Fireproof Mounting Board

[weephee]

My solar panel controller is mounted on a plywood bulkhead. Is there a requirement that electronic equipment be mounted on a fireproof panel and if so what do most people use. I’d rather not use cement board. Thanks

[team karst]

That a great question. My MPPTs are also mounted on vertical plywood.
Unless the manufacturer claims otherwise in the install document, it should be safe.
Both UL and CE/low voltage directive have strict limits on BOTTOM holes (2 mm max hole size”, to eliminate dripping flames on a potential neighbor below, but the SIDES have no such requirement. There are other fire enclosure specs on product plastic housings.
If not TUV, CE, UL, CSA, ETL, or C tic tested and marked, all bets are off.
ps. Until last year, i was doing industrial equipment safety assessments. So, beware, I have forgotten as much as i can.

[Jammer]

Originally Posted by weephee

My solar panel controller is mounted on a plywood bulkhead. Is there a requirement that electronic equipment be mounted on a fireproof panel

It's not addressed in the standards.

[W]hat do most people use. I’d rather not use cement board.

Any of the flame-retardant glass-filled epoxy boards, e.g. Garolite:



https://www.mcmaster.com/products/sh...berglass+sheet


Other shapes, e.g. rods, discs, tubes, angles, are also available. FR-4 is the generic designation.

[s/v Jedi]

You use GPO-3 fiberglass for this. Most often it is red.