Forum Discussion

mike-uswest's avatar
mike-uswest
Explorer II
Apr 09, 2018

Solar panels and 10 GA wire?

I ended up buying a 2016 Arctic fox 25Y TT that has two 100 watt solar panels on it. I also have a Grape 160 watt solar panel that I was going to use a combiner box and put it on there. I just found out that the wire going to the Zamp controller is 10 GA. What problems is that going to cause? The run of the wire doesn't seem to be that long, maybe 8-10 feet. I thought they had 8 GA wire there, but I was wrong. Thanks for any answers.

Mike
  • time2roll's avatar
    time2roll
    Nomad
    Apr 10, 2018
    +1 to connect and use the #10. If you discover an issue then consider the options. I think it will work just fine and the additional panel can only help.

    Max amps are only present during bulk charging.... after that the battery will limit the current for the much longer absorption phase.
  • HadEnough's avatar
    HadEnough
    Explorer
    Apr 10, 2018
    All depends if you are connecting them in series or parallel.

    I have 650 Watts of solar running through 10ga. In series so the voltage is high but the amps are low.
  • mike-uswest's avatar
    mike-uswest
    Explorer II
    Apr 10, 2018
    Just for kicks, because I think it would bring on more cost and problems. I have a ZAMP 30 amp PWM controller and short leads on the panels to work with. If I wanted to go series to get max use of the panels, could I put one of the AM solar combiner boxes in and go pos to neg in the box to get series with the three panels, and I would have to go to a MPPT controller? Would it be worth the effort for what I would gain?

    Mike
  • 2oldman's avatar
    2oldman
    Explorer II
    Apr 10, 2018
    mike-uswest wrote:
    If I wanted to go series to get max use of the panels, could I put one of the AM solar combiner boxes in and go pos to neg in the box to get series with the three panels, and I would have to go to a MPPT controller?
    Combiner boxes are not needed in series, you just have one 2-conductor wire spanning the panels. Yes, you'll need a controller to handle the higher voltage.

    As to its worth, probably not great with 360 watts, but if you go higher it's almost a must. If you get the parallel operation going, check for heat buildup at all connections during max solar output.

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