Hooking up solar panels to battery.

bill12 · Guru

RE: Hooking up solar panels to battery.

jetj · Guru

Bill,

I saw that well after I put it in the sun, and got some instructions emailed to me. Wasn't on mine.

justcruisin01 · Guru

Happywanderer wrote:
Where are you parked at the moment Jim. I will come and park next to you. lol

I'm too far away for you to find me, LOL We cxan play a lot of hide & seek in this big country.

Rocky Creek, Nth Qld.

JC.

Happywanderer · The Master

justcruisin01 wrote:
Happywanderer wrote:
Where are you parked at the moment Jim. I will come and park next to you. lol
I'm too far away for you to find me, LOL We cxan play a lot of hide & seek in this big country.
Rocky Creek, Nth Qld.
JC.

disbelief hmm furious biggrin smile

Magnarc · Guru

Moral to this story, use an Auto Elec. For the cost of a few dollars problem gone!!!

03_troopy · Guru

LOL Magnarc, I haven't met a lot that have a clue how solar power is hooked up, let alone could tell you the difference between different regulators. And before I get anyones back up, that's just from my personal experience as an Auto Elec.

jetj · Guru

Well I've learned so much, more than a few dollars spent at an autoelectrician could achieve and better I have more knowledge and a few extra dollars thanks to the kindness of members of this forum.

patrolst · Senior Member

Magnarc wrote:
Moral to this story, use an Auto Elec. For the cost of a few dollars problem gone!!!

Very helpful and constructive.

enzed · Veteran Member

spice wrote:
Hi Janette, it looks like the bottom 2 wires with the solar panel icon would connect to the solar panel, the middle 2 with the battery icon would connect to the battery, and the top 2 with the load icon would connect to an accessory, ie fridge if you did not want to connect it straight to the battery, Rod

Thank goodness I found this thread BEFORE I tried to connect the same (less powerful) RICH folding solar panels (2 x 50) with built in controller, to the battery. I emailed the ebay seller 'bit-deals' and got an answer to my question, 'what are the second set of alligator clips for?'. Short sweet answer was 'the load'. That left me searching the forums and finally I googled the correct search words, and landed back here.

Having read all the posts, I first disconnected the 'load' alligator clips, then was careful to connect the battery before opening the panels to the sun. Everything lit up, no problems.

Whew!!!

We bought the solar panel to charge a single 12 v deep cycle battery with dual terminals. The battery sits on the front of the caravan and one set of terminal connections run 12 v lights, the 12 v water pump and a gas detector. I disconnected the battery from the van before I connected the solar panels to it.

But having read the pitfalls, I'd better ask the question before I stuff something up - when free camping can we have the solar panels connected to the battery on one set of terminals, while the battery is still connected to the van using the other set? I figure the battery can be charging from solar while the pump and gas detector are still operational and the battery should be well charged by nightfall to run the lights too - please tell me if I'm wrong. ??????????

jimricho · Guru

The answer is yes. Just ignore the terminals for the "load" on the controller. In fact I suggest you remove the wires from the "load" terminals to avoid confusion. I have a similar controller and have done just that.

"load" is techie-speak for anything that is connected to the battery that draws power from the battery.

jetj · Guru

I've just spent 2 weeks with the panels and the battery also connected to the controller while the fridge was running from the battery with no problem. My Rich panels work really well despite blowing my controller and having to buy another.

I did solder anderson plugs for the connections and got a 6 B&S extension lead to avoid voltage drop.

enzed · Veteran Member

jimricho wrote:
The answer is yes. Just ignore the terminals for the "load" on the controller. In fact I suggest you remove the wires from the "load" terminals to avoid confusion. I have a similar controller and have done just that.

"load" is techie-speak for anything that is connected to the battery that draws power from the battery.

Thank you for that confirmation and explaining the term 'load'. The "load" wires have been removed.

enzed · Veteran Member

jetj wrote:
I've just spent 2 weeks with the panels and the battery also connected to the controller while the fridge was running from the battery with no problem. My Rich panels work really well despite blowing my controller and having to buy another.
I did solder anderson plugs for the connections and got a 6 B&S extension lead to avoid voltage drop.

Can I ask how big your fridge is, exactly what a 6 B&S lead is - and how the fridge behaved, running for 2 weeks? Did you run it continuously? Did the battery power anything else at the same time? Does it have a freezer or is it just a fridge?

jimricho · Guru

I think 6 B&S (aka 6AWG and 6 gauge) is probably overkill but ok to use. $79 for 8 metres is not a bad price, especially if that includes the Anderson plugs. I've found 6mm cable (very different to 6 B&S) is adequate for any of the fold-up panels for runs up to 8 metres. 6 B&S is better but the gain is not that highly significant.

The best solution to get the most out of the panel is to install the controller as close as is reasonably practical to the battery.

-- Edited by jimricho on Sunday 9th of December 2012 05:13:24 AM

jetj · Guru

enzed wrote:
Can I ask how big your fridge is, exactly what a 6 B&S lead is - and how the fridge behaved, running for 2 weeks? Did you run it continuously? Did the battery power anything else at the same time? Does it have a freezer or is it just a fridge?

Hi,

The fridge is a CF35 Waeco which is 31litres, I charged my computer, modem daily, ran LED strip lights. I ran the fridge as a fridge with a setting of 1 or 0 degrees. I would turn it off at night and it was at usually about 3 degrees around 9am. If I went into town I generally plugged the fridge into the vehicle cig lighter. My 100 amp hour AGM is not connected to vehicle alternator.

6 B&S cable was highly recommended to me for long runs of cable and my extention lead came with anderson plugs on each end. I have an 8 metre extension lead but quite expensive at $79. Link to show the cable below, you can get a variety of lengths. I noticed lots of people seem to use 6mm cable for their solar panels, so mine might be overkill.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/HEAVY-DUTY-50-AMP-6-B-S-ANDERSON-PLUG-EXTENSION-LEAD-CABLE-x-6-METRES-H-DUTY-/400347224084?pt=AU_Car_Parts_Accessories&hash=item5d368dd814

My only problem was with the controller and it turned out the wires were touching slightly.

enzed · Veteran Member

jetj wrote:
enzed wrote:
Can I ask how big your fridge is, exactly what a 6 B&S lead is - and how the fridge behaved, running for 2 weeks? Did you run it continuously? Did the battery power anything else at the same time? Does it have a freezer or is it just a fridge?
Hi,
The fridge is a CF35 Waeco which is 31litres, I charged my computer, modem daily, ran LED strip lights. I ran the fridge as a fridge with a setting of 1 or 0 degrees. I would turn it off at night and it was at usually about 3 degrees around 9am. If I went into town I generally plugged the fridge into the vehicle cig lighter. My 100 amp hour AGM is not connected to vehicle alternator.
6 B&S cable was highly recommended to me for long runs of cable and my extention lead came with anderson plugs on each end. I have an 8 metre extension lead but quite expensive at $79. Link to show the cable below, you can get a variety of lengths. I noticed lots of people seem to use 6mm cable for their solar panels, so mine might be overkill.
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/HEAVY-DUTY-50-AMP-6-B-S-ANDERSON-PLUG-EXTENSION-LEAD-CABLE-x-6-METRES-H-DUTY-/400347224084?pt=AU_Car_Parts_Accessories&hash=item5d368dd814
My only problem was with the controller and it turned out the wires were touching slightly.

Thanks for that information. We're just learning about 12volt and solar charging so all information is very helpful.

jetj · Guru

I'm certainly no expert and have 2 weeks of practical experience but it is great when it works. Best of luck.

enzed · Veteran Member

patrolst wrote:
Hi Janette
Here is a photo of our controller today the panels are on the van and the volt meter is showing 14.2 volt while charging in the sun.
All LED's are alight as the battery is full even the load light. in the evening when the panels are not charging the charge light is the only one to go out and as the power is used the Led on the right will diminish, then recharge the following day (providing the is sunlight even in light you will get some input.)
I have nothing connected to my load terminal on the right as they are not required, unless you have some use for the load terminal it may be prudent to remove them so as not to chance of any shorting if they touch any metal.
I also have a 30amp fuse positioned close to the battery which is a safe guard; I cannot see any fusing on you positive battery lead/clamp.
Trust this is off assistance.

Hi Jim, thanks to you I didn't make the same mistake that others have made when connecting this same folding panel (mine is 2 x 50 watts) with the same regulator. I got no sense from the ebay seller so searched this forum instead and found this thread. First I disconnected the second set of clips - the ones on the right, then separated the connected clips so they don't touch each other accidentally. I charged the battery while it was disconnected from the caravan, checked and it was fully charged, then connected it to the caravan, used up some of the battery charge, then connected the solar panel to the dual (second) set of battery terminals. It's working correctly! All lights on.

Solo Steve · Senior Member

Hi

For those that are interested B&S (Brown & Sharpe) is the British Standard for electrical wire gauges. It is the same as

AWG (American Wire Gauge). Wire gauges are rated by the area of the copper in conductor mm2.

Note the diameter does not include the insulation which is the case with Automotive type cable which usually has

less copper than the corresponding B&S gauge. 6 B&S has a stranded copper core of 4.11mm dia and 13.3mm2 area.

The smaller the gauge the thicker the copper. Use a gauge that results in a max voltage loss of 3% or for 12v = 0.36v. Zero is

preferred. Voltage drop can be calculated as ((Total Length of Cable (Pos + Neg) in metres x Amps Drawn) x 0.017) / Copper Area in mm2

so for 10mtrs of 6B&S the voltge drop for a 10 amp load is (10Pos + 10Neg x 10) x 0.017 / 13.3mm2 = 0.26v which is acceptable.

Hope this helps someone.

Steve