Solar panels to Inverter. Where to run the cables ?

Brian99_2

Are your cables placed behind the plasterboard ? (tedious)
Or through plastic trunking/ducting ? (ugly)
Or down the outside of the house ? (needs tough armour)

Also... Best Place to put the inverter ?

penrhyn

Don't inverters live in the loft?

Brian99_2

Inverter in loft is less convenient to check on !!

If inverter is in loft, another cable still needs to get to your main fusebox.

Had a thought... is there a tech reason, (or cost reason), to have inverter near to panels?

zeupater

Hi

A little more info would be needed ....

Where are you planning to have the inverter .... in the loft, integral garage or somewhere else ?

What will be the length of the DC cable run from the panels to the inverter & from the inverter to the consumer unit ?

Z

penrhyn

Brian99 wrote: »

Inverter in loft is less convenient to check on !!

If inverter is in loft, another cable still needs to get to your main fusebox.

Had a thought... is there a tech reason, (or cost reason), to have inverter near to panels?

Less loss, cables from panels are low voltage and high current. Although its probably nothing to worry about, why do you need to check up on the inverter, thought they were mostly bluetooth enabled.

Brian99_2

Its a smallish house; thought I might have inverter near front door for convenience.

But if inverters are mostly in the loft, I guess I'll do that. But a remote display with Bluetooth would cost extra surely.

Original Q. was: is it usual to have cable behind plasterboard, or within a plastic ducting (more hassle) ?

Yut_Man

"cables from panels are low voltage and high current" ????? The panels are wired in series so the voltage from each panel adds up. 500V is quite common. Think you got that wrong way around. It seems to be viewed that the shorter the DC feed gives less loss, where as for AC its not as critical. Im sure a few wiser electricians will elaberate.

zeupater

Brian99 wrote: »

Its a smallish house; thought I might have inverter near front door for convenience.

But if inverters are mostly in the loft, I guess I'll do that. But a remote display with Bluetooth would cost extra surely.

Original Q. was: is it usual to have cable behind plasterboard, or within a plastic ducting (more hassle) ?

Hi

If you are having a transformerless inverter you might be okay to have it in the house somewhere as they are quieter than standard inverters (which buzz) and give off comparatively little heat ... the cooler the location of the inverter the better it will probably be in the long run, but if you are restricted to space then the loft may be the only viable location for it.

As for the cable run .... many installers will attempt to run armoured AC cable down the cavity in a external wall if possible ..... our inverter is in an integral garage and the DC cable run drops down from the loft to the garage through the airing cupboard and is protected within surface mounted ducting, you could look for a similar run through whatever cupboards you have ....

Personally, I wouldn't really want cables passed behind shallow plasterboard unless they were protected by metal conduit, even if the cable was armoured ....

Regarding the remote monitor .... depending on the make/model of your inverter this will be possible, some bluetooth, some not ... if you are having a SMA inverter which is bluetooth enabled then the monitor should cost around £125(ish), but many installers just throw them in as an included necessary item within their price .... talk to your installer on this ....

HTH
Z

jimjames

I thought it was better to have inverter as cool as possible. In summer our loft gets very hot so planning on having it in a cabinet on side wall next to house. Will run cables down outside of house next to soil stack and then into house next to elect meter & fuse box. I'm not sure the distances in a normal house would affect things that much, 50m cable rather than 5m might do but 4m vs 6m is unlikely to lose much.

munchkin88

What inverter are you having? If your having an SMA then it would be ok to go somewhere in the house or even outside but if your having a Diehl AKO then they are massive and cannot be placed outside. Generally inverters are put in the loft to minimise any loss is current, the general thinking is the bigger the gap, bigger the loss in current. You can always get a in room display from somewhere, there are lots available. The GEO is a pretty nifty gadget.

In answer to your original question, ive never known an installer to put the cabling through the cavity, its alot of work and can be hazardous, whether or not you have armored cable. Generally the cable is run from the panels, through the roof/loft to the inverter and then other cabling is run down the outside of the external wall (usually following drainpipe) and then inside to the consumer unit where youll have your AC & DC isolator.

jennifernil

We have the Fronius IG TL 3.6 inverter, ours is in a cupboard in the house beside our consumer units. The cable from the roof drops down beside a drainpipe, goes through an airbrick, under the floor and up into the cupboard.

The inverter is quite big, so I have lost a good bit of storage space, but it would be far too hot for it in our south-facing loft, and having it in the cupboard makes it easy to see what it is doing.

When it is working hard it does produce quite a bit of heat, it has a built-in cooling fan. OH has fitted a louvre vent in the wall above the cupboard door to aid air circulation, and we can always leave the door ajar if necessary.