[RE-wrenches] Grounding to Building Steel

Wrenchers, I recently installed a 21KW system and grounded the roof mounted inverters to the steel of the building. The inspector pointed out that the steel of the building needs to be grounded to the Grounding Electrode that the service is grounded to which in this case is the water pipe. Wha

Re: [RE-wrenches] roof attachment in tile roof

That's the link. Yes, that is the big advantage IMHO. If you use a 7/16 masonry drill (as I remember) there is scant clearance between the resultant hole and the 3/8" SS all thread. I use a liberal amount of Sika 1A caulk around the annular ring and regular SS 3/8" washer on top of that. In sout

Re: [RE-wrenches] roof attachment in tile roof

As a note for tile roofs: the tile keeps most of the water on top of it but it's not the actual sealed layer. The underlayment is the true waterproofing layer, so be sure you seal the penetration through the underlayment as well as the hole you cut in the tile. On 2012/7/18 23:42, Parrish, Pe

[RE-wrenches] Small battery bank vs too large array

Hello Wrenches, Where can I get a device that will measure current through a shunt and create a signal to trigger a relay? We want to be able to use a 2 kW array with four, 200 AH sealed batteries on an Outback system. 2 kW of PV would be too much amperage for the batteries. The idea is to

Re: [RE-wrenches] Small battery bank vs too large array

I could be wrong, but I thought the FM60 and FM80 charge controllers have adjustable current limits that apply to battery charging, and I think when integrated with GVFX inverters in sell mode and a Mate controller, you will be able to accomplish what you need to do without a relay. I always though

[RE-wrenches] Array direct farm machinery?

Howdy Wrenches, We are thinking up new ideas for powering agriculture in the rural developing world to propose for the new USAID "Energy Grand Challenge for Development" One idea is to build PV array direct water pumping systems for irrigation that could be converted t

[RE-wrenches] mounting hardware and U.L.

Does anyone know whether there are U.L. standards when it comes to PV mounting hardware? That is, are there any mounting hardware manufacturers (UniRac, Professional Solar Products, DPW, Schletter) who have achieved U.L. listing/approval for their stuff? After using PSP for the past 12 year

Re: [RE-wrenches] mounting hardware and U.L.

See UL 467 for grounding clips. See http://www.bizjournals.com/prnewswire/press_releases/2012/07/09/NY36598 for other standards. I've never been asked about listings for mounting systems except the UL 467 listing for bonding the rails using listed devices. Jason Szumlanski Fafco Solar On Thu, J

Re: [RE-wrenches] mounting hardware and U.L.

Is unistrut UL? Kay Peltz power Sent from my iPhone On Jul 19, 2012, at 6:36 PM, "Marco Mangelsdorf" wrote: > Does anyone know whether there are U.L. standards when it comes to PV > mounting hardware? > > That is, are there any mounting hardware manufacturers (UniRac, Professional > Solar

Re: [RE-wrenches] Small battery bank vs too large array

Drake, I've been hounding a couple of the charge controller manufactures about this issue, but so far I just haven't seen a light bulb go off in their heads, but I'll keep trying, and maybe this is a better forum to do it. MPPT controllers can be adjusted to current limit at amperage values bel

Re: [RE-wrenches] Small battery bank vs too large array

what is the point of having battery backup if is is so small as to not really be able to back anything up (except when the sun is shining)? this seems like a system design error rather than a charge controller problem. my .02 todd On Thursday, July 19, 2012 4:35pm, "Brian Teitelbaum

Re: [RE-wrenches] Small battery bank vs too large array

I say it is waste of time. 1. AGM batteries can take the high current and you are right, the absorb voltage is reached and the absorb current is tapered rather quickly. Current generation charge controllers are rather fast at the transitions. I have a bunch of data from a system with a PentaMe

Re: [RE-wrenches] Small battery bank vs too large array

Brian: Thanks for the clarification, it saved a phone call to Outback. That is how I think it works also. It seems that a current activated relay to disconnect strings, to bring the charge rate into line with the battery bank, could be an answer. I don't know what equipment is available.

Re: [RE-wrenches] Small battery bank vs too large array

Wrenches, I forwarded Brian's post on to Robin at Midnite, as I thought it was an interesting idea. Below is his response, as well as boB's. Allan Allan Sindelar al...@positiveenergysolar.com NABCEP Certified Pho

Re: [RE-wrenches] Small battery bank vs too large array

I didn't see that Brian T had the same idea until after I sent that email off to Allan... boB On 7/19/2012 7:53 PM, Allan Sindelar wrote: Wrenches, I forwarded Brian's post on to Robin at Midnite, as I thought it was an interesting idea. Below is his response, as well as boB's. Allan *

Re: [RE-wrenches] Array direct farm machinery?

Hi Eric; Not a crazy idea, but not really simple either. Water pumping, ventilation and water aeration are ideal loads for PV Direct systems, as there's no problem if they are not running at full capacity when insolation is low. Grinding grain, pressing oil, etcnot enough irradiation, and ever

Re: [RE-wrenches] Small battery bank vs too large array

OutBack implemented Global Charge Control in the FM charge controllers a while back, based on the input of the good folk at SELF who worked to power a number of hospitals and clinics in Haiti after the earthquake. In some of those systems, the PV array was based on the typical running consumption

Re: [RE-wrenches] mounting hardware and U.L.

I don't think any bolts, washers, nuts, screws, lags, all thread, etc are UL listed either. There aren't UL batteries, so they can't prevent us from powering off grid homes. Is concrete UL listed, when we do a ground mount array or a Uffer ground? The card being played here is article 110.2

Re: [RE-wrenches] mounting hardware and U.L.

I don't think it's formally ratified, certified and adopted, but UL2703 is the new proposed "Standard for Mounting Systems, Mounting Devices, Clamping/Retention Devices, and Ground Lugs for Use with Flat-Plate Photovoltaic Modules and Panels." Also check out SolarABCs.org for an update, there is a