[pmrid (Peter)]

A recent reply from Alex to a DIY Wind Power thread raised an important point about grounding remote installations as an anti-lightning measure.

Whether it is, like mine, an isolated wind turbine/solar power setup with all the usual electrics and wires/cables, or a remote observatory, it is an important consideration in the design and construction.

Obviously, grounding is a good and necessary safety issue to be sure you don't accidentally cook yourself, but how much use is it against a lightning strike? Anyone got any ideas on this?

As an example - my solar/wind install sits on a hilltop about 1 km away from my house. It provides power to a small lookout and BBQ area I built in a small orchard so we can use it to entertain and just chill out and watch the sunset. The setup consists of a tower with wind turbine and a few solar panels that are cabled underground to a little tin garden shed 20 yards away which houses a battery bank, charge controllers and inverters and a pump to push water around the orchard. Power for the lookout/BBQ lights comes out of there also.

The tower has 5 ground rods - one on each set of guy wires and one on the pole. The shed has only one and it is connected to the negative pole on the battery bank since everything else in there - one way or another - links back to it. I'm not sure if this is exactly kosher though.

I'll throw this one open to others with more knowledge of electrics.

Peter