If you have a home EMP Shield and a solar system, you might assume your solar setup is already covered. It’s not, and understanding why can save you from an expensive mistake.
The home EMP Shield is an AC surge protective device. It’s designed to protect your home’s 120/240 volt AC electrical system, the power coming in from the grid, running through your breaker panel, and powering everything plugged into your walls. Your solar system operates on DC power, and AC and DC are different types of electricity. An AC surge protection device cannot protect a DC system, and a DC device cannot protect an AC system. They are not interchangeable, and one does not cover the other. It’s like gasoline and diesel fuel. Both power vehicles, but each is designed for a different type of engine. The same idea applies here. AC and DC both carry electricity, but they’re different electrical systems, and each requires surge protection designed specifically for that system.
Depending on your system, this voltage can range anywhere from 90 volts to 600 volts. The low voltage DC side is the output, whether that’s power being stepped down for battery storage or sent to the inverter to be converted to AC for your home. Both sides need their own dedicated EMP Shield DC unit sized to match the voltage of that specific part of the system.
Selecting the right DC unit comes down to one key number: the Maximum Input Voltage of your inverter or charge controller. Once you have that number, you select the first EMP Shield DC model whose voltage rating is equal to or above it. EMP Shield offers DC models ranging from 24 volts all the way up to 600 volts to cover the full range of residential and commercial solar applications. That said, solar systems can be surprisingly complex. If you have multiple charge controllers, multiple MPPTs, or a larger system with several components tied together, the number of units you need can increase quickly. If you’re not sure what you need, call us. That’s what we’re here for, and getting the wrong unit is a more common mistake than you’d think.
When everything is properly protected, each EMP Shield unit is doing a specific job at a specific point in your system. The high voltage DC unit protects the power coming in from your panels before it ever reaches your inverter or charge controller. If your system includes battery storage, a low voltage DC unit protects that side of the system as well. The home EMP Shield takes over from there, protecting everything on the AC side from the inverter output through your breaker panel and out to every circuit in your home. Each unit monitors its section of the system and reacts in nanoseconds if a surge or EMP hits. No single unit can cover the whole system, but together they leave no part of it exposed.
