Inverter protection [RE-wrenches]

[Kurt Nelson, SunWise]

Greetings Doug,

The DC250 does have knockouts for up to four other DC breakers.  I
believe the largest breaker designed for these knockouts is 60 Amp. 
Would work out fine for the PV's if you are bringing your two arrays in
as two sub-arrays and not on one set of home run wires (2 breakers).  A
48 volt, 3,000 watt wind machine would need a larger breaker than 60
amps so I can't help you there, but any time I am using a DC250, I
always bring the PV's into one of these breakers (15 - 60 Amp) with the
battery connection then made on the bottom (battery) side of the main
inverter breaaker(s).  This way you can such down the PV's and Inverters
independently and the inverters (and any DC loads) will never see open
circuit voltage from the PV's.

Good luck -- Kurt Nelson
 

Doug McCorkle wrote:
> 
> I have a question for the expertise of this group.  We are in the final
> throws of completing a system (2 racks of 4 ASE 300W modules on trackers and
> 3000W Whisper (I think), 2 Trace 5548s for 240V on a Trace Power Board,
> about 2000 Ahr battery bank, 20Kw generator, purchased as a package from
> Kiocera ("It will take an electrician only a few hours to get it up and
> running!")).  The power inputs (PV and wind) are connected to the inverter
> side of the 250A battery disconnects, which is our question.  It seems to
> leave the inverter unprotected - you're able to isolate the batteries, but
> to isolate the inverter you need to turn off the PV and wind input
> separately.  This would seem to make sense, but it seems that an inattentive
> or inadequately trained homeowner might easily turn off the battery main,
> thinking they were disconnecting power to the inverter, when in fact the PV
> and wind would still be powering the units.  We actually did this (left only
> the wind connected), and one of the inverters smoked.  So, I would
> appreciate any thoughts and/or remedies.
> Doug McCorkle
> Sunnyside Solar
> 
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 RE-wrenches at topica.com

The archive of previous messages: 
 http://www.topica.com/lists/RE-wrenches/

To unsubscribe send a message to: 
 RE-wrenches-unsubscribe at topica.com

To check out the other RE-Wrench participants:
 www.mrsharkey.com/wrenches/index.html

Hosted by Home Power magazine: 
 www.homepower.com

For info contact list moderator by email:
 michael.welch at homepower.com

___________________________________________________________
T O P I C A  http://www.topica.com/t/17
Newsletters, Tips and Discussions on Your Favorite Topics