DC isolators are classified as Level 3 electrical equipment and must be certified and registered under the national Electrical Equipment Safety System (EESS).

As of the 29 September 2021, SAA Approvals has cancelled the certifications of certain DC isolators (list below). The registrations of these isolators were also cancelled from that date.

Suppliers must not supply or offer for sale these isolators until they are again certified and registered.

Investigations are under way to ascertain whether these isolators were tested by an approved laboratory to verify they meet the required ingress protection rating of IP56NW and the continuous thermal rating of 40 degrees. If they have not been tested, they will not be certified and registered as Level 3 equipment and will not be approved for use in Western Australia.

While Building and Energy has no evidence that any of the listed isolators is unsafe they may be subject to recall if they have not been type tested to meet the IP and thermal ratings.

Electrical contractors holding stocks of any of the listed isolators should not install them until they have been re-certified and re-registered. Other certified DC isolators should be installed meanwhile. Check the EESS website (www.eess.gov.au) to make sure the products you install are registered.

DC isolators have been the source of many fires and are the main cause of failure of solar PV installations. The safety issue involved here is significant.

DC isolators de-registered

A review of our records show that the following certificates have been affected and the certificates have now been cancelled.