[RE-wrenches] Small, non-UL listed direct PV grid-tie inverters and UL 1741

Marv Dargatz Marv.Dargatz at solaredge.com
Sat Mar 26 09:13:30 PDT 2011


All utility interactive inverters must be connected to a DEDICATED branch circuit.  NO LOADS on the inverter side of the OCPD.

Not to mention that it is the UL1741 listing process that verifies personnel, property, and utility protection from injury, shock, and fire.  This kind of stuff from China (and elsewhere) scares the Heck outta me.  Somebody's gonna burn a house down and the whole PV industry is going to be blamed.


See ya!

Marv
Director of Technology and Support, North America
SolarEdge Technologies, Inc.
Tech Support Mobile:  +530.798.6770
Mobile: +530.392.0356


-----Original Message-----
From: re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org [mailto:re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org] On Behalf Of Dan Fink
Sent: Saturday, March 26, 2011 9:07 AM
To: RE-wrenches
Subject: [RE-wrenches] Small, non-UL listed direct PV grid-tie inverters and UL 1741

Hello esteemed Wrenches;

I have been absolutely swamped with inquiries about small, non-UL listed (or "UL listing pending") direct PV grid-tie inverters in the last few weeks. It appears they are arriving in a flood from China and being sold on Ebay, and by other online retailers. They are also being incorporated into home solar products, such as window coverings that have PV cells on the outside, portable PV systems for renters to reduce their bills, etc.

The common theme here is that these devices "plug into any wall outlet and reduce your utility bill."

My questions for the group are;

~ Can any energy-generating device, even if it *was* UL 1741 listed, comply with the NEC if it plugs into a wall outlet instead of being hard-wired to the breaker panel? For example, a homeowner wiring a 120VAC plug onto an Enphase and running the cord in through the window.

~ An argument raised by one distributer of these inverters was, "Well, here in (minnesota) the customer owns all the wiring in their house up to the utility feed. So they can plug in anything they want into the house outlets, whether UL listed or not, as long as they don't have a net metering agreement with the utility...because this inverter does not sell electricity to the utility, it only compensates for house usage."
Doesn't 1741 still apply here?

~ What about latching meters? I understand that some types of utility meter will count all generation from the house circuits as electricity used.

~ Does this stuff scare you folks as badly as it scares me? Sounds like the double-male 120VAC plugs from Y2K.

I sure would appreciate some clarification on UL 1741 from the group, though....specifically regarding plugging generation equipment of any sort into a wall outlet.

--
Dan Fink
Executive Director;
Buckville Energy Consulting
Buckville Publications LLC
NABCEP / IREC / ISPQ accredited Continuing Education Providers http://www.buckville.com/ info at buckville.com
970.672.4342 (voicemail)
970.373.1311 (fax)

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