hour
Observer
Does anyone see anything wrong with installing the smallest of Blue Sea fuse panel with negative bus (6 circuit) to supply a Victron Orion TR-Smart 12v 18 amp DC-DC charger?
Blue Sea rates the entire panel as good for 100 amps (30a max on single circuit). I'm running 8 gauge pure copper welding wire from vehicle charging system to the bed of the truck (~15ft), and while I've confirmed this thick insulated wire will fit in the Victron's terminals directly, it'd be nice to have some room for growth with additional circuits - LED lights on roof rack or something.
The other benefit of not attaching the 8 gauge directly to the Victron is that I can mount the fuse block and Victron somewhere on the bed wall and run ~5ft of thinner (10/12ga) wire to the battery - which slides in and out. The thinner wire would be easier to manage with the slide at the cost of not having a 6" run from it to the battery, should I mount the Victron on the bed slide next to the battery.
My bad on buying and installing the bed slide last week and not thinking this through. It's already a PITA with my MPPT mounted on the ammo can aux battery box and having the PV wires to deal with. I should have built a shelf straddling the bedslide closest to cab wall and put battery there, then all I'd have to think about is running power from the battery to the fridge - the only appliance on the slide.
Blue Sea rates the entire panel as good for 100 amps (30a max on single circuit). I'm running 8 gauge pure copper welding wire from vehicle charging system to the bed of the truck (~15ft), and while I've confirmed this thick insulated wire will fit in the Victron's terminals directly, it'd be nice to have some room for growth with additional circuits - LED lights on roof rack or something.
The other benefit of not attaching the 8 gauge directly to the Victron is that I can mount the fuse block and Victron somewhere on the bed wall and run ~5ft of thinner (10/12ga) wire to the battery - which slides in and out. The thinner wire would be easier to manage with the slide at the cost of not having a 6" run from it to the battery, should I mount the Victron on the bed slide next to the battery.
My bad on buying and installing the bed slide last week and not thinking this through. It's already a PITA with my MPPT mounted on the ammo can aux battery box and having the PV wires to deal with. I should have built a shelf straddling the bedslide closest to cab wall and put battery there, then all I'd have to think about is running power from the battery to the fridge - the only appliance on the slide.
and anything else powered from that 8 gauge wire will be minor, like 3 amps of LED lights likely not run in conjunction with the vehicle anyway (meaning the Victron will not be charging). I have no idea what you mean by the "putting your circuit panel upstream of the house battery". The 8 gauge will always have power, the circuit panel will always have power, the Victron DC-DC will always have power, but will only charge when it detects the engine running (this does not require a signal wire). Yes the 8 gauge will have a breaker under the hood and anything leaving the blue sea fuse panel will be...fused...too. PV is fused. MPPT is fused.
