Visual Inspections on SolarGain Mobile

Visual Inspections on SolarGain Mobile

Introduction

Visual inspections allow the user to take pictures and add comments of any element spotted on site. This feature is only available for PV plants with SolarGain PRO. 

To access SolarGain Mobile inspections, first select which solar farm you wish to open and access, and then click on "Inspections" at the bottom left hand corner of the screen (image below).



Inspections have a similar interface to Task List, there is a Map and a List view. The Map view is used to select and identify the elements desired to inspect, and on the other hand, the List view contains the elements inspected so far, where the user can edit and decide which of them should be finally uploaded into the portal.

Please note that once items are uploaded into the portal, the inspection items are removed from the mobile app. They can be viewed and added to Task Lists from the portal. We are planning to the ability to add Inspections to Task List in the mobile app in the future.

Map View

Map View enables users to view the Digital Twin of their sites and view all the pictures already taken with the mobile device. On the Inspections Map view you should be able to see:
  1. Piles 
  2. Tables 
  3. Modules 
  4. Trackers 
  5. Transformers 
  6. Inverters 
  7. Combiner boxes 
  8. Substations 
  9. Batteries 
  10. Cables 
  11. Fences 
  12. Roads 
On top of that, you should be able to see:
  1. The location of all the images you have already taken and not yet uploaded - the blue pins
  2. Your position on site (GPS location), if you are in Online Mode - the blue circle



You can at anytime click on the "Pins" to edit the items you have already captured but not yet uploaded to the SolarGain portal.

The Map View is normally set on "Default" but this can be changed by clicking the "Satellite View", the button highlighted below.



There is also a "GPS button", which you can use to centre the Map to your current position on site (highlighted in green below). Finally, if you wish to add an item to your inspection, please click on "Add Item". How to proceed from there is explained later on.


List View

List View shows all the items that have already captured on site and that are yet to be uploaded to SolarGain, with a highlight of the item's information:
  1. Image
  2. Type
    1. Marker - Not attached to any component
    2. Any attached components
  3. Category
  4. Sub-Category
  5. Rating
You can at anytime click one of the lines in the List View to edit the items you have already captured, but not yet uploaded to the SolarGain portal.



How to do a visual inspection?

Select the Item

When in the Map or List view, press Add Item. Automatically, a crosshair will appear in the centre of the screen. Drag and zoom on the map to position the crosshair over the desired item to inspect. When you leave the crosshair over an item, the software will recognize it, displaying its name above the "Confirm" button. For better field location, you can always click the GPS button.



Overlaying Components

If the component selected has overlaying components, there will be an intermediary screen which will list the choices of components to select. Once selecting one of the components on this screen, you will be taken to the Item Details screen (see next section).


Add Item Details

Once the item has been selected after pressing the "Confirm" button, a new window will appear where you can fill in various fields to classify the item. At least 1 image is required, and all the other fields are optional.
  1. Type. Type of element selected, it can be any selected component or just a GPS coordinate point "marker" within the map.
  2. Category/Sub-Category. We have created a generic list of categories/sub-categories which you can use. You can also send us your preferred categories/sub-categories, which we can easily incorporate so that you can use them with SolarGain Mobile.

  1. Rating. You can select a rating to associate to the item:
    1. Not Applicable (N/A) - 0 stars
    2. Poor - 1 star
    3. Below Average - 2 stars
    4. Average - 3 stars
    5. Good - 4 stars
    6. Excellent - 5 stars

  1. Serial Number. You can scan the serial number of the component selected.

  1. Description. You can type in a description of the item spotted.

  1. Image. You can add as many pictures as desired, either from the camera or the gallery.


Press "Save" button when details are fulfilled.
After creating and saving a visual inspection item, you will be taken again to the Map view. Repeat this process as many times as you wish to capture all the information you need.

Upload Inspections

Once you have finished your inspection on site, you can upload them to the SolarGain portal. Once you press Upload, a new window will pop up where the user can select the desired items to upload. After doing so, the elements will be sent and stored into the portal by pressing the Upload button.



Once uploaded, there will be an uploading and final confirmation message stating upload success. The map pins and rows in the list view will disappear after the items are successfully uploaded into the portal.


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