Hello,
I'm a beginner, and I'm looking for help to determine if I'm creating a fire hazard or if I'm going to overload any of the components. I'm trying to run a small pump to create a water feature for wild birds/other critters to bathe in and drink from. There is a timer, so that the pump will run off the battery from dawn to dusk, but if the battery power is too low to operate the pump for part of the day, or even for multiple days, that's not a concern because there will still be pools of standing water for the birds.
The pump is a 12-18V DC submersible pump (17W/~1.2A @ 12V), with a JVR 12V DC timer and a 12V 18Ah SLA battery. The battery will be charged by a 100W solar panel and a Renogy Wanderer 10A 12/24V controller.
I placed a circuit breaker on each wire between the solar panel and the charge controller, mostly to have a way to disconnect the panel if needed. My first questions are about fuses; is it necessary to place fuses between the battery and the charge controller? From reviews of the charge controller, it sounds like there are already fuses inside the controller. If I do need to buy fuses, would I need a fuse for each battery cable? Is it also necessary to place a fuse between the charge controller and the timer, or between the charge controller and the pump?
Another question I have relates to the two 6 AWG stranded copper battery cables that do not fit in the receptacles on the charge controller. Is it safe to trim off enough of the strands so that the cables can fit into the receptacles? It looks like the 6 AWG cable would have to be trimmed down to about 10 AWG. Or can I splice a section of smaller gauge wire to them with wire nuts and connect the smaller wire to the charge controller?
Thanks so much for any advice you may have about potential safety issues or other problems I may have overlooked.
I'm a beginner, and I'm looking for help to determine if I'm creating a fire hazard or if I'm going to overload any of the components. I'm trying to run a small pump to create a water feature for wild birds/other critters to bathe in and drink from. There is a timer, so that the pump will run off the battery from dawn to dusk, but if the battery power is too low to operate the pump for part of the day, or even for multiple days, that's not a concern because there will still be pools of standing water for the birds.
The pump is a 12-18V DC submersible pump (17W/~1.2A @ 12V), with a JVR 12V DC timer and a 12V 18Ah SLA battery. The battery will be charged by a 100W solar panel and a Renogy Wanderer 10A 12/24V controller.
I placed a circuit breaker on each wire between the solar panel and the charge controller, mostly to have a way to disconnect the panel if needed. My first questions are about fuses; is it necessary to place fuses between the battery and the charge controller? From reviews of the charge controller, it sounds like there are already fuses inside the controller. If I do need to buy fuses, would I need a fuse for each battery cable? Is it also necessary to place a fuse between the charge controller and the timer, or between the charge controller and the pump?
Another question I have relates to the two 6 AWG stranded copper battery cables that do not fit in the receptacles on the charge controller. Is it safe to trim off enough of the strands so that the cables can fit into the receptacles? It looks like the 6 AWG cable would have to be trimmed down to about 10 AWG. Or can I splice a section of smaller gauge wire to them with wire nuts and connect the smaller wire to the charge controller?
Thanks so much for any advice you may have about potential safety issues or other problems I may have overlooked.