Size wire for future solar

[rugjenkins]

I have a 28ft argosy. Appliances, outlets, lights will be 120v. 12v for water pump and tankless heater.
Doing complete rebuild of camper and I'm at the wiring stage.

[alano]

Kinda depends on how much solar you think you might install and how long a run from the roof connection to your solar charger? Typically you would want to place the solar charger close to the batteries.

[rugjenkins]

I'll be short timing at lowes and such in between shore power. Wire size 10, 8, or 6.
Thanks

[rmkrum]

Go big. 6 gauge is not that much harder to route and will minimize voltage drop.

Overkill is much better than under kill in this case.


Sent from my pocket Internet using Airstream Forums

[alano]

You might also want to lay a CAT5 wire between the location of your solar controller and the location of the remote panel for the solar controller.

[rvb]

Several questions: 1. Is your Argosy a center bath or rear bath? 2. How many amp hours will your batteries be and where are you putting them? 3. How many panels, what wattage and where are you planning to put them? 4. Where are you planning to run the primary wire? Wire size is directly related to how much wattage your panels are and distance to batteries. More wattage and more distance = larger wire.

I have a center bath 28' Argosy and installed 2- 6v Trojan golf cart batteries in series (12v). The batteries are in a box vented into the original battery box and located under the bed just behind the black tank. I have 4-100w panels on the roof behind the a/c wired in parallel thru a combiner box and waterproof gland on the roof next to the black tank vent. I ran #4 wire straight down thru the bath under the tank vent cover and thru the wall to the controller and batteries. Large wire and only about 10' from combiner to controller.

I originally had #10 wire and 2 panels and later went to 4 panels. I later re-pulled the primary wire. The difference in output between #10 and #4 wire was surprising! With low angle winter sun and panels mounted flat, I went from 12A output to 18A after changing to #4 wire! Go with as large a wire size as you can up front. The wire isn't that much more expensive and it is easier in the initial install than re-pulling it later.