E-Panels and 2017 NEC 690.31(B)

[ICPete]

As I'm studying the 2017 NEC that now applies in my county, I came across this sentence under Wiring Methods, Methods Permitted, Identification and Grouping [690.31(B)]:

"PV source circuits and PV output circuits shall not be contained in the same raceway, cable tray, cable, outlet box, junction box, or similar fitting as conductors, feeders, branch circuits of other non-PV systems, or inverter output circuits, unless the conductors of the different systems are separated by a partition."

It seems to me that the inverter output AC wiring in the E-Panel shares the same main compartment with the PV source circuits and charge controller output circuits.
This would seem to directly violate this NEC paragraph.

What am I missing here?

[ClassicCrazy]

Maybe because the main box is not a raceway or conduit for wiring . It might mean anything that goes off beyond the box .
What it means to me is that you can't put the wires coming from the PV in the same conduit as the output of the inverter. 
So beyond the main box  you can't run PV and Inverter wires to a junction box where they would split off . There would have to be two different conduits and junction boxes.
You might be right if the interpretation is like you think that there would  have to be a divider in the main box between the PV and controller wiring and any wiring from the output of the inverter.
Just my guess .

Larry

[ICPete]

Hi Larry,
Thanks for responding.
You are right; I was misinterpreting "junction box" to include "equipment enclosure"; this is definitely NOT the intent!
I can see now that the wording is including junction boxes as similar to conduits (raceways), outlet boxes, and cable trays.
That is, they are generally smallish boxes that serve to protect and enclose the connections made between conductors traveling in multiple conduits or cable trays.

Clearly the E-Panel is NOT a junction box or similar; it is a major equipment enclosure.

I'm spending too many late-night hours reading and re-reading the 2017 NEC!!

Pete

[ClassicCrazy]

In  HVAC equipment  there often is a physical separation between the low voltage and high voltage sides in electrical enclosure.
Not sure if that is to meet some codes or just safety so service people are less likely to zap themselves !

Larry