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| Installed Protective Devices |
Inverters and solar panels are costly projects to undertake these days given the rising cost of materials, economic downturns, and of course, their rising popularity all of these have made setting up an alternative source of power way above the price as it implies currently. As to everything that's quite pricy your solar and inverter system is very prone to damage, especially from harsh weather conditions notably lightning and thunderstorms during the rainy season and to do so installing the needed protective devices is a given.
Gone are the days when you set up solar and inverter systems without much protection as this has proven to be a recipe for disaster leading to catastrophic damage and irreparable losses to your solar and inverter system, especially during the rainy season. We have series of calls and messages recently from users especially early adopters in the last few days who installed their solar systems earlier in the day or ignorant installers without protective devices of their inverters going bad due to lightning and thunderstorms which of course would have been mitigated by installing the right protective devices and of course, properly earthing the systems and you know what that means now for these clients? Costly repairs and or outright replacement.
In this article, we will talk about the importance of installing protective devices to your solar and inverter system and the simple steps to take to ensure that lightning and surges do not cause you to spend unnecessarily so sit tight and read on!
Why Protective Devices Are Important
Protective devices are really important to the well-being and overall performance of your solar and inverter system they protect against surge AC and DC voltage and more especially against lightning that could spell doom to your inverter damaging most of its important components, especially the motherboard. it's important to note that this is usually prevalent during the rainy season and such extra precautions must be taken at this time, we will come to that.
How Lighting Can Damage Your Inverter and Solar Panels
Overvoltage is simply the answer to this, when lightning strikes it causes high or excessive voltage that goes all the way either through the solar panels or the circuit causing damage to the inverter, a sudden spike in voltage is all needed to implement this damage.
How Protective Devices Can Safeguard Your Solar and Inverter System
Installing protective devices to your solar system is one sure way of safeguarding its vital components one way these protective devices perform is to impede any incoming voltage either AC or DC either through lightning or surge voltage from the grid (nepa) and subsequently nullify before any damage is done, in addition to this its important to properly earth or ground your solar and inverter system to further enhance this level of protection.
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| surge protective device (spd) |
Types Of Inverter Protective Devices
Inverter protective devices vary and with specifications but with simplicity in mind we will discuss the prevalent ones that are widely used today
1. AC Voltage regulator (digital)
Installed across the input line of your inverter as a shield against high voltages that could spike from input sources such as the local grid or a power generator, basically any source that feeds through the inverter and provides AC charging voltage and current for the batteries attached.
2. AC Circuit breaker
This is also installed across the input line connected to your inverter, this is expected to cut off supply to the inverter should there be any surge in voltage running from the grid, it acts as an extra layer of protection to the already installed voltage regulator.
3. Surge Protector Device ( SPD) AC
The surge protector device (spd) is installed to prevent any surge of AC voltage from damaging the inverter while acting as an extra shield of protection It is also an integral part of this set up cutting off any form of high and abnormal current flow when needed.
4. DC Circuit breaker
DC circuit breakers are very integral among the protective devices that should be installed alongside your solar and inverter system, they are installed to serve as protection for high DC voltage that might surface from the solar panels especially when there are lightning and thunderstorms, the DC breaker is expected to cut off any form of hign surging DC current that might act negatively to your inverter and subsequently damaging it.
5. DC Surge Protector Device (SPD)
The DC surge protector device performs a rare function from the circuit breaker, it is the first line of defense that impedes high voltage before it gets to the breaker, its job is to cut off DC surge from the solar PV (panels) which in most cases builds up as a result of lightning and thunder strikes during the rainy season
6. Lightning and Thunder Arrestor
Installing a lightning and thunder arrestor is very integral to not only your inverter and solar system but to your other electronic devices as well, though more costly than any other protective device, the lightning and thunder arrestor does an absolute job when it comes to this sort of protection.
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| Ac voltage regulator |
One effective way of protecting your solar and inverter system is to properly earth or ground the system, eensuring that the connections are well grounded during and after installation will help prevent damage from lightning, thunder strike and hign voltages