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Hello William,<br><br>
A separable DC disconnect is very important to me, and certainly should
be standard equipment. <br><br>
On the issue of flammable materials, I had the same question on an
installation. A tech support person claimed that flammable referred to
easily ignitable materials where as combustible referred to materials
like wood. He told me it was ok to mount their inverter on a wood
surface, as it was combustible, but not flammable. I've heard no more
about the subject since. I hope it is true. Looking up the words in the
dictionary, I don't seem that distinction. <br><br>
Drake <br><br>
<i>Athens Electric LLC<br>
OH License 44810<br>
CO License 3773<br>
NABCEP Certified Solar PV <br>
740-448-7328<br>
</i><a href="http://athens-electric.com/">http://athens-electric.com/</a>
<br><br>
<br>
At 11:11 PM 8/6/2015, you wrote:<br>
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Dear Friends:<br>
<br>
I have been pursuing some answers from Solectria on what appear to be
significant defects in the design of their residential PVI series
inverters. I have finally received some final answers from them on
a few issues and I am waiting on final answers on others.
Unfortunately the answers are not good.<br>
<br>
1. Apparently the electronics portion of the PVI series
inverter cannot be separated from the DC disconnect. If you want to
replace that inverter, you need to remove the entire chassis. This
of course exposes the lone service worker to high voltage DC. The
unit looks like it can be separated but they tell me it cannot be.
This reminds me of the Fronius IG series inverter. I argued with
Fronius for an entire day about how idiotic it was to propose tarping
panels to protect service workers. I submit that an inverter
without a separatable disconnect requires an outboard DC disconnect or it
is not viable. The DC disconnect adds cost and clutter to any
install.<br>
<br>
Solectria has an outboard, remotely activated disconnect. I was
hoping to get my hands on one at a recent local sales seminar Solectria
held, but the goofball presenting the seminar did not bother bringing one
( I can call him a goof ball because he has since left Solectria. I
would not otherwise call anyone at a manufacturer a name, they are all
good people doing the best job they can with the products they are hired
to represent). Anyway, before I bid another Solectria I will price
compare with the cost of the remote disconnect included. I won’t
install one until I have touched the device to verify it is
suitable.<br>
<br>
I am taking a poll: Which GT inverters have included, separatable
DC disconnects? How easy are they to replace? How important
is it to you that the DC disconnect be separatable?<br>
<br>
2. The Solectria PVI installation manual indicates the
inverter is not to be mounted to “flammable surfaces.” You cannot
mount these inverter on a wood surface, indoors or out. The bracket
is not wide enough to span two studs in most cases, so if you are
mounting it inside, you cannot mount it on a plywood backboard and you
cannot mount it on the exterior of a wood-sheeted structure. It is
not unlikely that if any trees are near your inverter, a few leaves will
likely become lodged behind the inverter over time and they then could
burst into flames. To me this inverter heating seems very
limiting. It makes me think: do I want to install a
fire-starter on or in my customers homes?<br>
<br>
Do any of you know of any other inverters that get hot enough to ignite
the surface onto which they are mounted?<br>
<br>
Thanks for the input.<br>
<br>
William Miller<br>
<br>
<img src="cid:.0" width=64 height=28 alt="Gradient Cap_mini"><br>
Lic 773985<br>
<a href="http://www.millersolar.com/">millersolar.com</a><br>
805-438-5600<br>
<br><br>
<br>
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