Thanks, Nick. So you are continuing a daisy chain of inverters across
a required clear space or obstruction that necessitates a change of
wiring method. As you said, you end up needing both the male and
female whips. So cutting an extension yields both pieces that are
needed. And there are other options too.
It does still make sense that Enphase doesn't endorse cutting the
extension for that purpose.
Kent Osterberg
Blue Mountain Solar, Inc.
Nick Soleil wrote:
Sorry
Kent:
I am just not that motivated by this conversation to create
drawings. I will try to explain one of the times when I choose to use
the male cable. The site had 28 modules on one roof, but due to fire
access walkways, and limited space, we had to place on module on a
different roof. The main array was on a roof with skylights that broke
up the rows of modules, so our Enphase strings travelled along the peak
of the roof, then down to a lower row, then back up to the row by the
peak (with a gap in the top row.) The end of that 8 module sub-circuit
was located across the hip, and 15' from a single module that did not
fit on the main roof. So at the end of the 8 modules we wanted a male
cable, so that we could tie the end of the string into a j-box,
transition to 3/4" conduit and then run to the other roof, where we
could use a female whip to pick up the single module. We did not want
to have to run 40' of conduit and wire for the one module, which would
have had to jog down to the middle row and back up to stay under the
modules, and would have had to cross rails. The other option would
have been to use an extension cable (assuming that the 15' cable was
long enough), but that would have required a 1-1/4" emt chase between
the roofs to fit the extension cable end. With bends in the conduit,
we question if we would even need a 1-1/2" chase. We decided to cut
the extension ends, and transition to conduit in between.
Essentially, this was just an extension cable, with 3/4" conduit
and 2 j-boxes in the middle of it. I guess you could argue that we
never need just a male cable, because we will always need a female on
the other end. That is why I am not really complaining about the lack
of male cable options, because the Enphase extension cable is a good
solution.
Nick Soleil
Project Manager
Advanced Alternative Energy Solutions, LLC
PO Box 657
Petaluma, CA 94953
Cell: 707-321-2937
Office: 707-789-9537
Fax: 707-769-9037
From:
Kent Osterberg <k...@coveoregon.com>
To: RE-wrenches
<re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org>
Sent: Fri, January 21,
2011 11:20:18 AM
Subject: Re:
[RE-wrenches] EnPhase male whips
Nick,
Could you post a diagram showing when a male whip is useful? I'm
having a really hard time envisioning a need for one.
Kent Osterberg
Blue Mountain Solar, Inc.
Nick Soleil wrote:
William:
Your diagram is one way to do it, in fact, I always divide my
circuits into 2 sub-circuits, to minimize voltage drop on the Enphase
wiring, and then parallel the sub-circuits at the j-box. However,
there is a value to having a male cable. They can simplify some
installations, such as the situation that Eric described. As mentioned
before, the extension cable can be cut, and the other end is used as a
standard whip.
Nick Soleil
Project Manager
Advanced Alternative Energy Solutions, LLC
PO Box 657
Petaluma, CA 94953
Cell: 707-321-2937
Office: 707-789-9537
Fax: 707-769-9037
From:
William Miller <will...@millersolar.com>
To: RE-wrenches
<re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org>
Sent: Thu, January
20,
2011 6:22:33 PM
Subject: Re:
[RE-wrenches] EnPhase male whips
Eric:
You connect the factory provided termination kit to the Enphase array
on
each roof. All of the Enphase inverters on one array do not need to
be in a daisy configuration.
I have attached a drawing hat should illustrate
William Miller
805-440-5161 Cell
At 11:06 AM 1/20/2011, you wrote:
I know
its a funny title but....why
doesn't EnPhase make whips with male connectors? We are having trouble
laying out a system with multiple sub arrays. We need to cable to sub
arrays that are on different roof planes in order to make up our
circuits. From 5 micros on roof one, into attic, out of SolaDeck on
roof
two, grab 3 more micros, back into SolaDeck, into attic for home run.
The
whip from the SolDeck to the last 3 micros needs to be male... any
suggestions? EnPhase does not want us to cut an extension that has
connectors on both ends...
Thanks,
Eric Thomas
Solar Epiphany
Seattle
Please note new e-mail address and domain:
William Miller
Miller Solar
Voice :805-438-5600
email: will...@millersolar.com
http://millersolar.com
License No. C-10-773985
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