Smart Combiner Installation Manual

SolarBOS, Inc.

310 Stealth Court Livermore CA 94551-9552

925-456-7744 ph. 925-456-7710 fax

www.solarbos.com

1

Copyright © 2012 SolarBOS, Inc. All rights reserved. All rights reserved. No part of this document may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photographic, magnetic, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of SolarBOS, Inc. SolarBOS makes no representations, express or implied, with respect to this documentation or any of the equipment and/or software it may describe, including (with no limitation) any implied warranties of utility, merchantability, or fitness for any particular purpose. All such warranties are expressly disclaimed. SolarBOS is not liable for any indirect, incidental, or consequential damages under any circumstances. (The exclusion of implied warranties may not apply in all cases under some statutes, and thus the above exclusion may not apply.) Specifications are subject to change without notice. Every attempt has been made to make this document complete, accurate and up-to-date. Users are cautioned, however, that SolarBOS reserves the right to make changes without notice and shall not be responsible for any damages, including indirect, incidental or consequential damages caused by reliance on the material presented, including, but not limited to, omissions, typographical errors, arithmetical errors or listing errors in the content material.

Revision History Rev. No. Date By Description 1.0 22 June 2012 DK Preliminary Release 1.1 1 August 2012 DK Production Release 1.2 15 Nov 2012 ST Termite Settings 1.3 20 March 2013 AO Field Cal, COM Port

SolarBOS, Inc. 310 Stealth Court

Livermore CA 94551 925-456-7744 ph. 925-456-7710 fax www.solarbos.com

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Introduction SolarBOS has introduced a new line of smart combiners designed for use with all module and inverter combinations. Combiner features include:

Listed to UL 1741 Simplified input and output wiring Compact, low-cost, and flexible design Available in NEMA 3, 3R, 4 powder-coated steel, and NEMA 4X stainless steel or

fiberglass enclosures (others available upon request) Integrated current sensing module Integrated load-break disconnect switch (optional) Integrated load-break contactor switch (optional)

Unpacking and Inspection All SolarBOS smart combiners are thoroughly checked before they are packaged and shipped. Although they are shipped in sturdy packaging, damage can still occur during shipping and delivery. It is important to carefully inspect the shipping container and contents prior to installation. If you detect any external damage after unpacking, report the damage immediately to SolarBOS and the shipping company that delivered the unit. Items not rejected within 10 days of delivery are considered accepted without recourse. If it becomes necessary to return the combiner, please use the original packing material. If you need assistance in dealing with a damaged unit, contact SolarBOS at 925-456-7744.

5

Smart Combiner Options There are three versions of the SolarBOS smart combiner: the standard combiner (Figure 1), the disconnect combiner (Figure 2) and the contactor combiner (Figure 3).

Figure 1. SolarBOS Smart Standard Combiner Figure 2. SolarBOS Smart Disconnect Combiner

Figure 3. SolarBOS Smart Contactor Combiner

6

Installation Refer to Figure 4 and Table 1 for enclosure dimensions. Use appropriate hardware for the mounting surface. The dimensions of the unit for each smart combiner option and the respective weights are shown in Table 1 below.

Figure 4. Combiner Enclosure Dimensions

Table 1. Smart Combiner Dimensions Enclosure

Type # of

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Weight (lbs.)

Standard Contactor Disconnect

N3/N4 8 20.00 20.00 6.00 18.00 18.00 35 37 39

N3/N4 12 20.00 20.00 6.00 18.00 18.00 35 37 39

N3/N4 16 20.00 20.00 6.00 18.00 18.00 35 37 39

4XF 8 18.40 16.40 7.68 14.25 19.28 26 N/A N/A

4XF 12 18.40 16.40 7.68 14.25 19.28 26 N/A N/A

4XF 16 18.40 16.40 7.68 14.25 19.28 26 N/A N/A

4XF 8 20.00 16.00 8.13 13.81 17.81 N/A 30 32

4XF 12 20.00 16.00 8.13 13.81 17.81 N/A 30 32

4XF 16 24.00 20.00 9.88 15.25 19.25 N/A 37 39

All dimensions are in inches unless otherwise noted.

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Figure 5. Combiner Wire Entry Locations

Dimension “A” and “B” are for input wire locations. Dimensions “C” and “D” are for output wire locations. These locations are recommendations only. Care should always be taken to assure there is enough wire bend space for the desired output wire gauge when choosing a conduit entry location. The wire entry locations for the standard, contactor and disconnect combiners are shown in Table 2a, Table 2b, and Table 2c respectively. Wire Entry Dimensions Table 2a. Standard Combiner Table 2b. Contactor Combiner

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Table 2c. Disconnect Combiner

Enclosure Type # of Circuits A B C D

N3/N4 8 20 8 5 12N3/N4 12 20 8 5 12N3/N4 16 20 8 5 124XF 8 16 6 4 5 4XF 12 16 6 4 5 4XF 16 16 6 4 5

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10

The Current Sensor Module The smart combiner includes a current sensor module located on top of the bus bar in between the fuse holders as shown in Figure 6. The unit requires a 24V DC power supply available separately from SolarBOS. The module measures the current of each circuit and outputs this information via Modbus/RS-485. Wiring The output from the current sensor module is RS-485 serial using the standard Modbus RTU protocol. The positive data out, negative data out and data shield should be wired to the RS-485 network. The (24V DC in) is wired to the power supply. Minimum wire size of 24 AWG is required for RS-485 communications. The 24V DC wire should be sized based on distance and number of combiners.

Figure 7. The SolarBOS Smart Combiner includes a manual push button (1) and monitoring unit input terminals (2).

1 2

11

Field Calibration After hardware installation (combiner completely installed and wired), it is necessary to calibrate the current sensors. Two calibrations must be performed: 1) a “zero” calibration and 2) an “all on” calibration. The manual push button (Item 1 in Figure 7) is used to access the calibration menu, tare the current sensors, and enter an operating current for the “all on” calibration. The push button location may vary by model.

“Zero” Calibration

1. Ensure no current is flowing through any of the combiner circuits (open disconnect or turn off the contactor bypass switch).

2. Press and hold the button for 3 seconds (until all channel lights turn on), then release. The light on channel 1 (upper left-most light) will stay lit, indicating zero calibration mode (see figure 8.1)

3. With the channel 1 light still lit, Press and hold the button for 3 seconds (until channel 1 light flashes), then release. The sensor board will cycle through all channels setting the zero point on each.

Figure 8.1. Channel 1 light on.

“All On” Calibration

1. Ensure current is flowing to all wired channels (close disconnect or contactor).

Each string must be running at 4 amps or greater in order for the monitoring board to identify active channels.

2. Verify each active string is at its expected current and greater than 4 amps with a DC current clamp.

12

3. Hold the push button (Item 1 in Figure 7) for 3 seconds, until all channel lights are lit, then release.

4. The light on channel 1 will stay lit. Push the button once to select the light on channel 3 which activates ‘all on’ calibration. Refer to figure 6 for channel layout.

5. With channel 3 lit, hold the button for 3 seconds until the channel 3 light blinks. Then release.

6. The board is now in ‘all on’ calibration mode, and you are ready to enter the total current. Measure the total current through all strings with a DC current clamp (5 strings at 8 amps each should yield a total current of 40 amps).

7. The light on channel 10 should be lit, indicating a zero place value. Subsequent presses of the button will advance the light through 1-9. During ‘all on’ calibration, the board expects a 3 digit number. For boxes with total current under 100 amps, you must first enter a ‘0’. Ex: 85 amps enters as ‘085’. Select the first digit (0-9), then hold the tare button for 3 seconds. The selected value will flash, and then string 10 will light up indicating it is time to enter the next digit. For an example of light indicators for ‘085’ see figure 8.2.

Figure 8.2. Light configurations for '085' Figure 8.3. Channel lights correctly indicating active and

inactive channels. (5,10,11 inactive)

13

8. After all 3 digits have been entered, the board will verify the entered values by

flashing each digit one time. Then, the board will calibrate each channel one by one, and then will light up all active channels simultaneously. During this process, 1) verify the total current value was entered correctly and 2) the board properly identifies all active and inactive channels. For an example of active channel verification, see Figure 8.3.

Exiting the Calibration Menu To exit the Calibration Menu, press the pushbutton repeatedly until the Chanel 7 light is lit (4th light from the upper left). Press and hold the button for 3 seconds until all lights flash. The current sensor module is now in “run” mode.

Note: These calibration steps MUST be performed in order to ensure accurate readings of string currents.

14

Setting the Modbus Address The user can access monitoring data on a computer by downloading the Termite 2.9 software at http://www.compuphase.com/software_termite.htm. After the Termite 2.9 software is installed, follow the instructions listed below.

1. Remove the SolarBOS bus bar cover from the monitoring apparatus. 2. Plug the USB 2.0 cable into the port on the control board and the USB end to

your USB port on your PC. 3. Open Termite 2.9 software. 4. Termite settings below are necessary for proper communication with SolarBOS

smart board. a) Port: The port number may vary between boards. With Windows 7, one of

the following steps may be necessary to identify the correct port: i) Install Windows USB driver from the following URL before plugging the

sensor board into the USB port. http://www.pjrc.com/teensy/serial_install.exe ii) If a Windows “add new hardware” dialog comes up when you plug the

sensor in, point to the following .INF file: http://dlnmh9ip6v2uc.cloudfront.net/datasheets/Dev/AVR/LUFA%20CDC%20Bootloader.inf

Once a driver is installed, a new COM port will show up in Termite when the sensor board is plugged in.

5. Press and hold the small green button near the USB port. 6. While still holding the green button near the USB port, click the main button in the

Termite program that states “Disconnect – click to connect” located at the top left corner.

7. When the button states “Waiting for port…”, release the small green reset button.

15

8. The menu will appear as shown in Figure 9.

Figure 9. SolarBOS Current Sensor Menu

9. To change the Modbus address, type 2 into the text bar located at the bottom of the Termite window shown in Figure 10.

Figure 10. SolarBOS Current Sensor text bar

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