[RE-wrenches] MLSD module level shutdown

[Hilton Dier]

There’s a buried-in-plain-sight issue here that has bugged me for years. 

In the bad old days we had to hard wire into J-boxes on the backs of modules. A pain, but it meant that, if necessary, we could install conduit from the module to the combiner box. Now we have convenient pigtails.

 However, we are stuck with #10 PV wire hanging under the module from the box to the nearest attachment point. There are all sorts of trays and wire management systems, but there’s always that one loop of wire hanging in the open. 

I know that the module industry has near zero margins as a commodity market. Perhaps one manufacturer could differentiate themselves by making a module with either 1) armored pigtails, or 2) provision for some kind of conduit starting at the J box.

I’m thinking of all the various back covers installers have to improvise on ground mounts. I’m thinking of squirrels and ice dams. 

Why can’t there be a module with the equivalent of Teck 90 cable on it?

Maybe I’m just being naive. 

Hilton 

Hilton Dier III
Renewable Energy Design
Missisquoi River Hydro LLC