I am in a pickle.
I just replaced a failed SHARP SUNVISTA inverter with a new SMA SB3800TL-US. I added the secure power supply.
No permit needed.
After almost a day of re-wiring and remounting everything....I realized there was never a neutral for the old inverter. It does not require one. ....I totally forgot about it!:dunce::slaphead:
Tech support says this new model will not run w/o a neutral. And it won't.
I would have pulled a new neutral from inverter to subpanel...but wiring seems to be inaccessible and either romex or MC cable.
(all I can see is solid #12 red, black, green going thru the back of the exterior stucco-mounted ac disco and then reappearing in the sub-panel with the 2p20 PV breaker in it....so I assume Rx or MC)
It goes behind a finished basement wall...i.e. impossible to access run.:rant:
Couple questions:
There happens to be an outdoor rated, surface mounted, bell box, 120Vac outlet below the inverter.
What would Code say about someone unnamed running a neutral, alone, in metal conduit, to that outlet's bell box and the assumed neutral wire inside it?
What would any actual physical or electrical issues be with that?
Tech support did verify that no current actually will flow on this neutral.
Tech support says i just need a ground reference on the inverter's neutral terminal. I thought of bonding that neutral terminal to ground with a jumper wire to ground...but will not do so because there are some unlikely, yet dangerous-sounding, potential issues:
"conduit could have current flowing in it under certain circumstances" ....:jawdrop:
Finally does the SPS use the neutral wire of the inverter output circuit? Would current ever flow on the neutral?
Replacing this with another type of inverter will be costly.
I just replaced a failed SHARP SUNVISTA inverter with a new SMA SB3800TL-US. I added the secure power supply.
No permit needed.
After almost a day of re-wiring and remounting everything....I realized there was never a neutral for the old inverter. It does not require one. ....I totally forgot about it!:dunce::slaphead:
Tech support says this new model will not run w/o a neutral. And it won't.
I would have pulled a new neutral from inverter to subpanel...but wiring seems to be inaccessible and either romex or MC cable.
(all I can see is solid #12 red, black, green going thru the back of the exterior stucco-mounted ac disco and then reappearing in the sub-panel with the 2p20 PV breaker in it....so I assume Rx or MC)
It goes behind a finished basement wall...i.e. impossible to access run.:rant:
Couple questions:
There happens to be an outdoor rated, surface mounted, bell box, 120Vac outlet below the inverter.
What would Code say about someone unnamed running a neutral, alone, in metal conduit, to that outlet's bell box and the assumed neutral wire inside it?
What would any actual physical or electrical issues be with that?
Tech support did verify that no current actually will flow on this neutral.
Tech support says i just need a ground reference on the inverter's neutral terminal. I thought of bonding that neutral terminal to ground with a jumper wire to ground...but will not do so because there are some unlikely, yet dangerous-sounding, potential issues:
"conduit could have current flowing in it under certain circumstances" ....:jawdrop:
Finally does the SPS use the neutral wire of the inverter output circuit? Would current ever flow on the neutral?
Replacing this with another type of inverter will be costly.
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