highwaypirate
New Member
If you had seen some of my other threads on problems I've been having with a Victron 100/20, you will know how much I HATE the connectors they come with. Well... I came up with a solution:
...and it HOLDS the cables in place! (kiitos to my boss's wife who previously came up with this design for their 100/50s) While it does in fact holds wires where they should be, the terminal screws themselves still break loose after 10 minutes of driving. Therefore, it's still not safe enough for my Honda's install and the PWM's will remain in charge of all my solar needs. But this gave my friend and I an idea; since the 100/20 still works, why not use it as a 'tester station' for smaller systems?
And this is what we came up with. -I know, I know... it's not what you'd call a 'proper install', but it does work. I have repurposed my 50w array to use a DC female cig-port, where it then connects to a male cig-plug with a 5A tube fuse (I'm scared to push more than 5A through this Victron) where it then connects to 10AWG MC4 connectors to the Victron's PV ports. From there, another 10AWG MC4 leaves it's battery port and goes down to an SAE connector (this WILL be upgraded once I get new cables ordered), which heads to my battery's fuse panel and bus bar.
At first we didn't think a cigarette plug as the PV connector would work, but we did notice on the Victron's application it was reading voltage (this test was done at a north-facing window; it would never make enough voltage to initiate charging).
While the system does in fact work, I do NOT recommend doing it this way unless you know what you're doing and the possible risks involved (this is simply for disvocering what would work). Cigarette plugs aren't designed to handle more than 10A for a long period of time (8A would be the MAXIMUM I would put through, although this is usually when the connectors begin to heat up). 100w would be the most I'd use with this connection method, although by adding cig-plugs this enables me to make a very-fast PV disconnect if something should go wrong. Also, while cig-plugs aren't a very good connection this one holds inside very well!
This is a screen capture of a phenomenon we had discovered; once the panel reached over 180w, the charger drops battery voltage. I did e-mail Victron about this, but naturally I've yet to get a response. We figure since this one was a return product at some point (before I purchased it), there must be some sort of damages within the charger. It keeps on doing this if more than 175w is being pulled in; any less and it behaves as normal. Once I acquire more 10AWG wire, I'll replace the 14AWG connections I have and will try to seek another 50w panel (providing I can find one that isn't $130 cdn...) and wire both arrays in series.
I'll be doing a series of tests this year with micro-systems (AGM/LiFePO4 batteries under 50AH) as well as looking into more unusual builds and system tweaks. If this thread doesn't recieve much criticism, I'll be more than happy to continue posting future experiments as well as their test results. If you have any ideas on what we should try out with the 100/20, please feel free to send me a pm! I'm always up for experimenting with smaller systems and projects.
...and it HOLDS the cables in place! (kiitos to my boss's wife who previously came up with this design for their 100/50s) While it does in fact holds wires where they should be, the terminal screws themselves still break loose after 10 minutes of driving. Therefore, it's still not safe enough for my Honda's install and the PWM's will remain in charge of all my solar needs. But this gave my friend and I an idea; since the 100/20 still works, why not use it as a 'tester station' for smaller systems?
And this is what we came up with. -I know, I know... it's not what you'd call a 'proper install', but it does work. I have repurposed my 50w array to use a DC female cig-port, where it then connects to a male cig-plug with a 5A tube fuse (I'm scared to push more than 5A through this Victron) where it then connects to 10AWG MC4 connectors to the Victron's PV ports. From there, another 10AWG MC4 leaves it's battery port and goes down to an SAE connector (this WILL be upgraded once I get new cables ordered), which heads to my battery's fuse panel and bus bar.
At first we didn't think a cigarette plug as the PV connector would work, but we did notice on the Victron's application it was reading voltage (this test was done at a north-facing window; it would never make enough voltage to initiate charging).
While the system does in fact work, I do NOT recommend doing it this way unless you know what you're doing and the possible risks involved (this is simply for disvocering what would work). Cigarette plugs aren't designed to handle more than 10A for a long period of time (8A would be the MAXIMUM I would put through, although this is usually when the connectors begin to heat up). 100w would be the most I'd use with this connection method, although by adding cig-plugs this enables me to make a very-fast PV disconnect if something should go wrong. Also, while cig-plugs aren't a very good connection this one holds inside very well!
This is a screen capture of a phenomenon we had discovered; once the panel reached over 180w, the charger drops battery voltage. I did e-mail Victron about this, but naturally I've yet to get a response. We figure since this one was a return product at some point (before I purchased it), there must be some sort of damages within the charger. It keeps on doing this if more than 175w is being pulled in; any less and it behaves as normal. Once I acquire more 10AWG wire, I'll replace the 14AWG connections I have and will try to seek another 50w panel (providing I can find one that isn't $130 cdn...) and wire both arrays in series.
I'll be doing a series of tests this year with micro-systems (AGM/LiFePO4 batteries under 50AH) as well as looking into more unusual builds and system tweaks. If this thread doesn't recieve much criticism, I'll be more than happy to continue posting future experiments as well as their test results. If you have any ideas on what we should try out with the 100/20, please feel free to send me a pm! I'm always up for experimenting with smaller systems and projects.
