Week 12 (12/4/16-12/10/16)

12/06 – Team Meeting and Other Notes

  • Decided what changes & additions needed to be made to our proposal for the final report, and broke up the work among team members
  • Include inverter low voltage shut off rating in our instruction manual: Alarm at 10.7 +/- 0.1 V, shuts off at 10.0 +/- 0.1 V, Turns back on at 11.5 +/- 0.1 V.
  • Inverters are designed for ungrounded use: Neutral of GFCI is connected to inverter chassis; manual says “Do not feed output from GFCI to Load Center where neutral is bonded to Earth Ground. This will trip GFCI.”
  • Use at least #8 grounding cable for inverters (PST-600-12 Manual)
  • For AC output on inverters, use 3 conductor cable (+, -, neutral) with at least 90°C rating, at least #12 AWG (PST-1500-12 Manual)
  • NEC Conductor Selection
    • 310.15(B)3a – Have to make adjustment for >3 conductors
    • 310.15(B)3c – Have to make adjustment for conductors exposed to sunlight and on rooftops (except XHHW-2)
    • 310.15(B)5a/6 – Neutral and Ground conductors do not count towards conductor count
    • Table 310.15(B)(16) for ampacity chart and conductor selection
    • 240.4(D) describes overcurrent protection limitations of small conductors
  • Matt brought the 20’ trailer to CT Trailer and they quoted only $3200 for a retrofit
  • Contact Julia from serviced learning to set up a meeting with the team
  • Send list of parts to Matt, so the HMF can make the order
  • Contact Pete Manard to ask if the trailers can be placed in the back of Longley Building during the winter
    • Describe project
    • Install without connections
    • Ask about using space conductors in C2E2

12/07 – Phonecalls

  • Bruce Marcus from Marcus Comm. said the DOT only cares about height and weight of a vehicle (which we don’t have a problem with considering our height is below 11’ and we are under weight) and “[we] will only get a ticket if the solar panels fall off the trailer. But if [we] secure them safely enough, [we] won’t have a problem.”
  • No CT DMV regulations on solar panels
  • Federal regulations: NHTSA directed us to the Office of Vehicle Safety Compliance, which said they don’t regulate solar panels. “As long as the solar panels don’t interfere with other safety features of the vehicle, there is no problem.”
  • Therefore, providing we securely mount our solar panels, we will be in compliance with everything