Lightning kill my inverter

[Wakie]

Saturday afternoon , the light in the cabin goes off at the same time as a lightning strike nearby
I go in the room where the inverter is and as soon as i cracked the door open, it smell electric fire.
The inverter fan was running full blast and the inverter was very hot.
I unplug everything, battery, charge controller and panel.
One hour later i restart the system , panel are ok, charge controller and battery was fine too.
Inverter show overload and the fan was running .inverter seem dead .

The inverter was a 24 v 2300 watt msw
What do you suggest to protect my next inverter ?
I inspect and see no sign of lighning strike anywhere in the cabin.

[Silver_Is_Money]

Is there any means for effective solar system grounding to prevent such occurrences as this one?

[inetdog]

Saturday afternoon , the light in the cabin goes off at the same time as a lightning strike nearby
I go in the room where the inverter is and as soon as i cracked the door open, it smell electric fire.
The inverter fan was running full blast and the inverter was very hot.
I unplug everything, battery, charge controller and panel.
One hour later i restart the system , panel are ok, charge controller and battery was fine too.
Inverter show overload and the fan was running .inverter seem dead .

The inverter was a 24 v 2300 watt msw
What do you suggest to protect my next inverter ?
I inspect and see no sign of lighning strike anywhere in the cabin.

The most common source of lightning related damage is not the direct strike but voltages and currents induced as a result of the strike.
These tend to divide up into two general categories:
1. Damage caused by voltage gradients produced the flow of lightning current through the earth. This can cause ground rods at opposite sides of the building to be at different potentials. Proper earth ground and Equipment Grounding Conductor layout can mitigate this.
Connecting the frames of your panels directly to their own ground electrode can make this far worse.
2. Damage caused by voltages induced directly into the AC and DC wiring systems by the electric and magnetic fields produced by the lightning. These tend to be able to produce large but limited currents and so Surge Protective Devices (SPDs) in the right places can help mitigate the damage. Quick rule of thumb for the AC side is a large SPD at the main panel and additional smaller ones as close as possible to sensitive equipment. You can also reduce induced voltages by keeping all of the wires for a particular circuit close to each other and if possible twisted, and by putting wiring into shielding raceways such as properly grounded conduit.

[Mike90250]

You have to start with proper grounding, so that Lightning Protection Devices have a good path to ground to direct the power into, instead of going through your household wiring.

There are 2 protection devices that I like to use, both in parallel, Delta and Midnight. They both cover different voltage ranges.

And if you get a direct hit, nothing is going to save your gear anyway.