Practicas de cableado
Cableado conecta todas las partes de un sistema FV. Para que el cableado funcione con seguridad y para que una instalación dure, es vital que se instale de acuerdo con sus condiciones de uso y que esté protegido contra daños. Un pequeño error (hebras de cable sueltas en una conexión que crean una falla, un cable rozando la esquina de un techo de metal, aislamiento insertado en una conexión) puede provocar un mal funcionamiento del sistema y potencialmente un incendio. Las siguientes son algunas buenas prácticas de instalación que pueden ayudar a prevenir problemas:
- Si se expone a daños físicos, un cable debe protegerse con algún tipo de conducto o debe ser reubicado. El daño físico puede resultar del contacto de personas, animales o el medio ambiente. Esto también depende del tipo de conductor ya que algunos alambres y cables permiten la instalación en lugares húmedos o expuestos al sol.
- Wires and conduit should be adequately supported and secured to prevent damage and for good aesthetics.
- All wires should have extra length left in junction boxes or at any point where a connection is made. They should not have any sharp bends. This serves several important purposes:
- To prevent damage from the accidental contact with a person that may move the wire. An overly tight wire exposed to tension may immediately break free from its connection and cause a fault or fire.
- To allow for expansion and contraction of wire and conduit resulting from heating and cooling.
- To provide extra wire that enables safe working conditions in the future.
- All connections made with wire should be done with some kind of mechanical connection, like a wirenut, busbar, terminal or PV module connector. Connections performed solely with electrical tape - as is common practice in many parts of the world - are far more likely to fail and cause issues.
- All wires that are entering a connection (busbar, should leave some conductor (copper) exposed to ensure that insulation is not entering the connection. Insulation in a connection can create resistance, heat and ultimately a fire.
- All connections should be tested with a gentle tug after being completed to ensure that the connection is solid and will not come undone easily.
Example of properly protected wiring and properly supported conduit.
Example of a properly secured cable.
Example of extra wire, mechanical connectors (wirenuts), and gentle bends in an enclosure/junction box.
Example of exposed conductor at a busbar from two perspectives.
