gongloo
New Member
- Joined
- Sep 3, 2020
- Messages
- 3
Apologies for the possibly dumb question here, just getting started and have a lot to learn!
I’m working on a van conversion and went with Renogy’s DCC50S, on which there’s a single terminal for shared solar negative, house battery negative, and starter battery/chassis negative. What I’m wondering is, since all of these are going to be connected to chassis anyway, is there really a need to run a separate negative wire from the solar panels on the roof all the way down and around to the charge controller directly? Wouldn’t it be equivalent to instead run a negative wire from the solar panels to a solid ground point somewhere closeby, and then use the chassis to carry the current the rest of the way to the charge controller?
Coming from the automotive world, I’m not used to ever running a negative wire back to the battery, and instead pretty much just run it back to any chassis ground point I can find nearby. Having read a bit now about ground loops, I understand how this can be a problem with ground wires of different lengths, especially with AC, but in a DC system grounded via big honkin’ metal chassis (presumably with negligable resistance), I expect ground loops shouldn’t be much of a problem here?
I’m no electrical engineer, so I’d appreciate the input of more learned people. Thanks!
I’m working on a van conversion and went with Renogy’s DCC50S, on which there’s a single terminal for shared solar negative, house battery negative, and starter battery/chassis negative. What I’m wondering is, since all of these are going to be connected to chassis anyway, is there really a need to run a separate negative wire from the solar panels on the roof all the way down and around to the charge controller directly? Wouldn’t it be equivalent to instead run a negative wire from the solar panels to a solid ground point somewhere closeby, and then use the chassis to carry the current the rest of the way to the charge controller?
Coming from the automotive world, I’m not used to ever running a negative wire back to the battery, and instead pretty much just run it back to any chassis ground point I can find nearby. Having read a bit now about ground loops, I understand how this can be a problem with ground wires of different lengths, especially with AC, but in a DC system grounded via big honkin’ metal chassis (presumably with negligable resistance), I expect ground loops shouldn’t be much of a problem here?
I’m no electrical engineer, so I’d appreciate the input of more learned people. Thanks!