[RE-wrenches] GEC for Enphase inverters

R Ray Walters ray at solarray.com
Tue Sep 14 22:09:24 PDT 2010


It seems to me that William's original question of where does the EGC stop, and the GEC begin, all depends on whether the Enphase inverters bond negative to ground internally.
Did we ever get an answer from Enphase?
If they don't, then I think by definition in article 100, we would only have an EGC (no DC GEC, since neither DC conductor is grounded). 
If they do bond neg. to ground, then from the inverter all the way to the electrode should be an "unbroken" DC GEC, and stopping at the main service ground buss would constitute a prohibited reversible connection. (it seems we should at least bond irreversibly to the AC GEC after it leaves the buss, or sink another electrode for the DC GEC and the array frame as required by 690.47(D))

Please, somebody flog me with some facts and code, so we can put this dying horsey to bed.

R. Walters
ray at solarray.com
Solar Engineer




On Sep 14, 2010, at 6:31 PM, August Goers wrote:

> Hi All -
>  
> I would just add that having a good c-tap crimping tool on hand is just about as valuable as it gets in the solar business. I remember holding off on getting one because of the $200 or $300 price tag but once you have it you won't believe you lived without it. The possibilities are almost endless, but we use our crimpers to bond our GECs to the other existing GECs all the time. Ctaps almost always replace wire nuts when dealing with bare copper EGCs. The c-taps typically cost less than $5 a pop and always save that much on labor. Most time when we have a multiple string inverter installation is makes sense to irreversibly crimp the GECs together and run one wire back home.  
>  
> Greenlee, Panduit, etc make good tools and taps. Let me know if you would like part numbers... -August
>  
> 
> 
>  
> On Tue, Sep 14, 2010 at 8:41 AM, Bill Brooks <billbrooks7 at yahoo.com> wrote:
> T
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