I had an issue that I think is caused by very alkaline/salty water getting into my cable run and causing a short.
I am using a 150ft run of 6 gauge copper connected to 15 240 watt panels in a 5s3p configuration. I have two sets of panels wired like this, each to its own inverter and all in the same 1 1/2 plastic conduit. The full short amperage is 9 amps, so the max amperage is 27 amps and this 6 gauge is rated twice that. Normal voltage is around 175 volts. It's been working for 3 or so years no issues and last week we had a sudden thunderstorm and water pooled around my panels and drained into the conduit (my fault for not covering it up). As you can see by the pictures, it shorted out. Even during the brightest days, the cables do not get hot.
I'm thinking that the silt that washed into the conduit was highly conductive that this caused the shorts.
Does this sound reasonable??
Should I run the positive leads though a different conduit than the negative ones? I ran spare conduit.
I am using a 150ft run of 6 gauge copper connected to 15 240 watt panels in a 5s3p configuration. I have two sets of panels wired like this, each to its own inverter and all in the same 1 1/2 plastic conduit. The full short amperage is 9 amps, so the max amperage is 27 amps and this 6 gauge is rated twice that. Normal voltage is around 175 volts. It's been working for 3 or so years no issues and last week we had a sudden thunderstorm and water pooled around my panels and drained into the conduit (my fault for not covering it up). As you can see by the pictures, it shorted out. Even during the brightest days, the cables do not get hot.
I'm thinking that the silt that washed into the conduit was highly conductive that this caused the shorts.
Does this sound reasonable??
Should I run the positive leads though a different conduit than the negative ones? I ran spare conduit.