Hi all,
I'm new to this forum and am hoping to find some help.
A little background, a few months ago I just completed a full solar and electrical system in my motorhome. I installed a 640 watt solar system which is paired with 300 amps of lithium battery, a 3500 watt inverter and a shore power hook up. The system was tested and has passed German regulations.
As part of my electrical build I built my own hot water tank which loops through filters and a UV light to create a recirculating shower.
In the tank I installed a 12v 300w water heating element. Wiring runs from my fuse box into a timer switch and from the timer switch to my element. Everything was working fine, when turned on it draws 25amps from my batteries and heats the water after a couple hours.
During my initial testing I noticed that the wires running from the switch to the element got very hot. Mainly on the element side, I figured it made sense because the element is heating up and that heat is travelling from the element into the wires?
Today I was inspecting my electrical system to make sure everything is ok and I noticed that the plastic insulation around the connections on my element had charred. Worrying to say the least.
I decided to turn the system on today and test out what is happening.
I used a multimeter to test the temperature of the wires after a few minutes of heating. The results seem worrying, very close to the element (within a cm) the wire is reading at 109 degrees Celsius. As you move up the wire it drastically cools and by the switch it's only warm.
I tested the wires (same guage) from the fuse box to the switch and they're not warm at all. (The run from the fuse box to the switch would be around 2 meters and from the switch to the element half a meter)
Am I correct in guessing that the wires are heating up from the heat of the element? Would thicker wires help? And or are there special wires that need to be used to connect to a high heat source? I'm thinking that inside an iron or other devices that get hot they might use special wiring?
Any help, tips or suggestions would be greatly appreciated, if you need more information I'm happy to provide it. For now I've decommissioned the heating system until I know that it's safe to use.
Many thanks,
Mark
I'm new to this forum and am hoping to find some help.
A little background, a few months ago I just completed a full solar and electrical system in my motorhome. I installed a 640 watt solar system which is paired with 300 amps of lithium battery, a 3500 watt inverter and a shore power hook up. The system was tested and has passed German regulations.
As part of my electrical build I built my own hot water tank which loops through filters and a UV light to create a recirculating shower.
In the tank I installed a 12v 300w water heating element. Wiring runs from my fuse box into a timer switch and from the timer switch to my element. Everything was working fine, when turned on it draws 25amps from my batteries and heats the water after a couple hours.
During my initial testing I noticed that the wires running from the switch to the element got very hot. Mainly on the element side, I figured it made sense because the element is heating up and that heat is travelling from the element into the wires?
Today I was inspecting my electrical system to make sure everything is ok and I noticed that the plastic insulation around the connections on my element had charred. Worrying to say the least.
I decided to turn the system on today and test out what is happening.
I used a multimeter to test the temperature of the wires after a few minutes of heating. The results seem worrying, very close to the element (within a cm) the wire is reading at 109 degrees Celsius. As you move up the wire it drastically cools and by the switch it's only warm.
I tested the wires (same guage) from the fuse box to the switch and they're not warm at all. (The run from the fuse box to the switch would be around 2 meters and from the switch to the element half a meter)
Am I correct in guessing that the wires are heating up from the heat of the element? Would thicker wires help? And or are there special wires that need to be used to connect to a high heat source? I'm thinking that inside an iron or other devices that get hot they might use special wiring?
Any help, tips or suggestions would be greatly appreciated, if you need more information I'm happy to provide it. For now I've decommissioned the heating system until I know that it's safe to use.
Many thanks,
Mark