I decided to make a few changes to our current Renogy 100W solar suitcase.
I wanted to reuse the panels since they are only used for recharging duty for our two Trojan 6V T-105's.
Primary goal was to get the controller located closer to the batteries since I soldered 25' 10 ga copper leads directly to the solar panels with an SAE plug on the end and also have a 15' 10 ga extension with SAE plugs on each end. Moving the controller closer to the batteries will help minimize line losses. Mounted the controller in the front storage compartment adjacent to the battery box to keep it out of the weather.
I did install an inline 10A fuse on the positive lead at the solar panels, but it's kind of pointless since the Isc (short circuit current) is only 6.0A, which the 10 gauge wire can take all day long and which is not enough to blow the fuse anyways. Since the Imp (max operating current) is 5.56A, I would need a 5.75A fuse to do any good. The other issue is since most automotive ATC/ATO fuses are only rated for a max of 32V and my max operating voltage will be around 36V, the fuse could fail to protect the system properly anyways. I've been debating removing the fuse at the panels since this is a single string and not necessary.....but that would involve more work.
After some though I decided to scrap the Renogy PWM controller and install a Victron SmartSolar 75/15 Bluetooth MPPT controller since it would be able to pull data from our Victron BMV-712 monitor w/ temperature sensor.
I reused the factory SAE bulkhead connector on the side of the trailer since it had 10 ga. leads, but replaced the factory 12 ga wire with copper 10 ga between the plug and new controller.
Ended up wiring the two Renogy 50w panels in series to increase the voltage since we would now be using a MPPT controller.
Ran 10 ga copper ground from the new controller to the load size of the shunt and also 10 ga copper directly to the positive side of the battery bank with a 15A inline fuse at the battery.
Used 3/16" thick perforated steel plate to mount the controller on and used 3/8" tall standoffs to keep the mounting plate off the wall in our front storage compartment.
Linear Mode
