Best Inverter Installation Location

[gatorbill]

Hello everyone,
I'm having a PV the following system being installed in my house.

DC kW: 5.70
Modules: 20 LG Electronics 285 S1C-G4
Optimizers: 20 Solar Edge P300
Inverters: 1 Solar Edge SE5000A-US

The inverter will be located on an exterior side wall right next to the meter and the electrical panel as shown in the diagram below (shown in red). The area is open and accessible to anyone, in other words not behind a wall or gate. In the past we've had problems with kids opening the electrical panel and disconnecting the power breakers as a result we had to put a padlock on the electrical panel box. My concern now is with someone tampering with the easily accessible inverter. I've browsed thru the specs for the inverter but I do not see anything addressing how the unit can be made tamper resistant.

Does the inverter have to be in an open area such as this to be accessible to the fire department ?

I suppose the inverter location next to the main electrical panel is needed to keep AC power losses down, is that correct ?

Are there any security and/or tamper proof mechanisms built into the Solar Edge inverter ?

I can think of two other options to locate the inverter:

Option 1 - Green:

• I can place the inverter inside the garage to make it tamper proof, but the main electrical panel is on the other side of the house some 70-ft away ?
• The DC run from the array to the inverter would need to penetrate the roof and go thru the attic to get to the garage, this would be a short DC run.
• The AC run could go up into the attic then run the length of the house until it got to the wall where the electrical panel is, but this would be a long 70-ft AC run.
• I have read that a long AC run is bad because the voltage drop would require very thick conductors.

Option 2 - Blue:

• I can place the inverter in the back wall of the house where it will be behind a block wall.
• The DC run is now about the same as the current design.
• The AC run is now a little shorter than with Option 1 at around 30-ft.
• This is the master bedroom wall, does this inverted have a fan and is it loud enough to be a nuisance that close to the bedroom ?

Any comments and/or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
gatorbill

inverter_locations.jpg

[8.4]

I don't have Solaredge, but mine is in my garage and very quiet. Either of the two option seems better than the original since you have vandals, but I like the garage setup.

[silversaver]

Red.

[J.P.M.]

While various locations all have +/-'s, for a lot of reasons, and not unlike the logic about keeping electronics away from uncontrolled environments, IMO, the garage option seems the overall best option.

[gatorbill]

Thanks for the input so far !

It's a very nice neighborhood and I don't think we had vandals doing the breaker pulls. At the time our boys where at that age where they and their friends liked to play pranks on each other. So we believe that it was more likely their classmates pranking our kids. This was at the age where they liked to TP an egg each others houses, they're grown up now and are past that age.

Are there any precautions that can be taken to "secure" the inverter ?
What is the worst that can happen ? They disconnect the array from the grid ?

Option 1 - Green: I think the installer would not like to do the garage install because it would take more work. They would need to penetrate the roof for the DC line and are probably reluctant to do that for potential future leak issues. In addition, the AC run is pretty long and he would have to run this thru the attic. I think they would prefer to do everything on the outside of the house.

I'm surprised that so far no one thinks Option 2 - Blue is a good choice. I think that this option would be acceptable to the installer and it provides a secure place for the inverter.

[J.P.M.]

Thanks for the input so far !

It's a very nice neighborhood and I don't think we had vandals doing the breaker pulls. At the time our boys where at that age where they and their friends liked to play pranks on each other. So we believe that it was more likely their classmates pranking our kids. This was at the age where they liked to TP an egg each others houses, they're grown up now and are past that age.

Are there any precautions that can be taken to "secure" the inverter ?
What is the worst that can happen ? They disconnect the array from the grid ?

Option 1 - Green: I think the installer would not like to do the garage install because it would take more work. They would need to penetrate the roof for the DC line and are probably reluctant to do that for potential future leak issues. In addition, the AC run is pretty long and he would have to run this thru the attic. I think they would prefer to do everything on the outside of the house.

I'm surprised that so far no one thinks Option 2 - Blue is a good choice. I think that this option would be acceptable to the installer and it provides a secure place for the inverter.

I'd not spend a lot of effort on trying to guess what the installer thinks - why not ask ? Aside from that, it's your home, not the installer's. Listen to their opinions for sure, but you're driving the bus. The installer is working for you, not the other way around.

If anyone is worried about one more roof penetration added to what's already 20 or more, I'd be a bit concerned about either their ability to produce a leak free hole in a roof for all of them, or their veracity about concerns for one more. That's one reason why God made flashings - for long lasting, leak free penetrations.

I'm sure it's a lovely neighborhood. Most PV installs are in lovely, often upscale, neighborhoods.

My comment about having electronics out of uncontrolled environments had as much to do with keeping the inverter in an area that's somewhat temp. controlled and out of the vagaries of the elements of weather as the onslaughts of humanity. Be kind to your electronics and they'll be kind to you.

Take what you want of the above. Scrap the rest.

[silversaver]

I said "red" because that wall is facing NWN, so without much of sun light year round and it is close to the meter. Depends on your location and where the meter box at, I choose garage because the meter is right outside of the wall and outside wall installation makes inverter expose to sunlight for extended period of time (SouthEast).

You can place the inverter anywhere you like since the AC lose from inverter to the power meter is less important. If you have a warm garage, outside wall might be a better pick since it will always under shade on your NWN wall. I'll still recommended to have your inverter as close to the power meter as possible to minimize transmission losses

[Mike90250]

I think the safety police will not like the padlock on the breaker box.
When you come home, and find the dog on fire, mouth clamped on the sparking electric cord, finding the key for the lock will be tough,

[solarix]

- Don't put your inverter in the sun, Solaredge is built with a fair amount of plastic and they do not warranty damage do to sunlight exposure.
- One advantage of SolarEdge is there is no fan so are nice and quiet.
- Your utility will probably give you a their universal padlock and key so that you both have access to the breaker box (or use a combination lock).
- On our installs, we put the inverter wherever the customer wants. We advise them of the pros and cons of each location, but my job is to make them happy.
- If the AC run is quite long, larger wire should be used (and doesn't cost much more). Sooner or later, many other people in your neighborhood are going to have solar too and the line voltage will rise when they are all cranking causing AC voltage drop to be important.

[ButchDeal]

The larger inverters have thermocoupled fans.

[solarix]

I stand corrected...

[gatorbill]

Looking at the SolarEdge inverter datasheet the SE3000, SE3800, SE5000 and SE6000 do not have a fan. But from the SE7600 on up they do have fans. So for us (SE5000) there's no fan so mounting it on the bedroom wall should not introduce noise issues.

[gatorbill]

- Don't put your inverter in the sun, Solaredge is built with a fair amount of plastic and they do not warranty damage do to sunlight exposure.
- One advantage of SolarEdge is there is no fan so are nice and quiet.
- Your utility will probably give you a their universal padlock and key so that you both have access to the breaker box (or use a combination lock).
- On our installs, we put the inverter wherever the customer wants. We advise them of the pros and cons of each location, but my job is to make them happy.
- If the AC run is quite long, larger wire should be used (and doesn't cost much more). Sooner or later, many other people in your neighborhood are going to have solar too and the line voltage will rise when they are all cranking causing AC voltage drop to be important.

Thanks you solarix ! Very helpful information. The installer is coming by the house to discuss if either of the alternate locations would be fairly easy for him to use. I will call the power company to discuss what to do about the breaker box lock.

[cebury]

I was in similar situation and went with the garage location, and roof penetration for DC, with a 65 ft. AC run via attic. Installer didn't blink. But I did make it easy for him to pull down the wall exterior near main panel -- I removed the small section of roof above it so it was exposed to go down the wall. Roofer repaired for 100 bucks, but was it was simple enough I could've done it.

[gatorbill]

Thank you cebury, that is good to know, I will try and get my installer to consider this option.

[gatorbill]

I discussed the two other options with my installer today and he said both were fine so we decided to go with Option 1 and install the inverter in the garage. Thanks to all for your thoughts and suggestions.