Convert Upgrade Mistake

[jpcjtrtj]

Sooooooo.... I'm the guy in my camper club that loves batteries and solar, etc. This weekend I helped a friend put panels on the roof, upgraded the batteries to Lithium, added a Victron Solar Charge Controller, Orion Charger, and Phoenix 1200 Watt inverter. Pretty straight forward stuff. We also decided to upgrade his old Parallax converter to a Lithium converter charger. Long story short, it's all hooked up. I turn the battery on and . . . .. . Nothing. I look at the SOK BMS, it says nothing? So, I check voltages and I'm getting nothing at the shunt. Next, I hook up the Victon charger which is just flashing at me. The App says short? What the heck???? Two guys looking at me asking all kinds of questions. I'm a bit embarrassed and trying to figure it out. I turn on the system again and hear a big pop coming from the converter direction. . . . HMMM. Both 30 amp fuses blown on the DC distribution board. . . . I pulled out the instructions again. Black goes to positive the Distribution Positive and White goes to the negative . . . . I did it backwards. So, long story short. It was a big noise, but no fire, and it all works now. Two lessons learned: Have someone read the instructions with you when you are swapping out the controller if you can. Have someone check your work.

The other "almost fail" on the project was I told the guy wiring the combiner box on the roof that black is positive and white is negative on the solar input wires (we checked continuity prior to attaching the wires. He did it backwards despite my clear instructions (something we have something in common . . . ). The good news on this one is that I checked the polarity before we connected the panels to anything and caught this problem before it caused any problems. Problem caught, fixed and solved.

 

[SparkyJJO]

I can see why you did it though. In AC, black is hot and white is neutral, while in DC world, black is always negative ("neutral") while the other color is positive ("hot') - usually it is red, but especially in multi circuit wiring can be almost any other color.

I don't like that black wire is the opposite in AC vs DC. But, is what it is.

Tip - never think the green wire in your car's wiring is ground, ever.

 

[scrubjaysnest]

I can see why you did it though. In AC, black is hot and white is neutral, while in DC world, black is always negative ("neutral") while the other color is positive ("hot') - usually it is red, but especially in multi circuit wiring can be almost any other color.

I don't like that black wire is the opposite in AC vs DC. But, is what it is.

Tip - never think the green wire in your car's wiring is ground, ever.

Not always true! I've had three RV's so far that had DC black wire as positive and white was negative.

 

[Q-Dog]

DC negative can be black or yellow if you follow ABYC color codes. If you mix AC and DC power on a boat or vehicle, it might be a good idea to use yellow for DC negative.

I am going to experiment with some DC light circuits in my house, so I just ordered 2 conductor yellow/red cable to make sure there are no mixups.

 

[Supervstech]

First time i was working with AC with my grandpa and he told me black is hot and white was ground (neutral) i was very confused. And he said black AND red are hot... i will never forget that one.
I was always an auto mechanic before grandpa taught me electeical...

In 85...

Yeah, im kinda old...

 

[Partimewages]

Just 85.

I remember playing with TSR80s and blowing up capacitors in vocation school!

We do temperature controls any color can be anything. Just better read the drawing

 

[Supervstech]

Just 85.

I remember playing with TSR80s and blowing up capacitors in vocation school!

We do temperature controls any color can be anything. Just better read the drawing

Oh, im fully aware im a child compared to many out there!

I worked car audio, and computer programming through high school in 81 to 85...

Working inside York RTU commercial equipment is annoying...
All white wires, high and low voltage... just little numbers on thw jackets... very annoying.

Quadruple check everything before ya swing the switch!

 

[CharlieBB]

Quadruple. You betcha!

 

[jpcjtrtj]

My helpers were less than ideal . . . and left to my own devices, apparently I'm not a good double checker . The fuses on the converter/charger are there for reverse polarity . . . They work .