DC power in PV systems

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Does anyone have any experience with off-grid PV systems? I have home owners wanting most of their outlet and all their lights to be DC. Article 720 is one place I've found that addresses the outlets, but can't find anything on lighting. Is it even possible to wire a house this way and meet th requirements of the NEC?
 

tom baker

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Ditto on John Wiles, he is the principle author of Art 692 on PVs. He just had a great series of articles on PV installations in the IAEI journal. He sees a need for professional and proper installations, there is a lot of home made PV systems that is dangerous.
 
Thanks guys. I live in the Northwoods of Wisconsin where up until recently it has been very easy for folks to cobble up do-it-yourself jobs, PV or grid. Now that inspections have started, they hire electricians, and proceed to balk at me when I tell them it has to be this way or that way to meet code, especially those with an off-grid PV system. Perhaps someday as PV becomes more widespread it is a topic that should be covered more thouroughly in the NEC.

Marissa
 

acrwc10

Master Code Professional
Location
CA
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Building inspector
electriciangirl said:
Does anyone have any experience with off-grid PV systems? I have home owners wanting most of their outlet and all their lights to be DC. Article 720 is one place I've found that addresses the outlets, but can't find anything on lighting. Is it even possible to wire a house this way and meet th requirements of the NEC?

I think you mean receptacles and luminaire. look in article 100 definitions : Outlet. A point on the wiring system at which current is taken to supply utilization equipment.
Luminaire. A complete lighting unit consisting of a lamp or lamps together with the parts designed to distribute the light, to position and protect the lamps and ballast (where applicable), and to connect the lamps to the power supply.
 
Electriciangirl:

This trick might work on ya, when you run for the PC low voltage dc system just run the seperated circuits and OCPD's [ yeah they have some OCPD breaker work low as 48 volts i know SqD QO series do work on this low voltage dc but watch the AIC rating that all ]

and have non stanadard repectales like mini twistlock or sorta oddball so they dont get mixed up with standard line voltage system just like if someone try to plug in the 12 v luminaire to standard 120 v repectale you know what it will happend there. :roll:


you may have to treat this as SDS system if this help a bit

Merci , Marc

P.S. what area northen wisconsin you loacted in ??

I have a place near Rice Lake
 
acrwc10 said:
I think you mean receptacles and luminaire. look in article 100 definitions : Outlet. A point on the wiring system at which current is taken to supply utilization equipment.
Luminaire. A complete lighting unit consisting of a lamp or lamps together with the parts designed to distribute the light, to position and protect the lamps and ballast (where applicable), and to connect the lamps to the power supply.

I"m sticking my toungue out at you. JK I know what I mean, and you know what I mean, and when I use the word outlet, homeowners know what I mean. That is who I'm used to talking to.
 
frenchelectrican said:
Electriciangirl:


P.S. what area northen wisconsin you loacted in ??

I have a place near Rice Lake

I live far enough north to not consider Rice Lake as Northern Wisconsin:) That's a bit south for me. I live in the South Shore area in the middle of the woods. Close to Port Wing.
 
electriciangirl said:
I live far enough north to not consider Rice Lake as Northern Wisconsin:) That's a bit south for me. I live in the South Shore area in the middle of the woods. Close to Port Wing.


You two live on the oposite side of the state, Oshkosh,WI.
 

infinity

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electriciangirl said:
I"m sticking my toungue out at you. JK I know what I mean, and you know what I mean, and when I use the word outlet, homeowners know what I mean. That is who I'm used to talking to.


At least you didn't say plugs.:rolleyes:
 

acrwc10

Master Code Professional
Location
CA
Occupation
Building inspector
electriciangirl said:
I"m sticking my toungue out at you. JK I know what I mean, and you know what I mean, and when I use the word outlet, homeowners know what I mean. That is who I'm used to talking to.


Testy, Testy. No need to stick your tongue out, you said "outlets" not us. And who is JK ? It must be bad cheese :roll: You might look in to motor home or boat systems, they use 12v DC systems for Lights and RECEPTACLES:D 12volt receptacles look like this / \ two angled connectors Pos. & neg. some smaller gen. sets have them on them. Proceed with caution.
 
dereckbc said:
Do I understand you correctly? You are in Wisconsin and doing solar PV work? :-?

Yes, solar work in Wisconsin. I don't as of yet do the PV systems, but often end up doing the interior wiring for houses that have PV systems. Believe it or not, the sun actually does shine in Wisconsin. Most people that have PV around here either need to be grid tied or have to live without much electricity in the winter months.
 
acrwc10 said:
Testy, Testy. No need to stick your tongue out, you said "outlets" not us. And who is JK ? It must be bad cheese :roll: You might look in to motor home or boat systems, they use 12v DC systems for Lights and RECEPTACLES:D 12volt receptacles look like this / \ two angled connectors Pos. & neg. some smaller gen. sets have them on them. Proceed with caution.


JK=Just Kidding. There's no such thing as bad cheese in Wisconsin. And don't you mean luminaires, not lights? Hee hee. The receptacles and luminaires are not the issue for me. I know what to use for those. My question is mainly about how many lighting outlets can go on one circuit. Article 720.4 says any appliance branch circuit supplying more than one receptacle must be 10AWG or greater. So, only a single rec. per appliance branch circuit with 12 AWG or all rec. in 10 AWG. Nothing is said about lighting outlets.
 
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