Grounding and Bonding of a Sinclair Ground Mount PV Array

[@AndyM...]

Great job on the array, I'd be proud of the attention to detail and neatness !!! 🤠😎

[@jeffmotes2129]

Thanks!

[@AdamDeLayDIY]

Very cool. Thanks for sharing how you hooked everything together!

[@Sanwizard1]

Beautiful ground mount system. Well done. Much easier to keep clean than panels on a roof.

[@jeffmotes2129]

Much easier. Thanks.

[@Capoe3]

Thanks Jeff. This helps a bunch.

[@snoflite5234]

Great to see your system is up and doing great. I have about 25kw of solar in operation now with 5 5000es's. I just put up 42 more panels, I added on to my sinclaire ground mount. But now I am adding on 28 more panels on a seperate ground mount, using eg4 mounts, but putting them on a wooden tilting subframe. When finished this summer, I will be up to 50KW. I will have 6 5000es's feeding the house, and 3 5000es's feeding my shop. They will all be tied to the same battery bank somewhere around 200KWh in size.

[@jeffmotes2129]

That’s going to be awesome. Is your daughter still helping you?

[@snoflite5234]

@@jeffmotes2129 She was back visiting this spring so we got started on the upgrades. We got the 42 panel sinclaire ground mount up and paneled. We got the posts in for the wood 28 panel section, but then she had to head back to Texas. The wiring and the 28 panel section is all on me to finish, lol. She may be back at the end of June for a few days, and I might get her to come back in early September.

[@jeffmotes2129]

How is tge EG4 mount working out?

[@snoflite5234]

@@jeffmotes2129 I would recommend just purchasing more Sinclair if thinking about a large project. The purchase price of EG4 mount, wood price, and all the extra time to modify and build everything, Sinclair is the winner for sure. I would have just bought more Sinclair but shipping is an added cost, and I was only planning like 10 panels at first, but then it grew to 44 panels.

[@dannyroddy]

thank you

[@jeffmotes2129]

@@dannyroddy welcome

[@keything8487]

appreciate the information.

[@Rock_Nemo]

Was wondering why you decided to have your panels so far from the solar shed, and what gauge wire did your use.

[@jeffmotes2129]

In some of my earliest videos I go over my process for selecting this particular site. I was looking for the maximum solar window available to me. I performed a shade analysis (see my early video from Jan 2022)for various locations on my property. This particular location provides 12+ hours of no shadows. The closer I moved it the shorter the solar window. I could have cut a bunch of trees but I wanted to avoid that. I could have moved due south with the array without reducing the solar window, however, though not evident in this video there is a pond. This is a runoff pond and sometimes the water backs up far into the field. I placed the array outside the area I’ve seen standing back water during heavy rains. I used 4AWG aluminum direct burial. I’d have to look up my calculations but the voltage drop at maximum power was around 2%.

[@jeffmotes2129]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/d3jXnGeahd-Yg7s

[@taylormills08]

I like the fact that you put the copper ground conductor in contact with earth in the trench. Offers a ton of connection to the ground. Having the EGC separate from the PV circuit conductors could be arguable with regards to NEC code. I don't see much problem though.

[@bbkkssv]

Where in Alabama are you? Im a bit west of Auburn and building a similar system. 2 sol-ark 15ks, lifepower4, sinclair ground mount... etc

[@jeffmotes2129]

Southwest

[@adassociates8235]

Wondering that we saw some YT videos connected grounding wire from remote ground array back to home ground rod, is it any difference as your arrays are ground right on the ground mounted posts? Thanks 🇺🇸👍

[@jeffmotes2129]

The ground from my array is connected back to the home ground rod. I believe the best practice is to keep all grounds electrically connected. Hence my array posts act as a ground rod and my PV panels are connected to the frame. But this frame is also connected back to my home ground rod.

[@adassociates8235]

@@jeffmotes2129 Thank you Jeff 👍

[@Colindstuart]

Is it better to run an uninsulated ground wire between the structures or insulated?

[@jeffmotes2129]

Uninsulated will provide better grounding due to its metal to ground contact.

[@Colindstuart]

@@jeffmotes2129 should I add some sort of anode to prevent corrosion?

[@jeffmotes2129]

@@Colindstuart no. The bare wire making contact with the dirt is no different than a ground rod making contact with dirt. The more contact you have the better “ground” you have.

[@niktak1114]

What are the dimensions of those purlins?

[@jeffmotes2129]

You can find the specifications here sinclair-designs.com/documents

[@niktak1114]

@@jeffmotes2129 Thanks. Looks like 5.15" x 2.1" for the horizontal purlins.

[@dapperdave2090]

👍😎👍....

[@JonOffgrid]

👌👍