diy solar

diy solar

Just getting an idea how my solar setup looks before I commit and connect the batteries!

kalabaddon

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Apr 19, 2022
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Hello all!

Here is my setup. The cables going out to left are to the car battery, The top smaller not connected cables are showing where the solar will connect to. I am using a briefcase 200 watt setup with some xt90s connectors I put on it.

Everything is 2 awg cept the solar cables and cables going to fuse box which are 8awg.

I got a friend that will assist me with everything on it this weekend, but he deals with City power so mostly high voltage stuff, not 12 v battery systems. So I wanted to get some input first.

The fuse box will have these connected to it. I will be cutting the cables shorter and removing the inline fuses and just fusing from the fuse box.

I also haven't connected the tiny positive shunt wire, or the bt and temp module for the charger.
My understanding with the IOTA is that as it is with out that loop back it will charge at 13.6 which will get the battery most of the way topped off, I have the lifepo4 iq module coming, but read some mixed info about it potentially overcharging since it will go to 14.7 before it tapers off.

Anyways, how does this all look to you all? any glaring issues you see?
 

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Is the switch on the positive wire blocking the outlet air port on the converter? I don't have my IOTA Engineering DLS handy to verify if there is an output port in that spot or not.

The DLS-45 with the IQ4 LiFePO4 module shouldn't overcharge. If anything, it just doesn't charge as fast as you might like it to. If you're in a situation where you think it should be charging but it isn't, just disconnect the RJ11 jack from the converter and plug it back in. That seems to reset it.

You might have a tough time making the positive wire from the battery make the 90° turn to the fuse. It looks a little tight. Maybe raise the switch and fuse up a few inches to give yourself more room.

Don't forget to provide strain relief for all the cables.
 
No vent on the back side of dls there. The only thing in the way is the wire that is in front of fan. but I figured it would be fine there.

As far as the connection to battery, that fuse will be up about an inch once mounted, right now the fuse and switch are just hanging from the busbar. And I am thinking of putting it on other side of busbar since it puts stress on the cable from the DLS that may be to much for that cable to hold on with.

what would I do to provide strain relief? I have a bunch of u brackets ( large ones where the cable would sit freely, but they could be used to hold stuff in place somewhat. ), I was gonna place them in a few spots maybe?
 
what would I do to provide strain relief? I have a bunch of u brackets ( large ones where the cable would sit freely, but they could be used to hold stuff in place somewhat. ), I was gonna place them in a few spots maybe?

A cable tie mount like in the link below would work. I've tried the adhesive ones and the adhesive isn't strong enough for larger cables. If you put a screw in the center of the adhesive cable tie mount it interferes with putting the cable tie through the holes.


This is what I mean by the adhesive cable tie mount you don't want. It will work fine for small cables that don't require a screw.
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Ok 95% done. Got to install solar cables still ( had to use connectors meant for solar to add a fuse inline with fuse box ) last connectors should be here tomorrow.

Then just connecting the car and house battery in to the system, and installing the battery shunt display (getting a 3d holder printed for it.)
waiting on some smaller gauge wire to re wire the cig lighter adaptor ( wire that came with it was crud and really short with an inline fuse half way on it so couldn't cut it to size like the wire for the usb port (usb port is 1 quick charge 3 usb a port, and it also has a usb C PD 40 watt port.)

Leaving the zip ties loose so I can route any last things I need and verify it before tightening them down.

Temp sensor for the mppt charger will act as a basic cutoff for charging the lithium according to the manual. so was gonna tape it more permently in middle of top of battery.

Battery has side to side movement held in place by a few pieces of wood that is brad nailed to floor of box. Entire box will be brad nailed to wood floor under it once build is done ( or may just cargo strap it to driver side seat mount, I wont be flooring it so it shouldn't want to go backwards easily, but I may have to make a quick turn to dodge stuff so don't want it sliding around. got a foot ish of wiggle room from incoming ground and positive wires on left side.)

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