Present Solar Option?

[rickst29]

There should probably not be multiple "battery+" wires from the solar controller, it appears to be abused as poorly implemented "additional power distribution block".

The "battery -" terminal needs to be connected to frame and battery grounding (at some busbar). If this is one lead from the Romex, don't do that - never use Romex in support of 12v.

[Casey Freswick]

Originally Posted by Wavery

I'm a little confused about where all of those "PV" wires are coming from to your solar controller.

How many solar panels do you have? Are they matching panels. The wires from the panels should be tied together, either in series or parallel before coming into the camper.

I can help if you show me a pic of your exterior wiring on your solar panels.

The problem here is depth perception. There are only 4 wires going into the solar controller. 2 from the panel and 2 directly to the battery. OH and one wire going to ground: So 5 wires. The other wires are behind the controller.

[Casey Freswick]

Originally Posted by Wavery

I'm not sure where to start but I'm pretty sure that those orange cables are copper coated aluminum wires. If they are don't use them.

"You really want to be sure that all of your cables are pure copper wire. Also, you would do well to invest in some tools for attaching lugs to your cables. It's important that the lugs are properly crimped onto the cable ends so that it equals one solid piece of copper. A hydraulic crimper is best. Here is an inexpensive tool that does a pretty good job."

I bought my wire from a auto parts store, battery cable wire. It is 4G wire, strands of copper. It is not one solid copper wire. I think that this should work. I have 20 amp house wire for my main wire for grounding into the frame to my negative block. I will change all those to a solid wire. Thanks for sharpening my attempt at wiring.

[Casey Freswick]

My crimper says it is for swags, ferrules and stops. It has a lot of pressure and I think it works. I actually have a box of small ferrule but never used them. I need to get the crimper tool for that. So I will start using them in the future. Thanks for the heads up.

[Bill]

Originally Posted by Casey Freswick

I bought my wire from a auto parts store, battery cable wire. It is 4G wire, strands of copper. It is not one solid copper wire. ... I have 20 amp house wire for my main wire for grounding into the frame to my negative block. I will change all those to a solid wire.

Pure copper is not the same as solid copper, of course. I'm not sure you could hand-bend 4G solid copper.

Bill

[Casey Freswick]

Originally Posted by Bill

Pure copper is not the same as solid copper, of course. I'm not sure you could hand-bend 4G solid copper.

Bill

I did not intend to use the word "pure" in a technical way. I asked if it was copper wire and not a copper coated wire and they said it was copper. It is not one solid wire, it is multiple wires. It says 4G on the wire. I will also not be used between the battery and inverter. I will use 2 2/0 copper wire (multi strands) from batter to both positive and negative poles on my inverter. Will be attaching solar panels today. They came with their own wiring and a 4 to 1 harness. Will take a picture when I am finished.

[Casey Freswick]

I have finished wiring my new solar system. Everything is working great. Here is a picture of my completed panel.

[Wavery]

Originally Posted by Casey Freswick

I have finished wiring my new solar system. Everything is working great. Here is a picture of my completed panel.

I would recommend NOT putting multiple wires on a singe connector. This is especially true on the inverter. You might want to have a dedicated ground busbar and a dedicated positive busbar. Have a single 2/0 wire going from the battery pos to the pos busbar and a single 2/0 wire from the battery to the neg busbar. Then run a single 2/0 cable from each busbar to your inverter. Run all of your ground wires (singly) to an empty port on the ground busbar and the same with the positive busbar.

The optimum system will have only 1 wire on any singe terminal with the odd exception of 2 (smaller) wires on one terminal. What you have going on, on your inverter may cause you problems down the road. You will certainly have a lack of continuity and an increase of heat and corrosion.

You might want to try to find busbars (sometimes called "Distribution Blocks") like these. Be sure they are rated 250A.

https://www.amazon.com/Hoteam-Distri...%2C185&sr=8-18

[Bill]

Wavery -

Full agreement on the bus bar thing.

If I were doing this - and I'm not! - and especially if I am adding bus bars, I would add one thing. Some kind of electrical insulation over all those exposed positive connections. Something as simple as a dropped screwdriver would most likely destroy the TM as it welded itself in place and started a fire that you can't put out. Insulation doesn't have to be elaborate or especially form fitting. A simple plastic box like a Rubbermaid refrigerator leftover box, trimmed to a useful shape with a utility knife, and tacked in place, would do it.

Bill

[Casey Freswick]

Just finished a week of camping. We were in a partially shaded area. By noon I had full sun. It was sunny most days. Although I had shore power, I used my 300 watt solar system. I wanted to monitor the system. My major electric use was my new Magic Chef 4.5 cubit foot electric fridge and 12 volt interior needs the whole week. My fridge runs at 70 watts an hour. It was hot and it ran a lot. My solar power charged the battery every day to 100% and everything worked great. The lowest my battery got was 49%. I have a 3000 watt inverter, 3 100 watt solar panels, 100 Amp lithium battery and a MPPT 100/30 Victron Energy Smart Solar controller and an additional battery monitor. Everything worked great. FYI when I "tested" my battery by boiling 1 liter of water, it drained 10% of my battery. My max solar charge was 250 watts per hour. My max charge for a day was 1.03 KWH. I am now wondering if I could have and should have put 4 100 panels on the back of the back shell. But I am confident that everything I have is working great.