Grounding Solar Panels to EG4 3000EHV

[nilson13]

Hey All,

First timer here, not an expert in electrical, just a diyer whose very interested in Solar. Would really appreciate some advice from you all and a bit of a sanity check on my thinking.

I'm adding a small solar array (5x 400w hyperion panels) to a patio roof and connecting to an EG4 3000 inverter. AC out of the inverter is connected directly to an EG4 mini split and at the AC in, I have a 12AWG cable connected to a GFCI plug to charge the batteries at only 10 amps if batteries drop below 10%. For the solar panels, I'm using ironridge railing which bonds and grounds the panels together, and I'm wondering if I can just send a grounding wire with my solar cables in the conduit to the inverter and attach that to the ground plug of the inverter along with the AC IN cables ground. Would that essentially ground it to my main panels earth ground as well?

 

[robbob2112]

the correct way is to have an EGC with the PV wires -- this is typically just another strand of THHN along with the positive and negative PV wires that are also THHN. This is run in metal conduit in or on a building and the PV wires are sized to 156% of the expected current.

So 10amps expected from the PV panels means wire that can do 15.6amps -- which is 14awg so your 12awg wires will be fine.

That Equipment Ground Conductor - ties to the panel frames, the racking, the patio frame if metal then into a box and through metal conduit to the EG4. Any part run outside needs to be in water tight conduit and you transition from THHN to PV and bare copper to tie to everything in a box with a gland nut and the wires from there on the racking should be secured so they don't flop around and preferably are out of direct sun.

Make sure any MC4 connectors you use are the same type as used on your panels... it should say on the datasheet what is used... Staubli is the original brand, then amphenol and a variety other quality ones. The cheap ones that are $10 a dozen are generally poor quality and won't mate well with the quality brands...

So, it would be rain-tight EMT from a box at the panels - to the EG4 where it is mounted inside then out from that to the mini-split.... Do you have a battery bank also? You need at least a small one to keep things going when there are clouds overhead. They would go near the inverter.