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Old 06-24-2020, 09:35 AM   #4
rickst29
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Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Reno, NV
Posts: 1,324
Default Solar Wire, Raceway, zip ties, more MC-4 connectors if needed.

After you have determined your panel locations (front or back shell), you will be ready to measure your wire lengths and buy a few more things, less expensive:

Solar wire: 'Windy Nation' #10 AWG. https://www.amazon.com/WindyNation-G...dp/B01D7VBMPU/ Be sure to buy at least a few feet more than you need, to handle unexpected routing requirements, and wiring between panels.

It is likely that your that your panels will need to have some wire added between the panel "pigtails", in order to reach from one panel to the other. In doing that, you will cut shorter segments from the long wire and add MC-4 connectors (male and female) to allow connection to the pigtails. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B082SN4323/. You can crimp them with pliers or electric wire cutter tools, although Amazon also sell a special tool to reach in and crimp the wires. (I used pliers on my extensions.) An MC-4 connector cannot be removed or re-used, so buy more than you need. When you need to create a bare wire end, just cut any existing connector completely off.

For running the wire pair down the side of the shell in a vertical direction (street side, ending near one of the lift arms) the following home depot raceway looks pretty good: https://www.homedepot.com/p/Legrand-...NMW1/100038290. But the adhesive isn't sufficient to hold the raceway in place against the wind and weather. This is the only place where you need to use screws on a TM shell.

Cut the raceway to start and end along the flat portion of the shell, not quite reaching the upper and lower framing reinforcement members. Open the raceway, the remove the adhesive cover strip and and stick it on using the adhesive. Then put 3-4 TINY screws into the middle of the attached raceway side, spread across it's length (with the end screws about an inch from each end). Note that your solar wire twists down from the top, over the frame reinforcement and into the raceway - but the bottom needs a 1/2 loop of extra length, similar to other TM wire bundles, before your wire pair goes down the lift arm.

You will need another 1/2 loop at the bottom. You can use zip ties to attach the wire pair to the lift arm, replacing the zip ties every few years. The ends of the wires which go into the solar controller do not have mc-4 connectors, you simply strip them and wire-connect to regular AWG-10 wire before adding fuses. Connect the BLACK wire to the solar minus terminal. DO NOT connect the RED "Solar +" wire until everything else is done.
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