Good video on PV grounding

[edward4]

What type of wire do you plan on using for direct burial?

I highly recommend using PVC conduit and one that is large enough you can add more wires later.

I understand the recommendation but my array needs to be about 300ft from the inverter. Will be using XPLE direct burial rated wire.

 

[Zwy]

I understand the recommendation but my array needs to be about 300ft from the inverter. Will be using XPLE direct burial rated wire.

My array is 420 feet away and I'm glad I used conduit because I will be adding more wires this summer.

I've used XLPE direct burial for service cable. Over time I wished I had instead ran conduit. It's a tossup when it comes to price, XLPE normally runs about twice the cost of THWN. One needs to weigh the cost of conduit and serviceability.

One can cheat and use non perforated drainage tile, farmers around here use if all the time with XLPE wire inside when running from building to building. It beats digging up the whole yard when a problem occurs.

 

[edward4]

My array is 420 feet away and I'm glad I used conduit because I will be adding more wires this summer.

I've used XLPE direct burial for service cable. Over time I wished I had instead ran conduit. It's a tossup when it comes to price, XLPE normally runs about twice the cost of THWN. One needs to weigh the cost of conduit and serviceability.

One can cheat and use non perforated drainage tile, farmers around here use if all the time with XLPE wire inside when running from building to building. It beats digging up the whole yard when a problem occurs.

Do you know a good source for THWN? Home Improvement stores seem to be very expensive.

 

[Zwy]

Do you know a good source for THWN? Home Improvement stores seem to be very expensive.

I buy mine from Menards in 500 foot rolls with the 11% rebate. I've looked around but shipping wire gets costly too as it isn't light.

I picked up 3 sticks of 10 foot Type L copper the other night with a few bags of fittings. $170, copper certainly isn't getting cheaper. I did my 60 x 80 shop air lines back about 13 years ago in 1" Type L and it cost me about $3500 back then so it certainly is much higher. 10AWG THHN/THWN is $129 per 500 foot roll which is about what I paid 1.5 to 2 years years ago. That gets the 11% rebate so about $115 per 500 foot roll. I don't see copper coming down in price for some time, there is too much construction, solar, wind and other uses that keep demand high.