Ground mount panels - inverter location

[littleboss]

Any reason I shouldn't mount a Fronius Primo (or other brand string inverter) at the panels location and then just run 240VAC over to the house (100' away) as opposed to running DC through the conduit. I save on wiring and don't have higher voltage DC running underground.

[heimdm]

What is your DC voltage? The higher the volts the lower your amps, and the thinner wire that is required. Because of the distance, you have to add that into the equation.

[Mike90250]

Under 600V, there is no real difference if you run 450VDC vs 240VAC except the 450V can use smaller ( cheaper) wire

[robbyg]

Any reason I shouldn't mount a Fronius Primo (or other brand string inverter) at the panels location and then just run 240VAC over to the house (100' away) as opposed to running DC through the conduit. I save on wiring and don't have higher voltage DC running underground.

All the reasons above plus the 100 foot walk back and forth every time you need to change something in the settings or the inverter trips.
Good exercise but it can be annoying after awhile.

[littleboss]

What is your DC voltage? The higher the volts the lower your amps, and the thinner wire that is required. Because of the distance, you have to add that into the equation.

10 panels per string @ 40V = 400VDC total and 10.4A

[littleboss]

All the reasons above plus the 100 foot walk back and forth every time you need to change something in the settings or the inverter trips.
Good exercise but it can be annoying after awhile.

You can't manage these fancy inverters with your computer or a phone app?

[SunEagle]

Any reason I shouldn't mount a Fronius Primo (or other brand string inverter) at the panels location and then just run 240VAC over to the house (100' away) as opposed to running DC through the conduit. I save on wiring and don't have higher voltage DC running underground.

Most ground mounts have the inverter close to the panels but you should still run the Voltage drop calculation to make sure.

[robbyg]

You can't manage these fancy inverters with your computer or a phone app?

I don't know about Fronius but most inverters have to be reset from the unit itself. The software is typically centered around monitoring and has limited ability to change settings. Check the manual and see what you can do remotely. None the less I would rather be seeing, hearing and smelling what is happening with the inverter before I do something like reset it.

[reader2580]

I mounted my Solaredge inverters at my ground mount array. I was told that DC is more sensitive to voltage drop than AC. My run is something like 175 feet. I upsized my wire one size more than necessary for the amperage to combat voltage drop.

I don't know why the concern about having inverters far away. It isn't like you are visiting them every day, or even every week. My Solaredge inverters just work and have never needed a reset.

[peakbagger]

Somewhere I saw a post that an AHJ decided that if the inverter was installed in the house versus an ground mount array that the array had to have Rapid Shutdown Devices. I did not make sense to me but in that case the inverter was mounted at the array to avoid the hassle.