Module Grounding [RE-wrenches]

[sunwise]

William Miller wrote:

It doesn't say anything in the code about a special listing requirement.
Unless I hear a good argument against the practice of using a rack for a
ground path, I am going to transition to that practice.


Greetings William et al,

I am out of town and don't have my NEC along, but I thought that every
panel was required to be hit with the ground wire and that it had to be
done in such a way so that the removal of any one module from the array
will not un-ground any other module in the array.  Regarding the
individual grounding, the story I heard was that it had to do with the
anodizing of the module frames?  

It sure would be nice to just ground the rack and mast, although I
wouldn't rely on the concrete surrounding a mast to provide a good
ground path, especially with the paint on the mast.

My current practice is to take the same continuous ground wire (#4 or 6
stranded, depending) to each panel, then to the rack, then the mast,
then down to a rod at the mast (outside the rain "shadow" of the array)
then to another rod at the house, then into the building to a single
connection to the DC negative leg, like at the DC bonding block if
useing a Trace DC disconnect.  I also bond to the utility and/or
invertered AC panels as well as the usual equipment grounds.

When I make the ground connections to the individual panels, I separate
the strands of the ground wire and shoot a self-drilling, self-taping
screw between the strands and into the module frame with a S.S. washer
on the screw.  I have heard these screws don't meet code, but it seems
more like grounding overkill to me.  Comments or personal grounding
methods?  

Kurt Nelson
SOLutions

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