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Old 02-19-2017, 06:44 PM   #1
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Any solar experts care to critique my proposed wiring?

Like the title says I'm looking for any input on my proposed solar wiring. I made a block diagram to help me lay it out and before I continue to purchase components I'd like to see if it all makes sense to others more familiar with solar set ups then I.

Some notes:
- I will eventually upgrade to 2 six-volt GC2 batteries but for now this is how it'll be set up with my 2 existing 12 volt batteries.
- The inverter and wiring will probably also be added later (with the inverter size TBD) but I wanted to plan for it now
- Wire size will be determined once trailer is out of storage and I can accurately measure the length of wire runs. It'll probably be 6 or 4 AWG.
- Would I really need a separate switch for the inverter? If I use the remote switch to turn it off is it truly off or would is still draw a few milliamps?
- I'm mostly concerned with the size and location of the fuses/circuit breakers.

Thanks for any input you can give.

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Old 02-19-2017, 07:22 PM   #2
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I'm no expert but that looks pretty good to me. I have almost the exact same set up, 2- 150w Renogy panels, 2- 6v GC2 bateries and the Bogart controller and meter. I don't have an inverter so I can't comment on the draw it may have when turned off. I used 6 gauge wire throughout and my longest run from the panels is only about 12 ft.
I've only had one camping trip where I could really test it out but it seems to work great so far charging from 82% to full by dinner time on a semi overcast day. We are pretty frugal with our power usage though.
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Old 02-19-2017, 08:32 PM   #3
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I just looked at the breakaway switch, that has to be directly wired to the battery, with no circuit breakers or fuses in between. Will look at it a little better tomorrow morning. I am not a big fan of automatic circuit breakers, because if there is a malfunction the circuit will keep resetting until there is possible damage to electrical things in the circuit. The other reason, is that if there is a reoccurring issue and you are not there to witness the cb opening, it may go unnoticed, for awhile, where as if it is a manual reset you will see there is something going on and check out the circuit to see what is happening. Just a personal preference.

All your loads should come off one positive terminal and all grounds should come off one negative terminal. See below example.
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Old 02-19-2017, 09:17 PM   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mustang65 View Post
I just looked at the breakaway switch, that has to be directly wired to the battery, with no circuit breakers or fuses in between. Will look at it a little better tomorrow morning. I am not a big fan of automatic circuit breakers, because if there is a malfunction the circuit will keep resetting until there is possible damage to electrical things in the circuit. The other reason, is that if there is a reoccurring issue and you are not there to witness the cb opening, it may go unnoticed, for awhile, where as if it is a manual reset you will see there is something going on and check out the circuit to see what is happening. Just a personal preference.

All your loads should come off one positive terminal and all grounds should come off one negative terminal. See below example.
Don
I understand the idea of having all loads drawn from the sane terminals but what about the charging leads from the charge controller? Can those be connected to the other + and - battery terminals?
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Old 02-19-2017, 11:02 PM   #5
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The ground from the controller should be on the same side of the shunt as the rest of the ground wires. The positive from the controller can go directly to the battery. At least this is the way I have mine so that I can turn off the power to the house and still have the batteries charged by the solar.
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Old 02-20-2017, 07:27 AM   #6
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Mustang, thanks for the feedback. I redid the drawing keeping the breakaway cable off a fused circuit and connecting all positive loads to one terminal (with the exception of the voltage sense wire for the controller).

Also not a fan of self resetting CB's, was planning on using these Bussmann Surface-Mount Circuit Breakers from Amazon.

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Old 02-20-2017, 11:14 AM   #7
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The battery temperature sensor can be on any battery, as it has no electrical connection to the batteries. There is one other cable that needs to be relocated from the battery on the left, move the TM 2030 Battery monitor to the battery on the right, so it can monitor all voltage/current properly.

As an example, the current flowing through the first battery can be different that the current flowing through the second battery. In other words if your system was getting a 10 amp charge from SOLAR or TT Charge controller, the battery on the right may be pulling in 6 amps leaving 4 amps to the battery on the left. Your monitor may not display the correct numbers. This is a little extreme example, but you get the point. This is especially true if the batteries are not the same age, mfr or Ah rating.

On the right side of your Inverter picture, the voltage is 110VAC, remove the (+) and (-) from your drawing.

You will also need to install a new 110VAC breaker in your main AC panel (mine had 2 blanks for future use) and wire your TT's DC charge controller to it. When you are running without shore power, turn off the breaker as you do not want the TT's battery charge controller to be active (trying to charge the batteries with the batteries). You could wire in a relay with the Automatic Transfer switch to cut power to the TT's battery charge controller. We also have a picture of the thermostat with a RED line through it, hanging over the thermostat.

Also, to avoid any possible accidents, turn off the Air Conditioner 110VAC breaker when not on Shore power.

I am not sure as to what Ah batteries you will be purchasing, but for example the Trojan T105 (6) volt batteries are around 220Ah, of which you can only use 120 Ah. Yes, the bigger the Inverter output rating the higher the idle power it consumes. If you are only going to have (2) 6 volt batteries (around 220Ah) I would just get a 1000 or 1500 watt inverter, they all have a surge limit built into their design.

Hope this helps a little.

Very NICE schematic!!!

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Old 02-21-2017, 04:57 PM   #8
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Thanks for all the tips Don! I'll incorporate them into the final design.
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