[RFI] Leased Solar Panels: Operator Responsibility?

[qrv at kd4e.com]

It's election/reelection season - an opportune moment to get your
Congressman's attention.

Contact his/her "Constituent Service" office/person and ask them to
make an inquiry to the FCC, on your behalf, about this matter.

FCC bureaucrats know better than to ignore a congressman's office.

The more people who do this the better.

This will put the bureaucrats at the FCC on-notice that voters care -
and the congressmen who wish to be reelected care, and those congressmen
control their budget.

Note that if the FCC is spending its budget frugally & genuinely does
not have the funds & dedicated-staff to enforce Part 15 consumer 
protection - you'd like Congress (in our growing economy) to mandate &
fund enforcement resources as necessary.

Request an independent oversight board to assure that the funds are
spent for the protection of consumers and not corporations.

IMHO ...

> Based on previous entries on this subject, I contacted my local SolarEdge
> distributor.  I got no sensible reply that even addressed the RFI issue.
> They basically snubbed my specific query about RFI and simply offered to
> rent me a system.  NOT.....They know full well what they are doing.
> 
> Our FCC to which a (small) portion of your and my tax monies go to ignores
> Part 15.  They don't care anymore, unless its big business like Time
> Warner.
> 
> Dave - WØLEV
> 
> On Wed, Jun 27, 2018 at 11:15 PM, Randy Standke <r55stan at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
>> I wonder if anything in the FCC rules address intentionally installing
>> equipment in a manner known to cause RFI because doing so cuts costs.  I am
>> specifically referring to SolarEdge solar power systems.  They know their
>> standard installation of open loop (shaped) wiring between the DC to DC
>> converters on each panel (they call them optimizers), combined with the
>> little or no filtering these optimizers have, cause RFI to the HF bands up
>> to about 1000 feet away.  And, they have documented a fix (twisting the
>> wires and adding ferrites).  However, they will only apply this fix when a
>> ham radio operator complains.  In my case, they have done this to about six
>> houses near me, and I have at least two new houses to locate.
>>
>> They say they plan to introduce a new optimizer in a few years that is
>> clean.  But in the meantime, they are creating RFI polluted neighborhoods
>> all over the country.  This may discourage future hams facing the choice of
>> complaining to perhaps a dozen neighbors, or selecting another hobby that
>> does not involve bothering other people.  This seems like the sort of thing
>> the FCC should be protecting us from.
>>
>> Randy KQ6RS
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: RFI <rfi-bounces at contesting.com> On Behalf Of David Eckhardt
>> Sent: Wednesday, June 27, 2018 12:02 PM
>> To: Hare, Ed W1RFI <w1rfi at arrl.org>
>> Cc: rfi at contesting.com
>> Subject: Re: [RFI] Leased Solar Panels: Operator Responsibility?
>>
>> In the spirit of the FCC rules (I don't want to spend the time looking up
>> the legalize of the wording in 47 CFR), the FCC holds the "System
>> Integrator" responsible for the EMC/RFI solution.  If the equipment is
>> rented, the rentee is the entity that assembled the equipment from many
>> sources to offer, for rent, a complete solar system.  Therefore, the rentee
>> is responsible for the EMC/RFI solution.
>>
>> I ain't no lawyer.  However, I've worked in the EMC/RFI field for some 30
>> years addressing and solving problems and regulatory issues in a world-wide
>> capacity.  I still consult in the field.
>>
>> Dave - WØLEV
>>
>> On Wed, Jun 27, 2018 at 6:17 PM, Hare, Ed W1RFI <w1rfi at arrl.org> wrote:
>>
>>> In general terms, those that can exert control over a system are the
>>> operators. This could include things like the ability to turn it off
>>> if interference occurs or even would probably be extended in the minds
>>> of regulators to include the people who make the decision to allow
>>> this operation to occur on property they otherwise fully control.
>>>
>>> Ed, W1RFI