Hooking up an Inverter to a 110 Volt Breaker Panel

Posted by Mike Zaborski on June 17, 2009, 08:41:05 PM

Hooking up an Inverter to a 110 Volt Breaker Panel
I have had a solar system that was functioning well for about 7 years at my cottage. It consisted of a solar panel, some batteries, then an 1750 watt inverter that I plugged directly into a regular 110 household breaker panel. Recently when I started up the system, i heard a very high pitch noise, coming from the inverter. I assumed that was an alarm of some-sorts and quickly shut the system off.

I then went and bought new 1500 watt inverter. When I tried to plug , there was a huge flash emitting from the receptacle and the system was fried.

Any idea why the system did not work. One person tried to tell me that you need a special kind of an inverter to hook up to the house panel, as the negative on the panel is "bonded to ground".

I am not sure what this means, has anyone else had this problem of the inverter blowing up when trying to plug the 110 panel into it and what did they do to correct it. Is a special type of inverter required?

 

Posted by Thomas Allen Schmidt on June 20, 2009, 05:19:20 AM

Re: Hooking up an Inverter to a 110 Volt Breaker Panel (Reply #1)
Trouble shooting can sometimes be difficult and time consuming even when the trouble shooter is on location. To try and guess the problem over a written forum even more so.
Some inverters have an internal bond and some don't. What does the literature on your 1500 say about it? Could a lightning strike have damaged something else in you home, a load perhaps? Could there be reverse polarity at a receptacle or a dead short?
Its all a lot like being a detective. Sometimes you just have to eliminate all other possibilities, however unlikely, in order to find the culprit. A multimeter is a good tool to have. What you describe sounds like, power from another source finding it way back to the inverter, more than neutral being bonded to ground in more than one place. But there is really no way for me to know this obviously. Could a vdc wire be making contact with a vac wire somewhere? Chess in the dark.

You write that "negative" is bonded to ground in the panel. I associate;
"negative" to the battery vdc, (typically a black wire)
"neutral" to vac and, (typically a white wire)
"ground" to EGC or equipment grounding conductor bonded to a "ground rod" driven into the Earth. (typically bare and or green wire)

 

Posted by Mike Zaborski on June 20, 2009, 02:18:09 PM

Re: Hooking up an Inverter to a 110 Volt Breaker Panel (Reply #2)
Thanks Thomas for replying to my post.  I am having a big problem trying to solve this problem as it is at my cottage which is a bit remote and it is hard to find someone who wants to go up  and troubleshoot it.

Now i am being told that perhaps it is not grounded  (the 110 panel).I would like to clarify a bit. I was told by a a handy man that it was neutral bonded to ground and also that the 110 panel was not grounded.

So do I need one with an internal bond to wire to a house

One fellow tells me I need a special inverter that costs $2500, but the original one I had was only about $400 8 years ago , the current replacement for this one is $200. Are their inverters that are not made to be wired to a house 110 system. I am not really sure what to look for,

I have limited experience with electricity and have hired people to do the electrical wiring, they have  told me that there is nothing wrong with the panel  box to the 110 wiring, currently the solar panel charges 12 volt batteries and this also runs a 12v pump which works OK.  So it looks like the Solar panel to batteries are OK and the panel (to the 110 are OK, that leaves only the inverter (and the no ground business) but the old system worked before for many years with the alleged "no ground".

What do you mean power from another source finding its way to the inverter, since there is no other source of power except for the solar panels.

There as a lighting storm , the week of the failure, but I do not understand how that could affect the system now. I assume that a  lightning strike would just fry the current system, but I do not understand how it would affect the new inverter I wish to install.

My apologies for being so vague, as I understand very little about the system.










The biggest problem
 

Posted by Ken Hall on June 21, 2009, 06:39:52 PM

Re: Hooking up an Inverter to a 110 Volt Breaker Panel (Reply #3)
Mike:

You need to give us the make and model of your 1500W inverter. That will help clear up a number of things.  If you also tell us the make and model of the 1750W inverter, it will make it possible to really tell what the differences are.

Ken
 

Posted by Mike Zaborski on June 22, 2009, 07:02:33 PM

Re: Hooking up an Inverter to a 110 Volt Breaker Panel (Reply #4)
Thanks to all. I will be going up tothe cottage on July 1-5, so I will get the details on the inverters and get back to you.

 
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