The convention of red for positive and black for negative is not just
automotive. It is also used by all battery based inverter manus, all
battery companies, and all multimeters.
John Wiles also agrees;
red = positive, black = negative for ungrounded systems
red = positive, white = negative for negative grounded systems
white = positive, black = negative for pos grounded systems.
I take it a step further, and use white label tape with red lettering
that says "+ positive ground + ",
because I've seen so many problems with positive grounded systems, and
people not getting polarity correct.
All of this is NEC compliant, and follows standard conventions.
Make it easy on yourself and your journeymen on a hot roof, and have
your color coding match their multimeter.
You might save an inverter or even a life.
R.Ray Walters
CTO, Solarray, Inc
Nabcep Certified PV Installer,
Licensed Master Electrician
Solar Design Engineer
303 505-8760
On 6/28/2013 12:09 PM, Allan Sindelar wrote:
On 6/28/2013 11:47 AM, [email protected] wrote:
And of course Red for positive and black for negative.
Most building departments have not pick up on this yet. But they will.
Aram
Where does "of course Red for positive and black for negative" come
from, please? I only know it as an automotive standard that has often
caused confusion when used by DIY offgridders in years past, as black
thus could represent either positive or negative in a DC conductor pair.
Is there yet a convention for ungrounded arrays? While red and black
are technically correct as ungrounded current-carrying conductors, use
of this color convention could cause as much confusion as resolve it
in the future. How about "black and black" or for that matter "yellow
and orange" (if supplied by manufacturers) for ungrounded arrays?
Thanks, Allan
*Allan Sindelar*
[email protected]_ <mailto:[email protected]>
NABCEP Certified PV Installation Professional
NABCEP Certified Technical Sales Professional
New Mexico EE98J Journeyman Electrician
Founder and Chief Technology Officer
*Positive Energy, Inc.*, a Certified B Corporation^TM
3209 Richards Lane
Santa Fe, New Mexico 87507
*505 424-1112 office 780-2738 cell*
_www.positiveenergysolar.com_ <http://www.positiveenergysolar.com/>
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