Morningstar’s Ground Fault Protection Device (GFPD) Family, Models GFPD-150V and GFPD-600V, increases safety and design flexibility in off-grid and on-grid photovoltaic (PV) systems. Ground fault protection is used in electrical systems to prevent current from following any unintended paths during a ground fault. It is critical to detect any stray current and to interrupt (break) the circuit until safe operation can be restored. A current imbalance between the primary +/- PV conductors entering the charger/inverter may indicate a ground fault condition. Morningstar’s GFPD will detect this condition and break the circuit on both the positive and negative legs. Disconnecting both poles ensures interruption of the ground fault current.
The GFPD enables system design flexibility. Morningstar designed the GFPD to be easily paired with the TriStar MPPT™ charge controller during on-site installation. Additionally, the GFPD will work just as well in systems with mixed vendor components. Morningstar’s GFPD is a superior solution to ground fault protection. With its custom molded equipment ground terminals, installation and troubleshooting are simplified. Furthermore, the GFPD breaks the entire PV array circuit during a fault condition and requires no special labeling on the battery enclosure.