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Hey Bob ! Hi from the west side of the hill.<br>
<br>
This seems like an easy one... Well, maybe...<br>
<br>
One a dry day, take a garden hose and spray different parts of the
system and see if you can<br>
duplicate the problem and locate where the water makes it trip.<br>
<br>
But you may have to wait a while for each spot sprayed to let it
fault out before spraying<br>
another spot. That's how I'd start out.<br>
<br>
This also seems kind of weird in a way because of the current
necessary for that breaker<br>
to trip. What ? 1/2 amp or 1.0 amp or so.... That's not a real
small amount for rain.<br>
I bet something is rusty or corroded or something like that. Please
let us know what<br>
you find !!<br>
<br>
boB<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
On 5/22/2012 7:36 PM, Bob Clark wrote:
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<p class="MsoNormal">Wrenches:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Sorry to bring up this situation again, but
I could not find a previous discussion thread that talked
about step-by-step procedures for tracking down ground faults
(I believe it was John Berdner who provided the bulk of the
writing in that regard and it related to high voltage
strings—not that 75-85 volts per string is all that low).<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">We have an Outback FLEXpower Two system
with 8, 3-module strings (Silicon Energy 190W, 25.3Vmp<span
style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">,
</span>7.5 Imp) combined in a Midnite Solar MNPV12 combiner
with breakers. The cables from the array are routed to two
different Wiley 4-string pass-through boxes (located under the
two center strings) and then off of the roof and into the PV
combiner.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Up until this week the system has seen
several weeks of awesome power production. Yesterday, the
rains came and the GFDI breaker tripped. Every time it rains,
the little green breaker on the GFDI trips off. That tells me
that the ground fault is occurring in a place where at least
one of the conductors on one of the strings (possibly more) is
getting wet and conducting current to ground.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">It would seem to me that the most likely
place for moisture to cause a ground fault to occur in this
system would be in the pass-through boxes. This would mean
removing the central modules to access the pass-through boxes.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Any of you who have mounted the Silicon
Energy modules know that the cables are contained in trays
along the side of the modules until they are routed through
conduit to the pass-through boxes. So, if there is current
going to ground from any of these cables, it could even be
occurring in any of the 9 trays along side of the modules. I
do not like the idea of tracking down a ground fault in one of
these trays as they are all interconnected.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">How best (and safely) to track down where
the ground fault is occurring? Any advice as to the best and
safest way to track down the ground fault(s) would be greatly
appreciated.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span
style="font-family:Papyrus;color:#E36C0A">Bob Clark<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><i><span
style="font-family:Papyrus;color:#E36C0A">SolarWind
Energy Systems, LLC<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></p>
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