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Old 05-20-2018, 12:43 AM   #1
Journeyman
 
2016 25' International
Amherst , Massachusetts
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Solar install interior wiring tour... 2016 25 FB

All,

This forum has been SO HELPFUL as I've attempted my solar install that I feel compelled to share my results on the assumption that it may be helpful to others.

(Please let me know if you see things that I need to fix!)

Here you go:

https://youtu.be/FjmLanPtXaQ



(Exterior video to come...)
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Old 05-20-2018, 05:17 AM   #2
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2018 27' Globetrotter
Tavares , Florida
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Extremely well done video. One of the better ones I've seen. Great explanation of what you did and why. And very nice workmanship.

I noticed the ring terminals were crimped and covered with shrink seals (not sure of the technical term) in a very professional way. Did you invest in a crimping tool?

Thanks for recording and posting the video!
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Old 05-20-2018, 05:32 AM   #3
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Apollo Beach , Florida
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Thiel, Nicely done video and installation. I really enjoy seeing pictures, or in your case a video of solar installations to see how others designed and connected their solar systems.

My thoughts as I watched the video:
1) Connecting the solar controller positive output to the copper area of the positive bus bar is how Airstream recommends to make the solar connection and is how I also made that connection.

2) You used a 30A fuse for your 30A solar controller. I believe one size larger fuse than the solar controller output is common. I have a 40A breaker on my 30A controller. The fuse is really just to protect the wire and a 6ga wire is easily protected with a 40A fuse.

3) Did you use a 4ga negative cable between the shunt and batteries? Could you have used the larger 2ga cable originally used with the converter? I like cables to get larger and larger on their way to the battery. On your positive side, you go from 10ga on roof to combiner box, 6ga, to controller and bus, and 4ga from bus to battery. But look at your shunt, a 2ga plus a 4ga plus a 6ga all reduced to a 4ga? I'm no engineer and maybe this is ok. But I feel that is too much wire on the one side versus the other. This is probably the biggest reason I didn't install a BMV-712, in addition to the need to run the temperature wire to the battery, and chose to install a Victron Smart Battery Sense instead. The Smart Battery Sense uses BlueTooth to report battery temperature instead of a direct wire connection.

I look forward to more performance results from your system in different conditions similar to what I did in my "Solar Show and Tell" thread. Make sure you either run down your batteries and/or crank up the amp draw to make you solar system produce maximum output.

Thanks again for showing us your installation!
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Old 05-20-2018, 07:25 AM   #4
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Nice video. I also used the vent pipe space in my bathroom for my solar wires. I debated about going out through the vent pipe just like you did but in the end I went through the roof into the bottom of a combiner box. --Frank
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Old 05-20-2018, 10:02 AM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by AirMiles View Post

2) You used a 30A fuse for your 30A solar controller. I believe one size larger fuse than the solar controller output is common. I have a 40A breaker on my 30A controller. The fuse is really just to protect the wire and a 6ga wire is easily protected with a 40A fuse.
This is a really good point... and I worried about it when I saw that you got over 30amps in production one day in your tests. I didn't think our panels were capably of doing that, but since then I've realized that the number of amps coming off the panels goes UP once the voltage is stepped down at the controller...


Quote:
Originally Posted by AirMiles View Post
3) Did you use a 4ga negative cable between the shunt and batteries? Could you have used the larger 2ga cable originally used with the converter? I like cables to get larger and larger on their way to the battery. But look at your shunt, a 2ga plus a 4ga plus a 6ga all reduced to a 4ga?
I used 4 gauge wire on all the connections to and from the battery. From the factory it was 4g to/from the inverter but 6g to and from the bus bars... so when I moved to 4g for both, I was upgrading the main battery cables. No 2g wire anywhere. (Even the connection from the converter to the bus bars is 4g in my trailer...)



Quote:
Originally Posted by AirMiles View Post
This is probably the biggest reason I didn't install a BMV-712, in addition to the need to run the temperature wire to the battery, and chose to install a Victron Smart Battery Sense instead. The Smart Battery Sense uses BlueTooth to report battery temperature instead of a direct wire connection.
You know I actually dreaded the process of running cables to and from the battery and I procrastinated forever with the hope that I could avoid it. In reality it could not have been easier! Takes seconds! Everything is really simple under the trailer, the runs are straight, and the wires were very easy to track.
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Old 05-20-2018, 10:04 AM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Hans627 View Post
I noticed the ring terminals were crimped and covered with shrink seals (not sure of the technical term) in a very professional way. Did you invest in a crimping tool?
All the aluminum ring terminals you see came from Home Depot and they had those little plastic skirts on them. I did buy a cheap ($20) crimping tool from Amazon and it worked "okay" but was not perfectly compatible so there was a lot of double-checking. Still, it did the job pretty well and the price was right.

For most of the cables I felt better by wrapping electrical tape around the ends. I know that the heat shrink stuff looks better, but I was already working in such a tight space that I took the easier path...
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Old 05-20-2018, 10:09 AM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by fran&frank View Post
Nice video. I also used the vent pipe space in my bathroom for my solar wires. I debated about going out through the vent pipe just like you did but in the end I went through the roof into the bottom of a combiner box. --Frank
Drilling direct was my backup plan. Truth was that the vent cap came off easy (and I was glad I checked it because it was misaligned and collecting water inside the trailer...) and snaking the wires was a snap (with a flat electrical tape).

I was surprised to find that the vent pipe makes TWO turns between the roof and the bathroom, resulting in about 20 inches of pipe between what you see on the roof and what you see in the bathroom. So weird. Also, it becomes clear in the process that the biggest obstruction in the pipe is the top screen itself, so the addition of wires in the body of the pipe does little to affect airflow.

I left my vent pipe (with wires) disconnected inside the trailer over a full day of rain. Not a drip came through.

I feel good about the simplicity, safety, and efficiency of this method of going through the roof.
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Old 05-20-2018, 10:59 AM   #8
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Great video. Thanks for sharing.
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Old 05-20-2018, 07:09 PM   #9
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Excellent video, thank you for taking the time to put it together.
Regarding crimp terminals, I have long been an advocate of maintaining a marine standard. While more expensive than what you can find at home depot, Ancor makes excellent tinned copper crimps, as well as a double action crimping tool.

If you think about it, the amount of vibration in a towed trailer is substantial; professional quality crimps guarantee that things won't come undone.
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Old 06-03-2018, 05:23 PM   #10
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Thanks for sharing. I'm looking forward to the exterior wiring video.
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