[RE-wrenches] TC-ER Cable for PV Source Curcuit

[Jason Szumlanski]

Subtitle: can you please burn my house down?

I ran across a home with a complete mess of TC-ER Cable used for DC
circuits operating at ~450V. I know you can't run TC-ER in conduit unless
it has an EGC in the cable jacket, and you certainly can't suspend it from
the ceiling like in the attached pictures, but it got me thinking...

Would it be acceptable to use TC-ER between array sections where not
subject to physical damage and where properly secured, supported, and
terminated? I know the answers are going to come back as why not just use
Type PV, or THWN in conduit, and do it "right," but I'm still curious. I
have a feeling I'm going to find a whole lot more TC-ER on this island
where a guy had free reign with no AHJ inspections. I found a neighbor with
TC-ER running unprotected and improperly supported through an attic with a
green THWN EGC following alongside. The TC-ER just pokes through the roof
with some goop around it. I really don't want to touch these systems
without correcting egregious fire safety issues. It's tough making that
argument to people when their house hasn't burned down for the last X years
since it was installed.

P.S. Yes, in the lower right of one of these images, those are the battery
cables running outdoors, completely unprotected from physical damage. Total
hack job.



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/20250531/47120d3d/attachment-0001.htm>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: 1000063530.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 154916 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org/attachments/20250531/47120d3d/attachment-0002.jpg>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: 1000063529.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 156228 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org/attachments/20250531/47120d3d/attachment-0003.jpg>