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Chinese GTI risks and GFCI cord?

kaizday

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May 27, 2021
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So from what I have been reading, a lot of concern was that the inverter would send a lot more amperage to the house wires which could cause fire.

so my question is, if i was to add an inline GFCI like this one (https://www.amazon.com/GFCI-Inline-Single-Outlet-Cord/dp/B01GSPTUZG) could that somewhat mitigate the risk concern?

honest (probably innocent) question, what is the worst could happen in this case? the inverter (outside the house) would fry itself but the gfci would stop as soon as amp reaches above 15a, no?

another side (and noop) question, i am currently hook up the inverter to my exterior outlet, which is a gfci outlet itself. is there any issue with doubling gfci to another gfci like the plan i have above?

thanks!
 
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GFCI is for ground fault current interuption and reduce the chance of electrocution, it does nothing to limit the current.
I would think the inverter AC output will have some kind of fuse or circuit breaker to protect the wires in case of over current condition occurs.
 
GFCI is for ground fault current interuption and reduce the chance of electrocution, it does nothing to limit the current.
I would think the inverter AC output will have some kind of fuse or circuit breaker to protect the wires in case of over current condition occurs.

i see. i would agree with your assumption, i see a lot of youtubers talked about that, so i thought perhaps it might not last as long as an enphase, but is it that risky to use it, especially when i know i will be using it below its rating. (1000w peak array / 1500w max input)

the inverter does have some kind of fuses, but i dont know what they are protecting. they place 3 fuses on the DC input side of the inverter, not sure if that means anything. no other mention or manual.

 
A single 1300W inverter would never put enough current in house wiring (by itself) to start a fire.
It would put an extra 10A into the wiring. Normally, that would flow back through the breaker panel but if you plugged in two space heaters, then inverter and breaker panel combined might put 25A through the wires, which is more than they are supposed to carry.

Proper solution to that is dedicated circuits for grid-tie inverters, no loads on that circuit.

In the U.S., I would not backfeed the the grid with any inverter that lacked UL-1741 certification. That is what shows it has been safety tested, won't present a hazard for utility workers.
 
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