Questions inspectors settle

No — not by name. ESA Bulletin 64-5-4 Q7/A7 says labels must withstand the elements and be permanent and legible, and gives lamacoid, engraved metal plate, or equivalent as examples. Lamacoid is an accepted example, not a mandate. Manitoba Hydro is the one utility that names the product outright: its Informative Bulletin 64-0 states that all solar photovoltaic labels are required to be engraved lamacoids, red background with white lettering.

A grid-tied Ontario house on a string inverter takes about 21 plates. Microinverters drop it to 16, because there is no DC disconnect to label. Adding battery storage takes it to 24. Four plates is not a complete set for a Canadian install.

White lettering on a red background is the convention, and two authorities put it in writing. Saskatchewan's TSASK Appendix M requires a photovoltaic warning sign in capitals at least 9.5 mm high, white on red. Manitoba Hydro and Nova Scotia Power both require engraved plates, red background, white lettering. Elsewhere it is the accepted practice rather than a published rule, and some plates are deliberately not red — BC Hydro fixes its DG System Disconnect identifiers at black on white.

An Ontario house on a string inverter is $198.06 for 21 plates; microinverters are $166.15 for 16. Adding battery storage brings it to $241.38, and a commercial rooftop is $368.49. Build the kit on this site and the price updates as you answer. No minimum order and no account required.

One to three business days from approved artwork, shipping Canada-wide from Burlington, Ontario. No minimum order and no account required.

Less than most suppliers claim. ESA Bulletin 64-5-4 Q7/A7 says the Code gives no letter-size requirement — labels must be permanent and legible, nothing more. The widely quoted 9.5 mm capital height is Saskatchewan's, published by TSASK in Appendix M, which fixes both the height and the colour. We hold 9.5 mm as a shop floor everywhere and measure the engraved result rather than trusting a point size, but it is not a national mandate.

Because the DC circuit disappears. A string or central inverter means there is an accessible DC circuit, so you need the 64-200(1) DC disconnect ratings plate — a 6 by 8 inch, the most expensive single tag in the kit — plus the ungrounded-conductor warnings, and above 750 Vdc a DANGER plate on every enclosure carrying those circuits. Microinverters or AC modules remove all of that and add one AC-module system ratings plate. Same house, same array: 16 plates versus 21.

No — the opposite. BC Hydro fixes its DG System Disconnect identifiers at black lettering on white, 3.5 by 1 inch, under DGTIR-100. A red and white tag fails in BC Hydro territory. The CEC base tags stay white on red, so a British Columbia kit is cut on two different core stocks.

Yes, in two ways. Hydro-Québec E.12-01 labels are in French, and several of them are grommeted hang tags in black on white — lockout tags under CSA Z462 — rather than engraved plates. Read the installation location before cutting. E.12-05 and E.12-06 were withdrawn into E.12-01 Annexe E on 2025-11-17.

Only honestly, and only so far. Where the rule text permits two markings to share one plate we take it, and a service-only re-label is a real seven-plate order rather than a full kit. Below that the lever is a stock pre-nested SKU with no per-job layout, not fewer required plates.

Yes — Canada-wide from Burlington, Ontario. The catalogue covers every province and territory, including the BC Hydro black-on-white rows and the French Hydro-Québec set.

No. No minimum, no setup fee and no account required. A single 4 by 1 inch disconnect tag is a real order and it still gets cut.

An engraved two-layer laminate — commonly called a lamacoid. A coloured cap over a contrasting core; the engraver cuts through the cap so the legend is the layer underneath. There is no ink or adhesive to fade, curl or wash off, which is why it survives on a south-facing wall.