100W Portable kit on ebay

[dwh]

1)Should I add a fuse anywhere along the power cord to my main battery? The wire appears to be 12 gauge. If so could some pros recommend a size. The sticker on the back says something along the lines of 10amp in series regarding the fuse, but I don't know what they mean.

Technically, any wire should be fused wherever it meets a power source. The purpose of a fuse is to melt before the wire does. I think the included wire is #14, which is rated for 15a, so you'd need a 15a fuse to protect it. Again, technically, there should be a fuse at either end, since both the charge controller and the battery are sources of power which could supply power to melt the wire if there was a short.

But the charge controller will be fused internally, so there's one fuse you don't have to worry about (but if it blows, you probably can't replace it). So a 15a where the wire meets the battery and all would be well.

But in the real world, you would normally just rely on the internal fuse in the charge controller and not bother with a fuse at the battery end. If I was using the alligator clips, that's what I'd do. If I was wiring it in permanently (or installing a quick-disconnect plug at the battery end) I'd go ahead and wire in a fuse.

2)Is there a risk of starting the truck with the panels attached to the battery?

Nah, the charge controller is current limited. Even if the starter draws 250a from the battery, no more than 10a of that would come from the solar.

3)Should I disconnect the panels from the battery at night. The instructions mention something about this, but honestly there's a lot of broken English in the instructions.

If you wired the solar panels (PV modules) directly to the battery with no charge contoller, you'd have to worry about it. A solar cell makes power when there is sun on it, and when there isn't, it takes power and makes heat.

A solar charge controller has two primary functions - A) to prevent the solar panel from raising the battery's voltage too high and B) to prevent backfeed from the battery to the solar, which at night would make your solar panel into a heater.

4)The symbol on the far right of the controller is for a "load" Other than going to my battery with supplied alligator clips what would one use for this? Is this where you have your lighter adaptor going to HenryJ?

Some charge controllers have a load connection. This is an LVD (low-voltage disconnect) with usually a 10a or less load rating. You can hook up a load to that connection which will be disconnected from the battery when the battery's voltage falls to a certain point. What the load rating of that connection is, and at what voltage it will disconnect the load at - you'll need to find out in the charge controller's manual.

 

[camper101]

Care to share a link for your custom cable source?

I had this guy make me a cable, and he was kind enough to provide some free education without making me feel stupid... (If I was in charge of things, I'd call the male-looking connnectors 'male' instead of 'female,' but that's just me).

And these guys have fast shipping in Colorado and are friendly. Haven't bought a custom cable but got another part from them.

Fuses...

Stupid question: do I want fuses on both the positive and negative wires coming from the panel? I saw on the $50 thread that only the positive was fused and that's what I did. Hasn't caught fire yet after one year, but I have no problem adding another fuse for insurance.

 

[Hilldweller]

Cables arrived; they're freakin' beautiful...

 

[dwh]

Stupid question: do I want fuses on both the positive and negative wires coming from the panel? I saw on the $50 thread that only the positive was fused and that's what I did. Hasn't caught fire yet after one year, but I have no problem adding another fuse for insurance.

You only need to fuse one. It's a loop, so when the fuse melts, it'll break the loop. You want the fuse as close to the power source as possible, to kill power as near the source as possible.

You fuse the hots, and leave the grounds unbroken for safety reasons.

 

[dwh]

Cables arrived; they're freakin' beautiful...

Aye, nice!

Be Advised: I had 1/0 cables made for my truck at the local welding shop. I like welding cable - it's flexible and the insulation is tough - and the welding shop can cut the wire off a spool to whatever length you want and they've got the crimp tools and heat shrink to do it up right.

BUT I SCREWED UP!

I left too much unsupported slack, and after about 5 years, I noticed cracks beginning to form on the ring terminals where they meet the wire. DUH! I think the problem is that the welding cable IS so flexible, that it moved around (vibrated) more than a normal battery cable would. I used the factory clamps, but I should have added extra support to make certain that there was no way for the cables to stress the ring terminals.

I'm back to using the original battery cables for the moment, as I haven't had a chance to have the Fat Boys fixed yet.

I should have known better, but I'm not just a well-known conspiracy kook - I'm also a well-known space cadet and, "I musta spaced on it."

 

[Hilldweller]

Good point; thanks. I'll look at how they connect.
I think the wing-nut torques them down flat....

 

[dwh]

I think the wing-nut torques them down flat....

Ya, mine too. That's the problem - the wingnuts hold the flat part of the ring terminal nice and tight, but the cables flopped around (well, vibrated...they weren't noticeably floppy). The cracks on mine are where the flat part under the wingnut "kicks up" to meet the part that is crimped on the cable.

 

[Hilldweller]

Ya, mine too. That's the problem - the wingnuts hold the flat part of the ring terminal nice and tight, but the cables flopped around (well, vibrated...they weren't noticeably floppy). The cracks on mine are where the flat part under the wingnut "kicks up" to meet the part that is crimped on the cable.

I gotcha. I've got a couple of cable clamps I'll rig then.
....or Gorilla Tape. That stuff is something else.

 

[dstock]

Mine works great.
I just ordered some custom cables to attach to the batteries full-time; I got 6-gauge wire with tinned ends and an Anderson plug with a dust-cap. I also ordered an 8 foot extension in 8 gauge with Andersons at both ends; never know when you might have to go longer to find sun.
BTW, the amperage drops much lower if any of the panel is covered. But you guys knew that already...

What gauge wire do you have coming out of the charge controller? From the image it doesn't look like 8 gauge would fit.

 

[Overland_Brandon]

Cables arrived; they're freakin' beautiful...

It is kind of funny how we get excited about a cable

I crimped some Anderson cables for my fridge, and then went around the house showing all my family members my marvelous creation.

They didn't seem nearly as enthusiastic as I would have hoped.

Next time I will post them here

 

[craig333]

I had the same reaction when I was showing off my heat shrink with solder connectors. I don't get people who don't think that stuff is cool. Btw, nice wires. Now I need to upgrade mine

 

[Hilldweller]

What gauge wire do you have coming out of the charge controller? From the image it doesn't look like 8 gauge would fit.

The kit came with 1.5mmX2 in a heavy sheath. I'll probably R&R with 10 gauge ---- overkill, sure....
The controller has pretty big lugs and 10 should fit. I at least have to have 12. I'm Hilldweller, after all....

The extension cable has Andersons at both ends and the kit has an Anderson at the end. It all plugs up fine.
I'll need to get a fuse inline for the new hardwire though. Thought I had one in the kit at home but I used them all up.


We are bunch of geeks on this forum, aren't we?
I work with mostly engineers so I'm used to it. Geek City here.

 

[randy h]

Some charge controllers have a load connection. This is an LVD (low-voltage disconnect) with usually a 10a or less load rating. You can hook up a load to that connection which will be disconnected from the battery when the battery's voltage falls to a certain point. What the load rating of that connection is, and at what voltage it will disconnect the load at - you'll need to find out in the charge controller's manual.

I just got the Renegy 100W suitcase. The controller currently shipping is the ViewStar 1024BN. In looking at the PDF for the 1024BN it states:

• Load Overload If the load current exceeds the rated current of controller（≥1.05 times rated discharge
current）, the controller will disconnect the load. Overloading must be cleared up, then
pressing the switch button.

The Controller is rated at 10 amps.

I would like to connect my 50L Ironman ICE Cube fridge/freezer to that Load connection directly on the Controller. The Ironman specs say:
Average power consumption 40 Watt
Current draw on 12 volts approx. 0.7 Ah/h

I want to do this for two reasons:
1. There are some Load statistics available on the Controller.
2. The Load can be programmed to automatically be turned off based on times that can be set in the Controller.

I plan to turn the Fridge/Freezer off in the evenings. Also we usually don't return to base camp until well after dark. It would be nice to have the controller turn off the fridge for me.

Right now, the battery in the equation is a D35 48 AH Optima Yellow Top.

One thing just dawned on me as I was writing this. Does that Load connection on the Controller supply power from just the Panels or does it route current from the battery too? If it doesn't, then this plan sucks. If it doesn't, maybe I could have the Load out connection drive a relay that controls fridge to battery connection.

Do you folks see any problem with this plan?

 

[WOODY2]

It is kind of funny how we get excited about a cable

I crimped some Anderson cables for my fridge, and then went around the house showing all my family members my marvelous creation.

They didn't seem nearly as enthusiastic as I would have hoped.

Wow now I don't feel like the Lone Ranger…. Hi I'm Woody and I'm an Anderson-A-Holic

 

[dstock]

The kit came with 1.5mmX2 in a heavy sheath. I'll probably R&R with 10 gauge ---- overkill, sure....
The controller has pretty big lugs and 10 should fit. I at least have to have 12. I'm Hilldweller, after all....

The extension cable has Andersons at both ends and the kit has an Anderson at the end. It all plugs up fine.
I'll need to get a fuse inline for the new hardwire though. Thought I had one in the kit at home but I used them all up.


We are bunch of geeks on this forum, aren't we?
I work with mostly engineers so I'm used to it. Geek City here.

We are a bunch of geeks, no doubt!

When I went to swap out the charge controller on the ebay panel, I checked with Renegy on a couple models but they didn't have one with ring terminals that supported 10 gauge. I ended up going with a Morningstar which works much better than the OE one on the ebay panel. Coupled with the 10 gauge zipwire from Powerwerx and the Anderson connectors everything is working and looking good now. And no, my family was not impressed with my wiring work either! Ha!