[RE-wrenches] Pass through/transition box for Enphase

August Goers august at luminalt.com
Thu Aug 11 07:03:38 PDT 2016


Hopefully manufacturers will steer away from supplying fine stranded wires
with their trunk cables – it’s been a joke trying to fine the proper listed
reasonably priced parts to make these connections. I bet that a huge
percentage of the installs out there are not meeting the listing for fine
stranded conductors.



That said, we use ferrules on the individual fine stranded conductors and
then make the splices with the Ideal/Buchanan splice caps. This particular
combo was presented in the SunPower ACPV instruction document and says it
is listed for their class K conductors. I haven’t looked up the listing
documents myself (at least recently) since this was presented in the
manufacturer’s manual. As I posted before, the Ideal splice caps are the
bomb! We love them and I’d highly recommend checking them out if you
haven’t already.



Best,



August

Luminalt



*From:* RE-wrenches [mailto:re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org] *On
Behalf Of *Glenn Burt
*Sent:* Wednesday, August 10, 2016 8:44 PM
*To:* RE-wrenches
*Subject:* Re: [RE-wrenches] Pass through/transition box for Enphase



The Ideal website for the Buchanan splice has a link to the UL listing for
the product. It does not list it for use with anything other than standard
stranded conductors.
If it is not part of the listing, it is not approved for that use,
regardless of historical or anecdotal use.
That is what the NEC says, and what the UL listing says and the UL
specification for their listing says.
------------------------------

*From: *Brian Teitelbaum <bteitelbaum at aeesolar.com>
*Sent: *‎8/‎10/‎2016 22:48
*To: *RE-wrenches <re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org>
*Subject: *Re: [RE-wrenches] Pass through/transition box for Enphase

Jeremy,



Without digging into the specs on the Ideal connectors, I doubt that they
will work with fine-stranded wire.



The problem with these types of connectors is that the set screw that you
turn to tighten the connection is in direct contact with the wire strands.
As you tighten it, it rubs the strands in a circular motion, which will
stretch, flatten, and tear the strands. It would work fine if you use
ferrules, but not without them.



Terminals that are rated for direct use with fine-stranded wire would have
a clamping-type terminal, where the screw used to tighten the connection
pushes down on a solid piece of metal which then clamps the wire. Even in
this case, it may still not be approved for fine-stranded wire depending on
its design.



The Buchanan splices should be fine. They are basically the same as a
ferrule, except that they are crimped with a crimping tool instead of the
pressure from tightening a screw in a bus bar. The crimping tool is not in
direct contact with the wire strands, so there is no tearing or other
damage to the wire. However, the spec sheet does not specify the acceptable
wire types, and I can’t seem to find anything with a Google search. It
might be worth contacting Buchanan/Ideal to see if they have better info.



Brian Teitelbaum

AEE Solar



*From:* RE-wrenches [mailto:re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org] *On
Behalf Of *Jeremy Rodriguez
*Sent:* Wednesday, August 10, 2016 6:32 PM
*To:* RE-wrenches
*Subject:* Re: [RE-wrenches] Pass through/transition box for Enphase



How about these?

https://idealind.com/us/en/products/wire-termination/set-screw-connectors/set-screw-connectors/set-screw-wire-connectors.aspx

Jeremy Rodriguez

Solar Installation And Design Expert

All Solar, Inc.

1463 M St

Penrose Colorado 81240



Sent by Jeremy's iPhone. Sorry for typos and shorthand!


On Aug 8, 2016, at 2:00 PM, Benn Kilburn <benn at skyfireenergy.com> wrote:

Din rail mounted terminal blocks.... Weidmuler WDU6 or WDU10, depending on
the wire size you are using.

Benn Kilburn

SkyFire Energy Inc.

780-906-7807


On Aug 8, 2016, at 12:49 PM, Jason Szumlanski <
jason at floridasolardesigngroup.com> wrote:

I'm looking to bring 8 Enphase 240V circuits in multiple conduits into an
enclosure inside the attic where I can transition to Romex. I'd rather use
some kind of rail mounted terminals in an enclosure or something rather
than making splices in a generic j-box. I'm not looking to combine circuits
- just transition from THWN to Romex and keep things neat an organized.



Any sugg



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