Originally posted by DanS26
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Grounding a solar panel
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If you just want one panel and a battery for emergency power why even attach it to the house and hassle with permitting, code, etc. Set it next to the house, put the electronics in an outdoor enclosure, and keep it isolated and forget it. Run an extension cord indoors as needed.
You could buy massive amounts of emergency batteries, think 18650 battery banks, that would run cells, LEDs, and flashlights for weeks for the cost of making a single solar panel and battery setup permitted and compliant.Comment
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Originally posted by ImInPhxAZ View PostIf you just want one panel and a battery for emergency power why even attach it to the house and hassle with permitting, code, etc. Set it next to the house, put the electronics in an outdoor enclosure, and keep it isolated and forget it. Run an extension cord indoors as needed.
You could buy massive amounts of emergency batteries, think 18650 battery banks, that would run cells, LEDs, and flashlights for weeks for the cost of making a single solar panel and battery setup permitted and compliant.Comment
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Originally posted by swbrains View PostI know the wire through the attic (which I will remove tomorrow regardless) is unfortunately not long enough to go from rod "B" to near the rear patio roof (where I would mount the panel. I do have another length of #4 that I was planning to use between the proposed rod "D" and existing rod "C". The two together could possibly make it from the opposite side of the patio roof (about 20 feet north of the panel location in my diagram) to rod "B". But they'd need to be connected somehow in between there which would likely be yet another ground rod, or perhaps a thermal weld or irreversible crimp.
No, I hadn't been thinking about grounding the DC system -- is it actually an option or is it required for this type of setup?
If the whole system were "floating" with no grounding whatsoever, then would the surge from a lightning strike near the panels be more likely to send high current *into* the house through the pos/neg power wires that come from the solar panel through the attic to the charge controller and inverter?
If the panels are floating (unconnected to ground in any way), how can current flow? Current requires a closed circuit.
Yeah, my (code friendly) suggestion would be to put rod D on the same side of the house as A and B. Use your existing #4 connected to C to connect the PV frame to D. Use your short piece of #4 to connect D to B or A.
If it were my house, I'd leave the PV system completely ungrounded and isolated from anything that might possibly connect to the house wiring, but I can *not* suggest that as advice.Last edited by sensij; 11-29-2017, 09:35 PM.CS6P-260P/SE3000 - http://tiny.cc/ed5ozxComment
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Originally posted by sensij View Post
A floating system is fine, just remember to fuse both the DC+ and DC- side of the battery.
If the panels are floating (unconnected to ground in any way), how can current flow? Current requires a closed circuit.
Yeah, my (code friendly) suggestion would be to put rod D on the same side of the house as A and B. Use your existing #4 connected to C to connect the PV frame to D. Use your short piece of #4 to connect D to B or A.
If it were my house, I'd leave the PV system completely ungrounded and isolated from anything that might possibly connect to the house wiring, but I can *not* suggest that as advice.
Unfortunately I don't think either of the existing #4 wires that I have will make it from A/B to D if D is anywhere in the back yard.near the panel. I'd need to splice them to make it the full distance, but that creates another issue. Of course, if I had an electrician come out to drive the new ground rod, I guess he could do the irreversible splice as well at the same time.
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Do have an issue with the two ground rods being bonded via a wire through the attic?
There are mechanical grounding, of the frames and racks, and the grounding of the wiring system.
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