Safety Questions

marsofold
marsofold Solar Expert Posts: 45 ✭✭
in Solar Beginners Corner #1
#1 I've read that the NEC says that my inverter should not be above my basement battery box, yet the paperwork that came with the inverter says that I should have cables not exceeding 5 feet in length. Since practicality dictates that the battery box for weight reasons needs to be on the floor. And the inverter is mounted to plywood on the wall like most electricians prefer. How can I satisfy the NEC about this and still keep the inverter within 5 feet? If I pull the box out from the wall 18" so that the inverter is not DIRECTLY above it, has the NEC been satisfied?

#2 My battery box has six golf cart batteries, three strings in parallel. To date I have no fuses between the strings. If I were to install fuses between the strings, then either they would have to be within the box (nope - will NOT do that!), or I'd have to have six leads exiting the box to external fuses on the wall (kinda sloppy and lots lots more resistance). Neither option is one I want to do. How much risk just to fuse the positive master lead to the inverter and forget the fuses between strings? Or...how else to do it?

Thanks for any helpful advice...
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  • niel
    niel Solar Expert Posts: 10,300 ✭✭✭✭
    #2
    Re: Safety Questions

    1> hmm, i am not aware of that one. can you cite the rule number and the rule? all i can think is that wiles (aka the nec) is worried of either an inverter failure with spark or a spark from the breakers triggering the hydrogen from the batteries. this shouldn't happen if vented or dispersed somehow or you were to use agm batteries. most battery banks gassing full blast aren't usually a problem unless it concentrates in a spot.

    2> maybe mount some individual breakers either on the battery box itself or in its own box attached to the battery box. this will combine the protected battery outputs to go on to the inverter. on this note if wiles is worried of a spark from the cbs or inverter failures then he will have to include the protections we employ for the batteries with fuses or cbs too. include any switches and not just those of your battery/inverter setup as a light switch could also trigger it. in fact, i guess wiles better outlaw any switches, electronics, batteries, lights etc. anywhere near natural gas appliances too as they are more likely to cause a potential problem than the outgassing from your batteries will. if he does prevent mounting an inverter above a battery box then you can see how wiles tends to snowball into the ridiculous with his ways of thinking to make rules?:confused::roll:
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