[RE-wrenches] Sol-Ark 15k solar panel frame grounding

Wed Jun 5 13:22:19 PDT 2024

White PV wire was something we used to sell often, but that demand has dropped off in the last 5 years or so and always wondered why.
Thanks for sharing William

Sunny Regards,
[Description: Description: PV-Cables_Logo_Transparent_Bkgnd_140x140]

Bryan Norkunas
PV-Cables Inc.
989 Milton Ave Ste 1D
Ferndale CA 95536
(707) 923-3000 office
www.pv-cables.com<http://www.pv-cables.com/>

 [cid:image002.jpg at 01DA17CF.578FC540]  Please print only if necessary.

NOTE: This email message and any attachments are for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and/or privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by replying to this email, and destroy all copies of the original message.

________________________________
From: RE-wrenches <re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org> on behalf of William Miller via RE-wrenches <re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org>
Sent: Wednesday, June 5, 2024 12:53:52 PM
To: RE-wrenches <re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org>
Cc: William Miller <william at millersolar.com>
Subject: Re: [RE-wrenches] Sol-Ark 15k solar panel frame grounding

Friends:

On a related subject, I was researching the question: What color should my grounded PV conductor be?

History:

In the beginning, negative leads were always black.

When it became apparent that negative PV leads were indeed grounded, the requirement to have them white or grey became enforced per 200.6(A)(3).

When transformerless inverters were implemented it was assumed the negative was floating, so white/grey was no longer acceptable.

Then the NEC recognized that some leads were kind of grounded, not solidly, but through some components, either OCPD, resistors, sensor or a combination.  A new term was created,  functionally grounded.  This grounding was most often done to implement ground fault detection and interruption, or GFDI.  I always assumed that if PV equipment had GFDI it had to feature a grounded polarity, most often indirectly, or functionally.

Grounded conductors need to be white or grey.  Therefore we are back to needing grey/white, most often for the negative lead.

I wanted to verify if the Sol-Arc PV inputs established a grounded lead.  They have GFDI so I assumed it likely they did.  In order to verify, I called Sol-Arc.  Their tech support had no idea what I was talking about.  They did not know the term functionally grounded and could not verify if their equipment established a ground connection, solid or otherwise, to either polarity.

This distinction applies here because it may help determine what is causing the GFDI fault.  I can’t tell you for sure if one side of the PV circuit is functionally grounded, but if it is, grounding it elsewhere will defeat the GFDI and may cause nuisance tripping.

Does anyone know if Sol-Arc PV inputs have a functional ground bond?

Side note:  I called my local Greentech distributor, who sells plenty of Sol-Arc inverters and asked if they carried white PV wire.  They said none of their customers are asking for white PV wire.  I suspect they should be using white for negative leads.  I can’t confirm that because Sol-Arc can’t tell me it the PV circuits are functionally grounded or not.  Frustrating!

Fortunately the manual for Outback charge controllers specifically says the negative lead is functionally grounded.  So if you are installing Outback CCs you must use white or grey.  PV-Cables sells white PV wire.

Confusing?  Yeah, a bit.  But as my local roofing companies say:  “Solar?  It can’t be that complicated!”

William Miller

Miller Solar

17395 Oak Road, Atascadero, CA 93422

805-438-5600

www.millersolar.com<http://www.millersolar.com/>

CA Lic. 773985

From: RE-wrenches [mailto:re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org<mailto:re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org>] On Behalf Of Jason Szumlanski via RE-wrenches
Sent: Wednesday, June 5, 2024 6:02 AM
To: RE-wrenches
Cc: Jason Szumlanski
Subject: [RE-wrenches] Sol-Ark 15k solar panel frame grounding

Can anybody clarify the following instruction from the manual?

"GND the panel MOUNTS/FRAMES to any GND outside the circuit via 12AWG wire"

Does this mean do not connect the array equipment grounding conductor to the grounding terminal in the inverter? Where would be the suggested place to connect the equipment grounding conductor, and why does it make a difference? It would still be electrically bonded to the grounding terminal in the inverter.

I'm asking because I do, in fact, have an equipment grounding conductor from the array connected to the ground terminal in the inverter at a home. I am getting an F08 GFDI fault. The manual doesn't say anything about the DC side with respect to this error. It suggests it is an AC current leakage to ground. But Sol-Ark tech support suggested that I disconnect the PV to rule it out as a source of the fault.

Jason Szumlanski

Florida Solar Design Group
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org/attachments/20240605/2cad80f1/attachment.htm>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: 2BF9EA7093754B829E681FC31ADC48D8[26300658].png
Type: image/png
Size: 20475 bytes
Desc: 2BF9EA7093754B829E681FC31ADC48D8[26300658].png
URL: <http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org/attachments/20240605/2cad80f1/attachment.png>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: F62801A471DC410C815725A0E910CFC7[26300659].jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 1367 bytes
Desc: F62801A471DC410C815725A0E910CFC7[26300659].jpg
URL: <http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org/attachments/20240605/2cad80f1/attachment.jpg>