LordPadriac
DIY
- Reaction score
- 1
Good Afternoon All,
So I have a new situation to me that I cannot seem to get a definitive answer for. I trained as an electrician and did several years as an apprentice many years ago now and have since maintained those skills through maintenance of my own home. I have no issues doing really any type of wiring I've needed so far but this is new to me.
I am completing a detached greenhouse. A very large detached greenhouse. To power then fans and a run of low voltage LED rope lighting I will be installing a 400 watt solar array. In the mix there will be a 40amp MPPT solar charging controller, a 1000 watt pure sine wave inverter and a small panel with GFCI breaker installed and hard wired to the AC output terminals of the inverter. The AC side will be grounded to a ground rod driven outside the greenhouse (yeah for demolition hammers) and bonded with a #4 solid copper wire to the grounding bar in the small panel. The greenhouse itself (galvanized steel covered entirely with multiwall polycarbonate panels) will also be bonded by a separate grounding wire to ground to drain the static that is guaranteed to build up from the wind blowing over the plastic. All conduit is flexible non-metallic going into weatherproof boxes with weatherproof in-use covers for the outlets and switches for the LED rope light. The panel for the AC is also weatherproof and rated for outdoor use. There will be a insulated green wire running throughout to bond each device to ground.
All of that I have no major issues with outside of exactly where I want to run the conduit to get outlets where I need them. What is concerning me is whether or not I should bond the negative terminal of the battery bank to ground or if it is safe and legal to leave it floating. I have googled my heart out and cannot seem to find a concrete answer on this and the manuals I have are almost entirely useless and completely silent on this point. Does anyone here have any thoughts or code references to point me to. I really don't mind reading. My initial thought was to drive a separate grounding rod on the other side of the greenhouse (12 feet away from the first) and bond the battery bank negative to that. However I find conflicting reports everywhere on whether this is good or bad and why.
Please help.
So I have a new situation to me that I cannot seem to get a definitive answer for. I trained as an electrician and did several years as an apprentice many years ago now and have since maintained those skills through maintenance of my own home. I have no issues doing really any type of wiring I've needed so far but this is new to me.
I am completing a detached greenhouse. A very large detached greenhouse. To power then fans and a run of low voltage LED rope lighting I will be installing a 400 watt solar array. In the mix there will be a 40amp MPPT solar charging controller, a 1000 watt pure sine wave inverter and a small panel with GFCI breaker installed and hard wired to the AC output terminals of the inverter. The AC side will be grounded to a ground rod driven outside the greenhouse (yeah for demolition hammers) and bonded with a #4 solid copper wire to the grounding bar in the small panel. The greenhouse itself (galvanized steel covered entirely with multiwall polycarbonate panels) will also be bonded by a separate grounding wire to ground to drain the static that is guaranteed to build up from the wind blowing over the plastic. All conduit is flexible non-metallic going into weatherproof boxes with weatherproof in-use covers for the outlets and switches for the LED rope light. The panel for the AC is also weatherproof and rated for outdoor use. There will be a insulated green wire running throughout to bond each device to ground.
All of that I have no major issues with outside of exactly where I want to run the conduit to get outlets where I need them. What is concerning me is whether or not I should bond the negative terminal of the battery bank to ground or if it is safe and legal to leave it floating. I have googled my heart out and cannot seem to find a concrete answer on this and the manuals I have are almost entirely useless and completely silent on this point. Does anyone here have any thoughts or code references to point me to. I really don't mind reading. My initial thought was to drive a separate grounding rod on the other side of the greenhouse (12 feet away from the first) and bond the battery bank negative to that. However I find conflicting reports everywhere on whether this is good or bad and why.
Please help.
- TL;DR
- Should I ground the battery bank negative terminal to a ground rod or is bonding the AC side to a ground rod all that is needed to be safe and legal?
