basic solar diagram

That chart is not good for your application. You should be looking at cable that has 1% voltage drop.

Regarding fusing panels: It's impossible to fuse 1 or 2 parallel panels. Three or more panels can be fused. If you have 3 or more panels then each panel gets a fuse. If the short circuit current of the panels is 5A then the fuses should be rated one size greater than 5A.

When you combine all your parallel panels to one wire going to the charge controller, it's worthless to fuse this wire. It's however important to have a panel disconnect switch. If for some reason you disconnect the batteries, you do not want panel power going into the charge controller. Panel power needs to be removed before battery power.

deprived wrote:
I found this chart.

Need a better cut on that wire.

DrewE wrote:
Does the cover you removed have a plastic tongue that comes between the terminals and this plate?

Good catch!

DrewE wrote:
IDoes the cover you removed have a plastic tongue that comes between the terminals and this plate? .

Okay. You win. :o
Yes, it does. Well, now that I feel good and stupid, I'm going to get back to work.

I suspect perhaps that metal plate is precisely what is connecting the ground connections to each other electrically--that, in addition to whatever other functions it may serve, it's a jumper connection. It does look like a rather questionable design given its proximity to the terminal connections; you're right that you don't want the (non-ground) wires shorting out to it.

Does the cover you removed have a plastic tongue that comes between the terminals and this plate? If not, putting in some sort of insulator would be a good idea, as likewise would being precise with how long of a stripped section you make on the wires.

I would bet that, in the instructions, it specifies a stripping length for the cables attached. If it were mine, I'd probably glue a small wafer of HDPE or some other insulator behind the (+) phase terminals.

Trackrig wrote:
Deprived - can you see the back side of the circuit board? Are all of the terminal connectors connected to each other on the back side?

Bill

The terminals do not appear to be connected to each other except for the (-) terminals. A quick check with the VOM shows that the (-) terminals are also connected to the metal plate in question.

Deprived - can you see the back side of the circuit board? Are all of the terminal connectors connected to each other on the back side?

Bill

Okay - one other thing:

I am in the middle of installing my Renogy Tracer MPPT controller. I removed the cover prior to installation so I could paint and clean up the cover. As I was getting ready to start connecting the main wires I noticed that there is a metal plate above the screw terminals. I assume it's there to prevent connectors from being shoved all the way into the case. But here's the thing - won't this plate short out all of the connections against each other? Obviously, this design feature is intentional but at first glance it seems very counterproductive. I never would have even noticed this if I hadn't taken the cover off.

Whats the deal here?

deprived wrote:
I have 3 100w panels (but I'll probably add a 4th) that are connected with 10awg.

I wouldn't be going much over 400w with #10 wire. Not in parallel anyway.