DIY combiner box for solar arrays

Note: The ground wire should be 6 AWG copper or 4 AWG Aluminum. I said 8 AWG aluminum in the video. Thank you, Ed, for the comment.
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[@Roll2Videos]

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[@GavinStoneDIY]

Really cool.

[@Ed123]

At the time mark 4:37 your statement wire gauges should be 8 AWG for copper and 6 AWG for aluminum. Copper is better conductor thus can be smaller. In general, it is good practice to use copper. Copper oxide is conductive but aluminum oxide is not. Fire risk at connecting points.

[@Roll2Videos]

Awe shoot, I should have said 4 AWG for aluminum. Thank you ill make a note in the description of this video.

[@Ed123]

@@Roll2Videos You did very nice job, your explanation is clear and easy to follow. Thanks for posting it.

[@Roll2Videos]

@@Ed123 thank you

[@jeffbowers950]

Nice work. Like the ground mount/utility trailer idea to house all the inverter& components. Wish We could do that but not enough flat land or parking space on the mountainside, plus the hurricanes would likely blow away any trailer I put out, so we did rooftop instead with a utility/equipment room. Will check out your other videos & subscribe. Curious how you like the growatt inverter. I'm thinking of getting one for a backup/replacement to my radian.

[@Roll2Videos]

On a mountain side sounds like a beautiful view. You should look into the MPP solar units they are UL compliant if I could trade for my growatt I would.

[@c2492]

Nice setup 👍

[@Roll2Videos]

Thx

[@Electronzap]

Nice.

[@bntravelin2]

smart

[@benjones8977]

Interesting but it seems to be way overkill to me! I have the 15 amp fuses connected to the PV strings which I parallel. Then I have the breakers to cut off the electricity when I’m working on my system. To me I haven’t had any reason to add anything else. As far as running a ground to the battery, I just run it to the bus bars. All the positives are fused.

[@Roll2Videos]

Lol it is a little overkill. I did follow the code for my area and I left out 1 thing. A arc flash breaker I couldn't even find that 🤫 I will also have a disconnect at my growatt because I'm running my wires in a flexible conduit underground....

[@benjones8977]

@@Roll2Videos Sometimes I think that all these regulations are just for the government to control everything and make a lot of money doing it.

[@JimmyG1776]

Exactly.

[@khaleddhr6238]

I had 21 solar panels 3s X 7p connected to two inverters in parallel for Home but i need to use this 21 solar panels all connected to series to connect new invt vfd drive to use submersible 3hp for 3 hours only and back to my 21 (3 series x 7 parallel group) again to use in my home, How to change array between two system?

[@Roll2Videos]

Good question; I'm sorry I do not have a answer for you.

[@sunjayjay240]

can u connect different Volts arrays to the box say 150v 120, v regds sunil

[@Roll2Videos]

I could, but once they get paralleled, the 150V will be bought down to 120V. Therefore I would have 120V and double the amps from both arrays

[@MyBacktrail]

I just don't know how good I feel about those chinese surge protection and overcurrent protection devices and breakers. You won't know whether or not they do the job until it's too late. I read a review on the jungle site where a guy put continuous 700 amps through one of those chinese breakers and it never tripped.

[@Roll2Videos]

Oh wow, 700A; yeah, this was one of my, Just starting videos. As I grow larger, more expensive equipment I will invest in something like a midnite solar equipment

[@HolmesProspecting]

Once you look at all the new requirements for NEC 2017+ you need AFCI, Rapid shutdown, etc, etc. It really makes using microinverters the easiest option sadly as they don't need many of these things or have them built in.

[@Roll2Videos]

It is an interesting read

[@philgavin]

I followed your link because I was a little puzzled. I could establish that your GFCI was polarized and presumably has the wherewithal to break a DC ARC. Very Good. But my question is does it respond to a DC Earth fault? That part I didn't pick up from the specs. It is difficult to see because of the clip resolution, but it appears to just contain the differential trip mechanism of an AC GFCI. ( The circle drawn around both conductors on the front). In other words, a CT-like coil in which the nett magnetic effect of the in and out current is zero. ( Unless of course there is a leakage to earth). The thing is though this transformer effect doesn't apply to DC current. And in the presence of DC, magnetic cores tend to saturate and not work properly. There doesn't appear to be any hall effect trip mechanism on the device. Hence, I am a little puzzled about this GFCI. Just asking, for educational reasons, I haven't seen everything under the sun.

[@Roll2Videos]

here is the link to the midnite solar www.midnitesolar.com/productPhoto.php?product_ID=185&productCatName=Breakers&productCat_ID=16&sortOrder=2&act=p Comment and let me know what you find please

[@Roll2Videos]

I think the way they achieve this "GFCI" is by having a 2 pole beaker with 63 amp breaker for the positive wire and a less then 1amp breaker on the negitive to ground so if any current is on the ground it will trip the double pole breaker.

[@2hotscottpro]

Wow 88 bucks!

[@aspectc2-8169]

I’m reaching out here, help me out please. How do you combine 12x 12 volt panels without series? (All parallel) Everyone I ask tells me to just series them. I want 60 amps…..so no, I’m not doing that. Where should you increase wire size and what size breakers and fuses? Do I need to increase size of wire(10awg-50amps)coming out of the back of the panels? Should I still use branch connectors? I’m trying to pull 1200 watts at 60 amps.I have a renogy 100 amp charge controller and a renogy 3000 watt inverter. Only running 4x 12 v 100watt panels as of now. I have the renogy 5 string combiner box as well. I just don’t know how to do it “ the best way” is there a diagram somewhere? Why can’t I find anything. If you have time I’d appreciate any help. Good videos bud! I learn something everytime

[@Roll2Videos]

I understand you are new to this. Your charge controller is 100A output. I would double-check the input amps, which probably aren't listed on the watts and volts divide the two for amps. For 60A after combined, you would need @ 10ft a 4 AWG wire, @ 20ft a 2 AWG wire, @ 30ft a 1/0 AWG length of wire. The best bet is to run all the strings close to your charge controller and then combine them with a short 2 AWG wire length.

[@Roll2Videos]

Also, I agree to series connect and let your charge controller convert the power to the desired amps. The reason you can't find anything on the way you want to do the hook-up is it's not practical

[@Steve-wz5pz]

Why would one run a breaker if you already have a disconnect and fuses?

[@Roll2Videos]

The is disconnected to isolate the two strings from each other, and the breaker is to isolate the parallel string

[@Roll2Videos]

Also, the fuse protects each series string. And the breaker protects after the parallel is made. 👍

[@Steve-wz5pz]

@@Roll2Videos And, after watching another of your videos -- I'm thinking the SPD is pretty useless w/o a breaker to trip?

[@Roll2Videos]

@@Steve-wz5pz SPD?

[@Steve-wz5pz]

@@Roll2Videos Right, the Surge Protection Device.