Rapid shutdowns de-energize panels?

[Burningislove]

I had my rooftop array installed in Massachusetts 2 years ago (mid 2015). I have all the rapid shutdown switches & inverter external to the house.

Question.... Does the rapid shutdown de-energize the panels themselves, or only the conduits to the inverter and to the main AC panel? Thinking about first responders in the event of a fire during the day.

[Mike90250]

panels ALWAYS produce voltage with light. The rapid shutdown systems disconnect somewhere on the roof top

[peakbagger]

There should be a combiner box on the roof where the wiring from the panels transitions to conduit. Its likely that the RSD is located in the combiner box. The NEC is definitely pushing to get the panel wiring to deenergize all the way to the module. Folks with microinverters on the back of their panels effectively are already there. The bummer is microinverters add cost to the system sometimes its justified for systems with shading but for a system without it, its extra money.

[ButchDeal]

I had my rooftop array installed in Massachusetts 2 years ago (mid 2015). I have all the rapid shutdown switches & inverter external to the house.

Question.... Does the rapid shutdown de-energize the panels themselves, or only the conduits to the inverter and to the main AC panel? Thinking about first responders in the event of a fire during the day.

If you have rapid shutdown it meets the code requirements. Are you sure you have rapid shutdown on a 2 year old one and not just a DC disconnect?
What model inverter do you have?

[Burningislove]

If you have rapid shutdown it meets the code requirements. Are you sure you have rapid shutdown on a 2 year old one and not just a DC disconnect?
What model inverter do you have?

Yes. It was in the project plan & in my permit application. The fire marshal also came by and verified. Inverter is a SE 7600-US. The RSD box is in the attic by the roof edge before it transitions to the conduit coming down the side of the house. It took 3 weeks from installation completion until I got the go-ahead to flip the system on, most of that time waiting for all the approvals. Not surprisingly, the utility (NGrid) took the longest as they required me to switch out my analog meter for a smart meter.

I miss my analog meter, it was a simple, real-time indicator of whether I was putting power on or drawing power from the grid. I don't have another way at present of measuring this in real-time.

[ButchDeal]

Yes. It was in the project plan & in my permit application. The fire marshal also came by and verified. Inverter is a SE 7600-US. The RSD box is in the attic by the roof edge before it transitions to the conduit coming down the side of the house. It took 3 weeks from installation completion until I got the go-ahead to flip the system on, most of that time waiting for all the approvals. Not surprisingly, the utility (NGrid) took the longest as they required me to switch out my analog meter for a smart meter.

I miss my analog meter, it was a simple, real-time indicator of whether I was putting power on or drawing power from the grid. I don't have another way at present of measuring this in real-time.

If it is solaredge there should not be any RSD box, the optimizers take care of it. Maybe you are confusing a junction box.

with solaredge the entire system is reduced to save voltage.

[Burningislove]

If it is solaredge there should not be any RSD box, the optimizers take care of it. Maybe you are confusing a junction box.

with solaredge the entire system is reduced to save voltage.

It probably is (a junction). Everything except the inverter is "black box" from my perspective, I havent opened up any parts of the system except the inverter.

I read somewhere, not sure if it's applicable, that in a RSD situation the optimizers reduce the voltage to ~30V (non-lethal) in order to protect first responders. Wasn't sure if this is true or not.

[ButchDeal]

It probably is (a junction). Everything except the inverter is "black box" from my perspective, I havent opened up any parts of the system except the inverter.

I read somewhere, not sure if it's applicable, that in a RSD situation the optimizers reduce the voltage to ~30V (non-lethal) in order to protect first responders. Wasn't sure if this is true or not.

SolarEdge meets all rapid shutdown standards. Each optimizer shuts down to 1V each with a total system voltage under 30V for residential.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBGLlPFpTSU