Ground Wire For Solar Panels

Appropriate bonding and equipment grounding limits the voltage imposed on a system by lightning line surges and unintentional contact with higher voltage lines.

Ground wire for solar panels.

Drive a grounding rod at least 8 feet deep into the earth near the system. Once there it could arc again to the house wiring and use its grounding system instead. The additional earth contact will improve the grounding of the system. For burial runs use bare copper wire.

Simply stated the higher the voltage the smaller the wire size that is needed to carry the current. Leave around 6 above ground to properly attach your copper wire to the grounding rod. Standard ground mounts use metal framing driven into the ground to hold your solar panels up at a fixed angle. Here s how we ground our solar water pump systems.

Regardless of system voltage equipment grounding is required on all pv systems. Connect or bond all ground rods together via bare copper wire 6 or larger see the nec and bury the wire. Besides this solar cable gauge calculator is designed to provide estimates for wire gauge size to determine your need for cables. The one strand conductor type wire is most commonly used in domestic wiring and should be okay for your solar system however if your area is prone to consistent and extremely high winds you may want to consider wire types with a multi stranded conductor as it is more flexible thus more durable.

If you use conduit run the ground wire outside the conduit. Use only approved clamps to connect wire to rods. Use twisted pair cable for any communication or control cables for example a float switch cable for full tank shutoff of a solar water pump. If your photovoltaic array is some distance from the house drive ground rod s near it and bury bare wire in the trench with the power lines.

The main issue is the wire size needed for the usually fairly long run to the solar panels. There are two basic types of ground mounted solar panel systems. If lightning were to strike the solar panels outside the electric current may go into the panel grounding system if you are lucky or it may travel along the positive and negative wires going back to the inverter inside your house. For outdoor grounding you need to use thick bare copper wire that can handle large electrical currents like lightening.