I recently inspected a large ground mount off-grid system about 3 years old that was installed by others. I would have used a #6 bare copper ground wire due to being exposed almost 100 feet of array length and connected to several ground rods with no conduit, but the installer had used #10 which still barely met code, but sure was flimsy. Anyway, this small ground wire was sagging down in many places along the array length due to about a quarter of the galvanized steel self-tapping screws holding the copper against the aluminum had totally dissolved.
We always use the cadmium plated copper grounding blocks and stainless steel screws to attach the #6 copper ground wire, and I can see now just how fast the galvanic action can dissolve metal when you don't use stainless steel hardware. Jeff Yago _____________________________________________________________ Netscape. Just the Net You Need. _______________________________________________ List sponsored by Home Power magazine List Address: [email protected] Options & settings: http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org List-Archive: http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org List rules & etiquette: www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm Check out participant bios: www.members.re-wrenches.org
