[RE-wrenches] Lead placment and length on new PV Panels

[Jay]

Hi william 

The technic I use is to build or buy custom lengths of jumpers. Then I can mount the MLPE exactly as I want with the wire routing to my preference. 

Yes it’s the most expensive route: more wire,  more clips, but also the cleanest. 
And often the MLPE don’t have the same connectors as the panels which require adapters anyway. 

Jay



> On Mar 25, 2022, at 4:56 PM, William Miller via RE-wrenches <re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org> wrote:
> 
> 
> Friends:
>  
> I have been designing a large-ish off-grid system over the last few weeks.  This will be our first off-grid system to require MLRSS.  We chose the Tigo TS4-A-F system.
>  
> In order to make certain the Tigo will work with modules that we can get our hands on, we brought in a few samples to try and connect with the Tigos.  What we found is that with many of the new PV panels, the leads connect to the two long sides of the panels and are often too short to practically route to the frame-mounted Tigos.
>  
> This got me to thinking:  Many panels are now configured with leads connected to the two long sides.  Many new panels are coming out with shorter leads.  Virtually all new roof-mounted installation will need some form of MLPE.  These new panels will be ill-suited to connect to those MLPE devices.
>  
> This has to do with the fact that instead of in the old days, when each panel connected to a neighbor on either side, each panel now connects to a single device, the MLPE.  The leads must able to reach that MLPE without being pulled, banjo-string-tight across a void.  If PV leads cannot be supported, they will end of laying on the roof.  Can we agree that is a bad thing?
>  
> Have any of you consider this situation?  It is kind of complicated and hard to explain.  I attempted to do so by writing a web page dedicated to the subject.  I finished the site today but I am not sure it communicates the dilemma adequately.  You can find it here.
>  
> I would be most grateful if some of you more experienced installers could look this over and let me know if this problem has come across your radar and what you are doing about this issue.
>  
> Thanks in advance.
>  
> William Miller
>  
> Miller Solar
> 17395 Oak Road, Atascadero, CA 93422
> 805-438-5600
> www.millersolar.com
> CA Lic. 773985
>  
>  
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