Well as I understand, from Mike’s explanation, in my other post. Maybe the strike is not directly to the panels so I will not have all the power of the lighting coming through, just a side charge, if my protector is 600v and my system only can receive 250v, it will get toasted before the surge protector even gets activated.
That is why a system should and MUST be grounded outside the building and connected directly to the ground. This is called external lightning protection. The stage inside the house is only the last barrier. Believe me… even this voltage is far, far above 600V… we are talking about a lightning strike of several 100,000V and several 100 kA… A small surge protector makes no difference…
OUTSIDE… VERY IMPORTANT…
Inside… You can do it… 600V is okay.
The panels will be on the ground not on the roof, and the surge protector will have his own copper spike to ground. All of this will be 15m from the house, but at a higher altitud than the house.
Maybe that is why for the sake of me, I can’t finde anything lower than 600v surge protectors?
I’m sure there are some for 250V too… but many of the major manufacturers are already at 600V + string voltage.
So don’t worry too much about 250V or 600V… If lightning strikes… then there will be a LOT of voltage. The surge protection MUST be installed as close as possible to the modules. WITH GROUNDING
The cable routing from the modules to the MPPT is also quite interesting. Here, too, a voltage event can occur when laying the cable IN THE GROUND…
So you think that a 600v surge protector with a 10mm2 cable to a coper spike just near the panels and after the fuses of the strings, will do the trick?
Ground the frames of the panels and then into the ground… preferably with stainless steel V4A or aluminum… otherwise it will corrode… from the surge protector also into the ground… 10mm is not much, but better than nothing… Lightning is definitely not picky ![]()
Nice drawing. Can you tell me what program you used and where you found all the Victron images to import and use?
Hello @Charris1950 I used the old trusty Inkscape.
Inkscape - Draw Freely. | Inkscape https://share.google/bG57eEChJQuMe3LV4
Hi,
not sure if it is relevant but you might also add a Victron meter ET112 ( a Carlo Gavazzi ) to monitor the system output.