Solar transformer question

Thanks, but the SE inverters he has bought and installed are 480/277V. Corner grounded 480V delta is not supported.
Right. I said that many / most of their 240 inverters can do corner grounded. I thus assumed that might be the case for their 480 inverters, hence why I asked - but that document shows ungrounded Delta is the only configuration.
 
Right. I said that many / most of their 240 inverters can do corner grounded. I thus assumed that might be the case for their 480 inverters, hence why I asked - but that document shows ungrounded Delta is the only [480V 3 phase] configuration.
Corectamundo, but whether or not 480V corner grounded would be supported in this case is a very minor issue; all the client needs to do is add ground detection to the transformer secondary for the ungrounded delta to be compliant. Most of the problems are on the primary side of the transformer.
 
Corectamundo, but whether or not 480V corner grounded would be supported in this case is a very minor issue; all the client needs to do is add ground detection to the transformer secondary for the ungrounded delta to be compliant. Most of the problems are on the primary side of the transformer.
Sure. I mean ungrounded is pretty foreign to most people, so down the road someone might be scratching their heads a bit, but the chances of any problems are very unlikely. Hell, the inverters will almost be your better fault detector as presumably they won't like it if a phase grounds out and will fault out.
 
Sure. I mean ungrounded is pretty foreign to most people, so down the road someone might be scratching their heads a bit, but the chances of any problems are very unlikely. Hell, the inverters will almost be your better fault detector as presumably they won't like it if a phase grounds out and will fault out.
It's the first time I have dealt with it, that's for sure, but 250.21(B) is very clear; the system must have ground detection.
 
Light bulbs are probably the most commonly employed detection scheme at 480V.
Their only problem is they tend to blend into the background and get ignored.
Probably any sort of indicator light would get ignored and/or no one would know what it means. Probably some sort of audible alarm would be best.

I was about to say that I wasn't proposing that the inverter would meet 250.21 (B). But actually why couldn't it? That section is very vague and there's no definition of ground detector or what exactly it has to consist of or how it indicates.
 
I still don't understand why the 480/277 neutral couldn't be grounded. It would be grounded if the inverter was connected directly to the grid. As far as the inverter can tell, how does it know the difference between 480 straight from the grid and 480 coming out of a step up transformer?
 
I still don't understand why the 480/277 neutral couldn't be grounded.
It cannot be grounded because there isn't one. A 208D to 480/277Y xfmr was specified but a 208/120Y to 480D xfmr was bought and installed. Oops. If you mean the inverter neutral, then in post #29 you are correct.
 
Wait never mind I think I get it it's because of the phases coming out of the transformer would be floating relative to ground and could take on any value due to capacitive coupling. Yes?
Right. I mean there is a chance it might work. I am not sure of the internal topology of these inverters, but if they have wye connected power electronics inside, it might sort a ground the system and the inverter might be okay with it. Keyword is "might", I wouldn't try it.
 
Right. I mean there is a chance it might work. I am not sure of the internal topology of these inverters, but if they have wye connected power electronics inside, it might sort a ground the system and the inverter might be okay with it. Keyword is "might", I wouldn't try it.
The internal topology is wye, I'm certain. So the grid selection programming is probably just telling it whether to trip with an 'AC voltage out of range' error on the L-N voltages, or to ignore them and only trip based on L-L voltages. So I think grounding the inverter neutral terminal without setting it to delta is just inviting such errors for no benefit whatsoever.
 
Wait never mind I think I get it it's because of the phases coming out of the transformer would be floating relative to ground and could take on any value due to capacitive coupling. Yes?
Yes. Standard transformers can only transmit changes in voltage, rather than absolute voltage itself. An ideal transformer takes the derivative of the primary voltage, scales it by the turns ratio, and then integrates it to produce the secondary voltage. As with integration in general, there's an offset constant, which could be anything if not otherwise constrained. This isolates the two sides from one another, requiring a grounding of the secondary system if you want its voltage to ground to be predictable.

A delta grid can't be grounded at its midpoint, because there's no midpoint terminal anywhere within the winding group. A delta winding group can be corner-grounded, or grounded at the midpoint of one of its windings for a high leg, but there's no direct way to ground it so that all phases are "equidistant" to ground. It takes a separate grounding transformer to do this, where you connect the WYE topology to your grid and ground it to derive a grounded neutral, and the other side is a dead-end delta.
 
Yes. Standard transformers can only transmit changes in voltage, rather than absolute voltage itself. An ideal transformer takes the derivative of the primary voltage, scales it by the turns ratio, and then integrates it to produce the secondary voltage. As with integration in general, there's an offset constant, which could be anything if not otherwise constrained.
The dreaded "+C"!
 
Thinking about it some more: It's kinda puzzling how these inverters are ok with ungrounded but not corner grounded. From a construction standpoint, I would think you essentially have to design around 480V to ground anyway. Also I wonder if the inverter would work on a corner grounded system but they just don't want you to do it for some reason. In the simplest case, the inverter is just saying "ignore line to ground voltage, don't care what it is". Or does the inverter actually run tests to determine if the system is grounded? Seems like it would need to put a load line to ground and see what happens.
 
Thinking about it some more: It's kinda puzzling how these inverters are ok with ungrounded but not corner grounded. From a construction standpoint, I would think you essentially have to design around 480V to ground anyway. Also I wonder if the inverter would work on a corner grounded system but they just don't want you to do it for some reason. In the simplest case, the inverter is just saying "ignore line to ground voltage, don't care what it is". Or does the inverter actually run tests to determine if the system is grounded? Seems like it would need to put a load line to ground and see what happens.
It might be related to clearances and stress. Having it ungrounded is basically half the voltage stress between internal components and PCB traces. Like everything else, it just money.
 
It might be related to clearances and stress. Having it ungrounded is basically half the voltage stress between internal components and PCB traces. Like everything else, it just money.
I don't know, I think if it's ungrounded you have to assume 480 volts phase to ground in your design. The voltage might float nicely in the middle but you can't count on it.
 
I don't know, I think if it's ungrounded you have to assume 480 volts phase to ground in your design. The voltage might float nicely in the middle but you can't count on it.
Maybe the reasoning is really the opposite though?
If it's corner grounded then 480V to ground is essentially certain and if there's an <80% chance that destroys the inverter in fault the you don't allow it. Whereas with a floating ground maybe the chances are <20% that the voltage to ground is too high. So it's a business decision, rather than a technical requirement for listing. To be clear I'm totally speculating.

I have a suspicion that the corner grounded might actually work, just not be warrantied (and be a 110.3(B) violation).
 
Thinking about it some more: It's kinda puzzling how these inverters are ok with ungrounded but not corner grounded. From a construction standpoint, I would think you essentially have to design around 480V to ground anyway. Also I wonder if the inverter would work on a corner grounded system but they just don't want you to do it for some reason. In the simplest case, the inverter is just saying "ignore line to ground voltage, don't care what it is". Or does the inverter actually run tests to determine if the system is grounded? Seems like it would need to put a load line to ground and see what happens.
If the manufacturer's instructions say not to connect a particular inverter to a corner grounded system, I won't do it. It really makes no difference whether it would run or not.
 
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