Microinverter and racking bonding and grounding

[electro7]

Its been a while since I've dove into this and I thought there were some code changes.

Does the metal racking on the roof require an GEC or is an EGC acceptable? What would be the code references?

If I run NM cable, say #10 to the roof which carries a #10 ground does that suffice for grounding and bonding of the array? I am mostly talking about non-exposed areas such as the attic or in wall cavities. Under the array on the roof I understand I need a #8 or greater (or is it #6 and greater?).

Thanks ahead of time

 

[jaggedben]

An EGC is fine now for the racking on the roof. See changes to 690.47(B) (formerly 690.47(D)) that no longer require an array electrode or GEC. (Enforcement of this was always spotty and confused anyway, in my experience.)

A #10 ground is fine if the circuit conductors are #10 and the breaker protecting the circuit is 30A or less.

Note that you are not supposed to run NM cable onto the roof, it's a wet location. You can run UF onto the roof though.

Some AHJs may require #6 for bare EGCs on the racking per 690.46 and 250.120(C). But in my experience most don't enforce this, since whether a bare EGC under solar panels on a roof is 'in the hollow spaces of the framing members of structures' or 'subject to physical damage' is open to interpretation.

 

[electro7]

Thanks jaggedben.

Yes NM cable in attic to a flashed j-box where we will terminate.

I was wondering about larger systems with multiple microinverter circuits- do you feel UF cable is a good application for catching the Q cable at the end of a circuit routing the UF cable under the array?

Also, do you know if there is a way to test Enphase mocroinverters to make sure all are working, where there is no Envoy and you can't see the lights on the micros? I know amperage will fluctuate.

Sent from my SM-G998U using Tapatalk