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- Thread starter Penth2o
- Start date
Rednecktek
Solar Wizard
Not a bad start at all. Here's a few thoughts that will help you make things easier:
Re-do the math and calculate it all to Watt Hours, that simplifies things when everything is the same unit of measurement. If you don't know how many hours it's going to be, guesstimate. Things like the fridge and heater are going to run for multiple hours so Amps x Volts x Hours = Watt Hours for each one. Re-tally that and see how much battery that's going to call for.
All your wire lengths are short enough that voltage drop and calculations like that aren't going to be an issue so don't put too much thought into it. Go with the gauge you need for the amp draw total and you'll be fine. Many of us like the Blue Sea Ampacity Chart for figuring that out.
The diagram is pretty good for starters, you're just needing the wire size and fuses, right? OK, let's do some napkin math:
Solar Panels -> DCC50 - 10AWG
Battery -> Inverter - 300a Fuse on 2/0 AWG wire
Alternator -> DCC50 - 6AWG wire
DCC50 -> Battery - 60a fuse/breaker on 6AWG wire
Not sure how the shore power connection works, so I'll let that one pass for the moment
Battery -> DC Fuse Block - 70a fuse/breaker on 6AWG wire (explanation below)
Math on the DC side:
So, always planning on the event of everything running at once, you're looking at 2a (lights) + 5a (Fridge) + 15a (heater) + 10a (water pump) + 10a (shower) + 5a (fan) + 10a (USB stuff) = 57a max draw assuming everything is going at once. Since the largest wire you need is a 14AWG, there's no reason not to just run 14AWG for everything and buy a bulk spool of wire for simplicity, or 14AWG and 18AWG if you want to really split them up. Fuses/breakers should always be upsized 25% or so to whatever size is readily available (because nobody makes a 13.84a fuse for example) and having a wire size a little large is never a bad thing.
200w of panel is a lot less than you think but since that DCC50 limits you to parallel connections the wire size doesn't change. No worries there. Having it get charge from the alternator is going to more than make up for that.
Looks like you're well on your way!
Re-do the math and calculate it all to Watt Hours, that simplifies things when everything is the same unit of measurement. If you don't know how many hours it's going to be, guesstimate. Things like the fridge and heater are going to run for multiple hours so Amps x Volts x Hours = Watt Hours for each one. Re-tally that and see how much battery that's going to call for.
All your wire lengths are short enough that voltage drop and calculations like that aren't going to be an issue so don't put too much thought into it. Go with the gauge you need for the amp draw total and you'll be fine. Many of us like the Blue Sea Ampacity Chart for figuring that out.
The diagram is pretty good for starters, you're just needing the wire size and fuses, right? OK, let's do some napkin math:
Solar Panels -> DCC50 - 10AWG
Battery -> Inverter - 300a Fuse on 2/0 AWG wire
Alternator -> DCC50 - 6AWG wire
DCC50 -> Battery - 60a fuse/breaker on 6AWG wire
Not sure how the shore power connection works, so I'll let that one pass for the moment
Battery -> DC Fuse Block - 70a fuse/breaker on 6AWG wire (explanation below)
Math on the DC side:
Call that 3w x 5 lights = 15w, call it 2a fuse on 18AWG wire
45w / 12v = 4a, call it a 5a fuse on 18AWG wire
I've used many of those types of heaters, that's a 15a fuse on 14AWG or 12AWG wire for the startup draw until it gets up to speed and drops significantly.
Call that a 10a fuse on 14AWG wire
75w / 12v = 7a Call that a 10a fuse on 14AWG wire
Call that a 5a fuse on 18AWG wire
If you're using USB-C Power Delivery that's going to need a 10a fuse on 14AWG wire
So, always planning on the event of everything running at once, you're looking at 2a (lights) + 5a (Fridge) + 15a (heater) + 10a (water pump) + 10a (shower) + 5a (fan) + 10a (USB stuff) = 57a max draw assuming everything is going at once. Since the largest wire you need is a 14AWG, there's no reason not to just run 14AWG for everything and buy a bulk spool of wire for simplicity, or 14AWG and 18AWG if you want to really split them up. Fuses/breakers should always be upsized 25% or so to whatever size is readily available (because nobody makes a 13.84a fuse for example) and having a wire size a little large is never a bad thing.
200w of panel is a lot less than you think but since that DCC50 limits you to parallel connections the wire size doesn't change. No worries there. Having it get charge from the alternator is going to more than make up for that.
Looks like you're well on your way!
Looks like you're well on your way!
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you
Much appreciated Red.
