690.11

[romex jockey]

The 2011 NEC requires DC afci protection

The standard can be viewed here

Has anyone dealt with these? I had been under the impression an afci operated on sine wave recognition, how does this variety work w/o it?


RJ

 

[GoldDigger]

The arc will contain high frequency components even though the arc current may be continuous rather than interrupted at 120Hz.
Think of an old spark gap radio transmitter, for example.

Sent from my XT1080 using Tapatalk

 

[Inspector Said]

On that note

On that note

Since 690.11 states that the AFCI is required on PV systems with dc source circuit, output circuits or both ... operating at 80 volts or greater. Then micro-inverters would be exempted (depending upon the output of the module) since most singluar modules would not produce a DC output greater that 80 volts.

 

[Dennis Alwon]

Here is an article on it. I believe they make them

http://solarprofessional.com/articl...c-arc-fault-circuit-protection-for-pv-systems

 

[Zee]

I've stuck to the TL line of residential inverters from SMA. AFCI is included in the disconnects if specified.
Or micros as mentioned.

 

[SolarPro]

While SMA was first to market, Fronius, Power-One and Solar Edge all offer string inverters with integrated dc AFCI. Also, SolarBOS offers arc-fault combiners that can be used on central inverter systems.

Note that under NEC 2014, the requirements in 690.11 are expanded to all PV systems, whereas they only apply to PV system on rooftops in NEC 2011.

 

[shortcircuit2]

Since 690.11 states that the AFCI is required on PV systems with dc source circuit, output circuits or both ... operating at 80 volts or greater. Then micro-inverters would be exempted (depending upon the output of the module) since most singluar modules would not produce a DC output greater that 80 volts.

Well...anyone know of an AC AFCI breaker that will work on backfeed to comply with 705.12(D)(6) of the 2014 NEC?

 

[SolarPro]

No, not yet. Work is underway, though. In the meanwhile, the last paragraph in Section 90.4 applies.