[RE-wrenches] GEC sizing for a high amp, low voltage PV system with microinverters

[Aladdin Solar]

Yes, Jay, this is a TenKSolar system -- they certainly do have a habit of taking the 'thinking outside the box' approach!

The microinverter manufacturer states in their installation manual, "Connect the grounding electrode conductor to the microinverter ground clamp" so it's quite clear we are dealing with GEC rules.

Thanks for all your comments and the reminder of the NEC 250.166(C) exception which I hadn't really connected with before. 

I'm having difficulty understanding what the requirement in that paragraph actually means. When it states "that portion of the grounding electrode conductor that is the sole connection to the grounding electrode shall not be required to be larger than 6AWG..." -- what does "that portion" and "sole connection" mean? If we have a number of GEC branches from that are irreversably spliced to a single 6AWG conductor bonded to the grounding electrode, do those various GECs affect the "that portion" and "sole connection" at all?

Charlie Pickard
NABCEP Certified PV Installation Professional T
Aladdin Solar, LLC
 

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Bill Brooks 
  To: 'RE-wrenches' 
  Sent: Wednesday, September 18, 2013 2:42 PM
  Subject: Re: [RE-wrenches] GEC sizing for a high amp,low voltage PV system with microinverters


  Nick,

   

  Thanks for the clarification-it is a mysterious threaded hole..

   

  Bill.

   

  From: re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org [mailto:re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org] On Behalf Of Nick Soleil
  Sent: Wednesday, September 18, 2013 10:19 AM
  To: RE-wrenches
  Subject: Re: [RE-wrenches] GEC sizing for a high amp, low voltage PV system with microinverters

   

  Hi Bill and wrenches,

  To clarify, our new Enphase M250 microinverter does not have a grounding terminal.  The grounding of the M250 will be provided through the Engage cable.  We only have a hole in the lid, in the rare case that a lug will be desired or required by the AHJ, but we do not provide the grounding clip with the microinverter.  A grounding terminal can be added to the microinverter.  We have an application note on alternate grounding methods for the M250, if needed.

   

 

  __________ Information from ESET NOD32 Antivirus, version of virus signature database 8815 (20130918) __________

  The message was checked by ESET NOD32 Antivirus.

  http://www.eset.com



------------------------------------------------------------------------------


  _______________________________________________
  List sponsored by Home Power magazine

  List Address: RE-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org

  Change email address & settings:
  http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org

  List-Archive: http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org

  List rules & etiquette:
  www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm

  Check out participant bios:
  www.members.re-wrenches.org




  __________ Information from ESET NOD32 Antivirus, version of virus signature database 8815 (20130918) __________

  The message was checked by ESET NOD32 Antivirus.

  http://www.eset.com




__________ Information from ESET NOD32 Antivirus, version of virus signature database 8817 (20130918) __________

The message was checked by ESET NOD32 Antivirus.

http://www.eset.com

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org/attachments/20130918/68e00cb9/attachment-0003.html>