New Project Coming Up -- Pole Mount | Page 6 | Alternative Energy | Forums

So even though the array is producing power my work isn't done. I need to trench the power lines back to the barn. Distance is ~ 50 ft.

So tonight I marked the trench line...

And dug the trench, sank another grounding rod next to the array, linked this grounding rod and the one by the barn with #6 bare solid copper wire, and ran 2 #2 power cables from the array to the barn. Pulling this cabling through the liquid tight flexible conduit sucked. Also I dropped a length of detectable caution tape in the trench.

Then covered it back up with sod in the dark.

Next up is cleaning up the wiring of the panels to the combiner box.

I ran it last fall. Rented a trencher and made a deep trench and laid a bunch of "utilities" in it. I don't have pics available at the moment.

225 feet of the following:

- 2-2-2-4 mobile home feeder cable (power)

- 2x Cat6 ethernet cable (one for solar equipment and one for misc.)

- RG6 Coax (for our cell extender antenna)

- 1" poly pipe for water

- detectable tape to let it all be found in the future (on top of everything else)

The feeder cable, ethernet, and coax are all in 2" conduit. Doing all of the above was a solid 2 1/2 days worth of worth.

DC doesn't travel well at all over far distances -- you really have to up the wire size and at your distance it becomes crazy expensive.

What seems to be the most feasible would be to have your panels on the roof of your barn and then all of your equipment in the barn. You could then trench A/C and an interface cable back to your place for monitoring solar. Alternatively, you could route the solar panels to your shed and store your equipment in there -- but the wiring again becomes expensive. Batteries need to be close to all of the other solar components except the panels (well, they are still DC so need to be somewhat close).

Do you want to go grid-tied or keep this separate? That will influence what you will want to, and can, do.

Is that because you don't want to deal with electrical inspections? In your situation I would recommend at least keeping your grid power and putting your solar equipment and batteries close to an AC line coming from the grid so that you can charge your batteries from either the grid or your generator. That way you can take advantage of the existing AC lines and low rates vs. having to pay for gas for a generator. Just a thought.

Can you estimate some distances from the barn to your house or shed?