Intro, EMPs, and Obstructionism

[Steve_S]

Funny thing is... a FEW of us here have real world experience with system hardening. Myself, a former IT Engineer for National Defence and more than just a Tempest certified engineer.

An EMP from a Nuclear Device is certainly a possibility but in reality, if that happens, you "will" be worrying about other things IF you are still alive.
Solar EMP (Actually CME) is something that happens quite regularly in fact, of which only <5% even have any terrestrial effect it does cause havoc with satellites, but that won't hurt us. There are some things you can do to prevent such occurrences, cheapest way is to build a Faraday Cage Room. IF you do decide on a Faraday Room / Building, do remember to mesh the floor !

More pressing & more likely is ensuring proper Lightning Protection which is responsible for at least 70% of failures of solar systems. Faulty Grounding & Lightning Protection IS the single biggest point of failure.

 

[T-486 Ashepoo]

Pretty much every inverter will have a fan. Smaller Victron charge controllers have a heat sink, so no fan. I have two Midnite CCs and a Cotek inverter. They are in an enclosed patio and the fans for the inverter never stop. The CC fans are on from sunup to sundown.

 

[MajicDiver]

Pretty much every inverter will have a fan. Smaller Victron charge controllers have a heat sink, so no fan. I have two Midnite CCs and a Cotek inverter. They are in an enclosed patio and the fans for the inverter never stop. The CC fans are on from sunup to sundown.

There are “large” capacity inverters without fans out there these days. No fan was a primary requirement of mine when selecting inverters- I’m using two Growatt min-11400-tl-xh-us inverters, 11.4 kW each with no fans. Am using separate auto transformer which was a preference for me also. These days it seems to me that pretty much whatever your technical needs are there is a product out there that will meet them, might have to do a lot of looking though.

 

[KITROBASKIN]

If your solar shed is getting very hot, chances are your components may not last as long. Seems like each of us decides what factors are most important and what compromises to make.

 

[MajicDiver]

If your solar shed is getting very hot, chances are your components may not last as long. Seems like each of us decides what factors are most important and what compromises to make.

On the other hand, if you install a heat sink cooled inverter that is rated to operate at full load at 113 DegF and install it in a unconditioned basement that never gets above 80 degF, it should never experience heat related degradation. We are way off the original subject of this thread, but as you state, step one of design of anything it to identify the goals and rank their relative importance then when compromise is necessary a good decision can be made - wether the issue is fans or EMP or something else.

 

[1F409]

I'm not trying to blow past anyone's answers with this, but I've got an additional EMP-related question: Is it possible to build a non-solid-state PV system? (Is that a contradiction in terms?) I'm wondering how the innards of the box might be done in a way that eliminates all the EMP-sensitive bits like microprocessors. Kind of like your really basic audiophile tube amps. (Or would it still not make a difference?)

 

[Pappion]

Typical lightning protection will help with EMP, depending on distance and intensity. Cube Root law for spherical radiation.
Do multi stage protection, expect some energy to slip thru the 1st stage. Pulse is a collection of wavelengths. Some waves will be at or near 0v where you protection devices short to Gnd etc..
Ferrites clipped on your wires should slow down the pulse rising edge. Giving the protection circuits time to act.
They are cheap and easy to use and I have many on my Travel Trailer. An RV Surge protector at the Power Pedestal. Power Strips with Surge Protectors too.

 

[MattiFin]

I'm not trying to blow past anyone's answers with this, but I've got an additional EMP-related question: Is it possible to build a non-solid-state PV system? (Is that a contradiction in terms?) I'm wondering how the innards of the box might be done in a way that eliminates all the EMP-sensitive bits like microprocessors. Kind of like your really basic audiophile tube amps. (Or would it still not make a difference?)

You could build solar powered steam power plant.