diy solar

diy solar

New Solar system - looking for advice on an issue with alternator....maybe

byronbuscombe

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Jun 18, 2021
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I am updating Solar for my van conversion and I am a newbie to this! I am using the following components: 400 watts solar on the roof, with 2000W Renogy Pure Sine Wave Inverter, Renogy DCC50S 12V 50A DC Board Batterty Charger with MPPT. This is installed in my Ram Promaster.

Initially everything worked great, had no problems with the system until my batteries suddenly went down to 54%. I had a fridge running on low and that was about all I had running. I noticed that my positive wire running from the positive connection on the Renogy DC- MPPT to my 70 amp breaker was tripped. After this happened a couple of times, (only while driving with the alternator connected) I disconnected the power from the alternator and the breaker has not tripped since. Please have a look, I have attached a copy of Will"s blueprint that my system is designed after, showing where the breaker trips. (I can't get a good photo of my system)

Any advice is helpful!

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What circuit breaker do you have? If its a cheap breaker, i would try to replace it with a quality unit.

Otherwise, i suspect Will's drawing is wired correctly, which is all you've provided to look at.
 
This is the circuit breaker we have used
This is not a quality item, replace with a Blue Sea/Bussman or a 80A Midi link fuse and holder. All cables in a mobile application need over current protection using a fuse or DC breaker. Many of the diagrams and display layouts do not show the correct position of fuses/breakers. The fuses/breakers need to be positioned as close as practical to the power sources, the batteries. If the house battery is a lithium battery then either a MRBF fuse or ideally a class T fuse should be fitted at the battery positive. If you do not correctly fit fuses or quality breakers suitable to protect the cables, and whatever they connect to, there is a risk of fire.
I cannot stress just how important this is, the main cause of vehicle fires is poor electrical practice.
The van shown below had inadequate fusing and wiring between the engine battery, the charging unit and the house battery.
VW fire.jpg
Mike
 
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