The US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has announced the recall of 1.5 million SolarWorld modules in the US and Canada.
The recall, which does not require the removal of installed products, is the result of a problem with an instruction manual that did not specify that a tin coated copper lug be used during mounting. A bare copper lug could lead to electrocution although there are no reported cases of incidents as of now.
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According to a statement by CPSC “bare-copper grounding lugs can corrode which could result in a faulty ground circuit, posing an electric shock, electrocution or fire hazard”.
SolarWorld Americas’ director of strategic affairs told PV Tech that the manual has been “refined” but the company has volunteered to check with installers that they have not used bare copper lugs.
The recall, terminology used by the CPSC that does not necessarily mean products must be returned to the manufacturer, affects 1.3 million modules in the US and 210,000 in Canada, which were packaged with the old manual.