Hi Everyone,

Not sure if this is the right section, but it is related to Solar in a way.

Long story short, my solar installation will be using 2x 16mm2 3-core SWA cable, to and from the inverters.

My DB in the house is 2x 16 way I think, flush in the wall with steel face plate.

My question is how would a sparky generally introduce the cable into the DB, when there is no space in the conduits available?

Can it be mounted with saddles on the wall and then have the wall chipped away on the side or top of the DB face plate for it to slip though?

Of perhaps put it in trunking next to the side of the face place and again chip out the wall behind the trunking for it to enter the DB?

Ideally I wouldn't want them to chase the wall to hide cable, unless if it is a code requirement.

If anyone has pics of how theirs' was done in a similiar way, please do share?

Thank you kindly

Edited June 1Jun 1 by faultydaveza

This is how I did mine, Maybe you can get some ideas from it. My 2 cables (I have no incoming cable to inverter as the house is disconnected from Ciipower) with one coming from my 3.6kW inveter and another coming from my 5kW inverter feed into my DB board and supply different breakers in there.

I ran mine on the wall and when I got to the DB, I dug into the wall and made use of the side entries of my existing house DB. That is where those 2 glands are for my 2 cables (GP wire but you know what I mean).

As you can see my top entry into the DB is full also. Hopefully this gives you an idea to work off. I sanded down the filler I used to cover the dug up area and have since painted over so it looks neater.

Thanks Denns for the suggestion and the pics, much appreciated!

1 hour ago, faultydaveza said:

Long story short, my solar installation will be using 2x 16mm2 3-core SWA cable, to and from the inverters.

Why do you want to use SWA cable for inverter input/ output? They are extremely difficult to work with especially 16mm² 3 core. Is there a reason you not considering 10~16mm² Norsk cable?

2 minutes ago, TaliaB said:

Why do you want to use SWA cable for inverter input/ output? They are extremely difficult to work with especially 16mm² 3 core. Is there a reason you not considering 10~16mm² Norsk cable?

Hi Talia, I know it is overkill, I just want piece of mind that the cable can survive people stepping on it in my roof, or be more resistant to rat attacks etc. Also I can get it at a price only slightly higher than Norsk to figured it would be worth it.

Thanks

17 minutes ago, faultydaveza said:

Hi Talia, I know it is overkill, I just want piece of mind that the cable can survive people stepping on it in my roof, or be more resistant to rat attacks etc. Also I can get it at a price only slightly higher than Norsk to figured it would be worth it.

Thanks

What is your inverter rating? 16mm² Swa can carry 100A. Running Swa from your roof cavity would ge best if there is a conduit from the top that enters the flush mount db. Otherwise chase the wall and bring it in from the bottom. This is how it is normally done from your point of supply.

Thanks Talia,

I have 2x 6KW Luxpower inverters, 23 meters away from the DB. While each inverter has a continous passthrough rating of 50A (100A total), it will be limited by a 50A breaker anyways.

Thank you for the pics, I think the bottom entry will have to be used in the end, with the proper metal swa cable size 2 glands.

Quick question though, if the case was that i had a spare conduit open on top, how would the sparky feed the cable through? I'm assuming the outer insulation and steel mesh will be cut away for the part entering the conduit. I'm just not clear on how the SWA would interface with the conduit in the roof, in other words is there a special connector or gland that must be used or is the cable just fed into the conduit and thats it?

Sorry for all the questions, I just want to be well informed in case the sparky decides that he can re-arrange some wires in the other conduits to free up one or 2 more, and I want to make sure it is done right of course.

Thank you kindly,

Asking for a friend, are you going to use a qualified electrician? if so, he will advice on which cable is best to use and how he will get it through to the DB. My advise, involve your electrician and communicate your plans/ideas with him and get his advice. We all have different approaches when it comes to installations and the advice you will get here on the forum might differ with one you will get from the person who is actually going to the job.

Edited June 1Jun 1 by hoohloc
gramma

4 minutes ago, hoohloc said:

Asking for a friend, are you going to use a qualified electrician? if so, he will advice on which cable is best to use and how he will get it through to the DB. My advice, involve your electrician and communicate your plans/ideas with him and get his advise. We all have different approaches when it comes to installations and the advice you will get here on the forum might differ with the advice you will get from the person who is actually going to the job.

Yes will be doing that. What you say makes sense, I just want to be well informed so that the electrician I use doesn't try and take shortcuts with me. Thanks

4 hours ago, faultydaveza said:

Thanks Talia,

I have 2x 6KW Luxpower inverters, 23 meters away from the DB. While each inverter has a continous passthrough rating of 50A (100A total), it will be limited by a 50A breaker anyways.

Thank you for the pics, I think the bottom entry will have to be used in the end, with the proper metal swa cable size 2 glands.

Quick question though, if the case was that i had a spare conduit open on top, how would the sparky feed the cable through? I'm assuming the outer insulation and steel mesh will be cut away for the part entering the conduit. I'm just not clear on how the SWA would interface with the conduit in the roof, in other words is there a special connector or gland that must be used or is the cable just fed into the conduit and thats it?

Sorry for all the questions, I just want to be well informed in case the sparky decides that he can re-arrange some wires in the other conduits to free up one or 2 more, and I want to make sure it is done right of course.

Thank you kindly,

Asked and answered by @hoohloc

5 hours ago, TaliaB said:

Asked and answered by @hoohloc

After good replies @TaliaB has been admitted to Netcare. See my post under GENERAL for details.