I'm relatively new to the whole world of solar and have educated as much as I can but I'm getting conflicting information so I figured I'd turn here for some help. Here's my steup:
20 400 watt panels
5 QS1 micro inverters
Unirac racking
Since the max panels in a QS1 string is 12, I have two strings. This means 2 AC lines of 20A each.
My original plan was to terminate both strings in a junction box and then make two runs from the junction, through conduit, to my service panel where I'd put two 240V 20A breakers for inputs. I have to have a safety cutoff to be code compliant and for the life of me I can't find a solution. One "expert" has told me I need a combiner for AC that has its own breakers and that will have a single output to run through the cutoff, then to the service panel. I'd obviously have to have a larger breaker at the panel since there would be two 20A feeds combining. This seems expensive and completely unnecessary. The second expert has told me there's no real cheap way to do it but the most effective would be to just put two small knife safety cutoffs - one for each string - and run each to the service panel with a 20A breaker for each. What I'd prefer to do is find a cost effective cutoff with more connections inside to accommodate two AC runs but there doesn't seem to be an inexpensive solution. What am I missing here?
20 400 watt panels
5 QS1 micro inverters
Unirac racking
Since the max panels in a QS1 string is 12, I have two strings. This means 2 AC lines of 20A each.
My original plan was to terminate both strings in a junction box and then make two runs from the junction, through conduit, to my service panel where I'd put two 240V 20A breakers for inputs. I have to have a safety cutoff to be code compliant and for the life of me I can't find a solution. One "expert" has told me I need a combiner for AC that has its own breakers and that will have a single output to run through the cutoff, then to the service panel. I'd obviously have to have a larger breaker at the panel since there would be two 20A feeds combining. This seems expensive and completely unnecessary. The second expert has told me there's no real cheap way to do it but the most effective would be to just put two small knife safety cutoffs - one for each string - and run each to the service panel with a 20A breaker for each. What I'd prefer to do is find a cost effective cutoff with more connections inside to accommodate two AC runs but there doesn't seem to be an inexpensive solution. What am I missing here?