The more dangerous issue is that you are holding two connectors (often one in each hand) with several hundred volts difference between them. You make a mistake, that goes straight through your chest. Otherwise though, as long as the disconnect is disconnected and the solar input is not charging any capacitors in the equipment, a minor spark won't hurt anything. I still do final hookups at night on big systems. Its just straight-out safer and continuity can still be checked because large strings will still have a decent voltage on them, even at night. Putting sheets across a few panels will only reduce the string voltage by those panel's contributions. The bypass diodes in the panels will allow the voltage from the rest of the string straight through. Don't depend on sheets. Great solution for your conduit! Extra cables are great. Accessibility for the 90-degree's is important too. Pretty nice! Be sure to measure the voltage differential between the two grounds. This is called "common mode". The ground references may be different. It is ok for them to be different as long as it isn't like 100V. And yes, that is quite possible, utility lines can couple all sorts of mess into the ground. Also measure frame-to-roof common mode since the roof is metal and that is what would "shock" someone working on the roof.
The reason that tube collapsed is because it's the wrong stuff for the job. Cable duct is a flexible continuous length, corrugated in appearance and comes pre-installed with a draw rope.
SARAH, GREAT 👍 👍 JOB 👏 ! 1. Great idea 💡 for two separate grounds, because you don’t want lightning ⚡️ to hit your panels & your equipment is connected to the same ground rod with the potential to damage your Solar Electronics! 2. Great idea 💡to use large enough conduit pipe & a pull box/manhole. Make sure that the rubber weatherproof sealed is seated correctly & the lid tightened, because you don’t want heavy rain 🌧️, snow ❄️ melting or flooding to get into it with the potential to flood your home 🏠 3. Great idea 💡to install additional Solar Wiring for future project development! 4. Great idea 💡to install & leave a strong pull line/mule tape in each conduit for future cable pulls, so you don’t have to push a wiring snake 🐍 through! 5. Great idea 💡to Plan and Build your infrastructure for the future and the easy access for maintenance! GREAT PROJECT PLANNING, MANAGEMENT & EXECUTION! 🎉
I hope you used some gaskets on the pipe connection, other way water from the ground will leak inside and it will also put some sand into the pipes during the time. Hint for bending pipes, not only the plastic ones. Fill them with sand before bending. You will avoid sharp bends.
Yes I sealed the inside of the lid with roofing heavy duty silicone and then put a double bead round the outside edge. All the pipes have double rubber gaskets between the pipe and the inspection hole. I'm also going to line the gap with some thin foam which I have and then put in some cement to seal it. Later in the year I'll stick a fiber optic camera down the pipe to see if there's any water in the manhole cover.
You dont't need to cover the panels Just open the breaker in your combiner box. No current will flow with open breakers, no sparks. Im wondering about your earthing. It looks like bare copper. Copper will rott very fast underground. Second thing is, it is not deep enough to get a good low resistance. We usually use ground rods made of stainless steel hammered in the ground several meters deep. (up to 9 meters deep in a dry area) Your pipes look like made for waste water or drainage. And it looks like you not layed them into sand. This will cause leakage very soon. And at least they are not deep enough to be protected from damage.
You're absolutely correct we didn't need to cover the panels as there was no load. The last couple of strings we connected we didn't bother with the cover. As far as the earth thing goes that's how they do it here in France I took a reading and the resistance is fine. I know that the piify use isn't proper conduit it's drain pipe participates the heavy duty type and all the joints are glued. Time will tell I'll stick a fiber optic camera down there in a few months time and have a look to see if there's any water in there.
Covering panels to reduce voltage... Safe for connecting, You should have isolators on end of each string. Should never be joining or disconnecting live MC connectors. Even placing isolators mid-string at each end to reduce the series voltage for working on them. If I was a firefighter attending a callout at your place, I would either stand back and let it burn or be very delayed in fighting a fire if I couldn't isolate that DC from the source building.
That's a great idea I think I'll make a diagram on the whiteboard but yes I've got a solar combiner box with circuit breakers and separate fusing for the positive and negative as well as surge protection.
Won't the voltage still be there? How would it disipate? The connection to worry about is connecting to other equipment, both panels are both charged there will not be any difference of potential and therefore no current. Also voltage doesn't spark it is the current flow.
Are you going to put a fuse Along with a lightning arrestor with each string? Or are you going to use a combiner box? I wish you would do a video on a whiteboard exactly what you’re going to do. That way you can get some insight. I have a 15kw aray. I am using a 4 string combiner box & each string has its own fuse. Just wondering.
The combiner boxes were shown in an earlier video. They are placed inside the barn. The best place for surge protection is where the cables enter the building. In this case in the attik if the barn. If the cable run to the charge controllers eceeds 10 meters, it is recomended to have a second stage of surge protection close to the charge controller. Some brands have inbuilt surge protection - Deye hybrid inverters for example. Im not fimmilar to victron, but i think they don't.
Yes you're absolutely correct I should do a whiteboard video I think I'll do one this weekend going through the whole wiring setup. But yes I'm using a combiner box with search protection fuses and breakers for neutral and positive
600 Volt string??? Warning!!! I think your Victron mppt can only handle 450 V. Covering you panels is not necessary if you do all cabling to the fuses first. I always do the string connection on the roof as a last step. The solar panel connectors are safe to touch. Even on a string of panels. Your self made mc4 connector is made on a cable that has no voltage. So also safe. Also do not use the DC fuses on your string as a disconnect! Never switch off under load. Hope this information is helpful to you. Very impressive first install.
If lightning strikes the solar array, then having to separate grounds, allows for a massive potential difference between them. Lightning can be incredibly destructive to electrical equipment. I personally would bond all the grounds together. I have wired up all kinds of solar systems in my life, and I have seen lightning destroy many things. I do not want to see your Victron gear get smoked
The more dangerous issue is that you are holding two connectors (often one in each hand) with several hundred volts difference between them. You make a mistake, that goes straight through your chest. Otherwise though, as long as the disconnect is disconnected and the solar input is not charging any capacitors in the equipment, a minor spark won't hurt anything.
I still do final hookups at night on big systems. Its just straight-out safer and continuity can still be checked because large strings will still have a decent voltage on them, even at night.
Putting sheets across a few panels will only reduce the string voltage by those panel's contributions. The bypass diodes in the panels will allow the voltage from the rest of the string straight through. Don't depend on sheets.
Great solution for your conduit! Extra cables are great. Accessibility for the 90-degree's is important too. Pretty nice!
Be sure to measure the voltage differential between the two grounds. This is called "common mode". The ground references may be different. It is ok for them to be different as long as it isn't like 100V. And yes, that is quite possible, utility lines can couple all sorts of mess into the ground. Also measure frame-to-roof common mode since the roof is metal and that is what would "shock" someone working on the roof.
Looking really good Sarah very impressive .
The reason that tube collapsed is because it's the wrong stuff for the job. Cable duct is a flexible continuous length, corrugated in appearance and comes pre-installed with a draw rope.
SARAH, GREAT 👍 👍 JOB 👏 !
1. Great idea 💡 for two separate grounds, because you don’t want lightning ⚡️ to hit your panels & your equipment is connected to the same ground rod with the potential to damage your Solar Electronics!
2. Great idea 💡to use large enough conduit pipe & a pull box/manhole. Make sure that the rubber weatherproof sealed is seated correctly & the lid tightened, because you don’t want heavy rain 🌧️, snow ❄️ melting or flooding to get into it with the potential to flood your home 🏠
3. Great idea 💡to install additional Solar Wiring for future project development!
4. Great idea 💡to install & leave a strong pull line/mule tape in each conduit for future cable pulls, so you don’t have to push a wiring snake 🐍 through!
5. Great idea 💡to Plan and Build your infrastructure for the future and the easy access for maintenance!
GREAT PROJECT PLANNING, MANAGEMENT & EXECUTION! 🎉
Great decision on the earth ground.
I hope you used some gaskets on the pipe connection, other way water from the ground will leak inside and it will also put some sand into the pipes during the time.
Hint for bending pipes, not only the plastic ones. Fill them with sand before bending. You will avoid sharp bends.
Yes I sealed the inside of the lid with roofing heavy duty silicone and then put a double bead round the outside edge. All the pipes have double rubber gaskets between the pipe and the inspection hole. I'm also going to line the gap with some thin foam which I have and then put in some cement to seal it. Later in the year I'll stick a fiber optic camera down the pipe to see if there's any water in the manhole cover.
You dont't need to cover the panels Just open the breaker in your combiner box. No current will flow with open breakers, no sparks.
Im wondering about your earthing. It looks like bare copper. Copper will rott very fast underground.
Second thing is, it is not deep enough to get a good low resistance. We usually use ground rods made of stainless steel hammered in the ground several meters deep. (up to 9 meters deep in a dry area)
Your pipes look like made for waste water or drainage. And it looks like you not layed them into sand. This will cause leakage very soon.
And at least they are not deep enough to be protected from damage.
You're absolutely correct we didn't need to cover the panels as there was no load. The last couple of strings we connected we didn't bother with the cover. As far as the earth thing goes that's how they do it here in France I took a reading and the resistance is fine. I know that the piify use isn't proper conduit it's drain pipe participates the heavy duty type and all the joints are glued. Time will tell I'll stick a fiber optic camera down there in a few months time and have a look to see if there's any water in there.
Covering panels to reduce voltage... Safe for connecting, You should have isolators on end of each string. Should never be joining or disconnecting live MC connectors. Even placing isolators mid-string at each end to reduce the series voltage for working on them.
If I was a firefighter attending a callout at your place, I would either stand back and let it burn or be very delayed in fighting a fire if I couldn't isolate that DC from the source building.
Good job. Pretty soon you will be done.
That's a great idea I think I'll make a diagram on the whiteboard but yes I've got a solar combiner box with circuit breakers and separate fusing for the positive and negative as well as surge protection.
Won't the voltage still be there? How would it disipate? The connection to worry about is connecting to other equipment, both panels are both charged there will not be any difference of potential and therefore no current. Also voltage doesn't spark it is the current flow.
What is the actual spec of your panels, what's the size, and make?, and the configuration into the MPPT's. Parallel, series etc
I think I might make a separate video going through all the details like this.
Are you going to put a fuse Along with a lightning arrestor with each string? Or are you going to use a combiner box? I wish you would do a video on a whiteboard exactly what you’re going to do. That way you can get some insight. I have a 15kw aray. I am using a 4 string combiner box & each string has its own fuse. Just wondering.
The combiner boxes were shown in an earlier video. They are placed inside the barn.
The best place for surge protection is where the cables enter the building. In this case in the attik if the barn.
If the cable run to the charge controllers eceeds 10 meters, it is recomended to have a second stage of surge protection close to the charge controller. Some brands have inbuilt surge protection - Deye hybrid inverters for example. Im not fimmilar to victron, but i think they don't.
Yes you're absolutely correct I should do a whiteboard video I think I'll do one this weekend going through the whole wiring setup. But yes I'm using a combiner box with search protection fuses and breakers for neutral and positive
600 Volt string??? Warning!!! I think your Victron mppt can only handle 450 V. Covering you panels is not necessary if you do all cabling to the fuses first. I always do the string connection on the roof as a last step. The solar panel connectors are safe to touch. Even on a string of panels. Your self made mc4 connector is made on a cable that has no voltage. So also safe. Also do not use the DC fuses on your string as a disconnect! Never switch off under load. Hope this information is helpful to you. Very impressive first install.
No it's 336 volts per string.
ok no problem then. I maybe misunderstood. In this video you where talking about 600 V i think.
If lightning strikes the solar array, then having to separate grounds, allows for a massive potential difference between them. Lightning can be incredibly destructive to electrical equipment. I personally would bond all the grounds together. I have wired up all kinds of solar systems in my life, and I have seen lightning destroy many things.
I do not want to see your Victron gear get smoked
'promo sm' 🙈