diy solar

diy solar

Impress your friends by using correct units and abbreviations

Not to be confused with MC3 or MC4 cables, made with MC3 or MC4 (or knockoff) connectors on photovoltaic wire.
Which is probably what we mean on this forum when we say "MC cables", most of the time.
 
Not to be confused with MC3 or MC4 cables, made with MC3 or MC4 (or knockoff) connectors on photovoltaic wire.
Which is probably what we mean on this forum when we say "MC cables", most of the time.
Well, if discussing wiring, the cable would be MC - 12, 10, 8, etc...
Mc3/4 would be a connectoe, not a cable...
 
(My?) confusion may from arisen from "MC cable" being listed in NEC for PV wiring. So I took it (incorrectly) to mean individual cables with MC3 or MC4 connectors, which are of course permissible on the roof between panels and the like.


"MC4 Extension Cables"



Am I the only one?
 
Well, if discussing wiring, the cable would be MC - 12, 10, 8, etc...
Mc3/4 would be a connectoe, not a cable...

Agreed. Today is the first time I've seen "MC Cable" used, so that's why it got my attention.

I dont havr rights either.
I guess it is an @Will Prowse thing.

So it's just a single inmate running the asylum? I suspect the lack of rights to post in the thread is a simple mistake.
 
Not to be confused with MC3 or MC4 cables, made with MC3 or MC4 (or knockoff) connectors on photovoltaic wire.
Which is probably what we mean on this forum when we say "MC cables", most of the time.
Not me.
 
MC Cable has hosted some of the best parties! you could feel the electricity in the air. great music.

also, Metal Clad Cable is a new term for me, as opposed to MC-4 connector.

ah, "Metal Clad" :
mc-stat-cable.jpg
 
(My?) confusion may from arisen from "MC cable" being listed in NEC for PV wiring. So I took it (incorrectly) to mean individual cables with MC3 or MC4 connectors, which are of course permissible on the roof between panels and the like.


"MC4 Extension Cables"



Am I the only one?
Maybe not.
But close.
 
(My?) confusion may from arisen from "MC cable" being listed in NEC for PV wiring
Am I the only one?

Not really but occasionally local dialect here is “FMC” or Flexible Metalic Conduit as in 12-3 fmc but I guess that’s not it’s real name.
MC cable: I would not think of solar wires. MC connectors is what goes onto solar cables so…,
 
One that's been getting misused lately and making it hard to follow questions and comments:

Inverter when All-In-One is meant. I've seen a number of posts talking about PV input to inverters, which makes no sense, and requires closely checking context to parse correctly.

The more or less correct, if not ideal, MPPT for the SCC part of the AIO at least can be followed, as it pretty clearly refers to the SCC segment of the AIO (I've been guilty of this one in replies.)
 
an Australia beer from last century...

s-l1600.jpg
There are times when saying that could mean it was a day old. What is scary is that old beer actually looks old to me but has the new style pop top. Remember the hippy door curtains made from beer and soda pop top chains.
 
... Which I use all the time, along with BNC, Type N and APC-7 (the original "gender fluid")

APC-7's were always a bitch for me to use in my younger days and when I became a bit better at it, they sort of went away. I think N, SMA, 3.5 and 2.4 and I guess Anritsu has those oddball 2.92 mm connectors are probably the most common I use here. You just can't work my field without mastering the art of adapters. I had one Air Force PMEL tech call me over wondering why he was failing the flatness test on a spectrum analyzer and I looking at all his adapters and I notices that he was using a BNC to either SMA or 2.4 (I forget) to complete the setup between the splitter, sig gen, spec an and the measuring receiver and was wondering why his set up wouldn't pass a 40 GHz signal, let alone the BNC cable. O _ O But I can't judge, I have done some doozies in my day. That link you put for the APC-7 looks like they used an S parameter or VNA as an example? Another pain in the ass instrument to use or calibrate.
 
I never really touched applications above 6 GHz or 18 GHz where SMA wasn't enough. Above that, dielectric gap in cable is large enough to be a waveguide, so you get multiple modes through it.

My home lab is old GPIB stuff, including 8753C VNA which has APC-7.
What was once expensive is now relatively affordable.
I wish I had bought both racks at Weird Stuff instead of just one for $100. Not everything fits.

Calibration of flatness covers most sins. But flexible cables have to be good to not change in impedance. I got a pair of stiff APC-7 cables. Consecutive serial numbers from two different sellers. Recently picked up a pair of W L Gore SMA cables.

In other applications, what is needed is low triboelectric cables, to avoid swamping out single electrons or whatever they are used to measure. Something about graphite lubricant between wire and insulation. I haven't had to do such things over a cable, even at work.
 
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