Placement of lightning rods [RE-wrenches]

Bill Brooks billbrooks7 at earthlink.net
Tue Mar 6 20:10:09 PST 2001


It all depends on the ratings of the equipment. Polyphaser is a well-known
company in this field, but unless the Transient Voltage Suppression (TVSs)
is specifically designed for the equipment it is protecting, external
devices are simply an add-on stop-gap measure. Our industry has not put much
effort into this area and has reaped the consequences. A very large
percentage of Trace returns are surge related, yet they still have yet to
deal with the problem. If you are not using some type of surge protection,
particularly in high lightning areas, you should expect to be returning
units on a regular basis. Even with all the best ideas, you will be
returning equipment from time to time.

You could always become an expert on TVSs, but who wants to do that. So
bottom line is ground the heck out of every metallic part, use SOVs and
whatever else you can find (do a anti-lightning dance around the array), and
add lightning towers if you are on a fully exposed site.

Bill.


-----Original Message-----
From: David Palumbo, Independent Power & Light [mailto:ipl at sover.net]
Sent: Tuesday, March 06, 2001 10:49 AM
To: RE-wrenches at topica.com
Subject: RE: Placement of lightning rods [RE-wrenches]



Solar Ray wrote...
 <<Lightning is the the number one real danger from my
experience. Delta Lighting arrestors are fairly ineffective for equipment
protection. Their clamp off voltage is just too high. >>

We had serious lightning damage on a large system last summer. We brought in
a Lightning Protection Professional (UL Certified). He does not feel that
Delta's SOV's are effective. Here is a direct quote from his written report
to the homeowner.
	"While most installers have completely ignored lightning protection, your
system is well grounded, with grounding interconnected between panels and
buildings, and lightning arrestors installed. While the existing Delta
lightning arrestors would probably prevent a fire starting from lightning
hitting the PV panels, they are not nearly sensitive enough to protect the
sensitive components in the Kohler generator, PV charge controllers, and the
power inverters. Unfortunately , with PV systems being a relatively small,
young industry, there are not many choices for protecting them. The
lightning arrestor/surge suppresser industry is also small and young, with
few standards or regulations. I have often heard negative comments about
Delta, and have opened them up to be unimpressed with the findings.
Recently, I obtained their catalog, checked out their website, and spoke
with their representatives. I can now confidently say these are inadequate
to protect your system from lightning. Enclosed with this report is
information about a Polyphaser protector. Polyphaser has been making
protectors for many years, to protect military and communication operations
that are hit by lightning repeatedly, while suffering little or no damage."
....Will Priestley, Priestley Lightning Protection, 1280 Cape Moonshine
Road, Piermont, NH 03779 Ph #(603)764-5504voice, 9314 fax.

David Palumbo

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- - - - - - -
To send a message:
 RE-wrenches at topica.com

The archive of previous messages: 
 http://www.topica.com/lists/RE-wrenches/

List rules & etiquette:
 http://www.mrsharkey.com/wrenches/etiquete.htm

To unsubscribe send a message to: 
 RE-wrenches-unsubscribe at topica.com

To check out the other RE-Wrench participants:
 www.mrsharkey.com/wrenches/index.html

Hosted by Home Power magazine: 
 www.homepower.com

For info contact list moderator by email:
 michael.welch at homepower.com

____________________________________________________________
T O P I C A  -- Learn More. Surf Less. 
Newsletters, Tips and Discussions on Topics You Choose.
http://www.topica.com/partner/tag01




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