A dilemma I need cleared up

[NeatFreak84]

As someone that's in the process of installing a solar system i'm diving into rules and compliances quite hard and i ended up with a dilemma i hope someone can clear up. An inverter tied to a grid, let's say a 4kw one is there to give me power in a separate outled if the power goes down which is clear enough. The problem i'm having is with the nec 690.12 rule which says that i need to have rapid shutdown in the interest of first responders which is get. My dilemma is how to combine the backup option with the shutdown one working at the same time? Afterall the point is to have power in case the power is down but i cant if i need to have a rapid shutdown which kills the power if the grid is down. It's confusing and i hope someone can make some sense out of this

 

[chromecomet65]

im thinking that maybe u can use a small backup battery? for the signal generator to keep the shut down working while on an outage

 

[SunChaser11]

Okay so yea, you are right, the nec 690.12 requires rapid shutdown for safety, but that doesn't mean you can't have backup power when the grid goes down. The most important thing is how your system is designed. most hybrid /grid-tied inverters with backup capability are with an internal transfer switch that isolates the backup loadss from the grid when an outagge happens. The rapid shutdown requirement applies to the pv systemm feeding into the grid, not the backup circuit itself. but just to clear things up, are you using hybrid inverter with battery back up or a grid-tied system?

 

[PanelDoctor55]

As someone that's in the process of installing a solar system i'm diving into rules and compliances quite hard and i ended up with a dilemma i hope someone can clear up. An inverter tied to a grid, let's say a 4kw one is there to give me power in a separate outled if the power goes down which is clear enough. The problem i'm having is with the nec 690.12 rule which says that i need to have rapid shutdown in the interest of first responders which is get. My dilemma is how to combine the backup option with the shutdown one working at the same time? Afterall the point is to have power in case the power is down but i cant if i need to have a rapid shutdown which kills the power if the grid is down. It's confusing and i hope someone can make some sense out of this

You're overthinking it. NEC 690.12 is for shutting down the panels, not killing your backup. If wired right, your inverter switches to backup mode when the grid drops, and rapid shutdown just isolates DC from the array, so your batteries or critical load panel stay alive. If it doesn't, your setup's wrong. Fix the wiring or get better gear.