Is it common for rodents to chew PV cables on ground-based solar panels?

[kolek]

Has anyone on the forum suffered this problem? And if so, what is the cheapest & easiest countermeasure? My panels are in a temporary location so I don't want to do anything elaborate or permanent. I personally haven't had a problem yet, but want to avoid one in the future if its a common issue.

When I searched the forum for answers this thread talked about it and there was a link to a 3M product but that link no longer works.

 

[koppted]

And if so, what is the cheapest & easiest countermeasure? My panels are in a temporary location so I don't want to do anything elaborate or permanent.

When I searched the forum for answers this thread talked about it and there was a link to a 3M product but that link no longer works.

Look at that link on wayback machine and it was for 3M aluminum foil tape #3381, here is a new LINK
Here is a sales page on Amazon

 

[kolek]

Look at that link on wayback machine and it was for 3M aluminum foil tape #3381, here is a new LINK

Actually i checked the wayback machine and it said the link was never cached. Strange you could find it! Thank you!

 

[koppted]

Actually i checked the wayback machine and it said the link was never cached. Strange you could find it! Thank you!

Here is the Link on Wayback (LINK)

 

[kolek]

Got the link, thank you!

Still would love to hear if anyone on the forum has had rodents chew their PV cables. I've had ethernet running around our property and never had a problem with rodents chewing cable yet, but the solar wiring is a lot more expensive.

 

[koppted]

Got the link, thank you!

Still would love to hear if anyone on the forum has had rodents chew their PV cables. I've had ethernet running around our property and never had a problem with rodents chewing cable yet, but the solar wiring is a lot more expensive.

I have rabbits living underneath my shed (drives me crazy but i'm scared of killing them because the stench might lead people to believe that I have murdered someone). I had one of my solar panels laying on the ground for testing for about a 6 month period, they never chewed through my PV cable although I did see some weird marks on them that look like multiple attempts. But not sure if it was the rabbits the birds or other critters.

 

[Woody]

YES they chew cables!

I’ve had to have multiple vehicles repaired because of rabbits/pack rats chomping on wires. I have friends who have rats in the walls of an old camp trailer that gets limited use. They don’t dare plug the trailer into the generator because of the possible fire from power lines in the walls being compromised.

Keep wires off the ground. I don’t keep any wiring less than 2ft off the ground unless it’s in conduit. Buried wires need to be shielded too because of ground squirrels and other critters that love to chomp on cables.

I have to keep wide barren areas devoid of everything so that there is no hiding places for these rodents. This allows the raptors to help keep the rodents population down. Otherwise poison and lead are required. And yes koppted, they stink but better dead than chomping!

 

[hwy17]

Under the hood of a car is a nice place for a rodent to be though. I am gonna assume they will not like to be trying to climb up the frames of my ground mount just for inedible wire jacket. But we will see, I am leaving mine unprotected and we have lots of rats.

 

[robby]

Yes Rats and Mice love to chew cables.

 

[kolek]

YES they chew cables!

I’ve had to have multiple vehicles repaired because of rabbits/pack rats chomping on wires. I have friends who have rats in the walls of an old camp trailer that gets limited use. They don’t dare plug the trailer into the generator because of the possible fire from power lines in the walls being compromised.

Keep wires off the ground. I don’t keep any wiring less than 2ft off the ground unless it’s in conduit. Buried wires need to be shielded too because of ground squirrels and other critters that love to chomp on cables.

I have to keep wide barren areas devoid of everything so that there is no hiding places for these rodents. This allows the raptors to help keep the rodents population down. Otherwise poison and lead are required. And yes koppted, they stink but better dead than chomping!

Ok this is scary, I will need to address this. I'm not taking any precautions at the moment. Thank you for that info!

 

[kolek]

How do you keep rodents out from under your hood?

 

[fatjay]

How do you keep rodents out from under your hood?

moth balls.

 

[kolek]

moth balls.

Don't you find the smell from the moth balls ends up coming through the vents and getting into the car itself?

 

[Brucey]

I just have my pv cable laying on the ground along with the panels. My hope is the neighbor cats keep the vermin down in the backyard.

 

[Brucey]

Don't you find the smell from the moth balls ends up coming through the vents and getting into the car itself?

Better than having a mouse die in an air vent. Then people think you've got a dead body in the trunk...

 

[Horsefly]

Our ground mount is up in the mountains. We've had chipmunks (and perhaps marmots, but I'm not sure) chew through both wiring and hydraulic lines on a road grader we leave up there. For the solar, I didn't want to take the chance so even though I had direct burial PV wiring I put 1.5" PVC conduit from the combiner box on the ground mount structure all the way into the house.

 

[David Denson]

Has anyone on the forum suffered this problem? And if so, what is the cheapest & easiest countermeasure? My panels are in a temporary location so I don't want to do anything elaborate or permanent. I personally haven't had a problem yet, but want to avoid one in the future if its a common issue.

When I searched the forum for answers this thread talked about it and there was a link to a 3M product but that link no longer works.

What in the world does 3M tape have anything to do with rodents chewing cables??

 

[kolek]

What in the world does 3M tape have anything to do with rodents chewing cables??

Yeah frankly I don't see this to be much of a deterrent. Has anyone else verified this works?

 

[fatjay]

Don't you find the smell from the moth balls ends up coming through the vents and getting into the car itself?

No, the fresh air intake in cars i have in moth balls is in the wheel well.