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<div class="moz-cite-prefix">Andrew,<br>
All I am reporting is what I have observed. To claim anything more
would require a better crystal ball than I have. <br>
<br>
Re O&M, I recently completed a curriculum development project
(with some help and source material from Bill Brooks) for a
16-hour O&M course for a local community college's Workforce
Training Center program, as part of a federal grant to the school.
As I understand it, that will be in the public domain and
available to other schools. But it has nothing to do with
developing standardized O&M protocols beyond identifying a set
of best practices.<br>
<br>
Allan<br>
<br>
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<font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"><b>Allan Sindelar</b></font><br>
<small><a href="mailto:Allan@positiveenergysolar.com"><font
face="Times New Roman, Times, serif" color="#000099"><u>Allan@positiveenergysolar.com</u></font></a></small><font
face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"><br>
<span style="font-size: 10pt;">NABCEP Certified Photovoltaic
Installer<br>
NABCEP Certified Technical Sales Professional<br>
New Mexico EE98J Journeyman Electrician<br>
Founder and Chief Technology Officer<br>
<b>Positive Energy, Inc.</b><br>
3209 Richards Lane (note new address)<br>
Santa Fe, New Mexico 87507<br>
<b>505 424-1112</b><br>
<a href="http://www.positiveenergysolar.com/"
target="_blank"><u>www.positiveenergysolar.com</u></a><o:p></o:p></span></font>
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style=""><br>
</b></span></p>
<span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br>
</span> </div>
On 3/28/2013 11:14 AM, Andrew Truitt wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote
cite="mid:21714163-44BF-448D-9BB3-ACB0A3666F3B@gmail.com"
type="cite">
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<div>Interesting Allan. My understanding has been that its good
practice to shield even Sunlight Resistant conductors from UV,
but maybe that is not as important as I thought. Are you
confident that your exposed USE-2 insulation will hold up for
the full lifespan of the systems? What about compounding UV
damage with other environmental conditions like hail, wind
vibration, ice... There is also the question of damage from
wildlife. I am all for reducing installation costs and
learning from other trades and countries, however our systems
do have certain unique energy production characteristics and
should last 30+ years so there are cases when we do need to
take additional steps to maximize long-term safety. </div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Which reminds me: is anyone aware of any work being done to
develop standardized O&M protocols for commercial PV
systems?</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>- Andrew Truitt</div>
<div><br>
<br>
Sent from my iPhone</div>
<div><br>
On Mar 27, 2013, at 9:50 AM, Allan Sindelar <<a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:allan@positiveenergysolar.com">allan@positiveenergysolar.com</a>>
wrote:<br>
<br>
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<div class="moz-cite-prefix">Andrew,<br>
We have used #10 USE-2 for about 16 years, and our
high-elevation New Mexico sun is quite intense. I have yet
to see any degradation exceeding fading discoloration on
any conductors from that far back, even when directly
exposed to sunlight. No cracking, peeling, delaminating,
or hardening.<br>
Allan<br>
<br>
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charset=UTF-8">
<title></title>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"><b>Allan
Sindelar</b></font><br>
<small><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:Allan@positiveenergysolar.com"><font
face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"
color="#000099"><u>Allan@positiveenergysolar.com</u></font></a></small><font
face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"><br>
<span style="font-size: 10pt;">NABCEP Certified
Photovoltaic Installer<br>
NABCEP Certified Technical Sales Professional<br>
New Mexico EE98J Journeyman Electrician<br>
Founder and Chief Technology Officer<br>
<b>Positive Energy, Inc.</b><br>
3209 Richards Lane (note new address)<br>
Santa Fe, New Mexico 87507<br>
<b>505 424-1112</b><br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.positiveenergysolar.com/"
target="_blank"><u>www.positiveenergysolar.com</u></a><o:p></o:p></span></font>
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style="font-size: 10pt;"><font face="Times New
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style=""><br>
</b></span></p>
<span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br>
</span> </div>
On 3/27/2013 8:41 AM, Andrew Truitt wrote:<br>
</div>
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cite="mid:BA3C64AC-BFAD-4928-98FA-8493A7A21579@gmail.com"
type="cite">
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<div>Bill - What is your take in conductor insulation
degradation over time when exposed to UV? Regardless of
the "sunlight resistant" labeling, USE-2 (and I assume
PV wire though I haven't seen it yet) does show wear
after years of exposure to direct sunlight. Maybe best
practice would be to use cable trays where conductors
are shaded and [properly installed] conduit when exposed
to direct UV?</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>- Andrew Truitt</div>
<div><br>
<br>
Sent from my iPad</div>
<div><br>
On Mar 26, 2013, at 11:55 PM, "Bill Brooks" <<a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:billbrooks7@yahoo.com">billbrooks7@yahoo.com</a>>
wrote:<br>
<br>
</div>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D">William,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D">I
have all the respect in the world for you, but
I’m not referring to “basket tray”, which is
only appropriate for small conductors. I’m
talking about legitimate cable tray that can be
up to 12” wide and that has a top and rungs
every 12”. The main facilities that use it in
the United States are large industrial
facilities. Most electricians don’t get to work
with it. It is clearly superior to EMT and is at
least as good as IMC without all the hassle of
threaded fittings and setting up expansion
joints and worrying about 20 years of conductors
thermal cycling. Even the best electricians have
problems with this stuff.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D">I
am talking about projects with 800 foot long
feeder runs. We can bring them in the building
and build a rack for the conduit or run covered
tray outside. As the 2014 NEC will require, you
will have to use contactor combiners or some
other means to shut down the conductors inside a
building. It’s all doable. My recommendation
after seeing the aftermath of rooftop conduit by
good electricians is to put cable tray on roofs
and use conduit if you bring the feeders
indoors. It will become common practice soon.
Hopefully sooner than later.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D">Bill.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span
style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"">From:</span></b><span
style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"">
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:re-wrenches-bounces@lists.re-wrenches.org">re-wrenches-bounces@lists.re-wrenches.org</a>
[<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:re-wrenches-bounces@lists.re-wrenches.org">mailto:re-wrenches-bounces@lists.re-wrenches.org</a>]
<b>On Behalf Of </b>William Miller<br>
<b>Sent:</b> Tuesday, March 26, 2013 9:49 PM<br>
<b>To:</b> RE-wrenches<br>
<b>Subject:</b> Re: [RE-wrenches] Cable tray<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
</div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Bill:<br>
<br>
I have to disagree with you on this one. We can
not abandoned a tried and true practice just
because some practitioners don't do it right. I
don't know how one can justify saying that
encapsulating high voltage conductors in a conduit
is less safe than exposed in a flimsy basket.
Consider snow and ice and falling objects.<br>
<br>
Too many installers entered the PV field without
first acquiring the necessary skills as journeymen
or women electricians. I don't see the benefit of
rewriting the code to accommodate a lack of skills
in the industry.<br>
<br>
Respectfully,<br>
<br>
William Miller<br>
<br>
PS: The temperature adders always encourage us to
enter the building envelope at the first
appropriate location to avoid adding them.
Thoughtful installers will do the same.<br>
<br>
Wm<br>
<br>
<br>
At 10:15 PM 3/25/2013, you wrote:<br>
<br>
<o:p></o:p></p>
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<br>
William,<br>
<br>
I would strongly disagree that conduit is tried
and true on rooftops. I have rarely seen good
conduit runs on rooftops. Most electricians have
no clue how to work with expansion joints. Conduit
on rooftops is a bad idea in general. Most conduit
runs in big buildings are all done indoors for
good reason. We are the crazy people doing things
on the roof. <br>
<br>
The sooner we get away from conduitparticularly
for long feeder runsthe better.<br>
<br>
In Europe they don’t have problems with their
rooftop wiring systems because everything is in
tray.<br>
<br>
For those that don’t allow cable tray for anything
less than 1/0, just remember that if it isn’t
called cable tray, then 392 doesn’t apply. The NEC
would allow us to use treated lumber in place of
cable tray. This makes no sense.<br>
<br>
We did some research on the origin of the 1/0
requirement, and it is ancient and no longer
relevant. Just because it is in the code, does not
mean it is correct. That’s why we try to fix it
every three years.<br>
<br>
Bill.<br>
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p><o:p> </o:p></p>
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