Will Electromagnetic Radiation From Solar Panels And Inverters Frizz Your Heir?
All electrical and electronic device create electromagnetic fields or EMF around them when used and also emit electromagnetic radiation or EMR. This includes solar panels and solar inverters. So is it possible for the electromagnetic fields or radiation from your rooftop solar system to harm you or your family?
Normally these type of questions have two answers — a short one and a long one. But today I’ll give you two short answers and then a long one.
Short Answer 1: Not at night.
Short Answer 2: Not in the day either.
Long Answer: Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.
Or, as my first wife always used to say to me:
How can I be so confident? Well, my reasons are:
- Australia has standards with a wide margin of safety for EMR emissions by electrical equipment and these apply to solar panels and inverters.
- There is no good evidence from experiments using animals or observational studies of the humans1 that EMR exposure at permitted levels is harmful.
When I say there is no good evidence, I mean we can be confident beyond any reasonable doubt that EMR from rooftop solar and other household electrical devices is either not harmful or the negative effects are so small they are likely to be insignificant.
Now you might say, “Isn’t it reasonable to limit out exposure to EMR from electrical devices, just to be on the safe side?” And I would say, “No.”
While I think the people in charge of setting standards should make sure we aren’t exposed to unnecessary EMR, in our personal lives it is counter productive to worry about it. This is because we would be much better off putting our time and energy into avoiding things we know are bad for us, such as fast food, tiger snakes, and polka music.
If I’ve convinced you there’s no reason to worry you can stop reading now. But if you’re still concerned I’ll give a looooonger explanation below where I’ll throw in a few links to back me up. If after that you’re still not convinced at the end I’ll give some hints on how you can reduce your exposure to electromagnetic radiation. But I can’t tell you how to completely eliminate it, since that stuff is everywhere.
Oh my god! It’s coming through the walls!
What Is EMF And EMR?
Every particle with an electric charge creates an electromagnetic field or EMF. Since electrons and protons have charges, this means every atom in your body creates an EMF. Sure, there are also neutrons that are electrically neutral, but nobody likes them.
This means your body is no stranger to EMF. This force is inside all living things. It surrounds us and penetrates us and it doesn’t bind the galaxy together — so you can’t always believe what desert hobos tell you:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2YQJsbbWNA
But what people are generally concerned about is electromagnetic radiation (EMR). This ranges from extremely low frequencies, or ELF, which includes radio waves that can be tens of thousands of kilometers long, to some extremely rare, ultra high energy, cosmic rays which can have the energy of a bullet and wavelengths so short they need to use a step ladder to comb their hair.
Starting from longer and less energetic wavelengths and going to shorter, more energetic ones, EMR includes:
- Radio waves: These allow you to listen to Justin Bieber in your car. Whether this is good or evil, only you can decide2.
- Microwaves: Used for cooking and communications.
- Infrared: Used by bar heaters to warm you up and by run of the mill remote controls to change the channel.
- Visible light: Used by eyeballs for seeing.
- Ultraviolet: Used by bees for seeing and our skin for synthesizing vitamin D and getting cancer.
- X-rays: Used by doctors to see stuff inside you. Hopefully stuff that’s meant to be there.
- Gamma rays: High energy radiation used for sterilizing — as in destroying bacteria. It will also do the other sort of sterilizing, but I don’t recommend it.
- Cosmic rays: Extremely high energy radiation from space because space doesn’t like us.
So can these different types of EMR harm us?
Hell yes.
But we’re not talking about sunbathing in the Simpson Desert for 12 hours, becoming a contortionist and curling up inside a microwave oven, or traveling to Mars with only Elon Musk as radiation shielding. The type and amount of EMR emitted by our electrical devices is not enough to be harmful. At least not as far as we can tell.
EMR From Electrical Devices Is Non-Ionizing
I think the main reason people are concerned about electromagnetic radiation is they hear the “radiation” part and assume it is the same as the ionizing radiation released when a reactor core tried to leap through the roof in Chernobyl or when reactors in Fukushima got overly emotional and had a meltdown.
But EMR given off by solar panels and inverters is non-ionizing. This is also true for the little microwave emitter called a mobile phone that you probably regularly press against your brain bucket.
Non-ionizing radiation does not have enough energy to damage atoms and molecules by breaking them or stripping away their electrons. For example, visible light is non-ionizing radiation and chances are it is currently not killing you at the moment. If it is, then what’s probably happening is you are actually being shot with a “laser”.
If this is the case, the important thing to note as you die is, if the laser is visible light it’s not ionizing you, it’s mostly just burning you. I hope this knowledge provides you with some solace in your final moments.
For ionizing radiation there may be no minimum amount that is completely harmless for humans. But when it comes to non-ionizing radiation, as long as you take care not to cook yourself or get exposed to massive amounts, as far as we can tell it causes no harm. This is good news because we are exposed to a lot of non-ionizing radiation from natural sources all the time, such as the sun and atmospheric effects like lightning. That is, distant lightning. If lightning comes into actual contact with your body then you may suffer some ionization.
Australian Standards Limit EMR
Australia has standards for the emission of EMR by electrical devices. You can read about limits for mobile phones here and the lower frequency EMR emitted by electrical devices in general here. And if you are really keen you can download the Radiation Protection Standard for Maximum Exposure levels to Radiofrequency Fields — 3 kHz to 300 GHz.
The standards are designed to ensure Australians are not exposed to EMR at levels that could be dangerous and have a considerable margin for safety.
There Is No Good Evidence Of Health Effects From Normal EMR Exposure
While it is definitely possible for EMR to be harmful there is no good evidence that exposure within the limits set by Australian standards poses a health risk. The International Commission On Non-Ionizing Radiation’s guidelines can be read here. While the language they use is cautious, they conclude that exposure within the limits they set is safe. You are not likely to be exposed to more than that in your normal life unless warming yourself up in front of a microwave communications dish is your idea of normal.
If you want to read an 83 page report on “Health Effects of Exposure to EMF” by the European Commission’s Scientific Committee on Emerging and Newly Identified Health Risks, you can check it out here. While they recommend more research, they cannot conclude normal exposure to EMF and EMR affects health.
If you’d rather read something much shorter, the wikipedia article on extra low frequency radiation sums up the possible health effects and concludes:
“In summary, when all of the studies are evaluated together, the evidence suggesting that EMFs may contribute to an increased risk of cancer is very weak.”
The conclusion also mentions there may be a link between occupational exposure to EMR at levels higher than average and Alzheimer’s disease, but again, the evidence is not very strong.
Just because we don’t have good evidence that normal levels of EMR from electrical devices are harmful doesn’t mean it is completely harmless. But if the health effects were severe we would definitely have noticed by now, so we can be quite sure it’s mostly harmless.
It’s definitely not a health risk like smoking which raises the chance of heart disease by 40% and lung cancer by 2,700%.
So while it makes sense for those setting standards to limit unnecessary exposure as a precaution, it doesn’t make sense for people to try to limit exposure in their day to day lives because we know it’s either harmless or mostly harmless and we’d be far better off putting our time and energy into avoiding things we know are harmful such as eating junk food, smoking, not exercising, and friending people on facebook who have a dagger tattooed on any part of their body3.
Rooftop Solar Should Expose You To Less EMR Than Other Devices
Are you reading this on a laptop or a mobile phone? Well you are almost certainly being exposed to more EMR from the device than your rooftop solar system. Lights, TVs, refrigerators… everything electrical in your home exposes you to EMR when it’s on. Even if you switch off everything in your house live electrical cables will still be emitting some EMR. It’s everywhere and the only way to completely avoid it from artificial sources is to do without electrical items and in that case you won’t be needing rooftop solar.
Your other appliances are likely to expose you to much more EMR because you probably spend far more time close to them than you do hugging your inverter. You aren’t likely to receive much EMR from Solar panels because, while the electrons in AC cabling are constantly wriggling back and forth 50 times a second and creating EMR at a frequency of 50 hertz, DC current doesn’t do this and instead forms a static electric field at 0 Hertz and so should produce very little EMR. Sure, you’ll still be walking through this static field, but the device you are reading this on also produces one, so unless you are willing to fling it away because you don’t want to take the tiny risk it will harm you, I wouldn’t worry too much about it.
One Example Of Solar Panel EMR Causing A Problem
I can only think of one example of EMR from solar panels causing a problem and it was not with people’s health. The first generation of Maxim panel string optimized solar panels interfered with some people’s television reception. Generally it was only when the signal was weak to begin with. Maxim’s second generation technology should be available early next year and apparently fixes the problem.
How To Limit Exposure To EMR
Let’s say I’ve failed to convince you that your solar system is likely to expose you to less EMR than other electrical devices in your house and you want to take precautions. Well don’t worry. KFC has you covered with their finger licking good Faraday cage:
For just $10,000 US you can install your solar inverter in the Colonel’s internet proof enclosure where he will watch over it, unsleeping, for eternity. Of course, if you want to monitor your inverter performance online, you’ll have to open the door.
This chicken coop for humans works by blocking EMR from getting in or out. If you look carefully you’ll see its walls are made of metal mesh and if you look at the door of your microwave oven you’ll see there is also metal mesh on that4. Microwaves and longer wavelength EMR simply cannot fit through the small holes and so are blocked.
Of course, it’s not actually necessary to pay for a $10,000 Slenderman killing enclosure. You can use a metal cabinet or any fine mesh. Using mesh with holes wide enough to let your inverter internet connection work but small enough to block longer wavelengths is an option. But whatever you use, you will have to make sure it is adequately ventilated so your inverter doesn’t overheat.
A static electrical field from DC power is actually harder to stop. But your roof may already have aluminium sarking that could limit it. If your home doesn’t have this, you could try putting down a layer of aluminium foil in your roof space, but it’s probably easier to just make a nice little hat from it.
Footnotes
- I too, also am human. We must get together sometime and do human things like metabolize pyruvate. This is one of my favorite human things to do. ↩
- I lied when I said only you can decide. It’s evil. ↩
- I would gladly be your friend on facebook except I have almost reached the maximum number allowed. There is only room for one more person in the list of friends on the right hand side of my screen. ↩
- Whatever you do, don’t look at the door handle of the Colonel’s cage for greasy millennials. It will destroy your mind. ↩
About Ronald Brakels
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Thanks Ron. Our DAB+ Radio appears to suffer interference from some part of our PV and/or micro-inverter array. (This only happens in daylight; even a high full moon at midnight around the winter solstice fails to generate any solar power and I get no radio disturbance.)
During the day, the signal strength indicator histogram on the radio front panel oscillates with rapid and uniform periodicity, and one of my stations totally loses sound intermittently. This is harmful to me, as I am sure my blood pressure goes up…
Shutting down the inverter will soon show if it is the source of the interference. Alternatively you could just pick up the radio and put some more distance between you and the inverter and see if that reduces the interference.
While mucking around with a chicken wire Faraday cage would be an option, a better fix might be checking if a different radio avoids the interference or seeing if your station is online.
are you familiar with new science that suggests emf interfere with what is know as “voltage gated calcium ion channels?” and please… no republicanisms…
Action potentials propagate along nerve and muscle cell membranes through the opening of calcium ion channels. The local depolarization causes nearby calcium ion channels to open allowing the action potential to travel along the membrane. EMF can influence the likelihood of this occurring either way. I don’t know of anyone showing this is a health hazard at Australia’s EMF standards.
(I don’t know what a Republicanism is. If you are referring to the weird Al video about North Korea I now regret including that because it turns out there actually are people in Australia who are afraid of North Korea. That’s like Americans being afraid of Tasmania.)
I thought that republicanism was about someone who owned more than one hotel license.
That must be it.
This new science, John Erlandson, only ‘suggests’? Can it be that hard to show disruption?
It’s hard enough that they’re still telling us we’re not sick if we’re electromagnetically hypersensitive. Hell, half the people on this blog site will be willing to pop up and tell me I’m mistaken about my own body, or that I read too much PubMed or something. I went back to work part time and now pay taxes because of avoidance of various things, not just EMR. But the research has not caught up. It’s hard when the funding only goes to illnesses that funding bodies think are real (if more women than men experience the illness, the funding bodies aren’t likely to think that about it)
I can see you just want to show-off your youtube clip collections
Exactly thank you.
RF Signal Blocking Material EMF Shielding RFID Shielding Fabric for
Faraday Cage $100 / 1m2
Ouch! When I was slightly less ancient than I am now, flyscreens were made of metal and you could use that. But if you are on a budget you could always use a twisties packet:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-11-27/employee-sacked-over-chip-packet-deception-faraday-cage/9196732
I recommend using a Zig-Zag twisties packet, as only the elite eat them.
I have a tinfoil hat inside my roof that works well as I am still alive at 70 !!!
My household microwave oven is potentially more dangerous due to it operating in the 3 cm. wavelength.
….and here I thought that I’m still live at 70 because I REMOVED the tinfoil hat from my roof where some strange bloke had left it when I moved in!
There is money to be made in modern day voodoo witch doctor medicine. The more things change the more things stay the same.
My mum has fallen for the EMF and EMR rubbish. She is now also on about “dirty electricity” being harmful to human health and that solar is the main culprit. As a consequence, she has now installed some devices that plug into the wall socket which supposedly filters the dirty electricity and cleans up the frequency. I am mighty sceptical! It has cost her around $1k to have an expert test her house as well as install the devices.
That sounds like something Australian Competition and Consumer Commission might be interested in.
https://www.scamwatch.gov.au/report-a-scam
If they are making unsubstantiated health claims that definitely sounds like a scam. However, since you are not that one being scammed, that is likely to complicate matters.
Hi Ronald, and thanks for all the great stuff you write.
There is one aspect to domestic EMR that I suspect may well be substantial and harmful, and that is if a person sleeps on a switched on electric blanket.
Amps are up to ten, but the big thing is proximity. EMR reduces with distance with the inverse square law, and this generally means we get very little from our power cables, except in the electric blanket scenario.
It’s not beyond reaonable to expect that ferromagnetic material such as iron in blood would physically react to a pole changing environment fifty times per second, all night long, and I once helped the health of a personal friend by teaching her to turn it off before retiring for the evening.
Your thoughts please. Signed: Not A Cracked Pot.
Hi Randall
At this time we have no good evidence exposure to EMR at a level at the level received from an electric blanket is harmful. The magnetic field produced is far less than the under half a gauss average of the earth’s natural magnetic field. And while the earth’s magnetic field is stationary, red blood cells containing the iron compound haemoglobin are not and constantly tumble in the bloodstream. This means they are always are always dragging against the earth’s magnetic field and converting an extremely small amount of their motion of energy into heat. But this seems to cause us no harm, so I don’t think the far weaker non-stationary field from an electric blanket would be harmful and so far there is no good evidence that it is.
But it is generally recommended that electric blankets be turned off while sleep to reduce the chance of shock caused by a short circuit and over heating and dehydration.
By the way, it’s not just iron compounds that are affected by magnetism. Here’s a video of liquid oxygen being suspended by a magnet:
Interesting Ronald that you use Weird Al as an example of other things more dangerous than EMR. Both Weird Al’s parents died tragically in their lounge room at home from Carbon Monoxide poisoning from a poorly vented gas appliance fireplace. Electrical interference paranoia is a typical disproportionate response by human wankers who worry incessantly about things like redback spiders, crocs and sharks while ten-times the fatalities happen from people being kicked in the head or thrown from horses and show ponies. Or like Asians who prize their children above all else, except for when a family of five will get on a motor scooter, without helmets and travel long distances on busy streets. Still, your article is a good try!
G’day Ronald, anything we can do to reduce or eliminate non-purposeful EMR has to be a Good Thing from the standpoint of conserving whatever resources we may have at our disposal.
A trite example: government entities spend millions on keeping our streets well-lit, but every photon that travels skyward is a photon wasted by its not being available to let someone see his/her mates/enemies down the street. Who’s paying?
More to the point, when our appliances, tools, lights, power regulation gear,… radiate emit tiny amounts of EMR that is a waste to some degree. The rules of thermodynamics may dictate that there has to be some waste, but not trying hard enough to keep that waste to a minimum costs $$$ (and maybe lives).
Is the waste harmful?
The increasing “background-noise” or “electrosmog” experienced by those who use radio communications (YES! your ‘smart’ phone’s a transceiver!) makes low energy communication less easy.
A phone’s ability to output a greater signal when it has difficulty ‘reaching’ a tower also depletes its battery more quickly. The higher the noise-level or the lower the received signal the greater the power the phone will use in an attempt to get through. “112” or “000” with an unexpected flat battery anyone?
Cricket tragic? Try listening to your favourite ABC city broadcast of a game while escaping the rat-race by going beyond the black stump. It’s getting harder to do…all those clever switch-mode devices built while shaving $$ are at least partly to blame.
The various inverters used in solar-power systems can be culprits when not used thoughtfully.
Their harm may not be immediate or direct to any one person, but we’d all be better off ($$- and safety-wise) without the unintentional crud emitted by poorly implemented systems.
My 6 APS mini / micro inverters generate enough RFI to nuke both TV and radio in the house even on cloudy days. I had to relocate the main aerial to be way off axis and also further away. Needless to say, the next upgrade will see the APS’s consigned to the 240l filing cabinet. The joys of a partially shaded house.
Hi Recently had a 16-panel system with micro inverters fitted, from the moment it was commisioned our bedside touch lamps which are on the inside of the same wall that the power box etc is mounted keep on turning themselves on, they sit on bedside tables adjacent to the wall, if I take them into a different room they operate normally.
Any answers?
Thanks
Robert
Does this happen during the night? If it’s happening during the day then I guess it’s possible there is some kind of interference going on. But if it’s happening at night, then it won’t be the microinverters and you may want to consider calling the Ghostbusters.
Which way do your inverters get monitored? There are basically three alternatives – wireless (probable RFI), power line (almost certain gremlins) and standard network cable (usually no issues). Some inverters actually still send modulated pulses down the power lines even if the actual monitoring is via cable and they cannot be altered easily (in the “what were they thinking” class of devices).
I’d reckon the capacitors in the tuning circuit of the lamp, sitting quietly waiting for the capacitive reactance to be changed by a human touch, are being tricked by a harmonic of the 50Hz produced by the micro inverters. This harmonic is an artifact of the inverter’s switching speed, and will be right through the whole system, though probably of small amplitude. One may use a tuned circuit to absorb it once it is identified.
Thanks for the reply. I truly wish it were that simple in my case. I fully filtered the mains and it did not help. I then tried mu-metal shielding around the inverters – problem solved, but no solar panel monitoring was possible (obviously). Moving the TV aerial fixed the interference once I worked out that the inverters were spraying RFI along the plane of their boxes… A true PITA. I am looking at replacing them with DC optimisers and hopefully can monitor them with “cat5/6 type” network cable in lieu of wireless. After all, the panels are cabled anyway to transfer their power… l am beginning to think that overuse of wireless is becoming endemic (i.e. wireless “security cameras” which still need to be powered by wires, any moderately informed geek can monitor their wireless output). We used to call it “a solution chasing a problem” in the IT industry.
This ignores all the carefully conducted case studies from people who actually get sick from some EMR frequencies. But don’t worry, those are sick people, we don’t need to listen to them. Australia’s radiation regulation bodies don’t, and regulation bodies are always right.
Please post some references to these carefully conducted case studies. Many of us care deeply and wish to help.
Yep – “some EMR frequencies” says it all. The range of measurable EMF is huge – that 3GHz range is actually stepless, not in integers. Unfortunately most of the “internet studies” I have seen have made no realistic attempt to work out which frequencies are involved and they rarely try to track down which devices are the culprits. Both are quite difficult to track down unless there is an easily detectable component.
As Ronald says – everything is involved in EMF at some level. Poorly isolated large transformers and arcing mains wiring (i.e. the higher power items in our community) are all too common as (for blindingly obvious reasons) the Oz standard cannot specify that the individual device is not actually faulty. Mind you, both of those are more likely to kill you by catching things alight (i.e. creating bushfires) rather than creating enough ionizing radiation to do you harm.
The other one – mobile phones – may be harmful in excess due to the limited distance between phone and brainpan. Minimising usage and using it handsfree reduces that risk to negligible. Attaching a phone to the earlobe 12+ hours per day is just mind boggling stupidity – EMF generates heat… some fries with that?
I’m in the United States and they have forced smart meters on us that have solar and these smart meters emitting -plusing emfs as high and higher as the microwave when it is turned on into the middle of my house. I’m healthy, but have been sick since I moved in and I am sensitive to energy..an I have measured…most goverment standards are being set by the corporations who are killing us.
Hello,
My cousin is a farmer in France, they get buildings built for free in exchange for 25 years free roof top rent by small green electric companies.
After contacting French Agricole Body they were told that it was possible to fit them but mortility rates on live stock were up around 10% on buidings fitted with them why? these are gouvernment figures.
Funny that Randall didn’t reply to your comment.
He actually puts his trust in industry body, i.e. self-regulated. “safety” levels adopted by his government. These only take into account thermic effects, completely ignoring mutagenic effects on DNA and mitochondrial disregulation.
I wonder what Randall’s ties might be to industry – or has he simply bought into CO2 being toxic (hint: it’s essential to all life and is a coolant – it cannot heat the planet except in computer models).
No, it’s not funny at all I didn’t reply. I happen to be the Ronald Brakels who doesn’t know a damn thing about French stock mortality. Clearly you have me confused with Ronaldo Brakoli the Latin cattle morbidity maestro.
Hi Sam, sorry I missed this…months ago now.
Maybe you have me confused with somebody else…I’m the one who thought sleeping right on the emf of an electric blanket was probably harmful.
EMF dangers to human health is a real thing and has been proven how cellular damage occurs. https://youtu.be/ZAqmT9KJBC8
Hi Ron Funny,
“It is fun to have fun but you have to know how.” (Cat in Hat – no tin foil)
Thought this might sober you up a bit: http://electromagnetichealth.org/electromagnetic-health-blog/eesc-action-for-ehs/
international organisations like the Council of Europe or the WHO have established the existence of electromagnetic hypersensitivity as a health condition that can prevent people from exercising an occupational activity.
There are more and more people suffering from electromagnetic and environmental hypersensitivity syndrome. In addition, these people may sometimes suffer the incomprehension and scepticism of doctors who do not deal with the problem professionally.
https://www.emfacts.com/2014/04/a-personal-electromagnetic-hypersensitivity-ehs-case-study/
https://www.foodsmatter.com/es/management_treatment/articles/rea_chan_managemnet_protocol_02_12.html
Dr. William Rea shared insights about electrical hypersensitivity gleaned from nearly thirty years of working with environmentally ill patients
When asked to describe the end result of ES, Dr. Rea said the syndrome most definitely telescopes into a fatal disease. He stated that ES has a genetic component waiting for a trigger, and that Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, dead nerves in the brain, and heart arrhythmias are all examples of end results of ES patients left untreated.
Hi Ron,
Great article, still laughing though it is a serious matter, or is it?
So while I sit here typing in front of one of the biggest producers of EMR or EMF, I ponder if I should start demolishing my house erect a tent in the yard and use the wood to make a fire.
1 sec, I need to fry my brain and answer the phone…..
I found the below link and found the attached table interesting.
https://www.safespaceprotection.com/news-and-info/emfs-from-home-appliances/
I am not trying to be a dick here but, seriously I could spend the rest of my life listing things that are bad for our health. If you are so worried by EMR / EMF, you are on the wrong planet. Get out of the cities and remember NO power, not running water, NO SOLAR. …… should I go on…
Live life, be a good person, enjoy the time you have with your family ….. you have NO control how long you will be here but try and leave a good mark on the planet for those who come after you.
Ron, Jay and Craig:
When it comes to (EMI/EMR/RFI – all related) and standard domestic size Solar PV System Inverters in general; Jay is not as accurate as Craig when discussing RF and human health.
RF can and does affect human health though. It depends on the “exposure rating” numbers: RF Power/Frequency/Exposure Duration. Scaled from: Zero – Way too much.
But beyond human health, there are other critical functional considerations around power products and systems (EMI/EMR/RFI) and they come under the industry umbrella headed EMC (Electromagnetic Compatibility). EMC is a significant issue for all power products functionality and is the focus of many global standards (including IEC and AS/NZS Standards) that designers and manufacturers must adhere to.
Best practice design and manufactured inverters should be designed to minimise (EMI/EMR/RFI) I.A.W AS/NZS CISPR 11:2017 and be tested and certified with an EMC Certificate of Suitability.
The CEC approvals process for Inverter listings makes a point of pre-warning the industry that EMC is not yet a mandatory requirement for Inverters to be listed and the same situation applies to the State Regulators, but it is widely known within the inverter manufacturing industry, that the escalating threat of EMI is a growing issue, and will at some point become a mandatory requirement for Inverters in general. This is particularly relevant with new high power DC switching circuits and battery charging circuits (and EV’s) becoming standard practice.
Very few Inverter manufacturers design equipment to pass the onerous EMC CISPR 11:2017 standard to achieve the EMC Certificate of Suitability. It requires high spec components and circuits design which adds costs to the product development and manufacture. Also, the testing of prototype inverter models to AS/NZS CISPR 11:2017 alone is a 6-figure cost.
For all of the technocrats interested, here is a copy of the IEC EMC Standard AS/NZS CISPR 11:2017, and a copy of an Australian SAA EMC Certificate of Suitability.
http://nebula.wsimg.com/0247f589d2d75199ce5fadac6fcac382?AccessKeyId=184CD164E3277C5127D9&disposition=0&alloworigin=1
Lawrence Coomber
My question is it dangerous for a person with a pacemaker to get in close contact such as to clean solar panels? What would happen?
There is no danger at all. People are exposed to far more electromagnetic energy from using normal household appliances. But I don’t think the typical person with a pacemaker should go up on a roof to clean solar panels. I don’t think most people should go up on roofs as there is always the risk of an accident.
Wrong…
RONALD EDIT: Yeah, I’m going to cut you off there. This is an Australian blog and in Australia it’s rude to expect people to just take your statements on faith. If you want to explain yourself that’s fine, but telling us you know different without providing support for your claim is simply a waste of Australia’s eyeball muscle energy.
Insects maybe are our new parakeets in the coal mine of emfr. Places where emfr is present seem to bother insects – and other life forms – they either behave differently, die off or move on. It might be worth it to keep an open mind while not losing your brains nor dismissing the possibility of problems with emfr.
I believe EMF’s have been shown to interfere with what’s known as Voltage Gated Calcium Ion Channels. Some studies have been conducted to show possible enhancement using some ranges of EMF’s https://www.nature.com/articles/srep21774 while other studies have been undertaken to show the detrimental effects…
EMF can definitely affect them, but at permitted levels it’s not likely to have any measurable effect.
Excellent. Excellent article. Well thought out and researched. Wish all articles online were like this.
It’s a great article but I don’t understand why all the videos are on here.
What are your qualifications? What are your resources? Where are you getting your statistics from?
Hi Gene
I’m an 8th level Bard. I have $3.80 and one Indian Rupee that somehow got into my coin purse. And there are a considerable number of links through the article showing where I got the information.
So based on your article re solar panels and health risks, what is your opinion of this article and the health department of CA warnings?
What research did you base your opinion of there being no harmful effects to humans?
https://www.electrosmogprevention.org/public-health-alert/health-alerts-solar-panel-systems/health-risks-of-solar-panels/#:~:text=Little%20do%20people%20know%20that,microwave)%20radiation%20in%20the%20environment.
Interesting information in regards to EMI/EMR/ and RFI. However there is always negatives in regards to new products developers do not want you to know about. If you did many people would not purchase the products. As far as Solar Panels are concerned there are a lot of unknowns in regards to their output. And there could be a difference in the effect that the panels output has on human beings. For example: Is there more of a health threat to humans if the panels are mounted on the grounds surface verses the rooftops. Is there a health concern to the neighbors in an area that several houses have rooftop solar panels ? My television reception was effected when one of my neighbors had solar panels installed on his roof. NOTE: I used a antenna for the signal and the panels had a affect on it. What else does it effect ? The Solar Panel industry is huge and they have to install them to generate income period. I believe that fuels cells should be used but are not, why ? Each home being constructed could have its own fuel cell to provide its power. But then the companies that supply power would
loose the business.
That’s a very naive take on solar power. You are confusing electrical interference with ionising radiation. As different as a small barking dog and a rock festival. Whether panels are on the ground, on a roof or in your bedroom makes no difference, as solar panels simply produce DC potentials through sunlight. The only oscillating part is the inverter itself. Even then, most of those are RF quiet. This is not speculation. Part of my tasks are to track down electrical interference with these devices with a spectrum analyser. Some make low-threshold noise up to 20 MHz , which can annoy ham radio operators, but that’s about it. I have seen stronger noise sources from battery chargers and electric roller door controllers than most modern solar panel arrays. if you are still concerned about your health. You could always get some aluminium foil and make a hat. (Which also won’t help)
Like you my neighbor does not believe me that his system effects my health.I get woken at 5min intervals eg 3.05am ,6.20am, suffer headache well more like sharp piercing pain through the brain for a couple of seconds at 5min.My health dramatically decline when he installed his Sunnybouy inverter.Is it not possible the invertor is a lemon.So do you consult and do call outs with your spectrum analyser. Thanks VeeJay
VeeJay, you need to make a shield for yourself. Because the frequency and current are well understood, all you need is a copper (or aluminium) net to catch the moving electromagnetism, and transfer it to earth potential via an earthing electrode.
This mechanism leaves the space behind it clear for sleeping peacefully.
If you really want to be sure, you can install a current tracker and actually see the power you are converting out of the space and down the earthing electrode.
This actually works and is not just a hypothesis. Screen the wall with aluminium flywire and earth it, that’s all you have to do.
Please let us know how you go.
Appreciate the article. I need some relief !
Q: I have a 5kw Goodwe Inverter in my garage mounted on the plasterboard with the appropriate electrical cables almost directly behind where I sleep. Should I have any concerns? What kind of emr would it be emitting ? I imagine at night it would be next to nothing? During the day I often use the room as an ad-hoc office and would be about 2 metres from the inverter for hours at a time. Anything to worry about ? Am I in tin foil hat territory ?
Thank you for your considered feedback !
You don’t have anything to worry about. For a start there will be no energy from the solar panels going into it at night. Secondly, electronic devices must meet Australian standards for EMR emissions. There is no good evidence that exposure to at the permitted levels affect health. We can say that either it causes no harm or the harm is so small there are many other things we know are harmful we should worry about first.
I have one question. I have a dirty grit forming on my cars parked near my solar inverter and I believe this has only happened since I installed the inverter. Is this possible? Rgds
Hey Ronald,
My question is a little similar to JerryCan. My inverter it’s mounted on the garage wall and my office is directly on the other side, and my desk is against that wall (best spot as it looks out the window).
I am now working from home so sit barely an arms length from the inverter (through a wall) 8 hours a day … seems like a lot?? Can you shed some thoughts please.
Inverters and other electronic devices must meet Australian standards for EMF emissions, so if you have a laptop on your desk you’d likely be receiving far more EMF emissions from it. If you are still worried you can put up a magnetic whiteboard on the part of the wall which has the inverter on the other side as the steel sheet will block the EMF. Any similar thin metal will do.
Has anyone set up an electromagnetic shield and earthed it thru a milliwatt meter to find out what we are dealing with in this type of situation?
I recommend this to those frightened of 5G but nobody ever does it AFAIK.
There’s variables in many things in this world including how individuals body’s handle expose to something… be in a bee sting, peanuts, pain threshold, EMR. etc
We’ve got a 20 panel all with microinverters- system is rated at 9kw
To lessen EMR we did the following:
A combination of using great quality products
Using microinverters…as apposed to 1 central inverter (to have 20 weaker EMF points instead of 1 high point)
The system is set up that information from the panels/microinverters are sent over the power line (instead of wireless) to the
monitoring system (on an external concrete wall, in a room that doesn’t get used much during the day). Anything that could be hard wired was – including wired to our internet (completely cabled house – ie no wi-fi)
Our old type meter box was upgraded (to a smart meter) but as we’re on acreage is around 200 meters from our home
I only clean the gutters / wash panels late in the afternoon
Inside …using both gauss meter and electrosmog meter no real noticeable increase of either in the rooms
Electrosmog meter Tri reader
*Outside reading: average: 9.5 to 9.8, 9.8 max average mV/m (about 25 meters from house)
*At sitting height bedroom: average:7.7 -8.7, max average:9.5 (bedroom)
*Standing on bed – arms stretched to ceiling: average: 9.5 -12.5 , max average: 10.6 -14.5 mV/m – out of all place this one did fluctuate the most. I was doing multiple reading within this space (and again there might of been electrical cabling? behind the ceiling plaster board)
*At sitting height middle of lounge room (also panels above) –
average: 9.0 , max average: 9.5 mV/m
Gauss reading at PV Monitor:
On the internal wall of the monitoring system (ie not smart meter)
The very highest gauss meter reading was around 7 milligaus at around 7 cm from one small spot – I couldn’t do a meter reading against the wall itself as it was greater than the handheld meter could do. Reading was done around 11.45am Feb (no daylight saving, Qld) during full sun
Dropping to approx 2 at 20cm from the wall
At or below 1 around 25 cm (this last one is approx only as there was an object that’s to hard to move in the way)
Electrosmog small handheld (not as accurate or sensitive as tri meter)- reading:
Outside reading well away from house: 0.0005 – 0.0007 Mw/m2
At sitting height bedroom (panels above): 0.0005 Mw/m2 – 0.0006 Mw/m2
Standing on bed in this same roof with arm stretched out towards ceiling: 0.006 – .0007 Mw/m2 occassionally 0.008 Mw/m2 – this could of been electrical cabling ? in the ceiling as this device is also sensitive to this when held closer. I walked all over the Q sized bed trying to see if I could locate a microinverter (there are panels on the roof above bed )
At sitting height in middle of lounge room (panels above) 0.0005 Mw/m2
The above’s a bit of a ramble but I would of been interested in this before getting our solar panels
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION (EMR) POLLUTION
It must be under 25 GS (G S meter) (Graeme Stetzerizer) in Russia and US assessing the problem.
Electromagnetic pollution in the range 4 to 150 Khz which Russian research has shown to be the most dangerous is carried in your power supply
The amount of dirty electricity emanating from the wirings and strength of the radio frequency between 16 Hertz and 425 Mega Hertz. These frequencies radiate up to ten metres from the wires and dissipate into the body affecting DNA, brain and vital organs caused by high speed SCR (Soft Circuit Relays) from switch modes power supplies.
Some of the symptoms are excessive tiredness, dizziness, aching joints, headaches, consistent restless sleep, nausea, attention concentration disorders, flue like symptoms-sneezing-sinus, aches and pains.
Photographs of the GS Meter reading in the house and at the meter box with solar power on ‘1888 GS’ and then turned off ’48 GS’, it was from 1612 to over 1703 at every power point in the house and shed, when the solar was turned of it dropped to ’48 GF’ and less.