Solar Panel Arc Fault

This arcing translates to heat which can break down the insulation surrounding individual conducting.

Solar panel arc fault. Unless alternative environmental factors are at play solar panel fires are caused by one thing dc arc faults. Sma sunny boy us inverters are now available with integrated arc fault circuit interrupter afci functionality. If you have a problem with an afci arc fault circuit interrupter shutting off in you main electrical panel you re not alone. Integrating afci functionality within the pv system inverter eliminates the cost and effort of installing additional arc fault circuit protection components to meet 2011 nec section 690 11 requirements.

Reset an arc fault breaker like you would a standard circuit breaker. Solve an afci tripping problem. When the sun rises the solar panels start producing power the bare conductors become live causing a dc arc fault and building fire. As required by the national electric code nec manual intervention is required to reset the inverter back to normal operation after an arc fault.

Everyone reading this is nodding along thinking of the times a system they installed was falsely tripped or even worse when an arc fault was completely missed by the detection system. It s worth understanding the 3 main types of. Combine the dc arc with a combustable material and fire is the result. Afci in main panel.

The term arc fault refers to a situation in which loose or corroded wiring connections create an intermittent contact that causes electrical current to spark or arc between metal contact points when you hear a light switch or outlet buzzing or hissing you are hearing arcing as it happens. Replacing old inverters in an array with older solar panels may result in new arc fault errors. Older inverters did not have arc fault detection but new generation inverters do. It is practically impossible for a solar installer to check all of the seals are waterproof preventing water ingress and to also check that all of the cable joints are not corroded and subject to high impedance.