and indicated by the silver color of the lug.
Customers may be able to identify from the ground whether a tin-coated lug (silver) or a bare-copper lug (brown) has been used on their solar panels. The agency instructs consumers who can identify the improper lugs to contact SolarWorld for replacement. If customers cannot determine which grounding lugs were used, they should contact SolarWorld to have an authorized agent inspect the installation and replace the lugs at no cost.
SolarWorld is requesting that distributors and others remove SolarWorld's installation instructions dated before June of this year from their websites or other commercial information sources.
