garyhartaz
Scottsdale, AZ
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pianotuna wrote:Hi Gary,
Yes, but be sure to "over size" the wire to get every watt you are paying for. It may also allow you to add more capacity in the future.
Thank you! I just placed my order and their salesperson also recommended a bigger solar panel to controller cable. Now I'm excited and I can't wait to do the install. I'm going to take pics and write about the whole process.
One question, where should the MPPT get mounted?
What's work? Oh, playing in the sand in the Southwest!
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pianotuna
Regina, SK, Canada
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Hi Gary,
You want the controller as close to the battery bank as is possible without it being in the same compartment. Use the biggest wire that will fit the terminals on the controller.
Regards, Don
Kustom Koach Class C 28'5" 256 watts solar, 875 amp hours in two battery banks 12 volt batteries 2500 watt inverter.
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htwheelz67
orange county
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yes it is walkable.
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JJ&kids
North Tustin, Ca
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htwheelz67 wrote:I wouldnt buy the wire from them as they will probably give you #10 wire and home depot or lowes is much cheaper. You will want #8 or #6 if wiring the panels in parallel, you can use #10 or #12 if wiring in series but in series if part of one panel gets shaded it drops the output of both panels,
#6 wire? isn't that overkill X10? you're talking about using battery cable sized wire to get 2 amps 20 feet. Am I missing something?
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htwheelz67
orange county
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I wouldnt buy the wire from them as they will probably give you #10 wire and home depot or lowes is much cheaper. You will want #8 or #6 if wiring the panels in parallel, you can use #10 or #12 if wiring in series but in series if part of one panel gets shaded it drops the output of both panels,
You will also want to order two or three packs of z brackets (4.00 a pack) to mount the panels, I put all my wiring in 1/2" liquitite conduit and two plastic watertite junction boxes, one between panels (so I can change to series or add more panels easily) and one where I drilled the hole in the roof, in my WW I dropped the wires in the wall between the kitchen sink and shower using electricians fish sticks and then behind the toilet in the sofet where the waterlines go and right into the under bed storage compartment.
Mount the controller as close to the batteries as possible.
I forgot to mention, they have great prices but the two guys I dealt with (I went there) knew very little about proper installation of the system, if I would have taken their advise my system would be very goofed up. You will want to install a 25 amp fuse or circuit breaker at the batt connection from the controller as well. #10 ring or spade terminals are the biggest that will fit panels and controller, they will fit #8 wire and trim #6 enough to slide terminal on. Wire size is critical, using too small of wire can result in a 5%-10% voltage loss at the controller, using #8 I measured about 1-2% loss.
I'm leaving to the river in about 8hrs and will shoot some more pics of my install. Oh yes last but not least get some Dicor sealant and use a lot of it to seal it.
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mena661
Southern California
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Is that a rubber roof? Are you able to walk on that?
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Mr.Tow
Arlington, TX
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If you found a good deal on the Solar System can I bid on the Asteroid Belt? 
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allnight
Bay Area, California
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You want the absolute biggest wire you can either afford or get hooked up. DC drops power amazingly fast over surprisingly short runs...like a 12' run can lose a very significant amount of the total power.
This is why solar panels that are installed in people's yard have DC->AC converters on each panel...because getting the DC over to the house (a whopping 50') would reduce the system's effectiveness so much. The extra cost of the DC->AC converters on every panel is actually cheaper than the extra panels to get the same amount of juice to the house's wiring.
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pianotuna
Regina, SK, Canada
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Hi JJ,
What you are missing is that it is only 12 volts, so there is ten times as much voltage drop as at 120 volts. It is also DC which may have even more voltage drop than AC.
JJ&kids wrote:htwheelz67 wrote:You will want #8 or #6 if wiring the panels in parallel, you can use #10 or #12 if wiring in series but in series if part of one panel gets shaded it drops the output of both panels
#6 wire? isn't that overkill X10? you're talking about using battery cable sized wire to get 2 amps 20 feet. Am I missing something?
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CA Traveler
The Western States
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I might even use wire larger than #6 to allow for future solra expansion with the existing wire. Length is of course a factor.
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Bob
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