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  1. W

    Need to buy/make thicker gauge wires for outside, but problem

    We are indeed talking about panels to combiner box, and if the gurus here are telling me I don't need to rip all that cable out and replace it with a few hundred dollars' worth of slightly thicker wire, that's fine with me! Thanks again, all.
  2. W

    Need to buy/make thicker gauge wires for outside, but problem

    See, I thought that chart was voltage-agnostic, hence why wiring in series is advantageous because it keeps the current down and allows you to use thinner/cheaper wire.
  3. W

    Need to buy/make thicker gauge wires for outside, but problem

    Thank you, you are the man and thank you for saving me a bunch of money and agita! :) Have a great rest of the night!
  4. W

    Need to buy/make thicker gauge wires for outside, but problem

    You are correct, it is just under 10A, which means that, according to that chart up there, I can get away with 8 awg for a 130 ft round trip, and don't need to worry abut 6 awg, does that sound right to you?
  5. W

    Need to buy/make thicker gauge wires for outside, but problem

    Panel VOC is 40.30 V. (Not sure if you saw the other comment but I edited when I realized you meant reconfiguring the panels and not the batteries).
  6. W

    Need to buy/make thicker gauge wires for outside, but problem

    And when I say junction box, this combiner box is what I meant. There's a fuse on the connector going to each string, and a master fuse with an on/off switch on the connection going inside to the charge controller.
  7. W

    Need to buy/make thicker gauge wires for outside, but problem

    So my panels are 320 watt/24 volt panels, and I divided watts by volts to get 13.3333 amps per panel. I have three of these panels in series per string, so 24x3=72 volts, ergo 13.3 amps/72 watts per string. I have a 100 amp Epever MPPT charge controller. I'm not sure how I would lower the...
  8. W

    Need to buy/make thicker gauge wires for outside, but problem

    I appreciate the suggestion but do kind of want to keep this to code, especially where all this is located on my property: it's right up by the property line and the neighbor on the other side already started asking some questions, so I don't want to give him any more to make an issue out of...
  9. W

    Need to buy/make thicker gauge wires for outside, but problem

    Hi all, need some help: my panels are installed on ground mounts between 45-65 feet from my junction box and, like a moron, I made the classic mistake of not doubling the length of my cable runs from the panels to the box when sizing my wires, and need to upgrade from the 10 awg wires I have...
  10. W

    Wiring series vs parallel question

    Super, thank you! (And sorry for being so questiony, just want to make sure I don't screw it up! Happy holidays!)
  11. W

    Wiring series vs parallel question

    Okay, that makes sense actually, and yeah, I wasn't planning on making them any longer than they needed to be, just one end of the mount holding the panels is about 2 feet away from the junction box I'm going to connect them to, and the other end of the mount (and daisy chain) is about 8-10 feet...
  12. W

    Wiring series vs parallel question

    I know when wiring solar panels in parallel, the length of the cable runs on the positive and negative sides need to be equal, but does the same limitation apply when wiring the panels in series? Or is any total length of the run okay as long as staying within the bounds of the distance/current...
  13. W

    Had an idea and wanted some opinions

    Actually no, I misunderstood you. For some reason when I read it the first time my brain didn't process the two strings part correctly, that is what I am actually doing now on the smaller system. My apologies.
  14. W

    Had an idea and wanted some opinions

    That I know is not true because I have two on a standalone system in my garage and they work fine. The only difference there is the charge controllers are connected directly to the batteries without a bus bar. My question was whether introducing the bus bars to expand this idea is workable.
  15. W

    Had an idea and wanted some opinions

    Had an idea: the max current my panels can produce is 150A, and instead of buying a charge controller rated that high, I thought I could use equipment already on hand in a layered approach, by using bus bars to split the incoming charge between three lower rated charge controllers, then rejoin...
  16. W

    Question about wiring batteries to bus bar

    Hi there, had two quick questions I was hoping someone would be able to help me out with (I checked the docs linked in the forum and didn't see a clear answer to these): 1)Do the wires I connect my batteries to a bus bar with need to support the combined input from the panels and output to the...
  17. W

    Question about disassembling my system

    Hey all, I may need to disassemble and relocate my 12v system due to construction I'm doing in my detached garage/workshop where it currently lives, and was hoping someone could give me some advice on disconnecting the batteries without dying or blowing my garage up. No busbar (adding one is...
  18. W

    Questions about "nesting" or daisy chaining bus bars

    Nah I already bought all the components, but I'm fine with 24v. Definitely not doing 12v again though!
  19. W

    Questions about "nesting" or daisy chaining bus bars

    Hey all, beginner here with a dumb question: I'm using the experience I gained from a 12v system I built in my detached garage/workshop to start building out my main house for solar as well, and had a question about bus bars. My plan is to set up six 24v 200Ah LifePO4 batteries in parallel...
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